Page 45 of Second Chances
Chapter 18
Josh looked aroundhis garage, his climbing gear sat unused in rubber bins, but instead of layers of snow, his powder skis had layers of dust on them. His mountain snowmobile sat under its cover, where it had slept for the past five years.
He trailed his fingertips over the line of skis in the hand-carved wooden rack – ten pairs in total, but only five were his. The shorter, pink versions, Erica’s. He hadn’t been able to bring himself to get rid of her gear, he’d even waxed them the first year after her death, thinking that somehow, she’d walk through the front door, ready to head to the mountain and ski some fresh lines with him.
She had been one of the best skiers in town, and when he moved to Chance Rapids to be with her, she made it clear that skiing was her passion, and if he wanted to spend time with her once the snow flew, he was going to have to be able to keep up.
He pulled out his classic Nordic skis and boots, and only hesitated for a moment before pulling Erica’s off the rack.
“Come on Timber,” he shouted and pointed to the truck. Timber whined excitedly when he saw the skis being loaded into the cab.
He knocked rapidly on Megan’s door, the rhythm of his knock mirroring that of his heartbeat. The door opened, her huge grin welcoming him. He took a quick glance up and down, she looked amazing, every bit of her a mountain girl.
“For someone who doesn’t ski, you certainly have all the right gear, or did you go out and buy all that Gore-Tex today?”
Megan ran her hands down the front of her expensive pink coat, “What, this old thing?”
“Are you ready?” he asked.
“As ready as I’ll ever be. As long as we don’t have to climb any cliffs or anything,” she added.
“Nah, the ice-climbing is the date. I mean, um, small town lesson number three,” he stammered.
Megan pulled a matching pink hat with fur pom-pom onto her head, “Do I need anything else?” she asked.
“Nope, just made sure you’re warm enough. I’ve got everything else covered,” he said, handing her a headlamp.
She looked at him quizzically and reached out to take the headlamp from him. She stretched the elastic around her hat and pushed the button, the small LED light shone to life, temporarily blinding Josh. He reached out and clicked off the light. “You don’t need to turn it on just yet, and when you have it on, don’t look me in the eyes when you talk to me.” He knew that he was saving his eyeballs from temporary blindness, and his heart, from the racing that happened when her blue eyes met his.
“Oh, ok. Sorry about that,” she giggled.
“I’ll let you get away with it this once.”
“Where are we going?” she asked as the two of them walked side by side down the pathway to the truck. Josh opened the door and Megan grabbed the handle to hoist herself into the cab, his nubby winter tires made the truck taller than any Megan had even been in.
“It’s a surprise,” he said and closed the door. Timber stood on the center console and gave Megan a sniff and lick on the nose.
Josh hopped in the driver’s seat and put the truck into gear. He noticed Megan rubbing her gloved hands together and turned up the heat. “Just so you know, after you left the job site today, Brian was able to get most of the ductwork installed, and he will be able to finish up the job tomorrow.”
“That’s amazing,” Megan replied.
“But we talked about work enough this afternoon, I think tonight we should just focus on your lessons to help you become a real Chance Rapids local.”
“A local? Is that even possible? You are a pretty tight-knit group here. From what I have seen, if your parents weren’t born here, you will always be an outsider.”
Josh laughed. “You’re not far off. I’ve been here almost fifteen years and some of the old-timers still consider me an outsider.”
The headlights from the truck shone on a small back road, there were about 5 inches of fresh snow and the tracks their truck left were the only ones on the road. “Is this where you whisk me off to a cabin to hold me captive before you murder me?”
“Exactly.” Josh grinned. “But because of the massive snow storm headed our way, I’ll be forced to spend days with you in front of the fire. And, are you familiar with Stockholm syndrome? Because that’s going to happen for sure.”
Megan’s face flushed. “I think I am.”
Josh could’ve kicked himself. Sometimes he wondered why he couldn’t think faster than his mouth could speak. “Well, it sounds like you’ve seen too many movies. There will be no kidnapping. No murder. And no falling in love with your captor tonight.” Shit, he did it again.
He saw Megan’s breath hitch, and then she turned to him, “That’s too bad. Murder and kidnapping aside, that sounds like a nice evening.”
“How about we just start with a little cross-country skiing.”
