Jingle Bell Wolf by Terry Spear
Chapter 2
When he reached his back door, Landon was still thinking about the pretty blond who had greeted him in an almost reluctant way in the snow behind his house. As soon as he went inside, he saw Roxie and Kayla straightening up the living room where they’d been putting together a wolf-pack puzzle. They had just finished making beef stew for a late dinner. He was curious about the woman who had been trespassing in their backyard, though since they hadn’t put the fence up yet, anyone who wasn’t from Silver Town wouldn’t know that. “Did you happen to see the woman who just passed through our backyard, earlier while you were running as wolves?”
She had been coming from the same direction as his family, since that was the way they always went running when they were out in the snow as wolves. Plus that’s where all the wolf tracks were coming from.
“She was probably the woman we met when we went for a run. We didn’t see her shift. We were all playing as wolves when we saw her.” Roxie served up bowls of stew.
“She was a wolf?”
“Yeah. She witnessed us playing and we all stopped what we were doing, surprised to see a new wolf watching us. We greeted her to let her know we weren’t a danger to her, and she ran and played with us. She was a lot of fun. She’s not from here, so she might be one of the guests at our lodge.” Kayla smiled. “She was all alone, about our age, maybe an eligible she-wolf? You missed out on going with us when you could have played with her yourself.”
“I was swimming.” If he’d known his family had hooked up with a single she-wolf, he would have been there to check her out and forgotten about watching for someone else showing up at the pool. Though he had hoped to catch sight of the woman in the string bikini again. Still, someone just passing through Silver Town wouldn’t have made for a permanent friendship—as in courting.
Kayla served the rolls and they sat down to eat.
Roxie smiled. “I know you. You were making sure no one else showed up to swim when the pool is closed, after what happened earlier.”
Landon smiled at his sisters.
After dinner, he carried the dishes into the kitchen to clean up. “Dinner was delicious. Thanks for making it.”
“You’re welcome,” Roxie said.
He finished cleaning up the dishes and told his sisters, “I’m off to bed. See you in the morning.” But he couldn’t quit thinking about the woman in the candy-striped string bikini. He wanted in the worst way to find her in the pool—not only by sight, but to actually catch her. He was a wolf at heart, but hell, when did he lose sight of his mission that fast?
After he’d showered and gone to bed, all he could think of was the woman diving under the water like a mermaid and then slipping under the glass divider and vanishing. As if she had escaped to the sea. He had desperately wanted to reach her while swimming—and he might have, if Blake hadn’t interrupted him! But if she was human, that wouldn’t be half as grand as if she were a wolf. And that’s what he had to know. Was she or wasn’t she?
* * *
The next morning, Landon was at the lodge early, taking care of guests who were looking for directions to town, gift shops in the area, eating places nearby. He gave them the brochures that Nicole’s parents had made up for them at their stationery store.
While he spoke to the last guest about the Wolffs’ gift shop and shipping policy for purchases, Roxie came over to speak with him, wearing a big smile, and arched her brows. “You know the pool’s not open yet. But I heard a swimmer swimming across the length. Do you want me to tell the swimmer it’s closed for two more hours?”
“I’ve got it.” Landon hoped it was the woman he had seen last night in the pool. No way did he want anyone else to get involved. Despite his need to tell the woman she couldn’t swim at this hour, he wanted to see her in the string bikini again. What could he say? He was a bachelor male wolf, and if she was a single she-wolf, he was going to have to rethink his notion that a guest couldn’t swim when the pool was closed. But just for her. And someone, like him, would have to be there swimming with her to make it officially all right. He figured his family would rib him mercilessly about it if that happened.
He was wearing a sweater, pants, and boots, not ready for a swim, but if it happened to be the same woman, he was ready to ditch his clothes, wearing only his boxer briefs, and swim after her.
