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December—two years earlier
Haley Martin captured a quick selfie at the top of the Vail Ski Resort lift with the snow-covered Colorado mountain peaks behind her, glistening in the sunlight, and posted on Instagram.
“Top of Eagle Bahn Gondola #ILoveSkiing!”
Of course, I only have ten followers, but that’s fine with me. Wow, I really miss this!
Growing up in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, Haley spent countless hours skiing and snowboarding, having acquired her first set of skis at the age of two. In high school, both she and her younger brother competed on the downhill team until her senior year when her parents moved to Houston. After four years of skiing only during Christmas and Spring Break, she’d lost some of her competitive edge, but she was determined to get it back today. On the first run, her legs had felt a little rusty, but by the third, she was back in the groove.
She tucked her cell phone away and pointed her skis downhill, picking up speed as she darted toward the side of the groomed run to make tracks in the fresh powder near the trees. With an enthusiastic whoop, she fell into a comfortable rhythm, conscious only of the feel of the snow beneath her feet, the cold wind in her face, and the rush of adrenaline and endorphins flooding her body.
She forgot everything else in the joy of the moment. She forgot about the self-imposed pressure, the competition for the top spot in her iMPA program at the University of Texas, a rigorous program to achieve both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in accounting in five years. She forgot about her grade in her Management/Audit Accounting class, in which she’d been confident to achieve the top rank, an honor that came with an automatic summer internship referral to one of the Big Four firms. She forgot her shock and fury to see another student’s name posted on the announcement board where hers should have been.
Gavin Holiday. How had he done it? He couldn’t have worked any harder than she had—there were only so many hours in the day, and she spent 90 percent of them studying. Sleeping and eating were optional. A social life was out of the question. The closest she’d come to having a boyfriend was singing harmony with a guy on the praise team at her church. And that weekly praise team practice was her only escape from the stress and pressure of her educational endeavors. No one could possibly invest more time than she had.
When Gavin’s name flashed on the screen, Haley blinked her eyes hard, certain something was wrong with her vision. But no matter how she squinted, the letters refused to change. Meanwhile, Gavin’s face broke out in the smile he stole right off her face. With an almost imperceptible nod in her direction, he lifted a single eyebrow, even while his friends were clapping him on the back and calling out congratulations.
He knew! He knew she’d been counting on that rank, depending on that referral. He wore his smugness as a royal crown, preening like the Old Testament Joseph when he showed off his “coat of many colors.”
Now I understand why Joseph’s brothers wanted to kill him.
The blood pounded in her ears, and her eyes stung. She had to leave before she embarrassed herself by bursting into tears. Then Gavin had the gall to actually approach her with some conciliatory comment. Haley didn’t know exactly what he said, beyond, “I’m sorry...” because she turned on her heel and left while he was still speaking.
Haley hated every fiber of Gavin Holiday, from his dark hair and penetrating brown eyes, to his dazzling white smile, to his chiseled I-know-I’m-God’s-gift-to-women body. Sure, he was ridiculously handsome and evidently sported some brains along with his muscles, but he was also arrogant and cocky. She hated him, but she couldn’t get him out of her mind.
Why can’t I forget about Gavin Holiday and focus on my goals, on what I have to do to be number one next semester? I’m sure he hasn’t wasted a moment of thought on me.
Her only salvation was her family’s customary Christmas trip back to Colorado. Every Christmas and Spring Break since she could remember, she and her parents and brother had always stayed with her grandmother Gammy in her country home in Morrison, just outside Denver, a tradition that continued after her family moved to Texas. Holidays spent at Gammy’s had healing powers for Haley—she had nothing but good memories there. So as the plane left the ground in Austin, she felt her worries dropping away, falling like debris to the tarmac.
I resolutely refuse to think about anything having to do with school, especially Gavin Holiday. Christmas. Family. Skiing. Those are the only things I’ll allow in my mind until I go back to Texas.
And so it was with pure pleasure Haley skied the ridge of untracked powder on the side, avoiding the hard-packed snow and ice in the middle of the groomed black diamond slope. Without a conscious thought, she responded to every nuance of the snow, shifting her skis in perfect control. It was like heaven.
Yes! I’ve got my legs back! Just like riding a bike!
Blessedly free from her angry obsession with her grades and Gavin Holiday, she raced downhill, skiing in a smooth rhythm, in time to the rock tune playing in her ear buds.
Until... she caught an edge.
The world flipped upside down, tumbling haphazardly around her as she bounced and twisted on the icy slope, one ski flying off and goggles askew, until she landed, impacting hard on her back, which sent stars to her eyes, despite her helmet. Her momentum kept her hurtling down the slope head-first, flailing in a desperate attempt to stop her uncontrolled slide.
As the trail curved around, she missed it, plummeting on her straight path, off the edge. A moment of weightlessness as the snow dropped from under her. She cringed, waiting for the impact. Deep snow cushioned her abrupt stop, low branches announcing how close she’d come to hitting a tree.
Thank you, God! I’m alive and nothing feels broken.
