Page 53 of Second Chances
Chapter 21
How could she tellhim?
She should have told him. She wanted to tell him. She had the perfect opportunity, but instead, let her silence ruin the most perfect evening of her life.
Now, as Josh skied ahead of her with Timber, she wished that she could rewind time and just fess up to the fact that she wasn’t a rich developer, she wasn’t one of the ‘across the bridge’ snobs. She was an ordinary woman, who was falling in love with him, and she could picture their life together if she was ten years younger. He would be the perfect father. She imagined him packing up their kids and taking them to the ski hill for their lessons or standing on the sidelines watching them play hockey.
He deserved someone who could give him that life. He deserved someone who wasn’t lying about who she was or wasn’t.
She felt like she was being ripped in two, wishing that she could tell Josh that she would move to Chance Rapids permanently if it meant that she got to see him every day.
She was lost in thought and focused on the ground ahead of her. When she looked up the trail was empty. Josh must’ve gotten ahead of her. She picked up her pace, her legs feeling sore from all the unfamiliar use, and from staying up all night riding Josh.
Their lovemaking had been the best that she’d ever experienced. He was the perfect combination of sensual and rough, of tender and hard, his body was perfect, and what was under his tool belt this whole time was seven inches of rock-hard youthful perfection.
She crested the hill, her heart rate rising with the exertion of catching up with Josh, but when she reached the top her heart sank when he was nowhere in sight. Stay calm she said to herself, he couldn’t have gotten too far ahead. She saw Timber’s footprints and headed off the trail trying to catch up.
The sun was out, and Josh was right, it was like the rolling hills were covered in diamonds. She squinted into the early morning sunlight and saw a fork in the trail. She didn’t remember seeing any different trails the night before, but it had been snowing heavily and all of her attention was focused on trying to stay upright and follow Josh. The paw prints veered to the right, so Megan slid off in their direction.
“Nice of you to wait for me, Josh,” she muttered under her breath as she traveled into a heavily wooded section of trail. After every little knoll she expected to see Josh’s royal blue jacket up ahead, but each time she was disappointed. Her anger was growing, but so was her frustration, and after the latest bend in the trail with no sign of Josh, fear.
She saw the dog tracks leap off the trail and disappear into the bush. Her heart sank. She stopped and stood perfectly still, looking ahead of her and then behind her. She held her breath, listening for any sign of Timber or Josh.
“T-T-Timber,” she yelled. “Josh,” she screamed.
She didn’t know whether to continue on the current trail or backtrack to the fork in the road. The current trail was heading into some pretty thick forest, and the main trail seemed easier and more familiar to her. She remembered reading in a book that when you’re lost the best thing to do is to stay still, but that didn’t feel right to her.
The trail she was on started to seem scary and unknown, she felt like the trees were growing thicker and moving in on her. She did the equivalent of a thirty point turn on her skis and slid off in the direction she had just come from. She figured at least if she was on the main trail, she might have a better chance of running into someone, anyone.
“Fuck you, Josh. Real mature.” Her anger was rising in time with her pulse and she started playing out various scenarios in her mind, most of them involved a slap to the face and a firing. How could he do this to her?
She snapped her head around when she heard some twigs snapping in the bush, and felt her chest constrict when the twigs snapping turned to the sound of something big crashing through the bush. Were bears out this time of year? Shit. Did mountain lions make that much noise coming through the bush? She wanted to scream for Josh but didn’t want to draw the attention of whatever it was, whoever it was, to her. She was frozen in fear and could hear whatever it was breathing as it closed in on her. She held her ski pole in front of her like a sword and felt the tears welling up in her eyes as the adrenaline overtook her and her body started to shake in fear.
A flash of brown leapt from the darkness of the woods and onto the trail.
A deer. It stopped and looked right at Megan, it’s big brown eyes and eyelashes blinking, taking her in, and then it leapt gracefully off the trail and continued running through the bush. Not one minute later Timber burst from the forest and onto the trail. He stopped and looked at Megan too. He seemed conflicted, he looked to the direction the deer had run, and then back at Megan, but she wasn’t waiting to see if he was going to choose her. She leapt forward and dove for the end of his leash which was trailing behind him. She grabbed it in her hand just as Timber chose the deer over her. She yanked him back, “Oh no you don’t.” He turned and whimpered at her. “Not today, Timber. Not today.” Timber seemed to accept his fate and sat down beside Megan while she tried to get back onto her feet.
“Which way, boy?”
She felt ridiculous talking to the dog, but if anyone was going to find Josh, it was him. He was facing the main trail and stood up, pulling Megan along behind him. “Okay, that’s what I thought too.” Then Megan and Timber continued on toward the main trail together. They hadn’t quite reached the fork when Megan saw a familiar silhouette in a blue jacket racing down the trail toward them.
“Oh, Megan.” Josh threw down his ski poles and grabbed her into a bear hug.
Megan didn’t hug him back, she was so happy to see him, but angry that he had put her in such a predicament.
“Where did you go?” he asked, taking Timber’s leash from Megan’s hand.
“What do you mean? Where did I go? Where did you go?”
“I didn’t go anywhere. I stayed on the main trail and was waiting for you. Why did you come down this goat trail?”
Megan finally looked up into Josh’s blue eyes. They were the same blue as his jacket and all she could see in them was concern. “You got ahead of me, and I didn’t know which way you’d gone, so I followed Timber’s tracks.”
“I was so worried. Timber got away from me, I couldn’t find you. I backtracked miles and then I heard Timber barking. I didn’t think that you would’ve turned down here.” Josh was speaking rapidly and gesturing with his arms.
“I was so scared, Josh.” Now that Megan’s adrenaline rush was over, and the realization that Josh wasn’t being a jerk, that he was actually worried and out there looking for her, she felt ridiculous and angry at herself. She was the reason that they had an awkward morning, and now she was the reason that he had sprinted off trying to find her.
Josh gathered her in his arms and she let her head rest on his chest as the tears started to flow freely. Josh stroked her back and squeezed her tightly. “It’s okay. You’re okay.”
