Kehlan couldn’t help but imagine what his father would have said in this situation, had he still been alive. The way the canceled trip and the brochure had led him to meet this girl, so beautiful and so charmingly sincere, was surely something beyond coincidence. His father would probably even go a step further and insinuate that his conversation with his mother, which had prevented him from returning to Al-Derra immediately, was all part of some cosmic pull.

But Kehlan didn’t believe in all of that. All Kehlan knew was that when he stood in front of Paige, it was hard to think about anything but her. Her chocolate brown hair and large, round eyes to match, coupled with the softness of her body and the grace of her movements had a way of drawing in his attention and not letting it go. And he knew that right now, being in close proximity to a woman who seemed to be an inherently good distraction was a fantastic idea.

Even if that distraction intended to lead him up a mountain that she herself had told him was dangerous less than an hour before.

“I was exaggerating earlier,” she said, although he didn’t think he’d given her any reason to think he needed to be reassured. “Sure, it’s dangerous if you hit a melted patch, but it’s not like those are hard to see. I mean, the difference between snow and dirt is hard to miss. Have you ever skied before?”

In times like this, Kehlan was glad for his well-practiced poker face.

“Once or twice.”

“Okay,” she said, visibly relieved. “The best place to eat near Stockton that isn’t the Coffee Cup is part-way down the mountain. You can only get there by ski. They should still be open, though I imagine they aren’t much busier than we’ve been all morning. It’s great food once we can get there, though. Second-best lunch in town.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“And would you say yours was the best if you didn’t work at the Coffee Cup?”

She laughed. He liked to watch her laugh. He’d always had a talent for making women laugh, ever since he could remember. But to Kehlan, it felt as though he was only just now discovering the benefits.

“We can take my car, since I know where we’re going,” she said, walking out. Then, amusingly, he saw her stop sharply. “Or, I guess we could take that.”

Kehlan grinned.

“I figured if I was going to drive out into the country, I might as well enjoy the drive. And I’ve never actually gotten around to trying one of these out.”

In the past, he’d often used his wealth to impress women he found attractive. But with her, it was different. He wasn’t embarrassed by his wealth, exactly, but he was very aware of how it might affect how she saw him. He’d spent plenty of time telling himself that he didn’t have to prove himself to anyone—not to any of the people who assumed that he was just playing at being a doctor, or to anyone else. But here, now, he felt he did need to prove himself, somehow.

“Well, I imagine you’ll enjoy the drive up the mountain in that.”

Kehlan laughed.

“And you will, too. Jump in and I’ll show you.”

He stopped himself from laughing as she got in gingerly.

“It’s just a rental. You don’t need to be so careful.”

“Might as well be a golden carriage to me,” he heard her mumble under her breath, and he winced inwardly.

Still, even if the car intimidated her more than he would have liked, he felt confident that she would at least enjoy riding in it as much as he enjoyed driving it.

And by the looks of it, he was right. She missed a few turns, even though she’d lived here her whole life, and he was pretty sure that getting caught up in the speed and the smoothness of the ride was the reason why. Though, he had to admit that he hoped the company had something to do with it as well.

When they got to the ski resort, the place was a ghost town. The man at the lift ticket station seemed surprised to see them, as he jolted up at the sound of the door chime, scattering his business-card-castle into a pile of cardstock in disarray on the counter. But once he’d recovered from his surprise, and his obvious dismay at the demise of his creation, he did confirm that, yes, the restaurant on the slopes was open. Technically. But he also made sure that they knew that the conditions on the slopes could be treacherous this time of year.

“Just so you’re sure you know what you’re getting into,” he said, as he handed over the skis. And though Kehlan felt completely capable of handling the mountain in front of him, in a larger sense, he wondered if he was completely prepared for what he was getting into with the woman he’d be skiing next to.

Again, he thought of what his father would say. Unintentionally evocative questions. A dangerous journey together. Meddling fates.

