Page 81 of Fall Apart

“Well, good. In that case, so can we go inside for lunch now? I’m sure princess here is about to get hangry.”

I look down at Lizzy, her smile hardening into a playful glare. “Are you going to try and feed me chicken tenders again?”

I chuckle. “Nope. Already learned that lesson.”

“Good.” She stands on her toes to kiss my cheek before turning to look at everyone else. “Ok. Ask all the questions you want, but after we go inside and after I get my food.”

After lunch,we stand outside the lodge by the gear racks. Surprisingly, everyone was actually very cool with us. Tanner was happy for me and V kept saying she should have seen this coming and that this is such a Lizzy thing to do.

But now, I want some alone time with her.

I turn to face my siblings and V. “Hey, guys. Can I borrow her for the afternoon? I promise you can ask the rest of your questions later at happy hour. But I want to go show her some of the mountain.”

I look back at Lizzy, her beautiful smile that hasn’t stopped since she saw me walking towards her, still plastered to her face before she gives me a curious look. “Do you have another surprise up your sleeve?”

I shrug. “Maybe. You’ll just have to wait.”

“You know I hate waiting,” she huffs.

“I know.”

I turn to look back at V, who’s smiling and watching in amusement. “I’m starting to see how this happened,” she says with a laugh. “And of course. We’ll see you guys back at the house.”

I tip my chin to her. “Thanks, V.” Tanner nods and Grace smirks before I turn to Lizzy, grabbing her hand.

A few minutes later, we’re riding up the lift together, just the two of us. Looking at her next to me, this is all so surreal. Here I am, back on skis, sitting on a chairlift next to the woman I’m in love with, two things I never thought would happen in my life. All thanks to a random stop for a beer three months ago.

I scoot closer to her, grabbing her hand. “I’m sorry.”

She whips her head to mine, concern on her face. “For what?”

I sigh, wrapping my arm around her shoulders. “I hope that wasn’t too fast to tell everyone. But you said we’d know when the right time was and this morning, it just felt right.”

She smiles and looks back up at me. “It was the right time. I thought about it this morning when you were already gone.” She takes a second, looking me up and down. “And I was right.”

I quirk a brow at her. “About what?”

“You do look hot in ski gear.” She flicks her eyebrows at me and grins. “Speaking of, where did you get all of that?”

I smirk back at her. “Well, instead of going for a run this morning, I went down to the river to find TJ, and ask if I could borrow some of his ski gear. It’s a little snug, but good enough for today.”

She nods and I continue. “Then I borrowed his SUV and went into town to rent the other gear I needed.”

She shakes her head. “Now that I think about it, he was pretty smug at breakfast when he said he was sure we’d see you around today.” She pauses. “But wait, you’ve been out here all morning just skiing by yourself? And how’d you find us?”

I nod. “I got out here for first chair at the other base lodge. I needed a few runs by myself to just think about things, enjoy the mountain again. Reconnect with skiing.” I look at her as she gives me an understanding look. “Then after a while, I texted Tanner and asked when and where you guys were getting lunch, just said I wanted to stop by and see you guys. I didn’t tell him I was skiing.”

She hums to herself, bringing a glove to her chin. “So what are you going to show me now that you have me to yourself?”

“Just a run I haven’t skied in a really long time.”

I feel her hand squeeze mine tight. “You’ve skied here before?”

I look back at her and nod. “Yeah. My last season of racing while Mom was still with us.” I pause, thinking about that trip. “We had an off day between heats and it happened to be an epic Mt. Bachelor powder day. Terrible for racing, but amazing for just hitting the slopes. Dad was always the big racer and taught me. But Mom, she taught us all to just love the mountain, ski the terrain, and enjoy it.”

Lizzy’s eyes meet mine and it’s that look I’ve come to welcome. The one that isn’t judging or pitying me. She’s just listening. “I can’t wait to see it then.”

She leans her head, with her big clunky helmet on, against my shoulder for the rest of the lift ride. I hold her gloved hands in my lap, enjoying the ride in comfortable silence. At least for a moment anyway.

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