Page 39 of Second Chances
“Get in position and we’ll knock it back on three,” Freddie explained.
Megan stood in front of the shot ski, feeling mildly ridiculous, but enjoying the camaraderie she was feeling with the town locals. On three Josh and Freddie lifted the ski and the sugary shot of fiery alcohol slid past Megan’s lips and down her throat. She coughed and felt her eyes start to water.
The dizzy feeling returned, and Megan knew that it wasn’t trepidation about the shot ski. She was properly drunk. On a Tuesday.
“Come and join us.” Freddie put his arms around both Josh and Megan. Josh shot Megan a look and she nodded.
They pulled some extra chairs up to the crowded Search and Rescue table and Josh and Megan joined the rowdy group. They were squished in between Ethan and a guy named Ralph, and Megan felt her breath hitch when her leg brushed against Josh’s but chalked the touch up to their proximity, but when she felt Josh’s hand on her thigh, she knew that the leg brush hadn’t been accidental. She pressed her thigh against his and felt his press back in return. Megan placed her hand on her own thigh beside Josh’s hand and let her pinky finger press against his. His wound around hers in response. She swooned inside.
They sat with their baby fingers intertwined in a secret pinky swear, while the guys at the table regaled Megan with stories about the various rescues that had happened in the last few years. She was shocked and impressed by the skill and dedication that the men had to their volunteer cause. Sitting there laughing with a table of strangers, alongside Josh, felt like one of the most natural things that she had ever done. Even though she was completely out of her element, she felt something she had never felt before. She felt like she belonged there.
From what Megan could gather, there was a mechanic, a snowcat driver, an accountant, a professional snowboarder, and a lawyer all sitting together at the table. An unlikely group of characters all drawn together for the love of the mountains and helping people. Megan couldn’t help but think about how unlikely it would be for this cast of characters to all sit and laugh together in the city.
Alfred, the snowcat driver was telling a story about coming up on a car that had gone into the ditch in a blizzard, and when he had dug out the door, found the couple inside, well, keeping themselves warm. He continued the story, that they had kept at each other even as he pried the door open. Alfred hadn’t known what to do, so he shut the door and gave them five more minutes to finish up. He hadn’t spared any details, “You know, they probably could’ve rocked that car out of the ditch with their humping,” he guffawed. Megan felt Josh laughing and glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. He caught her eye and winked at her as he brushed a tear of laughter from his eye.
“When is opening day?” John the lawyer asked her.
“It’s scheduled for the 15th, to coincide with the opening of the ski hill.”
“That’s ambitious,” he replied.
“She’s got everything under control,” Josh said and squeezed her hand, intertwining his thick fingers with hers.
Megan felt tingles rush from her fingertips to her heart.
“It’s going to be tight, but I think we can do it,” she said. She honestly believed that it was possible if everything fell into place.
“Well, I’ll be there after I get a few runs in on the mountain,” John replied.
“Me too,” Ethan chimed in. “I’m going to come in and get some coffee first thing.”
As every man sitting around the table said that they were planning on visiting the café on opening day, Megan realized the enormity of what she had taken on.
“I think you better expect everyone in town to show up.”
Josh squeezed her hand again, “She’s ready. But I think that’s enough business talk for now.”
The conversation turned back to knots, snowmobiles, snowpack, and avalanche danger, but Megan’s mind was flip-flopping between worrying about the opening day of the café, and the excitement she felt deep in the depths of her body. A part of her she hadn’t felt in a long time had awoken, and for the first time in years, she wanted to feel a man inside of her, and not in a perfunctory, making a baby way, but in a sensual filling up that can only come with pent up passion and desire.
She was sitting beside her general contractor, thinking about how he’d look in her bed, how she wanted to run her fingers through his chest hair while she rocked her hips against his.
She pulled her fingers from his and scraped her chair against the floor to try to create some distance between them. She couldn’t do this.
“I should go,” she whispered to Josh. “Do you have the number for a cab?”
“I do,” Josh whispered back. “But Al is the only cab driver in town.” Josh gestured to one of the men sitting at the far end of the table.
“Shit,” Megan muttered to herself. She pulled out her cell phone and texted Charlotte.
Need ride. ASAP.
In textbook Charlotte fashion, her phone chimed back almost instantaneously.
Are you okay? Where are you?
I’m okay. I’m at the Last Chance.
WTF. Be there in ten minutes. Be outside.