As soon as he reached the pool, he saw her heading for the glass divider to the outside part of the pool, wearing a red, green, and white bikini. She still looked like a sexy, sweet candy cane, but the swimsuit was not nearly as revealing as the string bikini. This time, her hair was floating around her, long and blond. Before he lost her again, since he couldn’t swim after her, he called out to her, “Hey, what’s your name?”
Not at all like what he should have said to the woman: The pool’s closed! You have to leave now!
He suspected she might just ignore him and keep on swimming.
She turned, her smile radiant. He was a sucker for a pretty smile, yet the notion flitted through his mind that she was just like his ex, doing what she shouldn’t because she thought she could get away with it with a pretty smile. And yet, he wondered, was she the woman he’d seen in the snow last night, walking past his and his sisters’ house? It was hard to tell because the woman had been buried in clothes, a ski hat covering her head and her blond hair swept up in the chilly breeze, but a lighter color than this woman’s wet blond hair.
“Gabrielle Lowell,” she said, treading water.
“The—” He meant to say the pool was closed, but she interrupted him.
“Sorry. I’ll be right out.”
“You’re a guest, right?” He wondered if she was staying at the Victorian Inn or Hastings Bed and Breakfast in town and wasn’t even a guest here.
“Yes. My friends are late in arriving at the lodge, and nothing’s open at this hour.” She motioned to the outdoor area of the pool. “I have to go that way. That’s where my clothes are.”
He glanced around the pool and realized that’s why he hadn’t smelled her scent here before. She must have sneaked into the pool from the outside and left the same way so she didn’t leave any clothes on one of the chaise lounges. Very clever. He would never have guessed it.
Now what? He hurried as fast as he could to the outside so he could reach her before she disappeared again. Though he could look her up on the computer and learn what room she was staying in, her car tags, where she was from. But he would much prefer talking to her first.
When he finally exited the lodge, having to take the long way around to reach a door, he found her sitting on a lounge chair, pulling on a pair of candy-cane socks and then snow boots with fluffy fur around the tops. Her parka was bright pink with a fur collar on the hood, and she was wearing black skintight ski pants. The same clothes he saw the woman in the snow wearing last night. She was a gray wolf like him. He smiled.
She gave him more of a precocious smile this time. Despite her saying she’d been sorry about swimming in the pool, he knew she wasn’t really.
“So you are the lodge’s security officer?” she asked, heading toward the restaurant as he hoofed it around the other side of the pool to join her.
“Part owner, along with my brother, his mate, and my two sisters. I’m Landon Wolff.”
Her kissable mouth hung agape. “Wolff Timberline Lodge. And you’re gray wolves.”
He smiled and he was sure his look was on the predatory side. “Yeah, and so are you. You ran with my family last night. You passed by me when you were trespassing in our backyard.”
Her enticing lips parted again. “Uh, if they live in the two homes next to the lodge, yes. Where were you? Wait, still swimming? Trying to catch me breaking the rules again?”
He chuckled darkly and led her to the restaurant, but the Saint Bernard came running after them to greet her.
“What’s this, Rosco?” Landon asked, reaching over to pet the dog.
But Rosco quickly licked Gabrielle’s hand and she gave him a hug. “You’re such a good boy, aren’t you?”
Landon smiled down at the two of them. They looked like they were the best of friends. “You’ve been holding out on us, Rosco.”
The dog nuzzled his hand as if to say they were still friends.
“Come on, Gabrielle. Let’s eat. He will want you to pet him for the rest of the day, if you encourage him.”
“I’ll pet you more later, Rosco.” She frowned as she read the sign stating the bar and grill’s hours of operation. “It says it’s not open for another half hour.”
“I’m one of the owners, remember?” He unlocked the door and let her in, then locked it back up so that no one would get the idea the bar and grill was now open for business. Breakfasts were being made for those who ordered room service, but he could have their breakfast made now.
“Wow. I call this royal treatment.” She smiled at him. “What if I had a boyfriend?”
“He would be here with you now, and last night, I suspect.” Landon couldn’t imagine being her boyfriend and not being with her every minute of the day while on vacation.
