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“I bet you are, Pete. Scout-sniper during Vietnam, right?”
Pete’s eyebrows rose. “I never said, did I?”
“No. Didn’t have to.” Wiz raised her brows to match him.
Tom turned toward Pete, a surprised look on his face. “You were? You said you were a personnel clerk and never left the base.”
Pete shook his head once. “Not sayin’ I wasn’t.”
“You know they’ve declassified just about everything during the Vietnam era, right?” Wiz asked. They had, but the military didn’t exactly spread the word to the guys who’d fought those long, hard battles.
“Maybe. Nobody official ever told me so. Not that I know anything.” Pete gave her a lopsided smile.
Wiz sniffed. She knew how to play that game. “Yeah, me either.”
“Course not. Can we see the rest?” Pete walked to the door and down the stairs, Tom following.
Wiz unlocked the security door to the second floor with her phone. “This level has my office and bedroom.” They entered the office, decorated similarly to the downstairs, with comfortable rugs on wood floors, an adjustable desk with a credenza behind it, and a small seating area. A vault door beyond that secured her servers and security and communications gear. She didn’t unlock the bedroom door.
“Very comfortable working environment.” Pete didn’t try the locked doors. “Got enough room to hold a dance.”
Tom strolled to her desk. “I assume you like the standing desk? I loved mine in the city.”
“It’s perfect for me.” Changing positions kept her from stiffening up too much.
Pete turned back to the stairs, Tom following him. Wiz closed the door behind her. “Keep going, and I’ll show you the basement.” The gym, with mats, weights, and aerobics machines, took up the outer part of the daylight basement; the treadmill, bike, rowing machine, and stair machine faced the mountains. If she couldn’t be hiking them, she could at least dream about it while she sweated. Behind her, another secure vault provided a gun safe, ammo room, and safe room with an escape tunnel, but she wouldn’t show them that, either. She led them outside and up the hill.
“Son, now I’ll take one of those beers.” Pete sat next to Deb and Sam.
“Sure.” Tom brought him over a beer. “Show me the hill where I will slide to my death, Wiz?”
She chuckled and pointed to where Erin and Ryan were poised at the top, ready to race. “Ready, set, go!” Ryan yelled, and they both launched themselves down the hill head first. Ryan was ahead until Erin yanked his ankle, sending him tumbling off. The motion threw Erin off a bit too, but she compensated and made it to the bottom still on the sled.
“Hey, you cheated!” Ryan ran down the hill.
Erin raised her arms in victory. “Hey, rubbing’s racing.”
Ryan wrapped his arms around her and whispered something in her ear. Erin laughed and kissed him, then pulled away and grabbed her sled. “Come on, we’ll give it another try.”
They headed up to the top of the hill. Wiz handed Tom a sled. “Here’s yours. Is your dad coming up?”
Tom chuckled. “I don’t think so. He said he liked his bones in one piece, but he’d be happy to watch us break ours.” They started up the hill behind Erin and Ryan. “I do feel a little silly. I’m way beyond childhood.”
“I felt that way at first, but it’s just so much fun that you get over it quickly. At least I did.”
“I guess there’s hope yet.”
They reached the top of the hill and watched Erin and Ryan race again. They were both so busy trying to knock each other off that they didn’t even get halfway down before they crashed. Tom, Deb, and Sam all laughed, and even Wiz chuckled. Then the crash turned into a serious make-out session. “Get a room!” Deb pitched a snowball, falling well short. Eventually, they got back on their sleds and made it the rest of the way down.
Tom swept his arm, with a half-bow “Ladies first.”
“Oh, no, you’re the guest, go ahead.”
“Thanks. Not so sure about this but...” Tom seated himself gingerly and brought his feet up. He was a big guy, so he flew down the slope. Wiz watched, and while he wasn’t whooping and hollering, he did have a big smile on his face at the bottom. She slid down, the cold wind stinging her cheeks, and almost took Tom’s legs out from under him, but he jumped out of the way.
“Hey, I made it down okay, so you try to make me fall now?”
“Sorry. Wasn’t on purpose.” Sleds were hard to steer.
