Page 27 of Release Me

My head whipping up, I find Elissa standing in the doorway, her nose and cheeks pink from the cold of working at the ski lodge front desk. She’s basically my counterpart, working the skiing end of things while I work the hotel portion.

“Hey, what’s up?” I say, sounding like shit, my voice cracking and exhausted.

Elissa and I have worked together since we were teenagers. She was friends with my brother Max first, dating Max’s best friend Nick all through high school, and as Elissa and I worked together, we became friends.

Her life has been tough over the last few years, helping her mom battle cancer and Nick leaving for college and then to train for the Olympic ski team. But she’s a badass and never stops. She’s one of the most resilient and smartest people I know.

“You okay?” she asks, narrowing her eyes at me. Guessing she’s taking in the dark circles under my eyes and this matted mess that I’m trying to call a ponytail.

“Just tired,” I say, feeling the yawn build as the words leave my mouth.

“I’ve heard a few rumors about you,” she teases, hitting me with a wink as she walks farther into my office and closes the door.

“What the fuck, Elissa? Did you seriously come in here to tell me people are gossiping about me?” I moan, not in the mood for other people’s bullshit today. Actually, that’s all I deal with at work and same with Elissa. We put out fires and appease people. Tourists can be tough.

“No, I was just giving you shit. You know I could care less who you’re sleeping with even if it is our boss,” she replies, and my mouth falls open. Not that I should be shocked by how quickly gossip spreads around here, but I am. People think I’m sleeping with Ethan?

This is what people think is happening?

“I am not sleeping with him!” I shriek so loud that I’m sure everyone within a five-mile radius hears. “I had breakfast with him and dinner and then his friends invited me to dinner again, so really that last one wasn’t even because of him,” I defend, even though I know I don’t need to.

“Seriously, Zo, you do you and if you want to hook up with Ethan, I say go for it,” Elissa replies, shrugging casually.

I yawn again, my eyes beginning to water a little and I shake my head, trying to clear the haze that has remained since I hauled myself out of bed at the speed of light.

“Elissa, I’m not—” I start but she cuts me off.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, you’re not sleeping with him. I wish you were though. It would be nice to live through someone else who actually has a sex life,” Elissa laments, rolling her eyes.

Elissa is gorgeous, fucking stunning, like probably the most beautiful person to ever work at Badger Creek with her long, wavy brown hair that is the perfect shade of chestnut and her legs that go on for days. If she really wanted to, she could have the most booming sex life of any of us.

But Nick is always there in the back of her mind, wanting him to come home to her. I hate that he broke her heart or at least that’s the way it looks to everyone on the outside.

I swallow hard, suddenly overcome with nausea, my hand instinctively moving to my mouth, hoping I don’t puke here in front of Elissa. I don’t know what the hell is wrong with me today. First I overslept, and now I feel like I’m going to throw up.

“Seriously, Zo, you okay? You don’t look good. You’re really pale,” Elissa says, sounding sympathetic. “If you’re not feeling well, go home.”

“I’m fine. What did you need again?” I ask her, not wanting to rush her out of my office, but needing to rush her out. I just feel out of sorts and I’m struggling to pay attention to her.

“I have some interviews coming up in the next few weeks and I was hoping you could sit in on them with me,” Elissa now says, nudging my water bottle toward me as if to say I should take a drink.

I’m probably dehydrated and hungry, especially after rushing out of the house this morning and drinking last night. Not that I drank that much.

“Sure,” I quickly answer, reaching for my water bottle and taking a small sip. “Interviews for what?” I now add, trying to act like I don’t feel like shit.

“I need to get some staff in here to work the rental desk and I just had a lift operator quit and then there’s losing Alex to the ski school and Delaney too. So pretty much every position.”

“No problem. I’ll post some signs out front saying we’re hiring,” I tell her, offering to help. “And I’m sure you already posted on the website.”

“Yeah, all good. Thanks. I’ll email you the dates and time,” she says, walking back over to the door. “And Zoey, go home. You’re sick.” Elissa smiles at me, flicking a hand in my direction, telling me to get going.

She closes my office door and the instant she does, I let out a long exhale through my mouth, trying to quell the nausea that keeps coming in waves.

“Fuck,” I mutter. “I should go home.”

But as soon as I’m about to stand up, another knock comes on my door.

“Come in,” I call out, the words coming out in a stuttered, desperate attempt to keep myself from throwing up.

---