Before he had a chance to make his presence known, Stephanie spied him lingering in the center aisle opposite the front registers.
“Patrick, I had no idea you were coming in this early. Come and have some coffee and donuts before they're all gone. Candy Lee and I concluded that shopping makes you extremely hungry.” She smiled at him as though he were the greatest thing since sliced bread. His heart flip-flopped, then did a backward somersault.
“No thanks. I'm only here for a minute. Just wanted to make sure you were prepared for the onslaught.” Patrick crammed his hands in his pockets for fear he'd reach out to smooth the unruly curl that clung to Stephanie's peach-colored cheek.
Stephanie placed her mug on the counter and wiped her mouth with a paper napkin covered with snowmen and reindeer. “I think we're more than ready. Between the two of us, we should be able to handle the rush. If we get too swamped, Melanie said she would help out. She's bringing the girls over to ski today.”
Patrick wasn't sure how to reply, so he just nodded. Damn this woman. She made him feel like an inexperienced teenager. All clumsy and unsure of himself. He hated the loss of control.
Stephanie stared at him, the smile leaving her face. “Is that all right? If not, I can tell her to forget it. She said she would stop in before they hit the slopes.”
Patrick heard the words, but couldn't have repeated what they were if his life depended on it.
“Patrick! Are you listening to anything she's saying?” Candy Lee asked, her voice several octaves higher than normal.
He blinked his eyes, then shook his head. “Uh, yes, I was thinking.”
Candy Lee, never one to mince words with Patrick and always getting away with it because she was not much younger than the age Shannon would've been had she lived, came out from behind the counter to stand beside him. She cupped his elbow in her small hand, guiding him to a stool behind the counter. She put a small finger to his lips. She poured coffee, a large portion of Half and Half, and three scoops of sugar into a white mug decorated with Santas. She plated three donuts from the box beneath the counter. A chocolate-covered glazed, a cream-filled, and a French cruller. “Get some sugar and caffeine into your system. You sound really stupid, Patrick. And I don't believe you were thinking either,” she added, squinting her bright blue eyes into slits.
Patrick took a sip of the hot coffee, then took a huge bite of the chocolate-covered confection. Damn, maybe Candy Lee was onto something. This was decadent, almost pure bliss. “Stupid, huh?” he said, then finished off the rest of the donut.
“Well, yes. You have that
off
look on your face, you know, like you're
off
in another world or something,” Candy Lee explained.
Patrick took a sip of coffee, then bit into the French cruller. He finished it off in three bites before attacking the cream-filled donut. He would have to spend hours on the slopes burning off all the sugary carbs he'd just consumed. When he finished, he wiped his mouth with one of the snowmen-and-reindeer napkins placed next to the pot of coffee. “Thanks for the compliment and the calories, kid. Stephanie, if you get in a bind, call my cell number. I'll send a Maximum Glide employee from the ski school to help out. I can't risk Melanie's getting hurt or injuring someone else.”
Stephanie started to speak, but before she could utter a single word, Patrick spoke up. “It's company policy. Sorry.”
“Of course, I understand, it's just that Melanie offered. I told her to stop by just in case.” Stephanie swatted at the hair clinging to her cheek. “I doubt we'll need the extra help, but of course I will call you if we do.” She swallowed, lifted her chin a notch higher, and met his gaze.
Avoiding her direct stare, Patrick glanced at the display of flavored lip balm on the counter for fear he'd give his feelings away.
Feelings? He wasn't going there. No how, no way!
Absorbed in a sudden rush of unwanted emotions, new and
unwanted
emotions, Patrick gave her a disparaging look. After all, she was nothing more than an employee. “I'll expect nothing less. Maximum Glide can't afford another costly mistake.”
Much to his surprise, she showed no reaction to his comment. She simply turned her back to him as though he'd said nothing.
He hurried toward the door without another word said. Feeling like the idiot that he was, he started to return and offer an apology, then decided against it. He didn't want her to think he was sorry for his comment. He truly meant it. Maximum Glide was in the red. If he didn't pull off a financial miracle this year, they would all be out of jobs.
