Chapter 7

7

A fter the volunteer physician’s assistant examined her once they cut her boot off, they wrapped her ankle with a bandage and helped load her into the gondola to ride down the mountain with minimal injuries. Once they got to the bottom, they helped load her into Brent’s car and he brought her over to the urgent care. They offered to take her by ambulance, but the thought of the bill had her cringing, so when Brent offered to drive her, she didn’t want to say “no.”

At the urgent care, they gave her an X-ray to confirm there were no broken bones and sent paperwork over to her doctor back home to get an MRI scheduled. The doctor at the urgent care felt her ankle and said it was likely a bad sprain with the possibility of torn ligaments. Then her ankle was put into an air cast, she received crutches, and was sent on her way.

Brent offering to drive her confused her to no end. She suspected he felt guilty over running into her and causing the entire mess. But he never once complained about waiting at the urgent care while she was seen, and he eagerly helped her back into the car on the way back.

Once they got back inside the resort, Candace crutched over to the elevators. The lights flickered overhead as a new storm passed through.

An employee stood in front of them, directing traffic.

“I’m sorry. No one can use the elevators right now. There’s too much of a risk of them getting stuck with the storm.”

Candace looked down at her ankle and then back up at the employee, as if she had grown an extra head. “So, you want me to take the stairs?”

She smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry, but it’s the only option. I can contact some staff to help you up if you’d like.”

“It won’t be necessary. I can carry her.”

Candace’s irritation at the entire situation—the entire day —had her rolling her eyes before turning toward Brent. “Carry me, my ass.”

She crutched over to the stairs and stared up at them. This would be interesting. Moving the crutches onto the first step, she attempted to swing herself up, but realized quickly that would not work. Then she tried to swing herself up onto the first step by using her arms to brace them against the crutches. Swinging her outstretched injured foot into the stairs, she cursed.

“I hate the stairs,” she said in her best Hulk voice.

The familiar laugh behind her had her rolling her eyes again. Brent was bent over at the waist, laughing, with his arms wrapped around his stomach.

“Did you just imitate the Hulk?” he asked.

“I hate stairs as much as he does.” She shrugged and turned back to the problem at hand. How anyone ever figured out how to get up a staircase with an injury was beyond her. What did people do before elevators existed? She pushed the thought aside. That was something worth researching at another time.

She laid one of her crutches down on the stairs a few steps up and positioned herself next to the handrail. Using it for leverage, she propelled herself up onto the first step with it and the other crutch. When she landed flat on the first step, she fist pumped.

A few more steps up, and her arms were already getting tired. Only three and half more flights left. At this rate, she’d be there the rest of the night.

“Ready for me to help you?”

She startled and lost her balance. Her arm flailed, losing her grip on the crutch while simultaneously attempting to grasp the handrail to stop the inevitable fall.

A set of hands came around her waist, steadying her in place. Her crutch clattered loudly on the tile floor at the bottom of the steps. With her heart thundering in her chest, she glanced behind her to see Brent’s amused look, not making any attempt to let go of her waist.

“I said I don’t need help.”

“You’re right. You’re doing a great job by yourself. But you would get to your room a lot faster if you’d just let me help.”

His fingers skimmed the skin exposed by her shirt lifting—a trail of fire remained in their wake. A low moan escaped her lips. She coughed to cover it up.

Candace! Stop!

“Give me just a second,” he said before going down the steps and retrieving her crutch.

Brent came back up and looped his arm under Candace’s, helping her up the steps. It was easier, she’d give him that, but she would still pretend to be grumpy over it.

His arm caressed the bare skin beneath her shirt as he kept a grip on her waist. The butterflies beat wildly in her stomach.

“Go away,” she muttered.

“What?”

She glanced up at him. “Nothing. Just looking forward to getting to my room and all.”

“Crazy night planned?”

“Oh yeah. Partying it up with me, myself, and I.”

“Lucky you. Sounds like a great night.”

She looked up at him, expecting to find a trace of sarcasm, but it wasn’t there. He looked down at her and their lips were mere inches apart. Her eyes dropped to his lips and back up to meet his gaze.

