Page 113 of Just Let Go

Now, as he and Jaden headed out of town, he tried to think of something—anything—other than Quinn.

Turned out, he had the world’s best distraction riding shotgun in the car. Carly had told him at dinner the other night that Jaden wasn’t a talker. He was moody and withdrawn. They’d had trouble with him at school.

“That all kind of changed when you showed up,” she said.

At first, the idea of it hadn’t sat well with him. He’d always balked at the idea of being anyone’s role model. But he actually liked Jaden, and if he’d ever been moody and withdrawn, Grady had never seen it.

At this moment, he was prattling on about a World Cup race where Grady had “absolutely crushed it.” It seemed like Jaden had every single one of Grady’s races memorized.

“What’s it like? Being up there with the cameras? Knowing the whole world is watching?”

Grady chuckled. “Well, it’s not the whole world. Lots of people don’t watch skiing. Even your aunt had no idea who I was.”

“Still. It’s a lot of people watching. How do you do it without freaking out?”

“You just do it. You tune all of that out, get in the zone, remember your training, and go for it.” Though that wasn’t exactly his routine, was it? At least not the “remember your training” part.

But he did know how to get in the zone. He tuned out the rest of the world, the voices in his head—all of it. It was as if the soundtrack of his life were suddenly muted, and it was just him and the finish line. Sometimes his body seemed to move on its own, as if it instinctively knew when to lean, when to push, when to let up. He wished his instincts were that good off the slopes.

“Bet the girls fall all over you,” Jaden said.

Grady laughed. “Is that important to you?”

The kid shrugged. “Maybe just one girl.”

“Oh, so there’s a girl? You talk to her?”

Jaden stared straight ahead. “Nah. She doesn’t even know I’m alive. Or if she does, she acts like she doesn’t.”

Grady sighed. “We always want the ones who won’t give us the time of day, don’t we?”

“Like you and Aunt Quinn?”

Grady shot him a look.

“Come on. I’m young, but I’m not stupid.”

“Let’s just say your aunt isn’t my biggest fan.” Grady hated knowing it was true.

“You two are just different is all,” Jaden said.

“How do you figure?” Grady was genuinely curious what kind of insight he could gain from a teenager.

“Well, first of all, the religion thing.”

“What religion thing?”

“She’s kind of really into Jesus, and you’re, you know, into partying.”

Grady frowned. “Is that what you think?”Is that what she thinks?

Jaden let out a mocking laugh. “Do you read the stuff they write about you?”

Unfortunately, yes.

“It’s why Aunt Quinn doesn’t want me hanging out with you. She thinks I’ll pick up your bad habits.” Jaden blew out a stream of air.

“She doesn’t want you hanging out with me?”

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