Page 9 of Wedding Bet

“Okay,” Chase called out to all of us, squinting into the morning sunlight shining off of all the white snow. “All of the beginners to the right for a lesson on the bunny slope and the experts to the left. Let’s rock and roll.”

Jamie headed off to the right with a few of the other beginners, and I followed after. He looked up at me, cocking his head to one side.

“I don’t know you that well, Landry, but I definitely know you’re not a beginner,” he said. “Why are you over here with me?”

“Well, a lot of these beginning ski lessons are utter crap,” I said to him. “I’m not going to let any of you get hurt from taking bad advice. I’m going to come help.”

“You don’t have to do that,” he said. “Go have fun with Chase and Adam.”

“I want to help,” I said. “And I definitely don’t want to see you get hurt.”

We headed over to the bunny slope and in another few minutes, I was watching Jamie teeter around on his skis like a four-year-old skiing for the first time. It was totally endearing and when he kept tucking his arms in close, I leaned over to guide him, showing him to keep his arms out and lifted. When the instructor started showing him how to make a wedge with his skis, I watched as he made each movement so slowly and carefully. It was as if he was afraid to move even one millimeter in the wrong direction, and we weren’t even on an incline yet.

“I can tell you right now, this is nothing like surfing,” he said, looking down. “At least you can float on the water.”

It was cute seeing how new this all was for him. He was completely out of his element here in the snow on a pair of skis, wobbling and wide-eyed.

“You got this,” I said. “Here, try getting into a wider stance.”

“Shit. No, no, no,” he said, tensing up and standing up straighter right away.

“Doing all right?” I asked, reaching out to take his arm.

He let out a long sigh, his brow knitting. “I watched my mom’s life change in an instant from an injury,” he said. “I’m a little shellshocked.”

I let him go slowly. “I had no idea.”

He nodded. “She was a dance and gymnastics instructor for years. Then one day she made one bad move and her hip shattered. She’s been on disability ever since, and Chase and I help her—oh God—”

Jamie’s words cut off as one of his skis jutted out too far forward, and he almost fell into a bad looking middle-split. He reflexively reached out to grip my arm, and I caught his forearm, hoisting him back up before he dropped lower and potentially hurt his groin.

“Jamie, are you okay?” I asked, still keeping my firm grip on him as he caught his breath and stood up straight again. His cheeks flushed in the cold and he let out a sigh of relief.

“You just saved me from going into a stretch Idefinitelycouldn’t have made,” he said. He squeezed my arm, and then I released his. “I got caught up thinking about my mom, and I don’t usually talk about her much, and… God, thank you. That’s what I’m trying to say.”

“No problem. Watch yourself, daredevil.”

One corner of his mouth quirked up into a smile. “I’m the opposite of a daredevil. I’m actually annoyingly boring and predictable.”

“You haven’t bored me for one second,” I said. “Now, go as easy on the slopes as you want. Hell, even walking around in the skis is a form of practice.”

He looked from his skis to me then down again, taking a deep breath. “Glad you don’t think I’m a wuss.”

“Hell, no,” I said. “Slow is good sometimes. Right?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Slow can be really good.”

There it was again, that glance from him that made my insides buzz. When he looked up at me from under his lashes, I wished I could take him back up to my room and have a day of fun with him.

Sure, I wasn’t a relationship kind of guy anymore. But that didn’t have to stop me from fantasizing about a no-strings-attached romp with an adorable beach bunny.

For the next couple of hours, as Jamie listened in and followed the instructor’s lessons, I helped anytime he needed assistance on his form. He took it slower than lots of the other beginners, for sure, but after a while he started to get more and more comfortable. And by the end of the lesson, Jamie was hitting the bunny slope like a pro, gliding and braking with ease.

Afterward, we met back up with everyone in the resort restaurant for a late lunch. A big group of us gathered around a long, cozy wooden table, with giant windows behind it that looked out at the mountains. I sat next to Jamie, and Chase and Adam sat at the center of the group.

When Chase mentioned that the bill for lunch would be on them today, I saw Jamie visibly relax.

“I fucking loved getting to see you out there rocking the powder, Jamie,” Chase said, giving him a squeeze on his shoulder. “Never in a million years did I think I’d see you in the snow, let alone on skis.”

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