They had stopped walking, and the sudden traffic of the other guests flowed around them, parting like a sea.

Just when she thought he might dip his head and kiss her, Jan’s voice had them pulling apart.

“Candace, there you are, honey. Oh good. Brent is with you. When I saw the elevators were shut down, I got worried you’d have trouble getting to your room.” At Candace’s confused expression, Jan continued, “Brent told us what happened. Are you okay? Are you in pain?”

Candace blushed. Jan seemed oblivious to the fact that she almost saw her son kissing her. If that’s what was about to happen. She wasn’t sure, to be honest.

“I’m okay. I’m uncomfortable, but they gave me some pain pills to dull it.” Then she gestured to Brent. “Brent is giving me a hand right now.”

Jan patted him on the arm. “I tried to raise my boys right.”

Candace gave her a soft smile. “You did an amazing job.”

Brent raised an eyebrow at her, clearly as shocked as she was at her own comment.

Jan helped Brent with getting Candace to the top of the stairs and then she said goodnight and went into her own room. Brent walked beside Candace as she crutched down to her room and then stopped outside.

“Are you okay?” he asked. “I thought we were making a little headway between us, but you seem mad at me again.”

She scanned her keycard to unlock the door and then propped it open before turning to look at Brent. She sighed.

“Yes, I’m sorry. I’m not upset with you. I’m just upset with this situation. Being in crutches at a ski resort in a town filled with snow isn’t exactly easy… or fun.”

Brent tilted his head. “Okay, what is it you want to do but don’t think you can? Aside from the obvious, like skiing.”

Her mind immediately flashed to the hot tub. Soaking sounded amazing, but getting back down the stairs by herself wouldn’t be easy, nor would it be easy getting into or out of the hot tub without help. Plus, with the storm going on, it wouldn’t be smart.

“I can see those wheels turning. What did you just think of?” Brent asked.

“The hot tub, but it would be crazy in the storm.”

“Why?”

She gestured down the hallway. “They just shut down the elevators because they’re worried the storm will knock out the power.”

“True, but it has to do with the wind and amount of snow coming down, which is making the lights flicker. It has nothing to do with lightning. It would still be safe to get into the hot tub as long as you don’t mind snow falling on your head… or a breeze.”

She pulled a lip between her teeth.

“Tell you what,” Brent said. “Let’s go down there. I’ll help you down the stairs and into the hot tub. If the power goes out or the weather gets too wild, we’ll come back in. They’ll close the hot tubs if there’s a safety hazard.”

He had a point, and she knew he was right.

“You’re right. It’s just a lot of work trying to get down there.”

He chuckled. “Candy, I promise you, I don’t mind helping, and it’ll be fun. What else did you plan to do all night? Sit in your room and watch sitcom reruns?”

She shrugged and laughed. “Probably.”

“Okay. I’ll make the decision. We are going to try this. Get dressed in your swimsuit, and I’ll be right back.”

Before she could change her mind, he walked off to his own room.

Brent gripped Candace around the waist as he helped her down the steps. He insisted on picking her up, but she wanted nothing to do with that. She wanted to hop down with his help, saying something about worrying he would drop her. As much as he wanted to show off how strong he was and just carry her down the steps against her will, he knew that would set them back to square one. They were finally making progress, and he didn’t want to rock the boat.

When they reached the bottom, she took hold of her crutches and insisted on crutching the rest of the way. He walked beside her, ready to catch her if she were to slip once they got outside.

Once they opened the doors to the concrete walkway that led to the hot tubs, a blast of cold air had them both exhaling suddenly.

“Oh, my God. It’s cold.” She looked up at him. “We can go back inside if you want.”

He shook his head and grabbed a few towels off the cart sitting just inside the door. “Nope. We’re doing this.”

They slowly crutched through the snowy pathway. By the time they reached the hot tubs, they were both shivering.

“Still want to do this?” she asked.

“Yep. There’s no turning back now.”

He quickly stripped his sweatshirt off and set it on top of a towel on a nearby bench before taking her crutches and helping her out of her sweatshirt. He took her around the waist and lifted her over the edge of the hot tub on the shallow steps and slowly lowered her until her foot on her good leg touched the seat. Then he stepped inside and helped her find a comfortable position while simultaneously keeping her injured foot out of the water and elevated on the edge of the hot tub to reduce swelling.