Still, if Kehlan could try to set aside the distraction of the woman he was with and his surprising need to impress her, it felt good to get out on the slopes again. No one had exaggerated that conditions this time of year were far from ideal, and Kehlan felt all the expertise gained from countless hours skiing in during his school years come into play. It was refreshing to stretch those metaphorical muscles again, after a day that had been marred by conflict, disappointment and surprise.

It also helped that he could feel Paige’s eyes on him. He liked knowing she was watching him—to know she saw his body moving deftly on the slopes. Was it too much for him to imagine that she was thinking the same kinds of thoughts when he was ahead of her as he thought when their positions were reversed? He could only hope.

He was hungry, though, and they had a mission, so he followed Paige directly down the slopes along the shortest path to the restaurant part-way down the mountain. They got there in less than half an hour, and wasted no time in getting inside and choosing a table among the many that were available.

It was hard not to get too caught up in watching Paige strip out of her snow gear down to her normal clothes. There was something seductive about the motions, even though she was all business about it and chatted in a friendly manner with the hostess, whom she apparently knew, while she did it. He wondered if she realized that, or if she was as unknowing of her own charms in this way as she had seemed to be at the Coffee Cup.

When they were fully settled in and had ordered what Paige insisted was the best collection of items on the menu, they were left with nothing to do but to talk to one another. Which, on the one hand, was the one thing in the world Kehlan had most wanted to do since he had wandered into the diner and seen her standing there. But on the other hand, he found that his heart rate was rising. He was almost nervous to speak to her, after the trip down the mountain and with the growing attraction towards her.

He knew he didn’t show it—he was well-versed in keeping a steady, calm air however he might be feeling. But all the same, the feeling caught him off guard.

“So,” she began, “you said you were from Al-Derra?”

He smiled, on familiar ground. How many times had he had this conversation over the years? Always versions of the same thing.

“I am. Let me guess, you’ve never heard of it?”

She returned his smile and he was struck again by how gorgeous she looked when she smiled.

“I have to admit, I haven’t.”

He shrugged.

“It’s not a large nation by any means, but it’s home. It’s basically nothing more than a sprawling city by the sea with some desert that is technically part of the country. We tend to fly under the radar.”

She nodded, considering, and then continued with a sly smile.

“And that’s in the Middle East, right? The hot, mainly desert Middle East?”

He could see where this was going, and absently stroked his chin.

“It is, yes.”

“Not a lot of snow there, I imagine.”

Kehlan laughed.

“No, not really. Very occasionally, up high in the mountains, there’s a snowfall. But nothing like here.”

Their conversation felt a little bit like watching her solve a puzzle.

“So when you say you’ve been skiing once or twice…”

He helped her out.

“I perhaps went more than once or twice. To be honest, when I told you I learnt English in Europe, I might have left out that that was at boarding school in Switzerland.”

She laughed—that glorious, gorgeous laugh that had rung out in the diner so beautifully. It only seemed all the warmer bouncing of the walls of the smaller confines of this cozy little restaurant on the slopes.

“And here I was worrying you wouldn’t be able to handle the conditions. You’re like a pool shark, only for skiing!”

Kehlan shrugged.

“I like to be a pleasant surprise. I would only be a skiing shark, as you say, if we’d somehow put money on it. So that’s not really fair.”

“And you don’t seem like you need the money.”

The words slipped out of her mouth, and it seemed to surprise and embarrass her that she’d said them. He tried to slide the conversation forward to minimize her embarrassment.

“No, I don’t,” he admitted. “I’ve been very fortunate.”

“You’re a doctor in Al-Derra.”

He didn’t mean to hide it from her. He didn’t think through not revealing his identity as a member of the country’s ruling family. It just felt as though mentioning it was the wrong thing to say. If she had been intimidated by the car, how much more so would she be by a royal title?

“I am, yes.”