She nodded. “You’re right. What about you?”
“I don’t have a boyfriend either.”
She laughed and he brought her a menu, then they sat down in a booth. He got a call while she was looking over the menu and he said, “Yeah, Roxie?”
“So did you catch him?” Roxie asked.
He smiled at Gabrielle. “I caught the swimmer red-handed. I’m going to give the person hard labor—kitchen duty.”
“The rule breaker, is it a she-wolf perchance?” Roxie asked.
There was no getting anything past his sisters.
Landon cleared his throat. “Yeah.” He figured one of his family members would learn about Gabrielle soon enough. Not that he had any real plan to hide the truth from them long-term.
“Okay.” Roxie hung up on him.
He’d expected more of a response from her than that.
“Hard labor? Kitchen duty?” Smiling, Gabrielle set the menu aside. She didn’t look like she was worried about it in the least.
“Yeah, but we have to be open for a while or you won’t have enough dishes to clean. Did you pick out what you wanted to eat?” Landon asked.
The waitress hurried to take their orders. “I didn’t expect you here this early, Landon.” She glanced at Gabrielle and smiled.
“Minx, meet Gabrielle. Gabrielle, this is Minx.”
“Oh, a date.” Minx offered them a carafe of coffee and smiled again, notepad in hand, ready to take their orders.
“Not a date,” he corrected Minx.
“Sure.” Minx sounded like she didn’t believe him. “What would you like, then?”
Gabrielle motioned to the menu. “I’ll have number three on the breakfast menu.”
“One number three: sweet roasted tomatoes with eggs, sweet Christmas sausages, and hash browns. And for you, Landon?” Minx asked.
“I’ll have a stack of pancakes and bacon.”
A few people were beginning to gather at the doors to the restaurant, and Minx shook her head. “See what you did? Now they all will want to come in and eat early.”
“Owner’s prerogative.”
“I knew you would say that,” Minx said.
Suddenly, Roxie was at the door, unlocking it. Landon thought she was opening the bar and grill early, but she locked it back up and came straight to his table. “You know the trouble this gets us into when any of us eat early at the restaurant before we’re open for business and everyone wonders why.”
“As if any of us ever do this. Besides, we’re wearing staff shirts or, in my case, a staff sweater,” Landon said.
“True.” Roxie smiled at Gabrielle and offered her hand. “You are the wolf who went running with us last night.”
“I am.” Gabrielle shook her hand.
Roxie folded her arms and looked sternly at Gabrielle with mock seriousness. “And you were swimming after hours last night and before hours in the pool this morning.”
“I was. Now I have kitchen duty for my transgressions.”
Roxie laughed. “I should have known Landon found a she-wolf in the pool—you must be unmated—and that’s why he is ‘buying’ you breakfast instead of giving you a lecture.”
“I figured she would take the lecture better on a full stomach,” Landon said.
Roxie and Gabrielle smiled.
Blake peered in the window at them, shook his head, and left. Then Kayla came by to check them out. She looked through the glass at them just like Blake had, smiled, and walked off.
“That was our other brother, Blake, and that’s Kayla, our younger quadruplet sister. Blake’s mate, Nicole, who ran with us last night, is working on a PI case with her brother, Nate, today in a town up north of here, or Nicole would be checking you out too,” Roxie said.
Gabrielle smiled.
Minx served their meals.
“Where are you from?” Roxie asked Gabrielle.
Landon gave Roxie a look that said it was time for her to get back to work so he could ask Gabrielle all the questions.
“Daytona Beach, Florida.”
“Wow. Have you skied before?” Roxie ignored Landon’s annoyed look.
“Nope. This is my first time.”
Roxie smiled at Landon. “He’s an expert on the slopes. He can teach you all about it. When he’s not working, of course. So what do you do in Daytona Beach?”
“Roxie…” Landon said, his annoyed tone of voice telling his younger sister to beat it, since she was disregarding his more subtle look of exasperation.
