Nineteen

Lelani

“This is totally amazing,” said Lelani as they stood at the foot of the mountain watching the chairlifts slowly moving up. “It’s so white!”

Gil laughed. “Yeah, that’s one way of putting it.”

Lelani watched as a couple of snowboarders whooshed down. “You know, that doesn’t look much different from surfing.”

“Want to give it a try?”

Lelani giggled. “Do you think I’ll hurt anyone?”

“Are you a good surfer?”

She gave him a sly glance. “Not bad.” In truth, she was pretty good, but she wasn’t tipping that hand. Just in case.

“I’ve ridden a few times.”

“Ridden?” Lelani was confused now.

“Snowboarding—they call it riding.”

“Oh, yeah.” She nodded. “So, are you game?”

“Why not?”

It took about an hour to rent snowboards and, just to be safe, they signed up for a beginner lesson on the bunny hill. But by their second run, the instructor was impressed. “You said you haven’t done this before?” he said to Lelani.

She shrugged. “I’ve done some surfing.”

“She’s obviously been holding out on us,” Gil joked to the instructor. “She probably competed in last year’s Winter Olympics.”

Consequently, it was Lelani who wound up coaching Gil. “Just relax,” she said. “Bend your knees. Use your arms for balance.”

Around noon, they finally went up the chair to the beginner slope. “You going to be okay?” she asked as they got off the lift.

He grinned. “Here goes nothing.” Then he took off and after about fifty feet crashed.

“Are you okay?” she asked as she stopped, then sat down beside him.

“I think so.”

“Is that your phone?” she asked, hearing one ring.

He reached inside his parka and removed his phone, then flipped it open. “Yeah?”

Lelani tried not to eavesdrop, but she could tell it was Anna.

“Are you sure?” he finally said. He frowned and shook his head as if something was wrong. “Yeah. I understand.” He nodded now. “I guess so. Sure, we can talk later. Are you okay?” He listened with a troubled expression. “Yeah. It’s tough. I know.” He tossed Lelani a hard-to-read look. “Sure, I’ll ask her. Tomorrow night?” He waited. “Okay. You take care, Anna. I’ll call you later.” Then he closed his phone.

“Is something wrong?”

His brow was creased, but he forced a smile. “Oh, you know Anna. She can get a little worked up sometimes.”

Lelani nodded as if she understood, although she felt slightly lost. “I do know she broke up with Edmond this week. Do you think she’s sorry about it now?”

“She should be,” said Gil as he slowly got back to his feet, balancing himself on the board. “Edmond is a good guy.”

“I know. I hope getting back with Jake isn’t a mistake.”

“My guess is that it is a mistake. But you can’t tell Anna that.”

“So, are you ready to ride?” asked Lelani.

“I guess.”

Gil seemed to be doing better, but when they were nearly to the bottom of the slope he took a hard tumble. By the time Lelani joined him, he was sitting up, but rubbing his left arm.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

He frowned. “I’m not sure.”

“Does it hurt?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you think it’s broken?” She was unbuckling his boots from the snowboard. Clearly, he couldn’t ride with an injured arm.

“You’re the doctor.”

“Yeah, right.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Want me to flag down some help? They have rescue guys—”

“No,” said Gil quickly. “Just help me up.” He extended his right hand.

“Easy does it,” she said as she helped him to his feet. “Let’s go to the lodge and see what the problem is.”

With the assistance of a couple of riders who offered to carry their boards, Lelani finally got Gil settled into a chair by the fireplace and helped him to remove his parka, then took a good look at his arm.

“What’s the prognosis, doc?” he asked with a charming smile.

“It doesn’t feel broken,” she said as she ran her fingers up and down his forearm. “This is the radius,” she explained. “And this is the ulna.”

“Ooo, I love it when you play doctor.”

She laughed. “My guess is that you’ve injured some ligaments. Hopefully not too seriously.”

“So what do I do about it?”

