No, she thought as she buried her face beneath her pillow to try and block out the far-too-potent images, she couldn’t let herself imagine that.

Chapter Nine

“Mommy, what’s the name of the place we skied at last year?” Summer asked as they sat down to bowls of cereal the next morning.

“Heavenly.” Megan had hoped to make it up to the snow again this year, but things had been so crazy since the fire that she hadn’t had a chance to think about holiday plans.

“I love snow.”

“I know.”

“I mean, I really, really love snow! And I wish we could see some soon.”

Megan grinned at her daughter. Summer not only loved snow, she loved sun and wind and rain. She was an equal-opportunity outdoor girl. Although more than once Megan had thought that her daughter preferred the more extreme weather simply for the thrill of it.

Because of the fire and the time it had taken to find and move into another apartment, they’d had to cancel Summer’s birthday party. They’d taken a few of her friends out to pizza, but Megan knew it hadn’t been the same as a full-blown party with games and homemade cake. She couldn’t throw a party together with so little notice, but they didn’t have anything planned for the next couple of days. An impromptu ski trip was the perfect birthday gift.

Besides, it suddenly occurred to her that if they didn’t get out of town, Summer might very well request another trip to the fire station to see Gabe.

And Megan definitely couldn’t see him again anytime soon.

Not until she was holding much firmer reins on her self-control.

Despite being high season in Lake Tahoe, Megan figured they were due a little good luck. She picked up the phone. Summer watched her with wide, excited eyes as she was connected through to the Heavenly Ski Resort.

“Hi. I know this is last minute, but I was wondering if you might have a room that we could rent?” She gave her daughter a thumbs-up. “You just got a cancellation for tonight? And tomorrow night, too? Fantastic!”

By the time she’d given the reservations person her credit card information, Summer had run back to her room and was gathering up her new winter clothes.

Megan stood in her doorway and said, “Is that what you were hoping for?”

Her daughter almost tackled her with a hug. “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

Funny, Megan thought as she hugged her back, Summer had never been this excited about skiing before.

“Oh no,” Megan thought aloud, “I forgot all about the tire. I doubt anyone will be open to fix it on a Sunday.” Summer’s mouth turned down so fast that Megan knew she was in for the second part of yesterday’s partial tantrum. “What a minute. Zach said he could fix it.”

She’d had no intention of calling him to come over to fix her tire today, even though he’d offered more than once. Now she found herself going to find his cell phone number in her purse.

How, she wondered, had she gone from zero Sullivans in her life to three in a matter of days?

* * *

Five hours later, as they pulled up to the ski resort, Megan couldn’t stop thinking what a great idea this trip already was. During the drive from the city, they’d sung along with songs on the radio and then they’d finally had a chance to talk about second grade, everything from the teacher to Summer’s friends and even a little bit about boys.

While they checked in, Summer kept scanning the hotel, for what, Megan didn’t know. “Look,” she said when the man behind the check-in desk switched their room from the second to the first floor, then gave her the schedule of activities, “there’s a horse-drawn sleigh ride tonight at six.” It was late afternoon already, just about the time the slopes were closing and skiers were coming in looking exhilarated and exhausted from a day in the snow. “This is going to be so much fun.”

“Kids only, Mom.”

Megan frowned. “Oh. I hadn’t noticed that. Well, maybe they can make an exception for me.”

Summer didn’t say anything for a moment, but she scanned the lobby extra hard. At long last, Megan had to acknowledge that something fishy was going on. Hadn’t there been more than one sign that something was up?

“Summer, what aren’t you telling me?”

Her daughter pressed her lips together as though that would mean she didn’t need to say. Deciding she’d get to the bottom of things after they settled in upstairs, Megan was just about to pick up their bags and head to the elevator when she heard a familiar voice.

The same deep voice she’d been daydreaming about all day long.

“Megan? Summer?”

Oh God.

Now she knew what was up. Megan didn’t have time to shoot a glare at Summer before turning to Gabe.

“Hi.”

She was going to kill her daughter!

He was clearly surprised to see them standing there in the lobby. Just as surprised as she was.

Summer, on the other hand, didn’t seem the least bit surprised. Relieved was more like it.

“Hi Gabe!”

He turned his frown into a smile for her daughter. “Hey, pretty girl. You going skiing tomorrow?”

She nodded happily. “Actually, I’m hoping to learn how to snowboard.”

This was the first Megan had heard about it.

“Do you know how?” Summer asked him.

Oh no, Megan could see where this was going. She tried to shoot Gabe a look to let him know he shouldn’t agree to anything right now, that even a yes was too much at this point. But he was already nodding.

“Will you teach me?”

No! You’re busy on your own winter vacation. There are plenty of professional snowboard teachers we could pay to teach her.

When Gabe looked up at her, Megan used every ounce of mental telepathy she could. He looked like he was trying to figure something out, like he was weighing facts before coming to a decision.

When he gave her a short nod, she nearly fell over in her relief that he understood.

“Sure I will.”

“What?” The sharp question was out before Megan could stop it. She turned to her daughter. “Gabe is not going to teach you to snowboard.”

“But he just said he wanted to!” Summer’s chin was out now, a picture of stubbornness.

Megan put her hands on her hips. “First of all, you didn’t even ask me if you could snowboard. And second—” She was about to lay into her daughter about organizing this whole “accidental” run into Gabe when it hit her just how much it would embarrass Summer.