Chapter Three
Expert at hiding her emotions, Stephanie was too stunned to reply to Patrick's hateful comment. She'd spent years deflecting Glenn's insults. One would've thought she would be used to such verbal abuse. Too stunned to cry, not to mention how humiliated she was to have Candy Lee witness her being reprimanded, she swallowed back any thought of an outburst.
She tossed her Christmas napkin in the garbage can and downed the last of her now-cold coffee before turning to Candy Lee. It was all she could do to keep from commenting on what a jerk Patrick had acted like, but she knew it was best just to forget about it. And him. He was right. Sort of. She
had
cost the shop loads of money last year. There was no way she would repeat that mistake again this season. With a new sense of determination, Stephanie set out to prove just how wrong he was about her. She was quite capable of working as many hours as needed to see that Snow Zone turned a profit. She didn't care if she had to peddle their wares on the slopes.
As soon as the back door closed, alerting them to Patrick's departure, Candy Lee voiced her opinion. “He can be such a nitwit. I don't know why you let him talk to you like that. You need to speak up for yourself.” She sprayed window cleaner on the glass-top counters. “If he doesn't think we're capable of doing the work, he should tell us straight up.”
Stephanie thought he just had, but didn't bother saying so to Candy Lee. They had a busy day ahead of them. Whining and arguing would only put them both in a negative frame of mind. She was sure this was the last thing the Christmas shoppers wanted to encounter on the busiest day of the year. They wanted
holly-jolly-ho-ho-ho,
and she would give them
holly-jolly-ho-ho-ho
no matter what.
Wanting to discourage further talk of Patrick's behavior, Stephanie cleared her throat. “He's just doing his job. Forget about it because I intend to this very second.”
Candy Lee shook her head. “Well, then you're a nicer person than I am. I don't even know why I work here; well, I need the extra cash but still . . . I was in the storage room the other day and overheard two guys that work the lifts talking about him. I guess Mr. O'Brien chewed them out after four people fell when they were getting off the lift at their checkpoints, which we all know isn't really anyone's fault,” Candy Lee stated as she vigorously polished the glass-topped counters. “I'm pretty good on a pair of skis myself, and I still suck ice every now and then.”
“Suck ice?” Stephanie inquired.
“Fall down, you know, suck ice,” Candy Lee informed her.
Stephanie laughed. “No, I hadn't heard that term, but do me a favor and try not to use it in front of the girls.” They'd seen enough in their short lives. Stephanie was trying her best to make up for what they'd witnessed. She wanted to keep them innocent as long as possible.
“Sure,” Candy Lee said. “Though they'll hear it soon enough on the slopes. Especially from the snowboarders. They always cuss and spit. It's so gross.”
Stephanie gave a small laugh. “I've heard them more than once myself. I just want to keep the girls away from anything . . . off-color, at least for a while. Now”âStephanie glanced at her watchâ“let's lower the drawbridge and prepare for battle.”
At precisely seven o'clock, Stephanie unlocked the main door, where a line of shoppers anxiously waited to spend their money. Stephanie said hello to those she knew, greeted others she didn't, then headed to the register, where she spent the next four hours ringing up ski jackets, ski pants, mittens, hats, and ski boots. It was almost lunchtime before they had a chance to take a break. Tallying up the morning sales in her head, Stephanie figured if this was any indication of how busy the season would be, not only would she be working overtime, she'd prove just how wrong Patrick was about her ability to manage the shop and turn a profit. Plus, she'd have a bit of extra cash, even after putting the down payment on her dream house in Placerville. She would use the extra money to purchase a new bedroom set for the girls.
They'd been without the basic comforts for most of their lives, and for this reason they were appreciative of any gift they received, no matter how large or small. They were good girls, and Stephanie found herself visualizing tucking them into a brand-spanking-new white-canopied bed in their new home. Plus she couldn't wait to see the look on their faces when she announced they would be adopting one of the pups sired by Ice-D. They'd begged for a pet for the past two years, but Stephanie knew it wouldn't be fair to the girls or an animal if she were to bring a pet home to the small garage apartment. There was barely enough room for the three of them as it was. As the girls grew older, she knew they would want and need their privacy. A new home with three bedrooms, not to mention two bathrooms, would be pure heaven for the three of them and a pet. Angry that she'd wasted so much valuable time with Glenn, Stephanie figured she had to make it up to the girls, and a home of their own would be a good place for new beginnings.
