Page 48 of Christmas at the Ranch
It was great inspiration for a novel. Lately, Samantha longed to write something different. A book that wouldn’t require her to pose for author photos riding a camel in the Gobi Desert or hanging out of a World War II fighter plane. The kind of book she always loved: boy meets girl, they fall in love, and are separated by fate. But she could hardly tell Arthur that she found the diary. It was private. Samantha shouldn’t have read it in the first place.
She slipped the diary into her dressing table and got ready for dinner. She couldn’t put off her maid of honor duties. Beatrix wasprobably waiting for her downstairs, trying to decide what the signature cocktail should be at the reception.
“Samantha, there you are.” Beatrix approached her.
It was after dinner, and Samantha was curled up on a sofa in the living room. A few guests sat around the fireplace and the lights on the Christmas tree twinkled.
“I wanted to see if you’ll come night tobogganing.” Beatrix sat opposite her. “Bruno will drive us in the SUV.”
“Tobogganing, now?” Samantha said, sipping her coffee with amaretto.
“They only offer it at night during Christmas,” Beatrix said. “A magic carpet takes you up the hill, and you toboggan down to the bottom.”
“I don’t think so.” Samantha held up her glass. “I’ve had a bit to drink and I’m so warm and cozy.”
“We only go a small way up the mountain,” Beatrix coaxed. “Afterward, we can have drinks in Teton Village and talk about girl stuff. Please, it’s the closest thing I’ll have to a bachelorette party.”
Samantha inhaled the scent of amaretto. She had promised herself she would do whatever Beatrix asked.
“What about Drew?” Samantha tried again.
“He’s playing poker with Arthur.” Beatrix rolled her eyes. “I didn’t want to interrupt; you know how men are about their poker games. No women allowed.”
Samantha couldn’t imagine Arthur saying that to Beatrix. But Beatrix was making a little pout. She wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
“All right.” Samantha nodded.
Samantha stood up, and Beatrix linked her arm through Samantha’s.
“I don’t have many more nights as a single woman,” Beatrix said gaily. “I have to fit in all the fun I can.”
Teton Village was bustling with tourists. Families toasted marshmallows at the outdoor firepits and children wearing ski sweaters did loops around the ice-skating rink.
“There are the snow tubes.” Beatrix pointed to the mountain. Sleek black rubber tubes were lined up on the edge of the hill. An operator barked orders and rubbed them with a cloth, as if he were part of the pit crew getting a race car ready for the tracks.
The warm buzz of the amaretto had worn off and Samantha was nervous. She had expected the plastic toboggans she’d used as a child. They couldn’t go fast, and if they tipped over and landed on top of you, they were light as a feather. Instead, these snow tubes resembled something that could qualify for the winter Olympics.
“You said we’re going tobogganing.” Samantha turned to Beatrix. “Those tubes are built for speed. And they look impossible to maneuver.”
“Nonsense, children ride them.” Beatrix guided Samantha to the line. “You point the tube down the hill and it practically drives itself.”
Beatrix was right, children were lining up to take their turn. And anyway, Samantha was wearing the arrowhead pendant. Nothing bad would happen.
“All right,” Samantha said, standing behind Beatrix. “You go first, I’ll watch how you do it.”
When it was Beatrix’s turn, she stepped confidently into the tube. The operator pushed her off and she raised her arms over her head and waved. Samantha watched her whiz in circles down the mountain and tried to stop the sick feeling in her stomach.
Samantha was about to tell the operator she wasn’t ready when he helped her into a tube. It launched into the air and she heard the whoops of other riders. Wind rushed around her ears and snowflakes flew into her eyes. The tube leapt over the moguls and she clung desperately to the sides.
Then all at once, the steep decline leveled off and she was at the top of a gentle slope. Pink lights illuminated the snow and the hill was filled with children on tubes. Samantha managed to smile at a little girl in a polka-dot ski suit who was waving at the other riders. The tube finally reached the bottom and Samantha stepped off.
“Wasn’t that great?” Beatrix was beside her. “Let’s go again.”
Samantha was about to say once was enough, but then the little girl in the polka-dot ski suit marched confidently toward the line. Samantha remembered Bruno saying that Sloane Parker was a good influence on young women. Sloane made them believe they could do anything. Maybe the reverse was true. A six-year-old girl could show Samantha it was silly to be afraid.
“Why not?” Samantha followed Beatrix to the line. “It’s early, and I’m not cold at all anymore.”
Samantha and Beatrix sat in a booth at the Silver Dollar Grill. They had gone down the mountain four times. Samantha could still feel the adrenaline rush, the thrill of landing with one final whoosh at the bottom.