“For starters, you’re done riding for the day.” She unzipped one of her many pockets on the parka Kendall had given her, then retrieved a small bottle of Advil and handed it to him. “And you should take a couple of these. Then we should get some ice on your arm, and a wrap might help. And you need to keep it elevated.”

“You really do know medicine, don’t you?”

“That’s like beginner’s first aid.”

“Oh.”

“You stay here and I’ll go see what I can find.”

After asking around, Lelani was directed to the first-aid center, where she was able to purchase an ice pack and an Ace bandage. She also picked up a couple of cocoas, then returned to Gil. Before long she had his wrist wrapped and the ice pack applied.

“Should I go get the boards?” she offered.

“Why?”

“To turn them in at the rental place.”

“You mean you’re done riding?”

“Well, yeah.”

Gil frowned. “You were doing so great, Lelani. Why don’t you go and ride a few more times? I’m fine now that the doctor has taken care of me.”

“Oh, I couldn’t—”

“Yes, you can. And you’ll add insult to injury if you don’t.”

“Why?”

“Because I’ll be blaming myself for ruining your day.”

“You didn’t ruin—”

“Seriously, Lelani. It’d make me happy to see you enjoy this.” He waved his wrapped arm toward the big window.

This was very tempting. She had been enjoying herself, and she hated for it all to end. “Are you positive?”

“Absolutely.”

“And you’ll be okay?”

He grinned. “Hey, I can still walk. And if I need to, I can always go get this cocoa spiked with something to help relieve the pain.”

She laughed. “Okay. I’ll do a couple more runs and then we might want some lunch anyway.”

“Sounds great.”

Lelani felt a little guilty as she made her first run. But by the second run, she was totally enjoying the adventure. This was the first time since coming to the mainland that she had actually felt like she was having fun. Riding reminded her of surfing, but in some ways it was almost better. You never got to have such long rides on a wave. Although it was colder. Definitely colder. And she didn’t mind returning to the lodge to check on Gil.

“How’s it going?” she asked.

He set down the Popular Mechanics magazine that he’d been reading and smiled. “Not bad, all things considered. I’ve had a couple of chicks stop by and offer me their sympathy.”

“What a surprise. Cute guy, incapacitated. You’re like a real chick magnet.”

“But I told them my girlfriend was a doctor and that seemed to scare them off.”

She laughed. Then they went to have some lunch. And after they were seated, she told him just how wonderful the day was. “Well, other than your injured wrist.” She frowned. “I feel terrible about that.”

“And I feel terrible that I’ve abandoned you.” He popped a fry into his mouth. “But I’m glad you’re having a good time.”

“And we can go whenever you like.”

“I think you need to get in some more rides.”

“It’s so magical up there.” She looked out the window to where the slope met the blue sky with pine trees all around. “It’s like I feel connected to the earth again. I know that probably sounds weird. But it’s a feeling I get when I surf—like I belong. And it makes me think of God, too.”

“Of God?” Gil cocked his head slightly. “How so?”

She wasn’t sure how to explain it. “Kind of like I’m thankful that God created such a spectacular planet.”

“I didn’t know you were into God.”

“Well, Megan was telling me that I needed to trust God. I was sort of having one of those panic attacks. Like I just couldn’t go through another day. The stuff with my parents … with Emma … like I was never going to figure it all out.”

“And God helps with that?”

She nodded. “I don’t even totally understand it myself. But there is something to it. I know there is. Because when I think about God, and when I sort of give my troubles to him, well, I begin to feel better. Like someone—I mean God—has lifted this heavy thing from my shoulders. I know it probably sounds strange. But it’s real. It’s tangible. And when I was riding up the lift and then down the slope, it’s like I felt that reality even more. Do you think that’s weird?”

He shook his head. “No. Not at all. I mean, I’ve never been too into church or God. We were raised Catholic. Well, until we refused to go to Mass and confession. Both Anna and I are a great disappointment in that regard to our mom, although our dad doesn’t participate either. But my mom takes her religion very seriously.” Gil frowned now.

“And that’s not good?”

“No, I’m not saying that. I think it’s very good for her. She needs something like that to hold onto. I’m just not sure about myself.”

