Page 16 of Snow More Secrets

I was used to being driven by something, a goal, all the time, and not knowing what to do next was stressing me out almost as much.

Which was probably why I was in such a funk lately.

Okay, and missing Jake.

Stop thinking about Jake!

“You need to get away, Hannah,” Cammie insisted over the phone. She’d called a few days ago to invite me and Wendy to go with her and a couple of other mutual friends on a two-week trip to Europe. Cammie would be defending her dissertation in November, so this would either be a celebratory trip or a trip out of town to keep her from stabbing the committee with—as she put it—“the sharp end of a snowman’s twig arms.”

Wendy had agreed almost immediately, but we would leave a couple of days before Christmas and not come home until after New Year’s. I didn’t want to leave my parents alone, especially since we’d missed last Christmas together. However, I’d casually mentioned it to my parents a few days later, and they’d thought it was a great idea. It seemed they’d noticed how lost I’d been lately and encouraged me to “find myself.”

It wasn’t a terrible idea. Maybe a couple of weeks of hanging with my girls would help me loosen up and get some ideas flowing. Besides, while I’d been to many places all over the world, I hadn’t really seen many of them.

The one thing this trip wouldn’t be able to solve was how to get over my husband.

She was calling me back to try one more time to convince me to go. She didn’t know I’d already told Wendy I would go. “Okay, I’ll come with you girls,” I agreed and laughed when Cammie squealed with delight. “Wendy had pretty much the same reaction.”

“Great! We are meeting at The Snowed Inn and their shuttle to the airport. That way, we don’t have to worry about cars.”

Meeting at her sister’s inn? That seemed like a recipe for disaster. I’d successfully avoided Jake for nearly a year. I wasn’t about to slip up so close to our…um…to Christmas.

I loved Winter Falls though, and the idea of seeing it again brought a spark of happiness to my dismal mood. Cranbury Cove was basically a smaller version of the idyllic place, but it didn’t have as magical of a feel. And I’d loved skating on the huge pond near the base of the resort. Once I started seriously training and preparing for a career as a figure skater, being on that pond was the only time I felt like I was skating just for myself and enjoying the freedom of flying over ice without a coach or judge scrutinizing my every move. It was simple fun, just like when I was a little girl.

I hadn’t been back since I moved to Colorado Springs, though, and it saddened me a little that I wouldn’t have time to stop at the pond. I was too eager to avoid Jake anddidn’t want to press my luck any more than I already was.

“Why don’t I just meet you all at the airport?” I suggested.

“Why would you drive all the way there from Cranbury Cove and then have to park your car? It doesn’t make sense. The other girls are staying overnight, but if you really want to, you can meet us at the inn on the morning of our flight.”

“Overnight at the inn?”

She giggled. “Yeah, Raven has a couple of open cabins, so we’ll use mine and one other.”

I was trying to figure out how to find out about Jake’s plans nonchalantly. “What if your family needs them? Won’t your brother be coming home for Christmas?”

“Yeah, but he won’t be there until Christmas Eve. Besides, he stays with my parents when he comes home.” She laughed. “It’s how he keeps my mom from pestering him about being gone for long periods of time.”

I sighed in relief.

“Although,” she continued, “I don’t know how he puts up with her matchmaking. It’s bad enough not living there and dealing with it.”

That had my spine going rigid. “Matchmaking?”

“My mom is convinced that none of her kids will be happy until they are married and making babies.” Cammie’s voice was filled with frustration, but I could also hear the affection she had for her mom.

“She’s especially bad with Raven and me, though. My mom has always been a bit old-fashioned, and she can’t seem to wrap her head around the fact that we are independent women who can handle responsibility without a man. When my sister took over The Snowed Inn from my parents, I don’t have a clue how she put up with all of my mom’s interference and setups.”

I chuckled, feeling a little better that his mom wasn’t throwing women at him. Then again, he probably wasn’t around often enough for her to set him up with dates if she was hoping it would go somewhere.

For a moment, I wondered if she would like me, then reminded myself that it didn’t matter.

It made me nervous to be in Jake’s town, at his sister’s inn, so close to when he’d be there. But Cammie’s plan made sense, so I conceded, “As long as it won’t displace anyone, I’ll come up the night before.”

“Great!”

“I’m sure I can drive up there with Wendy, but we’ll have to leave after her practice, so we probably won’t be there until around dinnertime.”

“No problem. We can grab a bite to eat at the steakhouse in the lodge or take a gondola up to The Cocoa Summit Café. It’s up on the mountain by the top of the highest ski run.”

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