tree line. Having him tempt me last night with that peck of a kiss did something crazy to my brain and my insides and nothing is really working as it should today. I honestly don’t know why I assumed my legs would be able to figure things out, either.
“Okay, if you’re ready, here we go.” Ran drops his front hand and keeps the back at my left hip as he cautiously guides me forward. “Very good, Maggie,” he encourages as we pick up speed slightly, the packed snow sliding under the smooth bottom of our boards. “Now pull up on your front toe and we’re going to dig back into the hill with our heels, okay?” He brings his right hand to the small of my back as I do what he says, and he steadies me so I don’t fall completely over onto him. “Nice.”
My body angles forward again, prompted by his slight pressure. “Now let’s point the toe toward the fall line and try again.” I do as he says, but I think I must overcorrect because my weight propels me over the toe edge of my board and Ran has to hook his arm around my waist to pull me upright, his hand landing a little higher than he probably means for it to, though I don’t know that he notices. There is nothing remotely feminine about my attire right now and I’m sure I’m nothing more than a figureless blob of androgynous jackets and padding in his eyes, anyway.
“Whoa,” he breathes against my neck as he catches me. “Too far.” I reclaim my balance and we start to slide down the hill again. “It’s all about little shifts in balance. You don’t need to dive over the front of your board.”
“I like to take things fast,” I say, not entirely limiting my answer to just snowboarding. I wonder if he picks up on it. I don’t know why I’m being so bold; this really isn’t like me. Maybe because I won’t be alive past this afternoon, having frozen to death and all.
“Some things need to be taken slowly, Maggie,” he states, and it’s glaringly evident he’s knows what I mean. My cheeks heat a thousand different shades of red. “Let’s try this again.”
This time Ran doesn’t let go of me and I’m not sure if it’s because he’s worried I’ll go end over end with my board still bound to my feet, or if he just doesn’t want to let go. I’m hoping it’s the latter as I feel him closer at my back, our boards only about six inches apart now, cutting the same grooved pattern into the snow. We stay like this, slipping down the shallow mountain until we’re at the base where the snow flattens out completely and stretches toward the lodge.
Ran swivels around to face me and looks up the vast, white hill at our work. “Nice job, Maggie!” he shouts, tossing me a high five that totally rocks any balance I had. I plummet to the hard ground with a thud. I’m pretty sure the entire mountainside rattles underneath me. “Sorry!” he laughs, stretching out a hand to me. Instead of letting him aid in helping me, I tug his arm with one forceful jerk and he crashes down on top of me. His breath rushes out from him, suspended in a frozen cloud between us.
Ran pushes his goggles up onto his forehead and then slips his fingers under mine to do the same. “Maggie,” he says softly, “it’s not nice try to injure your teacher.”
“It’s not nice to hang back when I’m ready for more,” I retaliate. “Plus, I feel kinda bad that you have to spend all this time on the bunny slopes with me when it’s clear that you’re very experienced and should be carving up that mountainside.”
Ran pushes up on the snow and does what looks like a scissor kick to flip his board over so he can sit next to me. “I like teaching you,” he says, tucking a loose lock of his dark hair up under his gray beanie. He stares straight ahead and the muscle at the back of his jaw tightens. “And I like taking things slow with you, believe it or not.”
In a strange way, it feels like he’s rejecting me again. That is, until he turns toward me and leans in, bringing his mouth just to the edge of mine so his breath flutters against it. “I like it this way,