Cheered by her thoughts, Stephanie felt a renewed sense of purpose. She could manage her life at last, but this time around it would be on her own terms. She didn't need a man to take care of her. Look at where that had gotten her. Actually, Glenn's jailbreak was the catalyst that had sent her in search of a better life. Stephanie had learned at an early age that life wasn't always easy, but at thirty-two, she felt as though she'd learned enough about life not to repeat the mistake of allowing a man to have complete and total control of her life. After her mother flew the coop to parts unknown, when Stephanie was three, she'd been sent to live with her mother's older sister, Aunt Evelyn, who'd loved her like her own daughter. While they hadn't had much in the way of material things, Stephanie knew she was loved. Sadly, her aunt had passed away the year she graduated from high school. While grieving for the only mother figure she'd ever known, Stephanie had allowed Glenn to step in and control her every move. At first she'd enjoyed her newfound lack of responsibility as she'd spent most of her life caring for Aunt Evelyn, who'd been severely crippled with rheumatoid arthritis. However, her independence was short-lived. She and Glenn married right after graduation; he started drinking, and within a year turned into an angry, bitter, controlling man. Having no outlet for his anger, he made Stephanie into his punching bag. And as they say, the rest is history. Though this time around, Stephanie was writing her own story.
Stephanie had a job to do in the here and now, so she pushed all negative thoughts of her past to that little dark corner of her mind, where they remained dormant most of the time.
“Why don't you take your lunch break now. We're staying open until seven tonight. This might be the only chance you'll have. Once the lifts are closed, I expect we'll be swamped.”
Candy Lee looked at the Minnie Mouse watch on her wrist. “Okay. You want me to bring you something back? You have to eat, too,” Candy Lee informed her in that all-knowing teenage way.
“Yes, that's why I brought my lunch with me. I knew I wouldn't have time to go to The Lodge for lunch today. Now, go on and get back here,” Stephanie said, using her mothering tone.
Candy Lee grabbed her purse from beneath the counter, gave a quick salute, and raced out the back door. Stephanie watched her as she tore through the icy parking lot. Had she ever been that young and carefree? If she had, she couldn't pull up the memory. She had new memories to make, and this time around they'd be the kind she'd always dreamed of.
Wouldn't they?
Chapter Four
Melanie held a mitten-clad hand in each of hers. The slopes were always dangerously crowded the first day after Thanksgiving. If she let go of Ashley or Amanda, it would be very easy to lose sight of them. Stephanie had made sure to tell the girls to dress in their neon yellow ski suits; that way they would be easy to spot. Melanie glanced around her, seeing at least a dozen other young children dressed in the same neon yellow suits that her charges wore.
So much for sticking out like a sore thumb,
she thought. Melanie wouldn't let the girls get too far from her sight no matter what.
“Auntie M,” Ashley said. Melanie laughed when Ashley called her by the new nickname they'd christened her with after she'd allowed them to watch
The Wizard of Oz
four times last week. “Can we ski on the blue trails today?
Please?
Uncle Max says we're as good as most of the older kids, and their parents let them ski the blue runs.”
“Puhleeze,”
Amanda echoed.
“I guess so, but not by yourselves. I'll go with you,” Melanie stated firmly. “There are a lot of skiers out today, so we have to be extra careful.”
“Yeah, or we'll get hurt, right? And then Mommy will have to take us to the hospital, and we'll have to stay there cause she won't have enough money to pay the hospital bill,
right,
Auntie M?” Amanda crooned in a squeaky voice.
At five-foot-nine, Melanie had to stoop in order to be at eye level with both girls. She wanted to wrap them both in her arms and tell them she would never allow that to happen. And she had the resources to keep that pledge, having inherited millions from her grandparents. Nor would her wealthy parents allow it. But Melanie knew how badly Stephanie wanted to make her way in the world on her own, so Melanie had carefully refrained from even hinting at her own financial situation.
