AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He leans back in his wooden chair. “It’s like they took the Marker Duke PT 16 and made it lighter, man. These things float. The rep said if I send in photos of me skiing on them, he’s going to get me half off on the next pair I order, too. I think I can hook you up if you want in.”
“In on what?”
“The deal.”
“What deal?”
“The deal on bindings. Dude—what’s up with you, anyway? Going into meat withdrawal?”
“Huh. Yeah.” I scratch my chin.
“Hey—has Olivia said anything to you?”
“About what?”
“I dunno. About me and her, maybe.”
“What about you and her?”
“I mean, about the acting thing. How we’re pretending to be together.”
He stoops to pick up a rock, and hocks it out onto the red dirt stretched before us. The rock pegs the cactus plant.
“Nah, she hasn’t said anything to me… but Maggie has.”
“What’d she say?”
“She thinks Olivia has the hots for you. I said no way.”
My pulse picks up. “Maggie said that?”
“Yeah, but she doesn’t know you guys like I do. I know you two can’t really stand each other. Been like that forever. I get sick of hearing you two bicker all the time.”
“Yeah. Right. Yeah…” He picks up another rock and chucks it.
“Besides, you want Danielle, right?” I scratch my beard some more.
The truth is, I’ve barely thought about Danielle since we got here.
And right now, I don’t know what I want.
Part of me wants to try to explain all that to Trent. Then again, it’s a whole lot easier to scoop up a rock and throw it without saying a word. So that’s what I do.
When he starts up on the binding thing again, I let him get into a rant. He’s probably relieved to be talking about something as simple as ski gear. Part of me is, too.
It’s comforting to slide into a discussion about the upcoming ski season—what backcountry terrain we want to run tours to, what clients might turn up for us, and what helicopter we’ll lease.
I’m in the middle of making a point about the M44 when Olivia shows up, her red purse hanging on her shoulder, my truck keys in one hand.
She dangles them in front of me. When I hold my hand out she drops them in.
“I’ll let you return these to Skye,” she says. “She’ll love that—you, reaffirming your commitment.”
I tuck them into the pocket of my jeans.
There’s no way I’m giving my keys back to that lady. “How’d it go?”
Her hazel eyes skitter over to her brother. “Great. I… I talked to Beryl.”
