Page 40 of Counting Down To You

I give a casual shrug—or as best I can in my marshmallow outfit. “My backup career.”

Leo helps me shuffle toward the chair lift, at which point I stop and stare. It’s quite high up. And I can’t see where we’re supposed to get off. Surely it can’t be safe to sit suspended above the mountains like that, held up by, as far as I can tell, nothing more than a bunch of wires? I open my mouth to say that maybe we ought to stick to the baby slope for now, but already the lift operator has lifted a hand in greeting to Leo and is gesturing us to the front of the queue, earning much tutting from the back.

“Brooks!” The lift operator gives Leo a sort of cross between a high five and a handshake. “Not out training today?”

Leo smiles. “Fancied a bit of an easy one for a change. This is Ali,” he says, gesturing at me. “My new guest-relations manager.”

Ski-lift man lifts a hand in the air. “Ah, you know I have no idea what that is. But you two have fun.” And before I quite know what’s happening Leo is helping me forward between the revolving metal bars, out in front of the chair lift and bam—it hits the backs of my knees and I’m forced onto it, as Leo pulls the bar down over our laps.

I grip the bar with both hands. We are making our way higher, over the skiers below, my legs dangling into oblivion. It does not feel safe. My skis feel too heavy on my feet, like they might pull me out of the lift with the sheer weight of them.

I swallow. “Does anyone ever drop out of these?”

“Nah. Not accidentally.”

I frown. “Do you mean they do intentionally?”

He laughs, though doesn’t answer. I take deep breaths, trying not to think of how far off the ground we now are, how much it would hurt if I fell. I think I’m doing a pretty good job of masking my nerves, when I feel a hand on my arm. I look over at Leo, to see my reflection in his dark sunglasses.

“Ali? Don’t worry, okay? I won’t let you fall.”

I bite my lip as I glance back down, then nod. His hand is still there, holding me in place. And we are sitting right next to each other, our legs practically pressed together. There are so many layers of clothing between us. I shouldn’t be able to feel the heat of his thigh against mine.

His hand comes away from my arm and I make myself look around at our surroundings. It really is beautiful, isn’t it? You can see just how vast the mountain range is from up here, can really appreciate the sunlight glittering off the snow. To my left are green pine trees frosted with white, against the backdrop of a bright, blue sky. I take another breath, feel myself calm a little. Enough to be able to slip my gloves off and fumble for my phone, deep in my ski jacket pocket, and take a photo. Cal is going to want to see this.

I glance at Leo as I slip my phone away. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“How come you were upset the other morning? In the office, I mean.”

He’s looking straight ahead and I can’t see his eyes behind his sunglasses, so I have no clue how he feels about the question. He’s quiet for a beat, and I wonder if I shouldn’t have asked while we’re stuck on a chairlift together. It’s going to make it pretty awkward if he refuses to answer. But it’s partly why I did ask—because we’re stuck, and it’s not so easy to evade the question up here.

“I heard from one of the guys I’m training with. They want me to take one of the tests again.”

“For your ski-rescue thing?” He nods but doesn’t offer any further information. “So…you failed a test?” I press.

He hesitates. “Well, not really. They wouldn’t let me take it first time around and…” He blows out a breath, and I watch it mist in the air around us. “It’s sort of complicated. Anyway, I have to pass to qualify and now I’m not sure I will. Everything else—all the other tests—I’m fine with. But if they don’t pass me…Well, then I don’t know, really.”

I try to follow his train of thought and think I get the fundamentals. And I suppose I’d be disappointed too if I wanted something badly enough and someone told me I couldn’t have it. Although, I don’t think I’ve ever really wanted anything like that. Not like Robyn, who always wanted to be an actress. In all honesty, if someone told me I failed a test to be a recruitment consultant, I wouldn’t be all that bothered.

“How long have you been training?” I ask.

“Just this year.”

I contemplate him. “How long have you wanted to do it?”

He seems to think about this. “I’m not really sure,” he says slowly. He glances at me. Or, at least, I think he does, based on the direction of his head. “Sorry, that’s not really an answer, I know. But I never really thought it was something I’d be able to do, until recently. It’s sort of a difficult career.”

“Yeah. I can imagine.”

“So there’s all the physical elements, and then I don’t usually stick in one place, so I don’t tend to look for jobs that involve sticking around for too long. Which is why hotels suit me, I guess.” He sounds a little like Lucie. Though, with Lucie, it seemed like she was genuinely passionate about it. I don’t get that same sense from Leo. It seems more like…convenience.

“Last year, I sort of had an epiphany I guess,” Leo continues, now looking straight ahead. “I realized I wanted to do something I really cared about. And—I know this sounds stupid—but I’ll never be a doctor or human rights lawyer or anything, but I’m good at skiing and if I can help even a handful of people who get stuck, if I can bring them back to safety, then that’s something, isn’t it?”

“I don’t think it sounds stupid,” I say quietly. He glances at me from behind his sunglasses. “And yes,” I agree. “It’s definitely something.”

He blows out a breath that sounds a bit relieved. “It took a while, to figure out that it was something I wanted to do, something I could do. But, because of that, it feels like I’m trying to make up for lost time, I guess.” He shrugs. “I suppose that’s why I took it so hard that, after all this, it might not happen.”