“All right, but you get all the details then and share them with us tonight. Oh, and ask her to run with us again tonight. Unless she sneaks into the pool area and you want to catch her at it and swim with her instead.” Roxie smiled and hurried off as he opened his mouth to tell her to leave.
Gabrielle began eating her eggs. “You’re paying for breakfast? Maybe I should because I broke the rules.”
“We own the restaurant. The meal is on me.”
Her mouth gaped, and then she smiled. “Wow. Was it the string bikini that did it?”
He chuckled. “It helped.”
“I never wear it on trips, normally. I had to bring it because it was a joke gift my girlfriends, twin sisters, gave me last year before Christmas when we went to Cancun. They are coming here too. None of us have any family so the three of us take trips together right after Thanksgiving. Only this time they got hung up at work and now they’re late in arriving. I thought when no one would be in the pool, I could wear it and no one would ever see me in it.”
He smiled. “Not everyone can wear a string bikini and look great in it.”
“Thank you. As to the other question your sister asked—my occupation? I’m a vet.”
“A veterinarian?”
“Yeah. I love working with animals, and nothing makes me feel better than when I can keep them healthy or take care of them when they’re sick or injured.”
“A veterinarian. That’s great.” He was really surprised, maybe because she was breaking the rules and she looked so hot in a bikini. Doc Mitchell was their veterinarian, old, white-haired, big and lumbering, and Gabrielle was a totally different version of a vet—all legs, blond, young, and beautiful. “Did you know we’re wolf-run here?”
“Your lodge and restaurant? I suspected as much since all of your staff that I’ve met so far are wolves.”
“Not just our place is run by wolves, but all of Silver Town.”
Her green eyes widened. “Really?”
“Yeah, since its inception. The Silver family runs it, and all the businesses in town are wolf-run.”
“Wow. That’s amazing. So, the town is made up of just wolves?” she asked.
“Uh, yeah.”
“My girlfriends are jaguars.”
The restaurant doors were opened and several guests came in to grab seats and order their meals, a few of them looking at Landon, but upon seeing his staff sweater, they didn’t say anything about him getting special treatment. Though a few of the people coming in for breakfast were wolves of Silver Town, getting a bite to eat before the ski slopes opened. Some were ski instructors or lift operators, so they knew who he was.
“They’ll still be welcome, won’t they?” Gabrielle asked.
“Jaguar shifters? Sure. We’ve had some stay at the lodge and ski a week or so ago. I think they were as surprised to learn about us as we were about them when we first found out they existed. But we all have a shifter secret and something in common, even if we’re very much different when we’re wearing our fur coats.”
No one near them was human, so Landon could speak freely.
A couple of bachelor male wolves were sitting nearby, trying to listen in to the conversation, wondering just who Landon was eating with before the restaurant was even open. He and his family usually ate here for lunch, but grabbed breakfast and dinner at home. This morning, he’d missed breakfast to come in early, thinking he could catch her swimming, but Gabrielle hadn’t been there that early and he’d ended up having to handle guest business after that. When Roxie told him that the swimmer was in the pool, he was glad it had been Gabrielle again and not someone new.
“You’ve never skied before,” Landon said.
“No. I’m from Florida. There are no mountains or snow there, and when my friends and I have taken trips after Thanksgiving the past five years, we’ve hit beach resorts. But this is just beautiful. I have never seen such lovely decorations at Christmastime. The huge tree in the lobby—all the cute little hand-carved wolves, black bears, polar bears, Arctic foxes, and penguins. I took pictures of them to send to my friends. I’m getting some wolf decorations to take home with me.”
“Many of our wolves did the hand-carved woodwork. The photography hanging about the rooms and lobby were done by Jake Silver, brother to our pack leader, Darien.”
“How wonderful.” Gabrielle buttered her toast and added marmalade on top. “A pack. I didn’t think of that. So you and your family belong to a bigger pack?”
