Page 44 of Avalanche
Both my taillights are completely smashed, broken plastic and glass scattered in glittering fragments among the melted snow. I scrub at my face, then bend to pick up some of the broken pieces, turning them in trembling hands, as if I somehow expect to be able to put it back together. To fix it.
But some things can’t be fixed.
The phone in my pocket pings again, the sound piercing against the violent whooshing behind my ears. I drop the broken shards of plastic and scramble to pull it free. More messages from Eddie, but the words blur and swarm in front of my eyes, suffocated by the white anger creeping in at the edges of my vision. I push the call button by Eddie’s name instead and lift the phone to my ear.
He answers on the first ring.
“Seth. Mate.” He gives a sheepish chuckle, but there is no mistaking the relief in his voice. “Sorry for texting you at work.”
“No worries.” My voice sounds distant, echoing down the line like it belongs to some other person. Someone who isn’t currently standing in a parking lot staring at their vandalized car.
“Look, is there any chance you can get off work early today? I know you guys are short staffed?—”
He pauses, no doubt remembering the reason why I’ve been having to pull extra weight. Because I’ve been busy supervising Grant, the guy I hired after I fired Tom. Not that it was ever an option to keep Tom employed. Not after what he did, what he said.
No, it was either fire him or go to jail for murder.
My gaze drifts over Tom’s tire tracks, following them to where his truck disappeared only moments ago. Maybe I shouldn’t have held back. Shouldn’t have let Matty and Eddie pull me off him.
Maybe the world would be better if Tom didn’t exist at all.
“—but I really need your help. Well, mainly I need your car, but also your help.”
“You want me to pick up a few things?” I ask hollowly.
Somewhere, in the back of my mind, I know I should be asking Eddie what the hell they’re doing. If they really think it’s a good idea for Matty to propose to Lily, especially the day after Matty stormed out. After Lily spent the early hours of the morning crying into her pillow. But all I can think about is Tom’s face, that half-crazed scowl he’d shot me over his steering wheel, the hollow cast of his cheeks as he’d yelled at me through his closed window.
“…so I’ll text you a list. Matty said he’ll transfer you the money. You’ll be here around three?”
“Around three?” I echo, my finger poised over the scratch etched deep into the side of my car.
“Yeah, man. If you can. Lily should be home around four, so that’ll give us enough time to put the finishing touches on everything.”
My fingers tighten around my phone as I scrub at my face with my free hand. I’m going to need to take my car to a mechanic to get the taillights fixed at least, otherwise I’ll risk getting pulled over. I don’t really have money to take the car to a body shop to deal with the scratch, and I doubt my insurance covers this sort of thing…
“I’ll see if Grant can cover me,” I tell him, then drop my phone from my ear, stare unseeingly at the screen of my phone and try to make out the time, wondering if I’ll have time to get to the mechanic before I head home.
Eddie’s voice hums distantly from the receiver.
I’m going to have to tell them about Tom, too. That he didn’t leave town like we’d thought. That’s he’s back.
Back in Park City, and angry.
Chapter 13
Lily
I’m feeling strangely light as I make my way up the steps to the condo, like I’m one smile away from defying gravity. I trail my fingertips over the metal railing and barely feel the cold.
Tessa and I had spent the afternoon doing tree runs, seeking out fresh pockets of powder beneath snow-laden branches, laughing until the sun kissed the tops of the mountain, until rock and snow and pine were painted purple against a cotton candy sky.
“Your riding has gotten heaps better,” she’d told me, as we tumbled out from the trees onto a cat track, my board only inches behind hers. “I don’t think you’re far off being able to pass the riding side of the exam. And you should be fine with the teaching stuff—I’ve seen you with your students and you’re great. Your demos too. You’ll just want to study all the technical stuff. See if Liam has an old manual you can look at.”
She’d thrown me a smile then, a teasing flash of white against wind-flushed cheeks. “And you might want to get your other boyfriend to check out your board. The rental shop guy… what’s his name? You took a mean core shot going over that rock back there.”
I grin up at our condo, Tessa’s words echoing in my ears. Your other boyfriend. She’d said it teasingly, but there hadn’t been any judgment in it, not even the faintest hint of disapproval.
Those guys are totally in love with you.
