Page 69 of Just Let Go

“Who says? You’ve never done it before.” His dad was firm, and they’d always butted heads. Grady didn’t like to be told what to do.

“I should just know,” Grady had shouted then. He took off his goggles and his gloves and threw them on the ground as he stormed away. The jump made sense in his head—why couldn’t he land it?

His dad let him go, probably shook his head as he watched Grady storm off. So many of their practice sessions ended this way, and it wasn’t too many months later that his father found him a real coach.

“Someone you’re not related to is going to have better luck teaching you,” he’d said.

But Brian only reminded him of his father. It was like suddenly he had two dads, and he didn’t want to listen to either one of them.

Once, about a year after Benji’s accident, Grady left practice in a huff. He’d wanted to quit. The jumps weren’t coming, and Brian was insistent that he needed to change his form.

But Grady was fifteen. What did he care about sloppy or safeso long as he was fast? Benji watched his brother practice—a constant reminder of how Grady’s need for speed played out in the real world—and while he never said much, Grady knew Benji had opinions.

For months, Benji said nothing. NotThis is all your fault!NotIf you weren’t so reckless, I’d still be out there.And neverIt should be me competing—not you!

Why didn’t he just lay into him? If he did, maybe then the shame of it all would start to go away.

As it was, his brother was nothing but gracious, Grady’s biggest fan. Didn’t Benji know how hard it was to do it all without him?

When Benji finally did break his silence, Grady knew he had to listen. He owed him at least that.

“There will come a day when you will realize that everything isn’t just handed to you, Grady,” Benji had said. “And on that day, you call me. Because you’re going to need someone to work through it with.”

“Okay, Benj,” Grady had said, pretending there were no tears welling in his eyes. He’d started to walk away, but Benji grabbed his arm.

“You don’t work for anything,” Benji said. “And still you have everything you could ever want—and more. You act like it’s owed to you, like you should never have to try, like nothing about it should be hard.”

Grady had stared off in the distance, looking out across a mountain he’d just conquered.

“But one day it will be hard.” Benji squeezed his arm. “And I know a little something about that.”

Now, as Grady walked back toward the flower shop, he had to wonder if he’d finally reached the day Benji spoke of—the day it all stopped being easy.

And if he had, he had no idea what to do next.

CHAPTER

16

NOTHING ABOUT THE DRIVE TO THE SKI LODGEwas what Quinnexpected it to be.

Jaden didn’t stop talking the entire way. More than once, Quinn and Carly exchanged glances as if to ask,Who is this kid, and what has he done with our moody, introverted Jaden?

Grady did not give annoyed one-word answers to Jaden’s constant barrage of ski questions, as she thought he might. Oddly, the opposite happened. He almost seemed happy to have someone to talk to and carried on a lively conversation with her nephew in a way that an older brother might.

Huh. She certainly hadn’t seen that coming. So far, most of what she’d assumed about this man had been wrong. Not that it changed anything—and yet, she could practically feel her heart softening toward him.

But just a little.

Grady and Jaden’s conversation might as well have been in Chinese for as much as Quinn understood, but did it matter? Itwas the most alive she’d seen her nephew in years—ever since he got wise to the fact that his own father didn’t seem to care about him.

Quinn knew a little something about being abandoned by someone who was supposed to love you unconditionally. Maybe that’s why she felt extra-protective of her nephew. She hoped he wasn’t looking at Grady as a replacement for his own father. That would only lead to heartache.

Grady would leave Harbor Pointe as soon as was humanly possible. Jaden had to realize that. Should she remind him?

They arrived at the Avalanche Mountain Ski Resort and a wave of nausea rolled through Quinn’s stomach. Why had she agreed to this?

She’d never been athletic, and she had scars to prove it. In tenth grade, Sara Camp talked her into going rollerblading after school. She’d never been rollerblading, but she and her sister spent their fair share of time at the Good Times Roller Rink growing up, so how much harder could it be?

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