Page 12 of The Mountain
But twelve of them…
“Chris, hang on a minute,” an unfamiliar female voice cuts through the crowd.
Chris jolts as if he’s been electrocuted, expression smoothing into a placating, almost simpering smile as he turns toward the speaker. “Steph… Stephanie,” he stammers, clutching his clipboard to his chest, twin pink circles forming on his cheeks. “What are you doing here?”
Stephanie doesn’t answer, just strides toward him, the instructors parting to make way for her. “We need to have a quick chat. In your office.” For some reason, the way she says ‘office’ sounds like an insult, though I don’t quite understand why.
Chris taps the edges of his clipboard nervously, smile faltering. “It’s not really a good time,” he hedges, eyes darting around, as if he’d rather look anywhere besides at the woman in front of him. “We’ve got students waiting for their instructors.”
“Make the time.” Stephanie’s voice is full of the smooth confidence of someone used to being listened to. “Have Tessa take over the roster. Oh. And bring Lily too, please.”
My breath stutters behind my ribs, and I feel my cheeks flame as every single instructor turns to look at me with unabashed curiosity.
“Lil… Lily?” Chris stammers. “What? Why?”
But Stephanie is already turning, striding toward the resort office buildings with surprising speed for someone wearing snowboard boots. Chris thrusts his clipboard at Tessa, then practically sprints after Stephanie.
I give Tessa awhat the fuck is happeninglook. She shoots me an apologetic smile, then waves in the direction of Stephanie and Chris. “You’d better go,” she says.
“Was that Stephanie Jealouse?” one of the instructors whispers. “TheStephanie Jealouse?”
“Holy shit,” another one says, a star-struck grin spreading his freckled cheeks. “She’s like—a fucking legend, dude.”
I turn, my feet rooted to the spot, staring after the retreating pair.StephanieJealouse. No wonder she looked familiar. Her face is plastered in supersize on every billboard for the mountain.
Did Stephanie Jealouse just ask to have a meeting withme? My heart races, a thundering staccato that has me feeling even more lightheaded than before.
“You better go, dude,” someone says, gently nudging my back. “Don’t make her wait for you.”
Chris’s office is small,a bare-walled cube that barely fits more than a desk and three chairs. One ancient-looking computer covered in dust hums in the corner, the screen flickering as it struggles to display whatever spreadsheets Chris has been reviewing.
“What is this about, Stephanie?” Chris says, his lips pulling into a frown as he sits behind his desk. Maybe he feels more comfortable here, in his space, with the safety of his desk between him and Stephanie, because some of his earlier simpering politeness drops away, leaving unmasked irritation.
Stephanie doesn’t respond. Instead, she turns to me, looking at me for the first time since I was summoned into Chris’s office, a gentle smile curving her lips. “Why don’t you take a seat, Lily,” she says, waving me to a cheap plastic chair with a sweeping gesture, before pulling up a seat herself.
The way she sits, with her knees together and her back straight, her gloveless hands folded on her lap, she looks like she should be sitting at a boardroom table instead of in this dingy office. Especially when she takes off her helmet, and waves of sandy-blonde hair pool around her shoulders, somehow looking as immaculate as her red lipstick.
Chris shuffles uncomfortably behind his desk, beanie crumpled beside his keyboard, retreating hairline visible among a nest of mussed, brown hair. “Stephanie…” he tries again, but Stephanie merely lifts one hand, and he falls silent.
“Tessa told me what happened over the weekend,” Stephanie says, her sharp brown eyes fixed on me, her voice low, soothing. “Now, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. But I was under the impression you needed to take some time off. So I wanted to give you the opportunity to ask for that. In private. Should you wish.”
“Now, hang on a minute.” Chris’s face darkens, a nearly purple flush spreading down to the collar of his ski jacket. “It’s the busy season. We don’t give people time off…”
“We do,” Stephanie cuts in, all softness falling from her as she turns to face him.
“The contract…”
“Is not written in blood,” Stephanie snaps, flicking a lock of hair over her shoulder. “You might require instructors to beavailable, but that doesn’t prevent the mountain from giving people leave in the right circumstances…”
Chris waves one hand. “A hangover is hardly the right circumstances…”
Stephanie plows on, speaking over him. “And there are situations where the mountain would be advised to give instructors time off. Not just for their wellbeing, but for the safety of our students, and the reputation of the mountain as well. And I believe this is one of those situations—if you’d take your head out of your ass for long enough to listen.”
Chris stutters out a shocked protest, then falls silent. I meet Stephanie’s expectant gaze with my own, doing my best to keep my expression blank despite my thundering heart, my mind racing to decide what to do.
I hadn’t wanted to tell my employer that I’d been drugged. Not really. It’s… embarrassing, I guess. Even if I know it’s not my fault. I keep thinking about that look Tom gave me when he handed me my drink, the way he watched to see if I’d taken that first sip. The fact that he offered to make me a drink in the first place.
I should have known.
