Avery
It’s Friday. The day before Kid’s Bazaar and I’m at work bored as hell. Years ago, I’d be on the mountain playing in the powder, running everything through my head, and only focusing on the competition, but I’ve grown confident in myself despite being nervous about Max being there.
I’ve been surfing the web most of the day, checking out my competition lineup. There’s only one name I’m excited about—Emma Hughes. Although she’s labeled as my rival, we’re far from rivals. She’s the sweetest, most down-to-earth person I’ve ever met. We’ve never exchanged a bad word, only positive and motivational pep talks. We’ve never shared bad blood, regardless of how badly the news loves to create conflict. We ignore it.
Max: Dinner tonight? Please.
Me: Yes! But I can’t stay long.
Max: My place at 7?
Me: See you then.
Between Max being busy with another expansion and finalizing plans with Zach, and my training on my off time, I haven’t gotten to spend a lot of time with Max this week. My excitement is shredding me to pieces as I ride the elevator up to his floor. When the doors open and my eyes land on the man I’m crazy about, I all but want to throw myself at him.
He yanks me to him, wrapping his arms around my waist, and kisses me. Instantly I melt against him.
“I’m just going to throw it out there. I’ve really missed you,” he says, keeping his face close to mine.
“Me too,” I breathe, smiling up to him.
He presses his lips to mine once more and I tingle from the tenderness of it. “I made dinner,” he says, releasing me and grabbing my hand.
The table holds two plates, each with a steak, vegetables, and a baked potato. A candle sits between them along with a glass of whisky for him and Sangria for me.
Our conversation is light and about nothing much as we sit together and eat. He tells me about his waitress Marcy fumbling to tell him she was pregnant and Caleb cutting his baby sitter’s dog’s hair…again. His laugh fills an odd emptiness I’ve had all week and it warms me as I listen to him. I really missed him, much more than what I wanted to admit.
“Are you nervous?” he asks looking over his glass.
I shake my head. “Not right now, no. I will be tomorrow. It never fails.”
The corners of his lips tic, but never fully raise. “Tomorrow I’ll get to see you in your element. You’ve seen me in mine, been to my winery, my home, but I’ve never gotten to enter your world.”
My stomach drops as the guilt about keeping Maddi from him starts to gnaw at me.
“Does it make you nervous that I’ll be there?”
Scrunching my face, I bounce my head from shoulder to shoulder. “Not really. When I’m up there, I’m Aubrey and I’m used to the eyes on me. Making my way to the starting line is when I’m the most nervous, when I feel the weakest in my moment, but by the time I strap in and glance to the run, I’m over it. I’m hyped by then.”
His smile is sweet. “I would’ve never pegged you as an adrenaline junkie.”
I titter. “I’m not necessarily addicted to the adrenaline as what I am for the feel of the board. Like you with wine, I really enjoy it. I feel free and in control even when I’m not. My parents, more so my dad, shared his love for snowboarding with me and in some weird way, I feel closest to them.”
He nods without a voice.
“My parents were on the way back from a dinner date. They had one several times a month. Said it kept their love strong. It was late. It had snowed the night before, but the roads were clear. Somehow dad lost control of the car and…” I blink, realizing what I’m saying hasn’t come from my mouth in so many years. “They wrecked.” The words fall flat with so much sorrow. “Ryan got the call.”
He reaches over the table and grabs my hand. “You don’t have to relive this right now, Avery.”
I lift a shoulder, nonchalantly. “I know. Being so close to a competition is when I miss my parents the most. They were my biggest cheerleaders. God, my mother’s yell could be heard over everyone else’s,” I puff a giggle at the memory and then I frown. “The last competition they saw was when I just turned sixteen. I’ve matured and grown in eight years.”
“They’d be proud of you,” he says.
“For sure. I lost my mind at first. I didn’t know how to cope. Losing one parent is hard enough, but both was devastating. And then not long after, my grandmother passed. I was lost.”
“You deserved to be lost. Who wouldn’t have been?”
If he only knew I ran off with a shitbag and got knocked up and then he tried to kill me…I bet his opinion of me wouldn’t be so high.
“Will you be busy Sunday?” I ask. I have to face my biggest fear of losing him and tell him about Maddi.
“Depends. Will I be doing something with you?”
“Yes,” I reply.
“Then, no. I’m not busy at all Sunday.” His grin is lopsided and loving and contagious.
He pulls me to my feet and moves me to the living room, looking out the large floor-to-ceiling windows. Snow flurries over the city, light and easy. I’ve always thought that when it snows, the world becomes silent, falling under the spell of its magical meditation sensation.
I twist toward him, planting my hands on his chest and peering up to him. “Before things move too far and I’m forced to awkwardly hurt your feelings, I’m incredibly superstitious. No sex the night before an event.”
Amused, his eyes light up. “Then I’ll stand here and hold you while we watch the snow.”
The feeling is immense. It’s explosive. It’s intense. And I can’t stop myself from saying it. “I love you.”
He inhales, clearly relishing the words and the effect they have on them. “I love you too.”
We stand at his window for a long time, together, his arms around my waist drawing circles on my hips. It’s sensual and intimate, like we’re connecting on a level that’s deeper than any love making we could have had.
All my thoughts circle around him, fantasizing about what my life will be like with him in it. In two days, everything will change for us. He’ll know my entire truth… I just pray he accepts it.