“Yeah. We have all kinds of events that our wolves can take part in. And the Silver Town Tavern caters to wolves only. Uh, I should say shifters. Your friends would be welcome at the tavern.”
“Okay, we’ll have to check it out. If they ever get here.” She sounded disappointed.
He didn’t blame her since the three friends were supposed to be doing this together and she didn’t ski. Skiing alone wasn’t safe or half as fun as skiing with friends.
“When are they coming in?” Landon asked.
“They were supposed to arrive here last night, then this morning, but they texted me to say they were delayed again until later this afternoon.”
“Did you want me to take you skiing this morning?” Landon didn’t intend to impose on her if she wanted to just wait for her friends, but if he could make her stay more enjoyable while she was here without them, he would.
“Don’t you have to run the lodge or restaurant or something?” She finished off her toast and licked marmalade off her finger.
The sight of her licking her finger brought unbidden images to mind, such as how he would like to hold her close, kiss her, and tangle his tongue with hers. “I can be on call. We often take turns skiing. That’s the whole point of having the lodge, so that we can take the time to enjoy the ski resort too. There’s no sense in you sitting around the tavern waiting for your friends to show up. Do they ski?”
“They do. A lot. They finally convinced me to come with them this time. I left Florida early so I could have more time to get settled in here, but I had expected them to come in last night too.”
Landon finished his bacon and took another drink of his coffee. “Well, I’ve been skiing since I was three. So if you want me to get you started, I certainly can.”
“Three years old? Wow. I will be down on the ground more than I’m up, I’m afraid. I swim much better.”
He laughed. “We all have to start somewhere. Have you got lift tickets?”
“No.”
“Ski boots? Skis? Ski poles?”
She shook her head.
“Okay, first, I’ll take you to the ski rental shop and get you set up.” He smelled her tension. “You can do it. We can take this nice and easy. You can quit anytime you feel you’ve had enough.”
“All right, but don’t fault me too much if I spend most of the time on my bottom.”
And what a beautiful bottom that was.
After she finished the last of her breakfast, he left a tip, then texted Roxie: Tell Blake and Kayla I’ll be taking Gabrielle out for a few ski lessons.
Roxie texted: Are you serious?
Landon texted back: Just tell them.
He knew they would be laughing their heads off and he would hear more about it later.
Then he and Gabrielle left the restaurant. Kayla usually stayed in the office to work on marketing materials and anything else office-related with regard to the lodge and bar and grill. But she had to come out to meet the woman Landon was with. He introduced Gabrielle to Kayla, who shook her hand and smiled.
“Welcome to Silver Town. You’ll have a blast here. Do you have a wolf pack back in Daytona Beach, Florida?” Kayla asked.
Gabrielle shook her head. “No. A few stray wolves coming through, mostly on vacation, but no real leadership or pack.”
Kayla folded her arms and nodded. “We left Vermont for the same reason. We wanted to be with a pack. We love it here. The pack has been really good to us.”
“They have,” Landon said. “We’re going to get some ski lessons in. Gabrielle’s friends aren’t arriving until this afternoon. We’ll see you later.”
“For another wolf run, right?” Kayla asked Gabrielle. “We loved having you play with us. And if Landon can skip swimming in the pool, he can come with us this time.”
Gabrielle smiled. “Sure, I would love to. My friends too, if they arrive before we go for a run tonight? They’re jaguars.”
“Absolutely. That will be a new experience for us and we’ll have fun,” Kayla said.
“Okay, let’s go and get you ready for your first ski lesson, Gabrielle.” Then Landon hurried her off before Blake came along to talk to them too. Wolves were curious by nature, especially when it had to do with the family. When Blake began seeing Nicole, and she was taking care of a PI job at the lodge, the whole family got involved to help her out.
“So what do your friends do?” Landon asked Gabrielle.
“They’re both with a JAG agency that deals with rogue jaguar shifters.”
“Really.” Landon had heard about them, and how they had a facility to actually incarcerate shifters—any kind now, but only shifters. No humans. It was privately funded by their own kind, so no one—especially no humans—were the wiser.