But the same powdery snow which cushioned her landing now held her captive. Clearing the snow from her eyes, she assessed her position. Having landed in the hollow bowl of snow around a tree trunk, she couldn’t see the slope from which she’d plummeted. In fact she couldn’t see anything but the snow in front of her face and patchy bits of sky through the pine needles.
The single remaining ski on her left boot had buried itself in the snow, trapping her other boot beneath it. She tried to move her legs, but nothing budged. Stuck on her side, she pushed with her arms, but her gloved hands sank into the powder, providing no leverage whatsoever. Any attempt to twist over onto her back produced a sharp pain in her left knee.
Like a beached whale she lay, panting for breath, halfway hoping someone had seen the accident and would come to rescue her, and halfway praying her spectacular fall hadn’t been witnessed by a single living soul.
It might be better to die of exposure than of embarrassment.
The tinny sound of music floated from the ear buds that had dislodged during the fall, ironically playing, Knock Me Over by Rick Shanahan. “Knock me over. Throw me down. Baby, turn me upside down. Nothing’s gonna keep me down. Knock me over. Throw me down.”
She took the lyrics as encouragement and made another attempt at shifting her feet. Nothing budged. Not an inch.
Muffled voices. Male. Growing closer.
So much for saving my pride.
“Hello?” a deep voice called out from somewhere up high, beyond her feet. “Hello? Are you there?”
“Here,” she croaked, just as her entire body started shivering, either from adrenaline or because the snow inside her jacket had begun to melt.
More muffled talking.
He called back, asking if she was injured. His tone was anguished, full of concern. If he’d seen her spectacular fall, he probably expected her to be dead or dying.
“I’m okay,” she called. “ I don’t think anything’s broken, but I’m stuck.”
“Hang on, I’m coming to get you.”
Crunching snow and rustling ski clothes.
What’s taking so long?
After an eternity that probably lasted all of two or three minutes she heard his voice again, close by.
“I’m here. Just trying to pack the snow down so we can crawl back out of here.”
A face appeared over the edge of the snow well. A chiseled jaw, with a few days of beard growth, just the way Haley liked it. A pair of concerned eyes, so dark the pupils almost disappeared. Why did he look familiar?
Haley groaned.
Gavin Holiday!
**********
“WE PICKED A GREAT DAY to come here,” Liam commented as they sat in the snow at the top of the lift.
“It’s totally rad,” Jonah agreed. “Maybe a little bit icy, but the slopes are practically empty.”
Gavin nodded in tacit agreement. Vail was well worth the fifty-minute drive from Denver, and the trip had gone by fast, catching up with his two old high school buddies. They always tried to board together at least two or three days during Christmas break, especially since all three were attending different colleges.
Although Gavin was enrolled in a challenging five-year iMPA program at UT, he had started college with enough hours to graduate in four and a half. Thus, he was already taking senior level-classes in his third year, and this semester had been especially tough. He was more than ready for a break.
Liam stood up on his board, hopping on his board to gain the momentum to slide across the trail to the top of the black diamond slope. Gavin followed behind with Jonah. Dropping over the lip, Liam set a fast pace, and Gavin soon forgot all about school, reveling in the adrenaline rush as he carved his way down the slope. He was startled when a girl on skis zipped by so fast they might as well have been standing still, a long braid of red hair flying out behind her.
“I consider that a personal challenge,” Gavin called to Jonah, gesturing toward the girl. “I have to catch her at the lift and make her race me so I can salvage my male pride.”
Jonah chuckled. “I wish you luck—she was going so fast she’ll be long gone before we get to the bottom.”
Admiring her aggressive stance as she skied just off the edge of the groomed trail, Gavin kept his eyes on her.
And then... she fell.
Gavin’s heart pounded inside his chest as the accident unfolded before his eyes. One second, the girl was flying downhill in perfect form. In the next instant, she was hurtling end over end, flinging her ski poles into the air. When she finally landed, her momentum sent her skidding down the steep slope toward the trees at breakneck speed.
“Yowsers!” Jonah slid to a stop. “That looked bad!”
Liam was already down below, retrieving the first ski pole. “You guys go on,” he yelled. “See if she’s hurt. I’ll pick up the stuff.”
“I’m on it.” Gavin aimed his board for the spot where he’d seen the girl leave the trail, whispering a fervent prayer as he raced down, with Jonah right on his tail. When Gavin reached the place where she disappeared, he skidded to a stop, sitting back on his bottom and peering down. From the edge of the ski trail, the terrain dropped steeply for about fifteen feet before reaching a thick forested area. He pushed his goggles up on his helmet, trying to see into the shadows below.
“Do you see her?” Jonah asked, spraying Gavin with snow as he shuddered to a stop beside him. “She was flying so fast when she disappeared. She might be unconscious.”
“Or dead,” Gavin mumbled to himself, before calling out toward the trees at the bottom of the incline. A sense of dread formed like a heavy stone in his gut. “Hello? Are you there? Hello?”
“Here.”
As he followed the muted sound with his eyes, he saw a spot of blue under the low branches of a tree. The voice was weak and shaky, but at least she was conscious.
