“They’re not allowed. But I can run you down there if you’d like. We do it all the time. Folks are nice here.”
“Oh! Thank you. But I’m fine. My boyfriend will want to take me.” She hoped he would. As nice as the woman was, Riki didn’t love the idea of trying to make conversation with a stranger while sitting in the passenger seat of her car. Especially when she was about to freak out.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, thanks.” As she walked away, she called Chris again. Panic tried to settle in when it went to voice mail. He wasn’t going to answer. Maybe he was in the middle of a run and couldn’t hear it. Or he could have his ringer off. Maybe she should’ve said yes to the offer. Pushing through the door to the slopes, she scanned the area for Chris or Calvin—anyone she knew. Her neck throbbed, and blood was seeping through the paper towels onto her fingers. Dammit! Where were they? As if the weather were incensed right along with her, the snow fell harder. These weren’t the lovely snowflakes of fairy tales—no, these were akin to getting sandblasted.
She headed inside and stopped at the returns desk, where a shaggy-haired guy sporting a pom-pom snow hat stood behind the counter. “Whoa. You’re bleeding! The first-aid room is—”
“I know,” Riki said, adding more pressure to her neck. “I want to go to the urgent care. Is there a shuttle?”
“Nah, man. Sorry.” He stole a look at her bleeding cut. “But hang on a sec.”
He returned a moment later. “My coworker just finished his shift. He’ll be right out and can take you.” Motioning to Riki’s neck, he said, “What happened there? Did someone whack you with a ski?”
“I crashed into the boundary fence.”
“Whoa. You’ve gotta be careful out there.” He turned as a tall guy with a boyish face and kind eyes approached.
He tipped his head in greeting—a cool-guy move, she thought, though he looked more like someone’s sweet older brother than an egocentric hipster. “Are you the one I’m taking to town?”
Riki swallowed hard and nodded, keeping her hand pressed to the side of her neck. It’s not hitchhiking. The woman said people were nice around here. Besides, this was urgent, and the guy looked harmless. She gave him a hesitant smile. “Yeah. I’m Riki.”
“I’m Cody. Let’s do this.”
She buckled the seat belt in his SUV, surreptitiously checking to make sure the locks worked on her side. There was no way she was going to walk directly into a trap. Trust no one—that’s what her dad always said. Until they prove themselves trustworthy, right, Greg? her mom always added. We don’t want our girls to live in fear.
“It’s coming down now.” He turned to her, keeping a casual hand on the wheel. “Are you just in for the weekend?”
“Yeah. There’s a whole group of us who came up.”
He nodded. “What’d they do—bail out when you crashed?”
She looked straight ahead, scouring the streets for the first sign of the town, because if she stopped to think too much, she might cry. “We got separated.”
“You’ve gotta keep a buddy on the mountain, okay? Especially on a day like today.”
A buddy. Wasn’t that the truth? She rested her head against the passenger seat. “I know. They thought I would keep up, I guess.”
He flicked on his blinker, and the steady tick, tick, tick reassured her. They were almost there now. Was this how Sylvia had felt when Riki had driven her to get her wrist checked? Like she just wanted to rush from the car and get on with the healing part? No wonder she’d blown off the books. There was no way Riki could get lost in a book at the moment. But she could use a hug. Or her mom.
Why hadn’t Chris called back? She wrapped her arms around her purse. There was no use checking her phone again. The ringer was on, so she’d know if he had. He was probably in the lodge by now, his clothes dry and his beer cold. Would he even notice Riki wasn’t there?
“This is it,” Cody said, pulling into a parking spot. “You cool?”
“Yeah.” Riki unbuckled. “Thanks so much for the ride.”
“No prob. Good luck.”
“Thanks.” She hopped down from the truck and walked as fast as her slippery-soled Uggs would allow. The waiting room was empty, and a sigh of relief whooshed from her lips.