Just Perfect (16 page)

“I annihilated him, Alec.” Her eyes sparkled now, but with excitement, not tears. “I kicked his ass. You should have seen me. I was unstoppable.”

“Of course you were.” And good for you, he thought. “You nearly blew me away on that run.”

Her shoulders slumped. “Yeah, well Dad proclaimed it a practice run. He said the first one didn’t count because I’ve been here a week, and Robbie just got here. So we did it again, and again, and again. I kicked Robbie’s butt every time. I shredded that run and boosted some insane air off a few kickers, while Robbie took at least five face plants trying to match me. Yet, every time, Dad found some reason why that run didn’t count.”

“That’s totally wacked.” Anger joined his disbelief.

“Exactly,” she agreed. “So we’d get back on the lift to go up again, and each time, I don’t know, the ride up got harder and harder. I could feel the panic squeezing in on me, but I was
not
going to show it. No way. I was going to ride that lift, and make that run however”—she took a deep breath—“however many times it took my father to admit that I was better than Robbie at something.

“I know I’m not as smart at him. I know he’s a neurologist and I’m a lowly ER doc. I know he was valedictorian and I wasn’t. I know I’ll never be as good as him in most things, but Goddamm it, in this one thing, I
am
better! I am!”

He stared at her, his heart aching. “Did your dad finally admit it?”

“No.” She snorted in disgust. “It was Robbie who’d finally had enough. He said he was exhausted from the altitude and tired of me beating him. So
he
proclaimed me the winner. That was like”—she searched for words to describe it—“one of the greatest moments in my life! My brother actually said, ‘You win. Congratulations, sis. You finally did it.’”

“And what did your father say?”

“Basically, he shrugged it off, turned to Robbie and said, ‘Let’s go get lunch.’ Then they skied off without me.”

“What?” Alec frowned “They just left you there?”

“They knew I’d agreed to meet you, and I needed to get going, but yes, they left me standing there.”

“What jerks!” He struggled against the urge to track both men down and punch them. “What’d you do?”

“I skied over here to get in the lift line and go meet you. I was so angry, though, I was shaking. And then suddenly, I was at the front of the line, and I—I don’t know, what h-happened. I just—” Her eyes welled again. “I couldn’t get on the lift.”

“It’s okay.” He pulled her to him and held her tight, wishing there was something more he could do.

That was all Christine needed, though, to have someone hold her. Slowly, the fist squeezing her chest began to relax.

“Hey,” Alec said, rubbing her back. “Why don’t I

take you home? You can rest for a while; then when I get off work, we’ll go scare up some fun.“

“No, I don’t want to do that.” She sighed, her head resting on his shoulder. “If I do, Robbie will know I’m upset, and he’ll feel sorry for me. I really hate that. All this stuff goes right over my father’s head; he never gets it at all, but Robbie does. It doesn’t stop him from wiping up the tennis court with my ego, but he does get it. He just thinks I should let it go. Easy for him to say. He never had to work for attention.” Lifting her head, she looked at him. “Why are families so complicated? How can you love and resent the same people?”

“I don’t know. But I understand how you feel.”

“I wish…”

“What?”

A lump rose unexpectedly in her throat. “I wish my parents loved me as much as they love Robbie.”

“Oh, Chris.” He pulled her back into his arms.

She squeezed her eyes shut, hating the tears that leaked out. What a way to start her first date with Alec, by crying all over him. Determined to get her emotions under control, she straightened. “You know what they say, though. If wishes were wings, frogs wouldn’t bump their asses on the ground when they tried to fly.”

He laughed. “I thought it was: If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride.”

“That’s because you’re nicer than me. And more charming.”

“That’s me. Mr. Charming.” His quick smile helped lighten the mood. “And I think you’re very nice.”

She dried her face. “You also don’t cuss as much as me.”

“Now, before you start thinking that makes me a Goody Two-shoes, I have a good explanation.”

“What?”

“See, it goes like this. Everyone’s allotted so many cuss words when they’re born. I realized early on that my dad and brother were burning through their quota really fast. So, I decided to be generous and let them have some of mine.”

“See? Charming.” She smiled at him. “And very sweet.”

“No, not sweet.” He shuddered. “I’ll go with charming. Charming is good. But not sweet, and not cute.”

“But you are.”

“No. Ack. Puke.
Pluwie
!” He rolled sideways, pretending to gag in the snow.

“Will you stop?” Laughing, she shoved at his shoulder.

He turned and grabbed her hand. “Only if you kiss me.”

“Why should I?” She tipped her face up, thinking how wonderful he looked with sunlight in his hair. And how quickly he’d turned her tears to laughter.

He cupped her cheek as his eyes went from playful to intense. “Because I haven’t been able to think about anything else since I met you.”

Her heart fluttered from desire now, not panic, as he traced her bottom lip with his thumb. “There are people all around.”

“They’re too busy skiing to care. Kiss me.”

“Yes,” she sighed, and closed her eyes as his head descended.

