Wade points off toward one of the runs. “We’ll head over there first before the lines pile up. Can only pull theowner of Colchestercard a few times for a group this big.”
Jackson nods. Cole claps his gloves together. Mandy looks ready to launch herself up the mountain for sport.
I stare at the slope Wade is pointing at and feel genuine fear bloom in my chest.It looks steep, too steep, like a beautiful, scenic way to die in front of a crowd.
I laugh on instinct to cover the rising panic in my body. “Okay, so, weird question.”
Everyone looks at me.
I clear my throat. “How hard is that one?”
Wade lifts his goggles. “That one?”
“Yeah.”
“Blue square,” Wade says. “Not too hard.”
Dana’s brows lift. “Oh.”
Oh no.
Mandy clomps across the snow in her skis toward me. “Wait. Have you never skied before?”
I wince as the fear morphs into humiliation. “My parents paid for me to take a lesson when I was a kid,” I admit. “But I threw a fit and refused to even put them on.”
Wade recoils, his mouth pulling back at the corners like he's just now realizing how he's practically invited me to a death trap. “Have you ice skated? Some of those skills transfer.”
“Nope.”
“You'veneverskied?” Cole asks, grinning already.
“Cole, if I had, do you think this conversation would be happening?”
That gets a snort out of Dana and Jackson, but it doesn’t do much for the prickle of fear and discomfort creeping up my neck.
Everyone here belongs. Everyone here knows what they’re doing. Even Dana, who claims she’s rusty, still looks comfortable clipped into expensive skis like a normal rich Colorado person.
I feel like a kid who wandered into the wrong class and sat down, hoping no one would notice.
And Grayson — god, Grayson is going to be so annoying about this.I brace for it as I feel him shift beside me.
He jerks his chin toward a gentler slope off to the side. “We’ll go over to the bunny hill. I’ll teach you.”
For a second, I just stare. He's not shaming me. He's not shocked.
What the fuck is going on?
“We?” I repeat.
“Yeah.”
Wade immediately points between us. “That’s actually perfect. We can take a few laps and meet you guys after.”
Dana smiles at me. “You’ll be fine. It’s easier than it looks once you get the hang of it.”
“That feels like a lie people tell to someone right before they get a concussion.”
Grayson is already shifting to the side, poles in hand. “Come on.”
