Chapter 13

13

“Keep your knees bent…that’s it…no, don’t push off…Tahlia!”

With a loud thwump , Tahlia tumbled into a snowbank for the tenth time since arriving to the mountain’s ski lanes. Nelson shuffled up to her on his skis with an annoyed grimace.

“I told you not to push off.”

Tahlia groaned as she sat up, shifting her legs into a different position so that her skis weren’t sticking straight up into the air. She leveled a glare on the giant man in front of her. His black coat was pristine, not a drop of snow on it while Tahlia could feel droplets of frozen water sliding down her back, her front, everywhere. It was utterly unfair.

“What did I say about ‘I told you so’ ?”

Nelson rolled his eyes. “You should be on the bunny slopes. With an instructor.”

“Are you going to help me up or not?” she snapped, thrusting her hand toward him. Nelson heaved a sigh but edged closer, arm outstretched. Tahlia’s fingers closed around his hand, but instead of hauling herself up, she gave a mighty tug and, with a shout, Nelson fell face first into the snowbank. He landed beside her and Tahlia barely managed to avoid being crushed. She erupted into gleeful cackles, her entire body shaking with the force of her laughter, which only increased when he rolled over and revealed his snow-covered face.

“Stop laughing!” he demanded. When she didn’t, Nelson growled low in his throat before he sat up and angrily unclipped his boots from his skis. “You’re worse than the kids,” he muttered as he pushed himself off the ground.

“Oh!” Tahlia finally managed to calm herself and waved her hands. “Mr. Nelson! Help me up!”

Nelson was in the process of picking up his skis but paused and straightened with a thoughtful expression. “I don’t think so,” he decided and returned to his skis. Tahlia gasped in offense.

“Hey! Where are you going?” she demanded when he took a few steps away. “Help me!”

“Nope.” He threw the word over his shoulder as he moved further up the hill.

“Mr. Nelson!” she called. The further he got, the more irritated (and maybe a little nervous; the prospect of being left alone on that mountain was not attractive) she grew. “Nelson! Matt!”

His name popped out accidentally but it’s what made him stop. Tahlia watched him slowly return with her lips pressed tightly together. She was fairly certain that his patience level before her trick was approaching dangerous and after using his name so casually it might be nuclear.

Nelson’s shadow fell over her. For a few seconds he didn’t say anything, only looked down. Though he’d abandoned his sunglasses sometime ago, she couldn’t see his expression because the sun was right behind him.

“Come on,” he finally said and knelt down to undo her skis. Tahlia eyed him warily as he worked.

“Are we done?”

Nelson paused, hands hovering over her second ski, and looked at her dumbly. “Aren’t we?”

She shrugged. “I was having fun.”

“How was falling in the snow every other second ‘fun’?”

“I like the snow!” she protested.

“You’ve almost broken your ankles twice,” he said with a roll of his eyes. Tahlia would have told him he exaggerated, had she not winced and hissed in pain when his hand dropped to the buckle of her ski. Apparently she’d sustained a minor injury during the last fall. Nelson pulled his hand back. “Shit. Sorry.”

“It’s alright,” she reassured him breathily. “Go ahead.”

With a great care and gentleness that sent little flutters through her stomach, Nelson unclipped the ski from her boot and removed it. “How’s it feel?” he asked, obvious worry in his voice. Tahlia rolled her ankle and, while the following sensation wasn’t pleasant, the pain wasn’t excruciating either, and localized on the top of her foot.

“I think I just bruised it.”

“Can you stand?” His hand stayed on her boot in what Tahlia could easily talk herself into thinking was a comforting, protective way.

“Yes…” She took his newly offered hand and was pulled up as he stood.

However, with some spectacular bad luck, just as she was brought to her feet, she tripped over her skis and fell backward into the snow again. Taking Nelson with her.

“Oh!”

“Oof!”

Somehow, during the fall, he managed to twist them so that Tahlia landed on top of him instead of her skis. Tahlia bolted up, hands planted on his chest. His arms were loosely wrapped around her, fingers splayed over her back.

“Are you alright?” she exclaimed, searching his face for any sign of pain. “Did I hurt you?”

“I’m fine,” he rasped. “Got the wind knocked out of me, but I’m…” he lifted his head out of the snow and his speech slowed, his breath stuttering, “…fine.”

A quiet fell that should have been impossible considering all the activity on the mountain, a hundred people swooping this way and that on skis and snowboards, but Tahlia didn’t notice or hear any of it. She lowered herself just a little, her body relaxing at the same time his arms tightened around her haltingly, as if he wanted to do more but wasn’t allowing himself the opportunity. There was a quiet part of her that wanted him to and it was growing louder with each second she rested against his chest.

“Are you two alright?”

The pair of them shot up, Tahlia twisting around, to face one of the lodge’s ski instructors, apparent from the green coat he wore with the lodge’s insignia on the right shoulder. He was staring at them from behind snow goggles but Tahlia could tell he was concerned.

“Yeah, we’re good,” Nelson said gruffly, pushing himself to his feet. “We were, uh…just leaving.” He looked down at Tahlia, his expression gentle, and once again offered her his hand. This time, when she took it, she rose up without issue and stood at his side. Embarrassed for a multitude of reasons and in need of something - anything - to do, she leaned over to pick up her skis.

When she straightened, the lodge instructor was still standing there, his mouth twisted in confusion.

“We’re good,” Nelson repeated and the instructor jumped a little.

“Right, uh, have a good day, folks.” The instructor gave a nod and shuffled off until he was gliding smoothly along the hill toward another struggling skier.

For a moment there was heavy silence; Tahlia looked up at Nelson and he met her gaze. She wasn’t quite sure what she saw in his eyes but she didn’t dwell on it, a more pressing matter coming to mind.

“Does this mean we have to walk back?” she asked bluntly. Nelson blinked before he shook his head quickly.

“Uh, no, no. We can use the lift. Are you able to walk?”

“Of course, it’s just a bruise,” she assured him. “Come on. I’m sure the kids are starving and from what I know of your dad, he’s going to feed them sugar.” The kids and the grandparents had already made their way down the mountain. An embarrassingly long while ago.

Nelson sighed and nodded wearily.