Free Warm Winter Love by Constance Walker Page B

tried to imagine what it was like back home in Maryland. Warm already, spring weather, and soon it would be April and June and then August, the month when she and Jason would marry. August! They had tentatively set the date for that month because then they would have time for a two-week honeymoon before classes began again in mid-September. She wrinkled her brow as she thought of summer and what it held for her.
    “Hey, Katie-Katie!”
    Hearing Sam’s voice, she turned and saw him laughing and motioning off to the distance. “Katie, my love,” he shouted, “you’ve been away again.” He spread his arms to encompass the entire view. “Look at it. Remember it. We should have taken a camera with us.”
    How could she ever forget this moment? It would be impossible. She would always treasure it. No matter what happened throughout her life, it was something she couldn’t and wouldn’t ever forget. She would always remember this place and time…and especially Sam. If only she had met him earlier. She swallowed hard, hoping to rid herself of the pain that seemed to be crushing her heart.
    “New tracks to be made, Katie!” Sam yelled as the lift came to a lurching halt. “Come on.” He guided her to the back of the mountain. “This is the best run. It’s the one that takes your breath away. Literally.” He laughed. “This is the one you have to try. It’s exciting and dangerous and conquerable.” She shivered as he described it. “And how you can stay at Cedar Crest and never attempt this run, I can’t imagine.”
    As he grinned at her, she forced herself to smile. One more thing to know and love and like about him—his enthusiasm, his zest for life even when he was troubled.
    She stood poised at the top of the peak, looking down at the scene he indicated, and she caught her breath at its magnificence. She had never been on this far side of Devil’s Mist and she pushed her poles into the snow in order to stay absolutely still and look at it in its entire splendor. From where she stood, it was a long, steep run to the base of the mountain, and it was punctuated by large stands of firs and cedars. The trees stood tall and formidable in their places, giving shelter and protection in snowstorms, but quietly warning bewitched skiers to stay clear of their domain.
    The terrain was tricky and deceptive and to a novice it would look like a fairly straight run. But the experienced skier would recognize that scattered over the mountainside, in addition to the trees, were large formations of rock. Half hidden by the deep snow, they jutted up from the earth and shimmered and glinted in the cold sunlight.
    She blinked her eyes and adjusted her sunglasses to compensate for the extraordinary brightness. The absolute whiteness of the snow and the gleaming, brilliant crystals over the entire mountain had become yet another photograph in her mind. There were so many memories to take back with her, so many bittersweet memories to recall through the years.
    “Well, what do you think?” Sam touched her elbow. “Ready to try it?”
    She shook her head. “Not yet, Sam. I’m just looking at it. Wondering.” She blew into the frigid air and saw puffs of vapor in front of her face.
    “Don’t wonder, Katie. Do it. I’ll go down first if you want me to and I’ll stop halfway and wait for you.”
    She shook her head again. “I need a few more minutes.”
    “Katie, some days you just have to go ahead and do it!” Sam’s voice was gentle yet urgent. “Sometimes, you just have to go ahead and do something without thinking of all the consequences. You have to jump in and participate. You can’t stand back and wait, Katie, because sometimes. . .” His voice grew fainter so that she had to strain to hear him. “Because sometimes you lose everything if you hesitate too long.”
    She knew that he was angry and impatient and hurt by her reluctance. She moved closer to the edge of the run and took another deep breath, planning how