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No sooner had we gotten inside, ordered some food, and sat down to eat, Forrest proved just how great of a guy he was. Or, at least, he proved how thoughtful he was.
“How’s your foot feeling? Are you sure it’s okay?” he questioned me.
“I think it’s a little sore, but it’s not bad at all. It’s not anything that’ll stop me from spending the rest of the day trying to learn how to snowboard,” I answered.
For the first time since I’d fallen and he’d shown his concern, Forrest seemed pleased by my response.
He offered a nod and a smile in return. “That’s good. If you’d done some serious damage, it would have been a bummer. Did you travel far to get here for this trip, or are you a local?”
“I wouldn’t say I traveled far, but I’m not a local, either. I’m from Birch Creek. It’s a couple hours from here. What about you?”
“Same for me, but I’m from Steel Ridge.”
Shaking my head, I returned, “I’ve never been. Is it nice?”
Forrest shrugged. “I like it. I’ve lived there all my life, and I have no interest in leaving any time soon.”
I wish I could have said the same. Since I didn’t want the conversation to head in that direction, I asked, “So, you just took a trip here for fun on your own?”
“I guess you could say that. I like to come here at least once every winter. Sometimes, I’m here longer than others. Believe it or not, I used to vacation here with my family when I was a kid, and it’s just something I’ve continued to do as an adult.”
“That’s cool,” I replied, once again wishing I could have said the same. I could count on one hand the number of happy memories I had with my family when I was a kid.
“What about you? Were you just looking for some adventure, or does this place have some special meaning to you too?”
I swallowed a bite of my food just in time to let out a laugh. “It’s funny you should say that, because adventure is my middle name. I like trying out new things, so that’s why I came here.”
His eyes widened. “That’s a bit bold, isn’t it? I mean, I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, but not knowing how to ride, I’m surprised you’d choose a ski resort.”
After I’d taken a long sip of my drink and set it down, I nodded my agreement. “I’ve never really been afraid of a challenge. That said, this is Keystone Mountain Ski Resort. I did my research before I came here, and I saw all it had to offer. I figured if the extreme winter sports didn’t work out, I could always take advantage of the spa, the shopping, or something a bit easier to master.”
His brows pulled together. “What’s that?”
“Snowtubing. What could be easier than needing to sit in a tube and go down the mountain?”
Forrest laughed, the sight of it warming something inside me. “That’s a fair point. And I’ll say I think you made an excellent choice coming here. I’m certainly glad about it.”
I couldn’t stop myself from smiling brightly at him. “Yeah. Me, too.”
The two of us finished our lunch, cleaned up our mess, and were back out on the trails before I knew it. We spent the rest of the afternoon riding together and having a great time. Or, well, I assumed Forrest had a great time. He laughed a lot, and though I couldn’t always see his mouth with the ski mask he had on, it wasn’t hard to tell he was smiling when he spoke to me.
Best of all, we’d spent some time on the intermediate trail, and I was thrilled to not experience any major falls in the afternoon like I had in the morning.
I’d been so caught up in the fun we had all afternoon, I could say I was truly disappointed when I realized we were on our last ride of the day, because the lifts were going to be closing.
I didn’t want the day to end.
The entire time down the trail, I tried to come up with a clever way to ask Forrest what he had planned for tomorrow. I’d had such a good time with him and would have loved to have more of it.
Unfortunately, no matter how hard I tried to come up with something, nothing seemed just right.
On the bright side, it seemed Forrest had no problem saying what he wanted to say. As we walked toward the resort where I was staying, he talked to me about how I’d done going down the trails over the afternoon and how much I’d improved from yesterday.
And when we came to a stop outside the resort, he said, “I had a lot of fun with you today, Daisy.”
“I had such a great time, too.”
“Same time tomorrow?” he asked.
