Christmas at Holiday House - RaeAnne Thayne Page 0,55
nerves, she had to admire the way he gave credit to Sofia’s son. She had worked for too many bosses who snatched up any praise for themselves when it was being handed out.
“We’re first-timers. Luke tells us we can choose our run speed.”
“Yeah. Some are definitely faster than others. What’s your pleasure?”
“Slow for us, at least for now,” Ethan said before Christopher could add his speed demon vote. She wanted to kiss him.
“We’ll see how we feel after the first run.”
“Totally cool,” Becky said.
“This is my first time sledding or tubing or anything,” Christopher informed her.
“You got this, little dude. You’re going to have so much fun. Your slower runs are all on the left, faster in the middle and fastest of all are on the right.”
Ethan led the way to the left section of runs, just as another group of riders went down with yells of excitement.
For a slow run, that still seemed entirely too fast to Abby.
Some of her nervousness must have shown on her features. “Are you still okay?” Ethan asked her. “You can walk down, if that would make you feel better.”
She couldn’t imagine the humiliation of having all these families and children watch her walk down the hill.
“I’m fine. Totally fine. Let’s do this.”
His features were illuminated in the bright night-skiing lights along the hill. The admiring look in his eyes made her feel like he had just lit a cozy little fire inside her.
“Okay, whenever you’re ready, it’s your turn,” Becky told them.
“What do I do?” Christopher asked.
“Just sit down on the inner tube with your feet up. That’s the way. I’ll give you a little push when you’re ready.”
“I want a big push,” Christopher said.
Becky grinned at him. “You got it, kiddo. One big push coming up.”
“I’ll go first so I can be at the bottom first,” Ethan said. “Abby and Christopher, you can come down at the same time.”
She didn’t have time to dwell on her stress. Everything happened in such a blur. Ethan took off down the hill and before she knew it, Becky was giving first Christopher a push then Abby.
Her fear of heights lingered for only the first few seconds, and then she was too busy having fun to remember to be scared. The wind whipped her hair beneath her beanie, stealing her own cries.
She felt young again, a girl racing down a hill with her arms out as fast as she could go.
Somehow she managed to stay on her tube as it slowed down where the hill leveled out. Black plastic grids in the snow helped the tubes come to a stop.
Before she could stand, a hand reached down to pull her up. Ethan. Christopher already stood next to him. Well, Christopher jumped next to him, anyway.
“That was the most fun thing I ever did in my whole entire life,” her son exclaimed. His voice radiated excitement and his eyes sparkled with happiness. “Didn’t you think it was so fun? Can we go again?”
She had survived it and had even enjoyed herself. In that glorious moment or two of soaring down the mountain, all her anxiety had disappeared like melting icicles.
“What do you think?” Ethan asked, watching her carefully.
She thought she couldn’t deprive her son of something he loved so much.
“I think we need to go again,” she answered.
They headed for the lift, Christopher in the lead. “You really feel okay?” Ethan asked her as they headed again toward the moving sidewalk that carried riders up the hill. “You did great, but I’m sure it wasn’t easy on you.”
“I’m actually fine. As long as I focus on what’s right in front of me and don’t worry too much about what might be far below, I seem to be handling it.”
“You’re doing great, but if you need to take a breather, I can do a few runs with Ethan and you can stay at the bottom.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that. So far I’m okay, but I’ll let you know.”
His smile left her breathless, and she was quite sure the elevation up here had nothing to do with it.
* * *
Abby Powell certainly had pluck.
After the first few runs down the tubing hill on the slow route, Abby had agreed to go on the medium-fast route that Becky had pointed out, and now she was letting Christopher talk her into taking the fastest run.
“I hope I catch air on this one!” Christopher said.
“What do you know about catching air?” she asked, cheeks pink from the cold.