Stephanie had told her more than once about her life with Glenn. Determined to provide for her children, Stephanie had rules she'd explained to Melanie when she'd first taken the job, and one of those rules was no financial help, no loans, no expensive gifts. Two years ago, Melanie's parents, longtime supporters of Grace's work with battered women at Hope House, had reduced the rent to something that Stephanie could afford. And to the best of Melanie's knowledge, no one, including Grace, had ever breathed a word of this to Stephanie.
Melanie smiled at both girls. “Well, we won't have to worry about that because you're both such good little skiers, I can't even imagine either of you falling down, let alone getting hurt so badly that you would have to go to the hospital. So let's not even think about that. How about the three of us take the lift up to Sugar Hill, ski to Snow Zone where we'll stop in and see your mom, then maybe grab a cup of hot chocolate at The Lodge?”
Both girls nodded in agreement.
They were both worrywarts, something Melanie wished she could change, but time more than anything else would help to ease the fear and anxiety both girls tended to feel. Again, given their start in life, it was a miracle they hadn't suffered anything more than becoming overly cautious where their mother was concerned. Melanie wasn't sure she would've been able to cope at such a young age had her life been as tragic as theirs had been.
“Are you taking us to the Christmas tree lighting tonight, too?” Amanda asked. “Mommy says it's the highlight of the start of the holiday season. What's that mean?”
Ashley looked at Melanie with a knowing smile. “You want me to tell her?”
“Absolutely,” Melanie said, bending over to tighten the hooks on her ski boots.
Ashley pursed her lips, moved them from side to side as though she were contemplating the best answer. “Well, it's kinda like the first day of school when the teacher tells the class what she wants us to learn that year, only the Christmas season is short and a lot more fun.” She looked at Melanie for confirmation.
Grinning at the complete and total simplicity of Ashley's explanation, Melanie stated, “I couldn't have said it better myself.”
“It's sorta like a new beginning, right, Auntie M?” Ashley said.
She continued to be amazed by the girls' perception. They were both exceptionally intelligent for their ages. Melanie knew Stephanie took great pride in her children's education. Many times Melanie had stopped by their apartment only to find the three of them gathered at the kitchen table with a pile of books in front of them studying anything and everything, ranging from science to geography.
“That's exactly what it is,” Melanie agreed.
“Then let's go. I wanna ride the lift now. Can I sit in the middle?” Amanda asked.
Melanie stood up to her full height, gazed to her left, where she saw that the lift lines were getting longer by the minute. If they were lucky, they'd have just enough time for one run before stopping in to see Stephanie. “Let's do our safety check first.” Melanie had spent most of her life on the slopes but never took her skill or that of the girls for granted. A loose boot buckle or a stray article of clothing could cause a lifetime disability. Melanie wasn't going to allow the girls to get hurt on her watch. No way. They went through their usual routine.
First, they checked to make sure they had all the basics covered. Skis and boots were fastened properly. Pole straps were checked. Helmets and goggles were secure. Gloves were on properly. Since the season was predicted to be one of the coldest on record, Melanie had given the girls foot and hand warmers to place inside their gloves and boots, plus she now put an extra set of each in the inside zippered pocket of their ski jackets. Each of them had a tube of cherry-flavored lip balm in her pocket, along with a granola bar. As an added precaution, Melanie always made sure Ashley kept a pack of waterproof matches inside her jacket. One never knew. At ten, Ashley had been taught a few basic survival skills. Melanie was sure Ashley would never need them as long as she was around, but that was part of being prepared. One must always prepare for the unexpected.
“Sunscreen on our faces, and we're good to go,” Melanie said, removing a small tube of sunscreen from her pocket. She made quick work of slathering their faces with the cream before readjusting their helmets and goggles. “Now remember, I'm in the rear, and you two always stay in front of me. If you need to stop and rest, just stop at the side of the run that faces away from the mountain, okay?”
“Okay,” the girls parroted.
Melanie followed close behind the girls as they skied to the long lift lines. Dozens of skiers dressed in every color of the rainbow swished in and out of the lanes, racing to get to the front of the lift line. Melanie kept her eyes on the girls as they carefully maneuvered toward the chairlifts. They were moving surprisingly fast today considering it was the first official day of the Christmas season. Throngs of skiers dotted the mountainside, like the lofty evergreens that flanked the trails.
