4
Megan stepped off the plane in Wintervale only a few weeks later. Jeff picked her up at the airport. Seeing him was a breath of fresh air she didn’t know she needed. It was as if her body felt lighter suddenly. And she hadn’t realized anything was weighing her down. She was excited to spend time with him one-on-one. He seemed like a great guy, which was only affirmed more when he opened her door and put her bag in the trunk.
“Thank you,” she said.
“You’re welcome.”
When she had gone to her parents’ place to celebrate a late Christmas, she found the ten-dollar bill tucked into her sweater while she was doing laundry. The bill had a message written on it in marker that said, “For you.”
They pulled up to the resort, and Jeff stepped out of the car, immediately grabbing her suitcase. Before Megan got out, she slipped the ten-dollar bill into the cupholder of his car.
“I can get it,” Megan said, reaching for her suitcase.
“Nonsense,” Jeff said. “And I have your room key for you. Karen gave it to me earlier so you could skip check-in.”
He fished the keycard out of his pocket and handed it to Megan. “Perfect.”
Jeff carried her bag as they walked through the resort and got into the elevator. Once they arrived at her room, he set the bag inside and leaned against the doorframe. “Hungry?”
“I’m craving nachos.”
He chuckled. “I should have guessed. Care to join me?”
“I’d love to.”
It had beena week since Megan had come to Wintervale, and she had finally convinced Jessa to join her on the mountain to ski. Getting to see Noah propose to Jessa was incredible. She was so excited for her best friend to find the love of her life. One day she hoped she would have that too.
“Carve, bitch. Carve!” Megan yelled at Jessa, who tore down the mountain on her skis. She watched as Jessa attempted to carve before catching a ski and winding up in a snowbank.
Megan’s heart pounded as she skidded to a stop beside where Jessa was lying unmoving. “Are you okay?”
Jessa groaned. “Ugh. That was terrible.”
Megan helped pull Jessa up, completely shocked at how terrible she was at skiing. “I don’t know how you still suck at this when your fiancé is the head of the ski patrol.”
“Just because he’s athletic doesn’t mean I am.”
“Yeah, but I figured you would have at least improved a tiny bit since the last time we skied,” Megan said.
“Psh. But then I won’t have a hunky ski patrol man come save me.”
At that moment, Noah skied up beside them and stopped.
“You ladies all right?”
“We’re great!” Jessa said. “I’ve gotten better.”
Megan snorted.
Noah eyed Jessa skeptically before reaching over and brushing snow off her coat.
“Mm-hmm. I can see that.”
“I think we’ve had enough skiing for the day. Don’t you agree, Megan?” Jessa asked.
Megan laughed. “We’ve done one run.” Then she looked around. They hadn’t even made it off that run yet. “Or half of one, anyway.”
“Which is one half of a run too many.”