There was nothing “sweet” or “cute” about the way Alec kissed. His mouth claimed hers, bringing her whole body alive until she ached to be skin to skin so he could replace all the hurt inside of her with pleasure.

Moaning, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back.

“Dispatch to 14B32, do you copy?” a gravelly female voice squawked.

Startled, Christine jumped back and looked about, but no one was there.

“Dang!” Alec fumbled with his coat. “Hold that thought.” He gave her a quick peck on the lips and pulled out a radio. “This is 14B32, copy.”

She laughed as she pressed a hand to her racing heart.

“We have a report of an avalanche in Cutter’s Basin,” the woman’s voice explained. “The witness reports three snowmobilers buried. One victim has been located alive but unconscious. The other two are still buried. Over.”

“Copy.” Alec straightened, scanning the horizon as he spoke into the radio. Sensing excitement, Buddy danced in place, ready to go. “Notify Lt. Kreiger to pick me up at the Cutter’s Basin trail head and page out whoever you can reach. Over.” He lowered the radio. “Looks like I gotta go. Will you be all right? I can call Trent to come back.”

“Actually, do you need any help?”

“On an avalanche rescue? Honey, I’ll take every digger I can get! Are you up to it, though?”

“I’m very up to it.” Excitement erased her other rioting emotions as she strapped on her helmet.

“Okay then.” He lowered his goggles. “Let’s do it!”

“A
helicopter
?” Christine shouted over the sound of the blades as a bulky relic descended practically on top of her. Unlike Alec’s truck, there was no shiny paint or lettering to proclaim it official county property. It looked like a military castoff that had been salvaged from a junkyard. Panic rose from her chest into her throat, making her voice go up an octave. “You didn’t tell me I had to ride in a helicopter.”

“Duck your head!” Alec’s hand clamped down on the top of her helmet and forced her to bend over as the craft touched down. Wind from the blades buffeted her back. The door slid open and she saw the two younger guys from the bachelor party. “Come on!” Alec shouted over the noise. “Get in!” One of the guys grabbed her skis while the other grabbed her arm. With Alec and Buddy coming in behind her, she didn’t have much choice. Before she knew it, she was sitting inside with her back against the side wall of the craft. Her heart lurched when the craft lifted off with the speed of an express elevator, leaving her stomach behind.

She’d flown many times in her life, but always on nice big commercial airplanes. Never in anything this small, skimming the tops of trees through a windy mountain valley.

Closing her eyes, she monitored her anxiety level. Would it go into a full-fledged attack for the second time in one day, or abate?

Breathing slowly, she listened to Alec talking to the pilot, the squawking of his radio, the whirling of the helo’s engine and blades. So far, so good. She could do this. She
would
do this. Although, she’d really like her stomach to catch up with her body.

“Hey, you need boots?” Someone nudged her shoulder.

“What?” She opened her eyes to find the kid with bright orange hair looking at her. If she remembered right, he was Brian, and the tall, skinny blond checking the contents of backpacks behind him was Eric.

“Boots.” Brian pointed at her feet. “You can’t help much wearing those.”

“Oh. Right.” She saw Alec in the copilot’s seat unbuckling his ski boots.

“Okay, copy,” Alec said into his radio. “Request one life flight and have a second standing by. We’re two minutes ETA. Over.” He looked back at her. “You okay?”

“Never better.” She forced a smile, refusing to let anxiety win. He gave her a big thumbs-up.

“Here you go.” Brian set a pair of soft boots down next to her. “These might fit.”

“Thank you.” She focused on changing her boots as the helicopter continued to climb.

“There!” Alec pointed out the front window. “Put us down there.”

“You got it,” Kreiger said.

Christine stifled a moan as the craft banked in a wide arch and headed downward. With a gentle thump they were on the ground. The instant Eric opened the door, Buddy shot through it, barking with impatience.

“Okay, let’s go. Let’s go!” Alec clapped his hands, herding them.

Christine clambered from the helicopter onto a huge expanse of glaring white.

“Over here!” a woman screamed, though the wind made her voice sound distant and thin. “Please, help me!”

Squinting against the sunlight, she saw a woman in a bright yellow parka kneeling next to something blue that was buried in the snow.

Alec thrust a backpack into Christine’s arms. Then, grabbing a spine board and oxygen tank, he took off toward the woman with Brian and Eric carrying shovels and poles and packs. Christine followed, stunned by the hard-packed ice beneath her feet. She didn’t know what she’d expected from an avalanche field—loose, unstable snow perhaps—but this was like running on frozen concrete that had been broken up with a jackhammer.

Behind them, she heard the helicopter take off to pick up more volunteers.

Alec reached the woman first and dropped to his knees as she wept hysterically, clutching her left arm.

The blue object turned out to be the parka of a second woman with only her head and one arm exposed.

“What’s your name?” Alec asked the woman in yellow, even as he focused on the other woman, lifting her eyelids, checking for a pulse.

“J-jenny,” the woman managed. “I couldn’t dig her out! Help her!”

“She’s alive.” Alec announced. “Brian, Eric, dig her out.”