“I think I see her. She’s down in a spruce trap.”
“Is she injured?” Jonah asked, pulling out his cell phone. “Should I call for the ski patrol?”
“Are you hurt?” yelled Gavin, thinking it was a miracle she hadn’t broken her neck.
“I’m okay. I don’t think anything’s broken, but I’m stuck.”
Gavin popped his boots free from his board.
His first step sank thigh deep, but he sat back, compacting the snow and inching forward. He called out to her, explaining his painstakingly slow progress.
When he finally reached her and peered over the edge of the tree well, the eyes that met his were beautiful, like pieces of blue had been plucked from the sky. Freckles dotted a pert nose and rosy cheeks, on creamy, flawless skin Snow clung to auburn brows, morphing from perfect arches into deep furrows while he watched. Plush, kissable lips pushed down at the corners as the jaw clenched.
“It’s you.”
Only after her accusatory words did he recognize the face that had haunted his dreams every night since late August, the first day he’d spotted her in his accounting class.
Haley Martin.
**********
“HI, HALEY. WHAT’S A nice girl like you doing in a place like this?”
Haley wanted to smack that smug smile away. She fumed as he rolled his lips between his teeth like he was stifling a laugh.
“Shut up!” she spat back, trying not to notice how cute he looked when his dimples winked into view.
Egotistical jerk!
Still grinning, he called out over his shoulder. “Hey Jonah, you gotta see this...”
“Just go away,” she hissed.
“Yes, ma’am. If that’s what you want, I’m happy to leave you here—cuts my competition way back. I’m bound to get a fifth-year fellowship if you’re not around.”
He disappeared. She heard the crunches in the snow growing softer, as she struggled to lift her head.
I can’t see out of this tree well. Is he really abandoning me?
“Wait, Gavin! Where are you going?”
“Away.” His voice was more distant.
“You can’t leave me stuck here.”
“No, I think you’re wrong. I can certainly leave you there. After all, you told me to go away. And to be honest, you didn’t seem very appreciative of my help.”
Another male voice called out, “What’s going on, Gavin?”
“I’m coming out alone,” Gavin yelled back.
“What happened? Is she injured? Do we need to call ski patrol after all?”
“No, she doesn’t want my help.”
“Ughh! Fine!” Haley made a vain try at swallowing her pride. “I would very much appreciate your help getting unstuck.”
“Say please,” his voice floated back.
With her teeth gritted tight, she ground out, “Please.”
“That’s better.”
The sound of his footsteps in the snow grew louder.
“But you have to promise to be nice,” she added.
He didn’t respond until his face appeared above the snow again. “I’ll be nice if you’re nice.”
“Look. Just get me unstuck, and you can go. I’d appreciate if you’d never mention this happened.”
He waggled his eyebrows. “No can do. You see that fall was not just a great wipeout...it was stunning. On a scale of one to ten, that had to be a thirteen.”
“Oh come on...”
“No, I’m serious. Liam and Jonah are my best buddies. I can’t deny them the prime opportunity to congratulate you in person after that incredible show. That’s against the bro-code.”
Haley swallowed a chuckle threatening to erupt, reminding herself she was mad at Gavin, though she wanted to fall inside his bottomless chocolate brown eyes.
“Are you going to get me unstuck or not?”
“Hmm... that depends. What are you going to do when I get you out?”
“I’m going to ski away from here so fast your head will spin, and I promise not to bother you the rest of the day.”
“Then the answer is no, I’m not going to get you unstuck.”
“Arghh! Just tell me what you want.”
“Ski with me the rest of the day... with us.”
“No way!”
“Come on. You don’t really want that wipeout to be my only memory of watching you ski, do you?”
No, dang it. She was itching to show him what a great skier she was. She didn’t want to have him taunting her about his superior abilities for the duration of their time at UT.
“What’s going on, Gavin?” The guy’s voice was close. He must’ve followed Gavin off the slope. “Do you need some help rescuing the damsel in distress?”
“How do you even know it’s a damsel?” asked another male voice. “All I can see is the tip of a ski. Could be a dude.”
“If you thought that was a dude skiing, you need some new contacts, Liam,” said the first guy, chuckling.
As Gavin looked over his shoulder, he started laughing, and Haley grasped for anger that had dissolved into thin air.
“Hey fellas?” Her voice shook as her jaw shivered. “If you’re through joking around, I’m starting to get kind of cold here.”
“You’re going to ski with us?” Gavin’s brows arched up in question, but Haley knew it was an ultimatum.
“I was planning to hit the terrain park, but I wouldn’t want to show you guys up,” Haley dared, salvaging what little pride she had left.
“Ha! That’s big talk from a girl who just left a yard sale on the slope.” Liam indicated the array of ski equipment left behind in her skiing wipeout. He chortled with laughter, dashing any slim hope in Haley’s mind that the other two guys wouldn’t tease her about the fall.
“Challenge accepted!” Gavin’s grin didn’t gall her quite as much this time, perhaps because she planned to wipe every last vestige of it off his face as soon as they got to the halfpipe. “Come on, guys. Let’s dig her out.”