“So, you don’t believe in God?”

“I’m not saying that, either.”

“Oh.”

“I guess I’m saying that I haven’t given it much thought. I suppose I do believe in God. But that’s about it.”

“Okay.”

“But I think it’s great if the whole God thing is helping you, Lelani. And I don’t mean that as a putdown. I’m just being honest. I don’t totally get it.”

“But you’re open?”

He nodded. “Sure. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Lelani smiled. She wasn’t even sure why it mattered, but for some reason it did. And she was relieved to know that Gil didn’t think she was foolish for getting interested in God. She knew that wasn’t the case with some of her old med school friends. The science world that she’d been exposed to seemed fairly antagonistic toward God. Certainly Ben had been so. She cringed to remember how he insisted she have an abortion, or how irritated he’d been when she refused. He’d even accused her of being a religious fanatic who was disguising herself as something else. Of course, that was ridiculous. But it hurt just the same.

As Lelani rode down the slope for the last time of the day, she paused midway down to look up at the sky. She took in a long, deep breath and felt strangely strong. But perhaps most surprising was that she felt truly hopeful. She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d felt hopeful. And she suspected it had to do with God.

“Thank you,” she whispered up to the sky. “Thank you!”

Because of Gil’s wrist, Lelani drove them home. And she wasn’t sure if he was just worn down from his injury or if she’d somehow offended him, but Gil was strangely quiet. Perhaps she shouldn’t have continued to ride through the afternoon. Or maybe his arm was actually hurt worse than she’d suggested. Maybe she should’ve checked it before they left.

“How’s your wrist?” she asked as she entered the freeway.

“It’s aching, but not too bad.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“Well, it sort of is,” she pointed out. “I was the one who wanted to go up there, and I was the one who wanted to try snowboarding.”

“I was totally on board,” he said. “You didn’t force me into it.”

“Anyway, I can still feel sorry, can’t I?”

“Sorry, but not responsible. You know that you do that, don’t you?”

“What?”

“Blame yourself for a lot of things that aren’t your fault.”

“Oh.”

“It’s because you’ve got a kind heart, Lelani. But sometimes you’re way too hard on yourself.”

“Yes. I’m trying to figure that all out,” she admitted.

Then Gil got quiet again and Lelani decided that maybe he was just tired. She knew enough about medicine to know that an injury could wear a person out. Finally, they pulled back into town. “Hey, should I drop you at your house or what?”

He straightened in his seat. “Oh, I can probably make it okay from your house. Why don’t you just head home?”

“You’re sure?”

“Yeah. My wrist is actually feeling a little better. I think that last dose of Advil kicked in.”

“Well, remember to keep it iced and elevated,” she said. “And make sure that bandage isn’t too tight. You don’t want to cut off your circulation.”

“Yes, Doctor.” He chuckled.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be.”

She pulled up in front of the house on Bloomberg Place. “You’re sure you can drive?”

“No problem. It’s only a few miles.”

They both got out of the car, and Lelani gathered up her stuff. “Thanks for everything, Gil. It was really a fantastic day. Well, except for your wrist.”

“Oh, I almost forgot,” he said before she headed up the walk. “My mom has invited us for dinner tomorrow night. Anna and Jake are coming too. Can you make it?”

Lelani considered this. A part of her was excited to go, happy to become a bigger part of Gil’s life. But another part was cautious. Or maybe just nervous.

“It’s not like you’re making a life commitment,” he said as if reading her thoughts. “My mom just wanted to have family around and she asked Anna and me to bring a friend.”

“Bring a friend?” She frowned.

He gave her a goofy grin. “You’re more than a friend, Lelani. At least from my point of view. But I don’t want to push you.”

She smiled now. “I’d love to come.”

“I’ll call you with the details later, okay?”

Then he leaned over the stuff she had in her arms and, totally out of character, gave her a quick peck. She blinked but tried not to look too surprised. After all, hadn’t she known this was coming? Still, it caught her off guard. She thanked him again and, eager to get away, she dashed up to the house.