“Yeah. They were supposed to be through with the case they were on by now, so I’m not sure what the problem is. They didn’t give me any of the details, just that they would be late in arriving.”
Once Gabrielle was all set with skis, poles, boots, and a ski pass, Landon walked her back to the office where they had a storage area for the family’s skis, poles, and boots.
“You’re sure you don’t mind at all?” she asked, looking uncomfortable about trying this out.
He could smell her anxiousness. “Yeah. I let everyone know where we’re going to be in case they need me.”
“All right.” She sighed. “I could just hire someone to give me lessons.”
“There’s no need to waste your money when I can do this with you.” He walked her past the Christmas tree in the lobby, sparkling with lights. They headed outside onto the deck of the bar and grill where early skiers were grabbing coffee, or hot chocolate, and pastries before they headed for the ski lifts. The deck had a coating of snow, though they cleared it every day so that it wouldn’t end up being knee-high.
First, Landon took Gabrielle to the bunny slope where she rode the magic carpet up the 50-foot incline. He talked to her about giving right of way to other skiers. “People ahead of you have right of way. Which means you have to avoid them, not run into them. When you stop, you have to be out of the path of others, and you don’t want to be someplace hidden from view as a skier comes up over a hill on the trail. Whenever your trail merges with another, you have to look uphill and not ski into a downhill skier’s path. You have to always stay in control.”
She laughed. “Oh, that will be a fun trial, I’m sure.”
“You’ll get the hang of it.” He was sure of it. Though she might have to practice for several days to feel comfortable with it. “How long are you going to be here?”
“Eight days. Well, seven days left now. We leave on the night of day eight, so we’ll ski in the morning, eat lunch, go to the airport, and fly out.”
Seven days of teaching her how to ski? He could certainly go for it. But once her friends came, that would probably be the end of all the fun times he wanted to spend with Gabrielle.
* * *
Gabrielle was so nervous about this business of skiing that she hoped Landon proved to be a good and patient ski instructor. She’d barely made it to the top of the bunny slope when she fell. She was just standing upright, doing nothing but just standing there. And then she wasn’t.
“Okay, next lesson. How to get up. It’s really important that you learn that lesson.”
She laughed. “I can see that.” She watched little kids get up easily since they didn’t have half the distance to fall down or stand up. She was finally up and then she practiced forming a wedge, or a snowplow, with her skis to learn to control her speed and practiced turning. After that, she finally was ready to learn how to get on the ski lift and go down an easy green slope. She was beginning to feel like she might be all right with skiing, and she was having fun in Landon’s company. It made her feel better about her girlfriends not getting here on time. Sure, she could have sat around the lodge watching all the skiers in their ski clothes laughing and smiling, with red cheeks and red noses, and looking like they were having the time of their life.
Gabrielle was much more of a doer, even if she did feel bad that she hadn’t been able to do this with her dad like they’d planned a decade ago. She almost felt guilty about enjoying it. But she knew she needed to move on and put the past behind her.
She was hopeful that if she got good enough, when her friends arrived, they wouldn’t have to teach her the very basics.
First, she was taking the ski lift to the top of the slope. At the top, she managed to get off the ski-lift chair just fine. Landon had told her to ski away from the lift so others could get off after her. She was standing in the way and felt panicked that she needed to ski away from the chairlift right away, but she was still trying to remember how to move her skis in the snow while trying to ski. Then she fell. Ugh. She envisioned everyone running over her as they tried to unload from the chairs and a pile of bodies fitted out in skis and poles all tangled up in that mountain of a mess. Landon skied around her to get out of everyone’s path and waited for her to get up. At least she was getting good at that part. She thought she’d had the most practice at that—falling down and getting up.
Then she was at the top of the easy slope that looked a lot higher and scarier than she’d thought it could be—for being a green slope. But at least it was nice and wide and had a gentler slope than the intermediate and expert slopes had. Other skiers headed down the hill, looking like experts to her as they weaved back and forth, their skis close together, their turns like little hops. Not like she had to do it, by making a wide snowplow each time she pointed her skis downhill and picked up speed.