Not a lie. But not the whole truth, either. In times like this, he almost wished his poker face were a little less well developed. He almost wished that she would see that he was leaving things out and call him on it. But instead, he just continued on smoothly. More truth, just not the whole truth.

“I wanted to be a vet when I was very young, but before long, I switched to humans. I can’t remember a time when healing wasn’t what I wanted to do. Honestly, I find it very satisfying. I have a practice at the hospital in Al-Derra’s capital, Sadifah, which suits me well.”

No mention of the compromise with his family that required him to set his practice up there. No mention of the reactions he constantly had to manage from his patients when they heard his full name for the first time. All of that belonged somewhere far away. None of that belonged here, with her, in this perfect place.

For one long, tense moment, he thought she might interrogate him further about his life and position in Al-Derra. But instead, she asked him about school in Switzerland, and he was glad to tell her about it. Here, he was hitting his stride. As much as speaking to her had made him feel nervous in a way he hadn’t been in years, as soon as he got talking, he felt the words flowing out of him like water. She was so easy to talk to, and he found that he enjoyed her attention more than he could remember enjoying anyone else’s.

She didn’t talk much about herself, he noticed. And he found himself deeply curious about all the things she wasn’t mentioning. But at the same time, he didn’t want to pry and risk souring the conversation. There was something she was holding close to her chest, and he wouldn’t pressure her for it. She would tell him eventually, if she deemed him worthy of being told.

The food came, and Kehlan was blown away.

“This is amazing,” he said to Paige’s smiling face.

“Worth the trouble getting here?” she asked, and he nodded.

“Most definitely.”

He asked her about the dishes in front of them, more out of curiosity than out of any expectation that she should know their various origins and ingredients. But to his surprise, she was as forthcoming about the food as she had been cagey about herself moments before.

“Now it’s my turn to feel played,” he said.

“How so?”

“Well, I seem to have accepted a restaurant invitation by someone who works there. You know, you have to disclose your relationship before making the recommendation. There are laws and everything.”

He was giving her a playful grin to soften the words that might have seemed harsh if she hadn’t realized he was joking. Luckily, she did.

“Locally sourced ingredients is something that the Coffee Cup and this restaurant share,” she replied, by way of explanation. “The owner of the Coffee Cup relies on me a bit to work with the local farms and ranches, and I’ve compared notes from time to time with the buyer for this place. Technically, they’re the competition, but that’s just the way people are around here.”

“So, you’re not just a waitress, then?”

The words came out of his mouth before he could stop them.

“Just?” she smiled at him, mock offended.

“I didn’t mean—”

She waved her hand.

“No, I know. I’m not offended. But no, I guess I’m not ‘just’ a waitress. I mean, technically, that’s my job and that’s most of what I do. It’s my official job title in as much as the Coffee Cup has ‘official’ anything. But I’ve been there for eight years now, and the longer I stay, the more I get pulled into the inner workings of the business.”

Kehlan nodded, understanding.

“So, are any of these dishes similar to those you serve at the Coffee Cup?”

He was hoping this would get her talking, and he was right. No sooner was the question out of his mouth than she was off, telling him every detail of any number of dishes at the other restaurant. Watching her talk with such obvious interest felt like a door being opened; as much as Paige was quick to insist that this was just a bit of added responsibility on top of her normal duties, Kehlan could tell that it was a genuine passion for her.

She told him all about the local farms, including a few interesting, colorful anecdotes of the people who ran them in all their off-kilter, central Washingtonian glory. Even as she wasn’t sparing them, her affection for each and every person she talked about shone through in her face as she spoke.

When she came around to a stopping point, their food was mostly consumed. Kehlan was satisfied to have gotten to listen to her speak for what felt like such a luxuriously long time.

“So, what is it about locally sourced ingredients that interests you so much?” he asked her, greedily trying to coax out just a little bit more. “Is it the environmental aspect? Fewer fuels and all that?”

She considered for a minute, and then smiled.

