“You’ll be pretty sore tomorrow. Twenty minutes in the hot tub after dinner will sort you out. And we have a small sauna room under the stairs too. Not sure if Ryan showed you.”
“Damn, he made out like your place was some tiny little wooden shack in the forest. You guys are fancy.”
“Well, my grandma was fancy,” I correct him. “We’re just lucky descendants, I guess.” Glancing back up the hill, I watch as an older gentleman traverses the slope with a kid who can’t be more than four tucked between his legs. That was me once.
Granny taught us to ski and loved, much to Dad’s disdain, taking Ryan and I off-piste, showing us her favourite spots all over the mountain. She was a risk taker, a rule breaker, and feisty to the end. I miss her terribly.
“You OK?” Cameron asks, bumping his shoulder up against mine. On the table, his arm rests barely an inch from mine. I swear I can feel my hairs standing on end, gravitating towards him.
“I’m good. Just reminiscing.” I point at his food and tuck into mine. “Eat up before the chocolate turns solid.”
We eat in silence, thankfully too hungry to pause between each mouthful, but talking is Cameron’s whole life, and I get the feeling he’s finding it hard to sit here and say nothing. I just hope he doesn’t bring up last night.
“You want to tell me about your grandmother?” He dabs a dot of chocolate sauce from the corner of his mouth with a napkin.
“Maybe some other time.”
“Tell me about you then.” He shifts, angling his body towards me, and the forearm of dreams is out of reach.
“What do you want to know?” This is a dangerous question. He already knows far more than I would ever care to admit. I don’t know why I’ve given him an opening to press for more details.
“Everything.”
Oh fuck.
“That’s a pretty broad range of subjects.”
“Ok,” he says, tapping his lip. “Let’s start with… favourite ice-cream flavour?”
“Pistachio.”
“Classy, I like it. Favourite season?”
“All of them. They each have their highlights.”
“I’m down with inclusivity. Movie star crush?”
I roll my eyes, not willing to go there. I’m hardly going to tell him all movie stars lost their appeal the minute I heard his voice. “We should get back to skiing while the weather is on our side.”
It’s a pathetic excuse. There is not a cloud in the sky. I stand up and load our dishes onto the tray.
“Wait.” Cameron grabs my wrist and pulls me back towards him. “One last question. I’m dying to know.” Hours pass as I wait for him to stop staring at my mouth and ask what he is apparently so desperate to find out about me. “What do you like to listen to?”
No, no, no. Please don’t be this bold.
We were doing so well. Can’t we just pretend we’re having a nice day on the mountain and there isn’t this big unspoken secret between us?
“Well?”
“I… er…”
“Come on.” His other hand comes up to wrap around my forearm and tightens ever so slightly, his fingertips pressing into me. I feel the heat even through the layers of my jacket. “What do you like to fill your ears with when you’re alone at night, Hannah?”
His voice is rich, so laced with seduction that I’d sway backwards if he weren’t keeping me upright. His eyes are on my mouth again, and my lips are about to form the word‘you’, when I catch myself and pull out of his grip. “Let’s go.”
Mac'n'Please
Bumping into your Ex