Love on the Lifts Read online

  “You’re not getting old. Joe says you’ll never get old.”

  “Yeah, well, that’s because he’s young.” She looked back at the ad. “There’s a special on steaks. Maybe I’ll pick some up and cook a meal for all of you.”

  “We’re going to a movie tonight. Remember? Everyone’s going. Like I told you last night, it’s not a date, so you can come, too.”

  “I’ve seen it. I’ll have you over for steaks tomorrow.”

  “Okay. But no matchmaking.”

  “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

  But the look in her eyes said she was planning to do exactly that.

  By the time I got back to the condo, Sam had his car warming up and everyone was clambering inside. Fortunately, I was already dressed for the slopes, so I slid onto the backseat beside Leah, trying really hard not to look at Joe, who was sitting behind her.

  We hadn’t actually talked since he’d made his deposit in the Kate-have-a-good-time fund, and so I wasn’t feeling exactly comfortable around him. I mean, what do you say to a guy who’s delivered a kiss as smoothly as he had, a kiss you knew you’d never forget?

  Especially if you were wondering if it meant anything.

  Allie was in the front passenger seat beside Sam. Sam put the car into gear.

  “Aren’t we waiting for Brad?” I asked.

  “Cynthia, bless her heart, has the sniffles,” Leah said.

  “And Brad is staying with her today,” Allie said.

  I supposed I should have admired him for that, but for some reason, he didn’t strike me as a heating-up-chicken-soup kinda guy.

  Not that it mattered. I was so over him.

  “Oh,” was all I said, like his spending the day with Cynthia absolutely didn’t faze me at all. Then I magnanimously added, “Sorry to hear she’s not feeling well.”

  “I guess Operation—”

  “Let’s not discuss it right now,” I said, cutting off Leah and giving her a hard glare.

  “Oh, right. Sorry.”

  “Who’s having an operation?” Sam asked, looking at me in the rearview mirror as he drove up the road.

  “Sam, she wasn’t talking to you,” I said.

  “Someone’s snappish this morning,” he said.

  “I’m not snappish.”

  “PMS?”

  I ground my teeth together. Where was a snowball when I needed one? I settled back against my seat, folded my arms across my chest, and glared out the window, refusing to address his asinine comment.

  “That’s so chauvinistic,” Leah said.

  “Hey, I’ve lived with her for seventeen years. I know the signs.”

  “Apparently you don’t,” I ground out.

  “Whatever,” Sam said.

  “How was your visit with Sue this morning?” Joe asked, leaning forward, his breath skimming the back of my neck.

  With my cap pulled down over my head and my jacket zipped up tightly, I was surprised I had any exposed neck at all. But whatever I had, his warm breath found, sending shivers along my spine.

  I glanced back at him. He was wearing a deep-blue ski jacket, so his eyes were almost blue. Amazing.

  “Obstinate. She wouldn’t show me which picture had Michael in it, so maybe we can stop by the shop before we hit the movie and take a look around.”

  “Who’s Michael?” Leah asked.

  “The guy I told you about yesterday. The one she almost married. She told Joe his name.”

  “So we’re one step closer to solving the mystery.”

  “What mystery?” Sam asked.

  “When did you get so nosy?”

  “Hey, you’re talking about my favorite aunt here.”

  “She’s your only aunt.”

  He chuckled. “Come on, Kate. What’s up?”

  Before I could say anything else, Allie told him the entire story.

  “Huh, I wonder why she didn’t marry him,” Sam said when Allie was finished.

  “She won’t say,” I said.

  “Well, Kate, I’m sure you’ll get to the bottom of it,” Sam said. “You’re her favorite niece, after all.”

  “At least I’m someone’s favorite,” I grumbled.

  “You’re my favorite sister.”

  I snorted. “Gosh, I’d hate to be your unfavorite. I might not survive.”

  “Hey, Kate, you know I’m just teasing when I give you a hard time.”

  “Yeah, right, and the teasing just keeps me laughing.”

  Chapter 14

  “I have to head to class,” Leah said brightly. She wiggled her gloved fingers at us. “I’ll catch you guys later.”

  “What’s his name again?” I asked.

  “Ian. I’ll try to introduce you later.”

  She walked away from us, a definite bounce in her step.

  “I’ll catch up with you later, too,” Allie said. “Sam is going to take me on another ski lift practice run, only this time I’m going to try skiing down one of the easier slopes.”

  “I can take you on the ski lift,” I said, sounding almost desperate in my eagerness not to be left behind.

  “That’s okay. Sam’s going that way anyway, and you should probably do a few runs on the bunny slope, just to warm up since you missed yesterday.”

  Before I could announce that I didn’t need to warm up, she and Sam were trudging through the snow, heads bent toward each other, talking. Talking. Geez, it seemed like every time I looked at them, they were talking. I’d never known my brother to work his jaw so much. He was more of a cut-a-wisecrack-and-run-for-cover kind of guy.

  I was sorta feeling like running myself, since I was now alone standing beside Joe.

  “Well,” I said, clapping my gloved hands together, wondering where we went from here.

  “Look, Kate, about that kiss last night…it was just a kiss. Nothing to get bent out of shape about.”

  He and I definitely had a different definition of the word just.

  Just a kiss was your grandmother pecking your cheek or your nervous prom date pressing his lips to yours so quickly that you weren’t even sure they’d actually touched. Joe’s kiss had been anything except just. It had left absolutely no doubt in my mind that our lips were touching and he wasn’t nervous. Nope, he’d been totally in control.

  “I’m not bent.” Okay I was a little, not so much because he kissed me, but because he didn’t seem to be of a mind to kiss me again. “Consider it forgotten,” I added, although I knew I wouldn’t ever forget it.

  “So we’re back to being friends?”

  How was I supposed to answer that? I’d just met the guy. He was Sam’s friend…and well, I guess he was becoming mine. “Sure.”

  “Then you want to buddy-up for the slopes?”

  It would have been rude to say no when we were the only two remaining who hadn’t buddied up with someone. Besides, it wasn’t like he was an irritant like Sam.

  I actually enjoyed talking with him. And we won’t even go into how I felt about kissing him.

  So I smiled at him and said, “Let’s go!”

  In order to provide support for the ankles, ski boots are pretty sturdy, with very little give, which makes walking in them difficult. So as soon as we got away from the arrival area, we snapped on our skis and headed for the bunny slope.

  “I really don’t need this practice session,” I said. “Skiing is like riding a bicycle. Once you’ve mastered it, you never forget it.”

  “Yeah, but it’s a good idea to warm up a little before you head for the more advanced slopes. Start the adrenaline rushing, the muscles primed and loosened up.”

  I was peering at him through my tinted snow goggles. When the snow is pristine white and the sun hits it just right, it can be almost blinding. I’d had more than my share of headaches from not protecting my eyes from that light.

  We trudged up to the top of one of the bunny slopes. There was a short line of people waiting their turn to go down it. On another slope, I could see Leah with Ian. Alone.