“Why, are you worried for your country’s oil revenues?”

She was teasing, but there was something real behind it. He rushed to reassure.

“Not in the slightest. Our reserves are limited, and we’re aggressively moving towards more sustainable energy production ourselves. We barely have enough oil to export twenty percent a year.”

In fact, my cousin Abdullah has made it his life’s mission to future-proof the country, and not relying on oil revenues is a big part of that.

He thought it, but he didn’t say it. Why didn’t he say it? Why didn’t he just tell her and get it over with?

“Twenty percent, huh? You seem to know a lot about it.”

She wasn’t accusing, just mildly interested.

“I keep myself informed.”

Not a lie. Technically not a lie. But for a moment, she paused, and he was worried she would notice there was something odd about his answer. But then she went on, shaking her head.

“No, it’s not mostly about that for me. I mean, it’s a bonus, and I’m not saying I don’t want to protect, you know, all this.” She motioned around them. “But it’s more than that. It’s kind of hard to explain. A sense of place, I guess? So many people are so quick to run away and get out there and explore the world. I just like the idea of finding a way to be satisfied with this corner of it, and to really live in and from this corner of it.”

As she spoke, she began talking more quickly. He wondered if she felt like the words were flowing out of her the way he had felt when he’d talked about his schooling and his friends and his childhood earlier.

“And part of that,” Paige went on, “means really supporting the businesses and the people who choose to stay here. That’s what really makes me passionate about it. That’s what it means to me to make sure that the Coffee Cup is contributing to keep building and developing businesses here. It’s about keeping home…well, home.”

When she was done, she seemed almost embarrassed by her own passion out on display. Kehlan wished he had a way of assuring her that there was no need to be, without calling out the embarrassment and worsening it.

“They should put you in a commercial,” he said, taking a sip of a locally grown tea that, Paige had told him, they served at the Coffee Cup as well.

She laughed. “If we ever decide to start putting out commercials, I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”

Having finished their meal, they headed back out to the slopes. As treacherous as the terrain could be, this late in the season, Kehlan found that he enjoyed the challenge, and he enjoyed undertaking it with Paige. She was a good skier, for sure, even if she seemed a little rusty. But as the afternoon wore on, and they raced each other down the slopes over and over, he saw her get back into the stride of it and give him more and more of a run for his money.

They skied until the afternoon started to turn towards evening, and they’d seen every part of the mountain that was still open for runs. They saw precious few other skiers out there, and Kehlan couldn’t help but feel that, although the conditions were suboptimal for skiing, the feeling of him and Paige being nearly alone on the mountain was irreplaceable. He couldn’t imagine a better time of the year to go.

When they had returned their gear and gotten back into the car, Kehlan turned to her.

“Well, now that you’ve shown me the restaurant and the slopes, I do believe that you are officially my tour guide.”

She laughed.

“Oh, am I? Didn’t know I was qualified for that job.”

“Believe me, you are more than qualified. And, as my tour guide, I think it’s time you told me what the best place in town is to see the sunset. It shouldn’t be too long now, I imagine.”

She thought for a moment, before a look of concern crossed her face.

“What is it? Is something wrong?” Kehlan asked, surprised at how quickly her concern had become his.

She shook her head.

“No, it’s just that the best place to watch the sunset is actually a place that Alvin told me about, years ago. And I wondered how he’s doing. If you don’t mind…”

She pulled out her phone and gestured with it, and Kehlan told her to feel free. She called the hospital, and though he only heard half the conversation, it was obvious that it was good news.

“They’re releasing him tonight,” she said, beaming, after ending the call.

Her caring was infectious. Kehlan cared about all of his patients in a professional manner, of course, but it was something different to see it through her eyes.

“That’s great,” he replied, and meant it more than he would have imagined a few hours ago.

“Now,” he said, not wanting to waste the good spirits. “About that sunset…”

Still smiling, Paige gestured ahead.

“I’ll show you the way.”