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Landon sighed and adjusted the ball cap on his head. "No, I’m not. Not at all."
“Is it all the captain talk? I know it doesn’t mean much, but it kind of does in some w—"
"Just stop, Katie! Captain means jack shit and I give a fuck about it. I needed a break and frankly, I needed to spend some time with you."
Katie’s chin pulled back until her head hit the seatback. "Me? That’s crazy…that…that’s insane. I can’t help you. I know I talk a big game, but I don’t know shit about hitting baseballs; I’ve never even hit one. You should be working with Coach Rowe, not me."
"We’re not working on anything, Katie. We’re playing."
Katie closed her eyes.Right. Playing. Fun, she reminded herself. That’s what this was. That’s what she needed it to be and how Landon Ryan operated anyway.
"Look," he said. "I think that this day off is going to be more beneficial to my game than an extra day hanging out in a hotel in Arlington. It’s a mental health day for me too, baby, so relax, please. For me?"
He kissed her hand and Katie nodded back with a smile that said she’d do her very best not to let her fucked up anxiety kill the mood.
They cruised past the city limits sign and buildings gave way to squares of farmland, then rolling hills that climbed up into craggy cliffs. It was like jumping into a painting because they were literally driving into the view she’d been admiring from his apartment.
The serene landscape and the fresh air rolling in from the open roof reinvigorated her. Or maybe that was just being with Landon. He laughed and joked, sang along with the radio, and encouraged her to do the same. They crooned to bluesy country, jammed out to old rock, and shared stories in between. By the time the road got curvier and the terrain filled with pine trees, Katie’s cheeks and belly ached. Even the text that came in from Kyle couldn’t ruin her good mood. She simply shut off her phone and focused on the scenery as the Jeep twisted up into the mountains.
The road signs indicated they were climbing towards a ski resort and Landon stayed the course until the road ended in a cluster of buildings and a parking lot. The temperature outside hovered in the eighties and there wasn’t a patch of snow in sight, yet one of the ski lifts chugged along quite nicely, running right above the wide swaths of grass cut between the tree groves. Katie could count the cars in the parking lot on one hand.
"What do you think?" Landon asked. "Want to get out and explore a little or just drive around?"
Miles and miles of open land stretched out around them. The odds of staying incognito seemed overwhelmingly worth the minor risk.
"Let’s get out," she said.
His grin melted away the last of her concerns, and she even felt confident enough to leave the hoodie disguise in the car. Landon sent her with some cash to buy the tickets, but as they made their way to the ski lift, her palms went clammy and her shoes shuffled.
"What’s up?" he asked. "You nervous?"
"Very."
"You scared of heights?"
"No, I’m scared of falling."
Landon chuckled and gave a wry tilt of his head.
"I’m serious," Katie insisted. "A tall building or even an airplane and I’m fine, but something like this…where you could just tumble out if you laugh too hard or, god forbid, a screw comes loose. And why in the world are we even putting this out into the universe right now?"
"Wearen’t," Landon pointed out. "Will you feel better if I hold your hand?"
He was teasing, but Katie gripped on to him anyway. The lift attendant gave them a knowing smile as Landon guided her into position and told her when to sit so the chair scooped them up in one smooth motion. They dipped down for one terrifying heartbeat before the chair sprung back up and gained some tension on the cable. Katie’s fingers dug into Landon’s thigh, but he remained unaffected by the bobbing and swaying as he pulled the safety bar down on their laps.
"So I take it you’re not a skier," he said.
"Good guess, Sherlock. Yeah, my mother wasn’t too big on the cold."
"So she doesn’t like baseball, traveling, or anything in the cold. What are her hobbies?"
"Being a narcissistic bitch, for one," Katie muttered, then immediately covered her mouth with her hand. Landon snorted, then laughed out loud, but Katie regressed. "No, I shouldn’t have said that. What does mom like to do, let’s see…shopping, going to the spa, mani-pedis...pretty much anything that centers on her favorite person. Is it supposed to do that?"
Her voice trailed off in a shaky tremble as the chair bobbed yet again then came to a halt, leaving them dangling in the air. Her hand latched on to the safety bar and she searched Landon’s face to see if he too thought this delay meant they were going to plummet to their deaths.
He soothed her with a smile and a kiss to the forehead just as the lift lurched forward again. Katie took advantage of the convenient segway to change the conversation to something else. Anything else besides her mother.
"So what about you? Do you ski?" she asked.
