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Chapter Fourteen

HOME? THAT WAS A LAUGH

But Colin wasn’t laughing Jaw set, he glared at her Who did Sabela think she was? He made the rules here

“If you want to go home, that’s fine You can pay back the cash that you owe me on different terms”

“It always comes back to that, doesn’t it? Okay, I don’t care I’ll le dime”

“In the next twelve reed-upon interest accrued onto the a in the air between them

A waitress at a little diner like Pinkie’s didn’t make a fraction of what she owed over the course of a year Was she delusional?

“That’s not possible,” she said

“Of course it is It’s in your contracts Don’t tell me you still haven’t read them?”

She raised her chin “I don’t have the copies with me”

He shook his head slowly “I’ll provide you with the lesson”

Sabela, incensed, struggled to release her skis She poked again and again with her poles but keptand he couldn’t help s

She saw his smile and her pretty face puckered up into fury She pounded down at the ski releases, was finally successful and stepped into the snow

She stood, hands on hips, and glared at hiaze hit him as hard as it did?

For maybe the first tiize, though he wasn’t sure what for

“Fine That’s fine I’ll figure it out Whatever,” she said

“What?”

“Paying you back I said I’ll figure it out, somehow”

She was so angry that she wasn’t thinking sensibly Colin watched her flounder her way downslope through the deep snow He skied after her

“You’re being ridiculous,” he told her

She was breathing hard as she struggled to lift her legs “I-I-don’t care what y-you think”

All of this because of what? Because she’d tried to ski once and decided to give up? Colin wasn’t i woman, and he expected more of her

“Why are you acting like this?” he demanded For now, he contained his own frustrations

She stopped and turned on him “Because you’re unreasonable!”

“I’m unreasonable?” Colin asked “You’re the one who tried to ski once and then gave up and attacked me because you didn’t turn into a world-class skier on the first go No one skis well the first time”

“I never wanted to ski in the first place!”

“But skiing is important to me, so I want it to be important to you, too”

Colin wondered as so hard to understand about that The arrange was a big part of Colin’s life

“You came here to pay off your debt,” he said “You should be thankful I’d even consider hiring you for an easy job like this All you have to do is be nice and agreeable Is that so hard?”

She rounded on him, eyes ablaze “I didn’t come here! You forced me onto a jet and made me fly off into the unknown!”

“I never forced you”

“You inti to intimidate me now”

This conversation was going nowhere Both of the more and more frustrated with each other, and Colin didn’t want to lose his teain

He moved in close to her and reached out