Page 81 of Head Over Skis

I let his hands replace my own as he lifts the painting closer still. I tried my very best to remember everything precisely as it had been that day, but instead of daylight, I imagined what it would look like as the sun sets.

How the fairy lights that were wound up the banister would twinkle. How the firepit would look with roaring flames lit inside it. How Rory would look climbing down those stairs carefully, two overfilled hot chocolates balanced in his hands. And finally, how I would look, a blanket wrapped around my legs as I sat in a chair by the fire, watching him walking over to me.

That’s what I’ve painted. A world in which he asked me to stay, and I did.

‘You were right, about all of it,’ I say, not being able to bear the silence as his eyes take it in. ‘Yesterday, I was afraid of what saying yes to you would mean. And I still am, but I don’t want to let that control my decisions any more.’

His fingers brush the place where I’ve painted myself, tiny snowflakes falling around me.

‘Does this mean what I think it does? What about Adam? And your parents?’ There’s a quiver to his voice as he asks, like he doesn’t want to let himself believe it.

I reach out, my fingers touching the top edge of the painting and lowering it so his focus shifts back to me. ‘I’ve already called them. And there was never anything going on with Adam. That chapter of my life is over. I know it, and he knows it too. It was over as soon as I met you.’

His features soften, and I want to trace my fingers over each faint curve of his face.

‘Ask me again,’ I say.

He bends down, delicately placing the painting on top of the unfolded wrappings. When he straightens, his hands brush the hair back from my face, tucking the wayward strands behind my ears. ‘Lottie, will you stay with me?’

I lift my palm to his chest, taking in the warmth of him, and the steady, sure beating of his heart. I nod. ‘I’ll stay, Rory. For the next week, and from then on, I’d like to see how things go. If you’ll still have me?’

I wish I had my brushes with me to capture the look on his face in that moment, the pure magic of his smile before he wraps his arms around me, pulling me close to him and lifting me inches off the ground.

But instead, I commit everything to memory for another time, soaking in the smell of him, the sound as he laughs, and the sensation of his arms wrapped tightly around me. How I hope they’ll never let me go.

‘You’ll have a place here for as long as you’d like. The longer the better,’ he says, and my heart melts.

I’m sure he’ll have questions about what made me change my mind, or why I was so scared to say yes in the first place. But there’ll be time for that. For now, we hold each other close. And regardless of what happens next, whether things work out between us or not, I know this is a decision I won’t ever regret. When Rory pulls away, it’s only enough to give him room to brush his lips against mine.

And when I kiss his back, the world has never felt more full of possibilities – all of them involving him.

26

We walk back hand in hand, and if we weren’t attracting enough attention already, we are when Tilly starts cheering as soon as we emerge from the trees.

Rory doesn’t drop my hand though. Instead, he lifts it to his lips, delicately planting a kiss at the base of my thumb, and my cheeks flush ruby red. I blame the cold.

He only lets go so he can head towards the instructors’ hut to drop off the painting where it’ll be safe until after class. Once he comes back out, I watch Kevin ski up behind him, his palms drumming on Rory’s back as he says something I can’t make out, but which makes Rory laugh.

I leave them to it as I walk over to where Tilly, Meghan and Stephen wait for a slightly delayed class to start. Bill is unsurprisingly sitting today’s session out, there’s no way he’ll be leaving Penny’s bedside until she’s discharged to fly home.

I know if she was here right now she’d be giving me two big thumbs up, and I make a note to fill her in and thank her properly later. But for now, I feel like I’m floating with all the buzz that’s surrounding me.

Tilly nods towards the entrance of the cabin that Rory and Kevin are still lingering outside. ‘I take it your plan worked?’

I’m smiling too much to speak, so I settle for a nod, and Meghan claps her hands in excitement. Only poor Stephen looks between us all in confusion, scratching his head with an ungloved hand.

‘Uh, did I miss something?’

The three of us giggle, but before I can fill him in a man I don’t recognise skis effortlessly over to our group. He’s dressed in corduroy salopettes, complemented by a three-tone jacket, and is easily the most fashionable person I’ve seen on the slopes all week. Meghan aside, of course. He stops right beside Stephen, his arm reaching out to wrap around his shoulder before kissing his cheek.

‘You were right, this resort is gorgeous. I’m so glad I came out to join you, babe.’

Stephen’s eyes go all soft as he looks at him, and I now understand what Penny meant when she talked about love eyes. As Rory skis over from the hut, I think I see a hint of it right there in the way he looks at me, and I don’t need a mirror to know it’s reflected in the way I’m looking back too.

When I turn back to the circle, the guy has already started to ski away, and Stephen watches him until he disappears into the queue for the chairlift. When he turns back around, it’s to three pairs of beady eyes.

‘Hold on, your boyfriend is here? Does that mean you’re going ahead with the proposal?’