Page 60 of Gracefully Yours

She’d chosen me. She’d chosen tomarryme. And she loved me, even if it was just as a friend. I knew that. I’d have to be okay with that.

So we’d gotten up with the sun, and after a quick shower, we’d been ready to hit the slopes again for the day. Charlotte and I did a few quiet runs together, enjoying the freshly fallen snow that seemed to glitter in the light as we rode up the chairlift. Eventually she went back to the lodge and find the girls, and I’d gone and done some of the other, more difficult slopes.

But when I got back to the lodge a few hours later, around lunchtime, she hadn’t been there.

“Have you seen Char?” I asked the girls who were sitting around the table in the lodge, drinking hot chocolate as they read. Angelina’s hair was still damp from the freshly falling snow outside, which meant she hadn’t been back long.

Gabbi’s head popped up. “I thought she went out to find you. She said she was going to go do another run with you. But… clearly, she didn’t. Shit.”

“The guys and I were all together, and…” I pinched my nose. “We went down one of the black diamond runs, and I thought I’d come back to check on her…”

We all turned our heads to look outside. Fuck, it was snowing harder now. And my girl had only just learned how to ski yesterday. So where was she?

“I’m going to go back out there and look for her. If she comes back here…” I shook my head. “Tell her not to go out again.”

Gabbi pulled out her phone. “I’ll send a text to everyone, just in case someone checks it.”

“I’ll send the rest of the guys out when they get back, too,” Noelle added. “Don’t worry. We’ll find her.”

Angelina gave me a reassuring nod, and I zipped up my coat, heading back outside into the rapidly falling snow.

Where could she have gone? We’d only gone down a few of the basic green runs together between yesterday and today, so I’d have to hope she went down one of those.

Pulling out my phone, I dialed her number, hoping she would answer. Chances were, she didn’t even have reception, but I hoped that maybe if I could reach her…

When I found her, I was going to make her promise not to go up the mountain alone again, because I couldn’t bear it if anything was to happen to her.

I went down a few of the runs before the guys caught up to me. Sliding my goggles onto my helmet, I slowed to a stop when I realized it was them.

“We heard your girl is missing?” Hunter said, eyes fraught with concern. “We’ve been looking too. We came as soon as we got back and the girls told us where you went.” Benjamin and Matthew nodded in agreement, all of them bundled up in their snow gear.

It hadn’t occurred to me just now how much these guys meant to me. They’d all become close friends, sure, but I realized now just how much they would do for me—for Charlotte. The lengths we would all go to for each other, for the girls we cared about so much.

Hanging my head, I just nodded. “I’ve checked the few runs we did before, but I didn’t see her anywhere on them. I don’t know—” I felt so helpless, not knowing where she was, or how I was going to find her. She’d come up here looking for me, and I’d failed her.

“Don’t worry,” Benjamin reassured me, resting his gloved hand on my shoulder. “We’ll find her. Let’s split the runs up and go again. You don’t think she’d go on one outside her skill level?”

I didn’t think so, but… “There’s always a chance.” I sighed.

“Let’s all take one and meet at the bottom of the hill. If we don’t find her, we’ll run them again.” Matthew, thankfully, was much more calm than me.

I was a mess, worrying about my girl.

She was, wasn’t she? Mine. Mine to protect. Mine to care for, to take careof.

“Okay.”

We were wasting precious time we didn’t have if we didn’t find her, but… what other option did I have?

The four of us split up, each taking a different run that we hadn’t been down already. I really hoped she’d be on one of them. The mountain was too big, especially not knowing where she went. I was sure she wouldn’t have gone on any of the Black Diamond courses alone, especially since I’d just taught her how to ski.

But the blue ones—shit. It was a lot of ground to cover.

I headed down another run, calling her name and trying to ski slowly, back and forth, inspecting the trees as I went.

“Charlotte!” I called, the worry and fear overrunning my body. What if something had happened to her? Or if she’d crashed into a bunch of trees and hit her head, and couldn’t answer me? What if—fuck. I couldn’t be thinking like this. I needed to stay focused so that I could find her. “Charlotte!”

“Hello?” The response was weak, but I heard it all the same.

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