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I tapped out a quick reply to Bree, telling her to take as long as she needed It was ten, and thesteady by then

The hotel restaurant ay out of e It teens in the s in French and English, and sun glinted off fresh snow on the ski hills rising up I pushed the worry and fear away I ith Sam in this awesome place, and we could enjoy the next couple of hours

“Hey, Sam!”

We turned at the door of a cafe, and a beautiful girl approached, shtly My heart sank She was the woone out of his way to be nice to last night It shouldn’t bother ot him in to see me skate

Jealousy still knifed ut

“Hi, Alice” Sam smiled “You remember Etienne?”

“Of course” She turned her friendly grin tojacket in deep purple that looked great with her brown skin and metallic lipstick Her black toque had ear flaps and she should have been on a tourism poster

I tried to s the door and shuffled a few steps over on the little pedestrian street A huge bough of mistletoe under a massive boas attached to the lamppost behind us It mocked me

To Sam, Alice said, “What are you up to while your pal works?”

He shrugged “Just chilling”

“If you want to coestured over her shoulder toward a s for her “My friend works at the ski resort and can sneak us in past the rental lines and hook us up with boards The lift lines will still be brutal, but it’ll be way faster”

“Oh, thanks! That sounds cool I don’t have ski pants, though,” Sam said “And I would fall a lot”

She laughed “You can rent the pants too And same, trust me”

“Cool Maybe? We were just getting breakfast though, and you look ready”

“Grab it to go!” She reached out and touched his arm “It’ll be fun, I promise”

Sairls before There was no reason for o snowboard off a cliff I couldn’t reood look So I said, “You should go! I ate too ht anyway Coffee will do before the matinee Besides, I need to check on Bree” I backed away from Sam, who blinked at me in confusion