Total pages in book: 198
Estimated words: 186242 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 931(@200wpm)___ 745(@250wpm)___ 621(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 186242 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 931(@200wpm)___ 745(@250wpm)___ 621(@300wpm)
Amos opened his mouth, but I beat him to it again.
“Look, if it’s going really bad, I’ll text you, deal? Go with your friends. I got this.”
“K.” He looked like he wanted to keep arguing but barely stopped himself from it. Amos turned around to grab his snowboard from the rack he’d propped it on and muttered in a way that made me feel like he genuinely thought he would never see me again, “Bye.”
Well, that didn’t sound foreboding.
I snapped my helmet on, tugged my gloves on over the wrist guards I’d put on while waiting for Amos to buy his season pass, and trudged over to the lift that would lead up to the top of the bunny hill after grabbing my own rented snowboard from the rack. I’d rented it from the shop at an extremely discounted rate. I’d spent the night before looking up videos for how to snowboard, and it didn’t look that hard. I had decent balance. I’d taken a couple of surfing lessons with Yuki before, and they had gone pretty well . . . at least until the surfboard had clipped me in the face and my nose had started bleeding the last time.
I’d put up a bat house and grabbed a fucking eagle. I’d hiked up a mountain under the shittiest conditions. I could do this.
I couldn’t do this.
And that was exactly what I told Octavio, the nine-year-old little boy who had helped me up four times now.
“It’s okay,” he tried to assure me as he pulled me up to standing position again. “You only fell on your face a little bit.”
I had to hold back a snort as I brushed the snow off my jacket and pants. I liked kids so much. Especially friendly ones like this one who had come over to me on my second time down the hill and helped me after I’d eaten at least a cup of snow. I had already told his mom, who was never too far away with another little girl who she was teaching how to snowboard—and doing a better job than I was—that he was such a nice boy.
Because he really was. My own nine-year-old white knight.
“Tavio!” his mom called out.
My little friend turned to me and blinked up with pretty brown eyes. “I gotta go. Bye!”
“Bye,” I replied, watching as he made it over to her effortlessly.
Shit.
Taking a deep breath, I eyed the packed snow covering the gentle hill and sighed.
I could do this.
Bend my knees, keep my weight balanced, toes up, toes down—
I sensed the presence coming up behind me before I saw it. As it came to a stop just a couple feet away, I took in the big figure in a dark blue coat and black pants. Goggles covered half his face, a helmet covering all of his hair . . . but I knew that jaw. That mouth.
“Rhodes?” I gasped as the man lifted the goggles over his head and onto his helmet.
“Hi, Buddy,” he said with a small smile, his hands going to his hips, his gaze roaming my face.
I beamed, and my soul might have as well. “What are you doing here?”
“Came to find you and Am,” he said, like we were meeting at a restaurant instead of at the ski resort.
“Amos took one of the other lifts since they just opened it and he actually knows what he’s doing,” I told him, taking in the rough stubble covering his cheeks. He looked tired.
But happy.
I’d missed his moody butt.
“I know. I saw him already. He’s the one who told me you were down here.” His small smile lifted into a bigger one that tickled my chest. “I thought you would have taken snowboarding lessons with a pro.”
He was messing with me again. I groaned and shook my head. “I had a nine-year-old helping me. Does that count?”
His laugh was pure, surprising me even more.
Someone was in a good mood.
Or maybe he was just really happy to be home.
“It’s harder than I thought it would be, and I can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong.”
“I’ll help you,” he said, not giving me a choice, not that I would have said no in the first place.
I nodded at him way too enthusiastically, so happy to see him and not bothering to hide it. He might not have called me his friend again, but we were friends. I knew that at least for sure.
Rhodes waddled over, oblivious to how he made me feel, stopping right at my shoulder. “Let me see your stance, angel face. We’ll go from there.”
It took three runs down the hill before I finally managed to make it without busting my ass more than once. From the way I pumped my fist in the air, you would have figured I’d won a gold medal, but I didn’t care.