Page 25 of Snowbody

As much as I had loved the mountain where the resort was, I loved this one more.

Selling my share in the company had ended up being the better option. It freed me and Maddy from any ties to her dad and also gave us an enormous amount of money to start our life together.

The wedding was private and small. We got married in our house with a few friends in attendance, but no reporters, no other celebrities. My parents and her mom were there; her dad and sister were pointedly not invited.

The less we had to deal with them, the better.

And really, there was nothing left to do with Mark or Melody. An investigation determined that Mark was responsible for mishandling the money, not me. I didn’t have to give up any of my titles or medals, but he was out a lot of money.

Unfortunately, nothing else came of the investigation, but it still worked out in my favor.

And now I had what I wanted—my own mountain, Maddy, and the promise of a life together.

I came in from the cold, glad for the warm cabin we’d built up here. Maddy was on the couch, drinking hot cocoa and watching a movie.

She looked up at me and smiled. “Cocoa’s in a pot on the stove. It should still be warm.”

“You’re the best.” I hung up my gear and went to the stove, ladling hot cocoa into a mug. I joined her on the couch, pulling a blanket down from the back to wrap up in.

“How was class?”

“Good.” I nodded. “Thomas is getting better at his jumps. He’s shaping up to be something good one day.”

Teaching kids was way more fun than teaching adults. And in addition to teaching kids how to snowboard, I’d been approached about some coaching positions for a few guys who had just gone pro.

All of them were talented. And all of them were appreciative, grateful for the time I spent training them.

“Great. I’m excited to go to the next competition with you.” Maddy shifted to lean on my shoulder. I wrapped an arm around her, grateful for her warmth.

She may have majored in marketing, but she was smart and understood business and money way better than I did. She’d taken over managing our money, including handling all my endorsements.

I didn’t have to worry about anything inappropriate happening with my money again.

I grinned and slid my hand under her shirt. She yelped, sitting up quickly and sloshing cocoa on the blanket. “Dammit, Jacob!”

But she was laughing.

And so was I.

Epilogue

Maddy

Two Years Later

“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon! Yeah, that’s it!”

Jacob laughed as he swept our son up into his arms.

Matthew had just made it down his first snowdrift on a tiny snowboard.

“I didn’t know they made snowboards that small,” I said, still filming on my phone as Jacob danced with Matthew in his arms. Matthew squealed happily, waving his chubby little arms.

I grinned, lifting the camera. “Matthew! Did you have fun?”

“Board!” Matthew shouted, pointing at the snowbank again.

Jacob laughed and carried him back to the top of the bank, putting him down on his snowboard. “Ready? One-two-three-go!”

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