“It’s the same thing.”
“No, it’s not.” Her teasing smile could break me. “I’m not even attracted to you. I’m attracted to Justin.”
This statement makes me smile even bigger. “You know we’re identical, right?”
“Your chromosomes are identical. But everything else looks completely different.”
“So you’re not attracted to me?”
“Nope.”
Summer is so full of crap. I can hardly stand it. The attraction I’ve been feeling is not one sided. She’s fighting it, but it’s definitely there.
“I guess that’s a good thing,” I say. “Or all this time we’re spending together would be considered dangerous.”
“Exactly.” She looks straight ahead, avoiding my gaze. “This plan works because we’re just pals.”
Pals.
Nothing has ever felt so depressing in my life. I don’t want to be Summer’s pal. I want to be a heck of a lot more than that.
“In fact,pal, I’ll race you to the bottom of the hill.” Summer tips her skis over the edge before taking off. I give her a few seconds lead, knowing I can easily overtake her. But I love that she’s trying.
SUMMER
* * *
I can barely seeCaleb eight feet ahead of me. The storm has picked up to a blizzard, shooting snowflake daggers at the side of my face. I zipped my coat up over my chin, and with my goggles, there’s only a half inch of space the sideways snow can access, but it’s enough to freeze my skin
“The storm came in faster than I was anticipating,” Caleb yells over the wheezing wind when I get to the bottom of the hill.
“I can see that.” I dip my chin further into my coat. “Are we close to our car?” Despite having lived at the foot of the San Juan mountains my entire life, I don’t actually have a clue where we’re at.
“Not super close.”
I glance up at the darkening sky. The storm doesn’t seem to be lightening, and we only have about thirty minutes until all light from the sun vanishes completely. “Can we make it to our car before the sun sets?”
He looks up and then looks both ways. “I don’t really think so.”
My brows raise, lifting my goggles with them. “So we’re going to die out here? Great!” I throw my arms up. “I didn’t even get to plan a wedding or get married. I’ll just die as a lonely, single woman. Think about how depressing my ‘survived by’ list will be in my obituary. It will just besurvived by her familywith no husband or kids.”
“We’re not going to die out here,” Caleb says. “And last I checked, you’re not single.” There’s a hint of bitterness in his voice, but it’s hard to see through the snow if his expression matches what I thought I heard.
“I’m not like you. I can’t live off the elements and survive with a small fire. My body will be completely frozen in forty-five minutes. I’ll probably skip the whole frostbite stage and go straight into an ice block.” An animal howls in the distance, and everything about me goes still. “What was that?” My eyes move around, but my head doesn’t move. “Was it a wolf? Maybe a bear. I’m not even going to have time to freeze to death because an animal will eat me.” I glance at Caleb, and this time, I can see his giant smile despite the pounding snow.
“Summer, you’re not going to freeze to death or get eaten by an animal. Look.” He points behind me. “There’s a hut right over there.”
I squint through the snow, making out a small structure. “A hut?”
“Yes, haven’t you heard of the San Juan hut system? You can backcountry ski to each of them or go from hut to hut.”
I’ve heard of them before but never seen them. You need a reservation, but who cares? Surely, they won’t let us freeze to death for the sake of no reservation.
“We’re saved.” My chest exhales with relief. “We’re so lucky we just happened upon one by accident.”
“It wasn’t an accident.” Caleb’s smile turns guilty. “We just skied part of the Sneffels Range, and that’s the North Pole Hut…that I have a reservation for.”
All I heard was North Pole Hut. Excitement fills my face. “The North Pole! I love that they named it something Christmasy.”