Once they were both seated, they breathed a sigh of relief as the hot water warmed them.

“It’s going to suck getting out,” she said.

He laughed. “Yeah, I’m thinking we should skip the sweatshirts and just get to the door quickly before putting them on again inside.”

“I agree.”

“I might just have to help hustle you along so we don’t freeze.”

She raised an eyebrow. “And how do you propose we do that?”

“I might just pick you up and run.”

“And slip on the ice and damage my foot further? I’ll pass.”

“Oh, ye of little faith.”

She laughed. “I think I’ll take my chances with freezing my ass off.”

“Okay, okay. You can call the shots,” he said with a wink.

They sat in silence for several minutes. Brent took a moment to glance around. The other hot tub was empty, as he had expected. It was quiet except for the wind rustling the nearby pine trees. Looking up, all he could see were the falling flakes.

Montana was beautiful this time of year, albeit cold. This was his first time visiting Wintervale, but he knew he would come back. There was something magical about this place.

But perhaps it more had to do with Candace warming up to him.

He looked over at her, and without thinking, his hand snaked around her waist. She looked over at him, surprised, but didn’t resist as he scooted closer. He gently settled her on his lap and wrapped his arms around her, letting her lean against him, and breathed her in. Strawberries. His favorite.

“What are you doing?” she whispered.

“Enjoying the moment.”

As if that was a good enough answer, she relaxed into him.

“It’s so beautiful here,” she said.

“It is. When Travis told me they were getting married here, I was surprised they had chosen a random town. But he said you and Jessica used to come up here as kids. And I can see why. It’s gorgeous.”

She nodded. “This is the first time I’ve been back since before they passed.”

He couldn’t imagine what she was possibly going through, being back here with memories of her parents everywhere. But he also didn’t know much about their passing.

“Is it hard to be back?”

She sighed. “I was worried it would be, but it isn’t. This might sound crazy, but it makes me feel closer to them. Almost like they were at the wedding watching Jessica recite her vows. It was really comforting.”

He pressed a kiss to her shoulder and froze. She stiffened. He hadn’t meant to do that. Brent already felt like he knew Candace well, despite this trip being the longest amount of time they had ever spent together. It felt natural having her in his arms and kissing her shoulder.

“I’m sorry, I?—”

She cut him off and waved a hand in the air, flicking the warm water over both of their faces. “It’s okay. You don’t need to explain.”

Silence fell between them, but he desperately needed to keep her talking, worried things would go back to being tense between them.

“I’m glad you feel closer to your parents here, and it isn’t harder. I’m assuming Jessica feels the same way?”

She nodded. “I think so. I think that’s why she chose it.”

“You haven’t discussed it?”

“We have, but not in great detail. She told me she planned to have the wedding up here before they booked everything. I think she wanted to make sure it wouldn’t upset me.”

He instinctively tightened his arms around her, hugging her closer to his chest. Her hands rested on his arms and gave them a small squeeze.

“I told her it was her wedding and she should do what she wants. I was a little apprehensive that it would make me incredibly sad, you know?”

“But you didn’t tell her,” he said softly.

She shook her head. “I didn’t tell her. I would never take her dream wedding away from her. Even if the location gave me anxiety for months.”

He lifted her and lightly shifted her so she could face him easier while still keeping her foot propped outside the hot tub.

“You know you’re amazing, right? Raising your sister. Giving her everything, even though it wasn’t your responsibility. Sacrificing yourself and your dreams for her.”

A small smile touched Candace’s lips. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“I know.”

Her eyes flickered back and forth between his before dropping to his lips briefly before meeting his eyes again.

He leaned forward and her eyes fluttered shut. Just before their lips touched, a gust of wind blew between them with a flurry of snowflakes.

Candace squeaked and pulled back. “Oh my gosh. We should get inside.”

Brent still held onto her, but nodded. It was probably for the best their kiss was interrupted, but he couldn’t deny he didn’t want it.