She couldn’t imagine starting this at three years old. Though by now, if she came regularly to ski, she would be an expert.
“You can do it. And if you fall, lean against the slope to get back up. While you’re skiing, keep your upper body and head leaning toward the valley and over the downhill ski. Keep your legs and knees and ankles equally bent. As you make your turns, your weight will be transferred to the downhill ski.”
Oh, that would be easier said than done, Gabrielle thought. She began going down the slope, slowly, picking up speed, turning so she could slow her speed, turning again, and going down. This was fun. But scary. She sliced into the slope and felt her body lean downhill. She imagined falling all the way down the hill—rolling, gathering snow, and becoming a ball of snow with only her head, hands, and feet sticking out—and quickly fell against the snowbank so she could regain her balance. Then she figured out how to stand back up again, this time on the side of a hill.
Landon encouraged her every step of the way, which she appreciated. She assumed with running the lodge, he didn’t often teach a new skier how to ski. And she imagined how boring that must be when he could just be enjoying the slope, winging his way down all the way to the bottom.
She slid down just a little with her skis against the slope, then took a deep breath and started her wedge and began the planned fall down the hill, back and forth, getting better, her wedge not as wide, and she wasn’t falling down as much. She had this down.
She was nearly at the bottom of the hill when she took another spill. Argh.
Landon was right back at her side, smiling down at her. “You’re getting really good at this.”
She laughed. “Right.”
“You are. This is your first time out. Lunch is on me in a couple of hours, but did you want to take a drink break?”
“When I’m getting so good at this? Let’s go again.” She was afraid she would forget everything she had learned if she took a break now.
“Okay.” He sounded pleased.
That was one thing about her. She might feel like she couldn’t do well at something, but she kept trying until she knew she could do it. Maybe not expertly, but at least until she felt more comfortable at it.
Gabrielle was not giving up, no matter how frustrated she might become.
“I don’t usually instruct people on how to ski because I don’t have a whole lot of patience, but when I was younger, and while I was helping to run a ski lodge with my family, I did earn some money as a ski instructor.”
“With me, you seem to have plenty of patience.”
“You have so much drive to do this, you make it easy on me. You’re eager to get this right and laugh at yourself every time you fall. You’re fun to be with.”
She smiled. “You make a perfect ski instructor for a first-time skier—at least in my case. Thanks.” She appreciated that he had made her feel good about something she thought she might never get the hang of.
Then they hit the slopes again. This time she didn’t fall at all, either after getting off the ski lift or anytime on the hill, and not at the bottom either. She was ready to get in the lift line again. Several of the ski instructors smiled at her as she passed them by—they were all wolves. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like living in a community that was made up of wolves who ran everything. Pretty cool, she figured. No need to hide what they were. As long as there weren’t any humans around, they could talk openly about wolf issues.
She and Landon went up the chairlift and skied down the green slopes several more times. But this time when she was on the chairlift again with him, she was feeling cold, the wind blowing about them as they rode it up. “I think after we go down this time, I would like to get some hot chocolate.” Despite wearing everything warm that she’d had at home, she still wasn’t warm enough.
“We can do that and you can get warmed up.”
Thankfully, she skied down even better than the last time, and they both skied to the outdoor part of the bar and grill where they could put their poles and skis on a rack before they sat down at one of the tables to have a drink.
“Indoors or out?” he asked.
“Oh, indoors. I’m cold.” She rubbed her gloved hands together.
A bunch of skiers were sitting out at the tables, enjoying the sunny day, having hot drinks and talking about their ski day, their cheeks and noses red from the cold.
“Yeah, sure. We could have lunch early, if you would like,” he said.
“And a swim?”
He laughed. “The pool’s open now. Are you sure you want to swim when it’s officially open?”
“Nah, what’s the fun in that?”