Above, the skies were heavy with slate gray clouds. The wind was frigid, the conditions perfect for a snowstorm. Melanie wanted to take the girls up for at least one run since the weather might not cooperate later in the day. The forecast called for snow, a necessity for all skiers and snowboarders, but Melanie didn't like the looks of the clouds looming above the mountaintops. Since the snowfall wasn't predicted until later in the afternoon, she reasoned they should have time for at least one decent run.
When it was their turn at the chairlift, the trio slid into position directly behind the bold red line, and gripped their ski poles in their left hands as they'd been taught while looking behind them to see the chairlift as it slowed to allow them to take a seat. Once seated with the safety bar down, Melanie commented, “You two are really getting to be pros at this. It took me forever to learn how to load up without falling.”
Since they were going on the blue runs, their ride was longer than normal. It took almost seven minutes for the ski lift to arrive at their designated stop. During the ride up, both girls chatted nonstop, telling her what they hoped Santa would bring them for Christmas. They'd told her about the wall plaques they had made for their mom in art class, and last but not least, they said that their “Aunt Grace” wanted to introduce Melanie to her brother, Bryce.
She couldn't help but blush. She'd seen Bryce at Maximum Glide on more than one occasion. He was the epitome of a true hunk. Melanie thought he fit the image of a ski bum more so than that of a college professor. Lucky for her, they arrived at their stop in time to provide her with an excuse not to answer. But she knew these little mischief makers, and this wouldn't be the last of that conversation. They were relentless when it came to questioning why she wasn't married and didn't have children of her own.
Both girls exited the lift chair with ease, skiing away as fast as possible so as not to block the next group of skiers preparing to exit the lift.
The particular area on the mountain where Melanie was taking them had an elevation closer to thirteen thousand than twelve thousand feet. The air was thin at that altitude, making one almost gasp for oxygen. The temperature was several degrees lower than at the base of the mountain. Wind gusts at this height caused the majestic towering evergreen tops to sway from side to side, their movements producing a soft whisper, a slow dance, with the bone-chilling winds supplying a soft whistle as their music.
Melanie skied to where the girls were waiting. “Are you both ready?” she asked.
Again, they nodded their helmet-covered heads.
Melanie motioned with her gloved hand for them to begin their descent. They pushed off like two little thoroughbreds, traversing downward without getting too close to the edge of the mountainside. Melanie trailed behind them for several minutes before the run led to a bowl of intersections leading to three different areas on the mountain. One ski lift would take them to the very top of the mountain, where they would find the double black diamond runs. The second lift would take them to the opposite side of the mountain, where the terrain park allowed freestylers and snowboarders to hone their acrobatic skills on half-pipes, rails, ramps, and tables. The third lift led to the mogul runs, for those hardy souls brave enough to tackle the minimounds of packed snow that dipped to the bottom of the mountain at a ninety-degree angle. The girls knew that they were supposed to wait for her at the big blue sign directing them back to lift number one at the base of the mountain.
She weaved in and out of the groups of skiers, passed a friend who was on the ski patrol. When she reached the intersection, she searched for the two neon yellow ski suits. Seeing a small group gathered at their appointed sign, Melanie made quick work of poling over to get the girls. When she arrived, she was a bit surprised to find that neither of the two kids wearing yellow neon ski suits was Ashley or Amanda. She pushed off and circled the bowl. Seeing that there were no pint-sized girls wearing yellow suits, she stopped once again and scanned the area around her. Then she skied slowly around the perimeter of the bowl once again, and she thoroughly searched the sides of the run, where a grove of evergreens flanked the trail. Maybe they'd fallen, hit a small snowdrift, or something, she thought.
Melanie jammed her poles into the snow behind her, trying to pick up speed on the flat terrain. She went from side to side, looking in every possible direction, every gully, and even went off trail, thinking one of the girls might have gone to the woods looking for a bit of privacy in order to use the restroom. They'd done this before, and while Melanie didn't approve of it, sometimes Mother Nature's call had to be answered no matter what. After searching for fifteen minutes, Melanie had a sneaky feeling the girls had decided to go off on their own. This was not good. Not at all. If she didn't locate the girls at the end of the run, she'd have to contact the ski patrol and explain the situation.
What was even worse, she'd have to explain to Stephanie that she'd lost her children.