Page 43 of Bachelor

I reached out and patted her back until she caught her breath again.

“Even so,” Whitney croaked, her eyes watering. “I think he’s got a chance if he doesn’t break his arms and legs today.”

“So... I shouldn’t take him down the black diamond to start our lesson? That’s how I learned. My uncles took me to the top and left me there. I had to find a way to get down on my own.”

“Really?” I asked Jessica, who nodded, giving me a little shrug.

“I learned, didn’t I? I could ski down anything after that.”

“How old were you?” Whitney asked, perplexed.

Jessica blew out her breath. “Oh, maybe five or six.”

Whitney and I laughed, and I felt like that tension between us had finally shifted and splintered, leaving room for someone new. A friendship, perhaps, even if that was the last thing I wanted from her right now.

I wanted far more than I deserved.

They finished their hot chocolate and then moved on to the breakfast burrito I hadn’t touched. Tyler sauntered into the day lodge looking worse for wear, his eyes a little bloodshot from drinking the night before. He held up his rental skis in triumph, however, and started bugging Whitney and Jessica about getting in line for the lift.

I followed them out and stood in line while they stood behind me, chatting and giving Tyler a hard time about being hungover.

“Whitney, you ride with Rhys. I’m going to have to cling to this fool when we get off the chairlift,” Jessica grumbled.

“I thought we just jumped off at the end,” Tyler replied, and then yelped when Jessica swatted his chest with her gloved hand.

“You’re gonna get us both killed today, you idiot.”

I smirked, happy that Tyler had found some friends that truly loved him and accepted him as he was.

“Rhys! Thank goodness, I thought I was going to snowboard by myself today.”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to hide my sudden disappointment as Cassandra’s voice drifted in my direction. When I opened my eyes, she was standing right beside me, clad in an icy-blue snow pant set with matching gloves and white, fluffy hat. She grinned at me, motioning to her board.

“You should have told me you ride. It would’ve given us something to talk about.”

“You snowboard?” I asked, and she grinned wider, her cheeks going a rosy pink.

“I am today. It’s my first time, and I’ve always wanted to learn. Some of the professors were talking about your fancy board, and I figured I’d find you and have you give me a lesson.”

“Oh, uh, right now?”

“Why not?”

Because I don’t want to. “S-sure, fine,” I gruffed, turning forward as the line began to move.

Behind me, I heard Jessica and Tyler whispering. Great, just great.

“Oh, look, the chairlift fits three in a seat. Whitney, you can ride with us. I’m sure Rhys won’t mind. He can even sit in the middle!”

I looked over my shoulder just as Whitney plastered a fake smile on her face that lit up her eyes. “Lucky me,” she crooned, but her eyes slid to mine in obvious annoyance.

I gave her a weak, apologetic smile.

As it happened, the two of us had to haul Cassandra onto the lift. She nearly slid underneath the seat, and then spent the ten-minute ride up to the middle of the mountain talking rapidly, asking Whitney questions about her family and her life back in the city and the Hamptons.

I knew Cassandra knew Whitney’s parents, or knew of them, but she was definitely prying, and I had no choice but to engage her in conversation just to spare Whitney from being tormented.

Finally, after a long pause where we were just stuck in midair, trapped with her, we made it to the end of the lift, and Whitney hopped off, disappearing in a flash of red and white.

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