Page 71 of Edge of Desire

How could something so beautiful as love hurt so deeply? I’d asked myself that so damn many times I don’t know why I kept repeating the question. I truly was the perfect example of insanity.

The chance of falling back to sleep had vanished. I scanned the room for one of those little coffeepots and didn’t see one. Maybe it was on the bathroom counter. I tossed back the covers, thankful for the few hours of sleep I’d gotten. When I made it to the bathroom, I discovered the coffee maker. Setting it up to brew, I got in the shower to wake myself up. By the time I finished, my coffee was done, and it was time to hit the road. It was too early for the hotel restaurant to be open. Hell, normal people were barely even moving yet. It wasn’t even five a.m. Too bad for me. I’d stop and grab some food later. Not eating didn’t bother me much, as long as I had caffeine in me.

The rest of the day was damn boring because I only had a couple of choices. Loud music or thoughts of Avery. I chose loud music from a sanity perspective.

I pulled into Vail at eight that night and drove directly to the Crystal Ski Lodge. After checking in, I walked around the Lionshead area of town, interested in seeing how much it had grown. I’d been here once, a long time ago, but this part of Vail had only a couple of restaurants and a scattering of hotels back then. Today, there were restaurants and bars everywhere. I hoped I wouldn’t run into her tonight. I needed to prepare myself and was not yet in my element.

Twenty-Three

Avery

Melissa’s flight was due to arrive in ten minutes and I was running late. The short-term lot was to my left, and I was in the right-hand lane, dammit. I stopped to let the cars zoom by and then snuck in. Finding the first spot available, I quickly pulled in and raced to baggage claim.

The door slid open and there she stood, fully decked out from head to toe in the brightest, shiniest scarlet jumpsuit I’d ever seen. Her hair was shorter than when I saw her last. It looked as though she’d stuck her finger into an electric socket because it was extraordinarily frizzy, and vividly red with sparkly stuff in it.

“Ava,” she yelled. Her booming voice nearly shook the walls, and everyone stopped what they were doing to gawk. Moments later I was lifted by her massive arms as she swung me around like a rag doll.

“Ayyyye,” I screamed, as much from being startled as from having the air completely squished out of my lungs. Melissa had added some more girth to her body since I’d seen her last. “Melissa,” I eked out, “put me down. Can’t breathe.”

“Oh my God! You’re such a wimp!” She let me go and I dropped to the floor like a lead weight.

As I lay on my ass in the middle of the baggage claim area, with dozens of people gaping at us, I started to laugh. Really laugh, like I hadn’t done in ages.

“Would you at least help me up?” I asked, between guffaws.

“Damn, girl, you need to grow some muscle.” She extended her arm and I latched on to her hand as she nearly flung me to the other side of the room.

“What the hell, Melissa?”

She propped a hand on her hip and rolled her eyes. “You’re such a wuss. You were supposed to be working out this whole time. And look at you, you’re nothing but a damn stick with toothpicks for arms. What am I gonna do with you? Have you been laying off the Ben and Jerry’s?”

“Actually, I haven’t. Since Pres ... well, you know, I’ve taken in more Ben and Jerry’s than I care to admit. But let’s get your bag and go.”

“You mean you’re not even going to comment on my new look?”

Oh God, I was so hoping she wouldn’t go there. “I was gonna mention that you’ve changed your hair style.”

“Yeah! Cool, huh?” She waggled her brows, and it was then I noticed she had dyed those too.

“Er, yeah, it’s, um, awesome.”

Dear God, it was cherry red. She looked like the homing beacon at the top of the C2 buoy when you entered the Charleston Harbor. How could I tell her that though? I couldn’t because it would hurt her feelings and there wasn’t anything I’d do to hurt Melissa’s feelings.

“So, why the change?”

“Well, I thought maybe I might meet someone out here. This will help attract men, don’t you think?”

The circus was more like it. Somebody, help me. I coughed a few times and then said, “Yeah, well, I guess. You know these ski bums though. You never can tell.”

“So, Ava, did you book me some lessons with Sven?”

“Sven?”

“Yeah, you know, the hot Nordic guy that’ll teach me how to ski?”

“Oh yeah!” I half chuckled. Griffin and Marley were gonna kill me. I could already see the looks on their faces when we showed up in the morning. “Actually, you have two instructors, and their names are Griffin and Marley.”

“Not Lars and Sven?”

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