Chapter 1

Heather knew she made a mistake in judgement as soon as the dark-skinned man with the double mask came out from the tent and tagged her left arm with the red sign that said, “no entry”. She had a premonition when she agreed with the request to be tested for the virus that she might be excluded from the ski trip if they classified her as being infected.

She was standing there with her skis besides her and was hustled onto a special bus that was removing the rejects from the waiting line like they were deemed inadequate for the line of limos waiting to take the approved ticket holders for the three day vacation to the top of the looming mountain and the expensive resort at the summit. Her three companions looked at her with sympathy in their eyes, but they were not about to give up their vacation to console her in her misery.

The first time she heard the word Quarantine was right after she boarded the special bus that was to take them to the alternate site for processing. She was sitting in the long back seat with her skis next to her. Most of the passengers had stowed their skis in the storage bins under the bus but she wanted to keep hers close to her because she bought them with her credit card and if she didn’t make this vacation, she planned to return them at the first opportunity to the store that sold them to her at an outrageous cost. It was far too much for her budget and she only did it because that cute boy at work was to join her and her best friend Janet for the three day, two night excursion to the ski lodge.

“Listen up, folks, you all tested positive for the virus and we have to put you guys into an enforced Quarantine for fourteen days at the Highway Motel down on Interstate Ten.”

There were tons of groans from the passengers because he had explained their tickets had that clause written into it to protect them against any spread of the virus at the exclusive resort. He also assured them that the insurance company would pay their Motel and food costs for the fourteen days, but they were unable to leave the facility without losing any chance of recovering their expenses which were considerable for the high ticket trip.

Heather was still upset because she had seen her best friend Janet laughing and fooling around with Her date Tommy as they boarded the luxury limos to the ski lodge.

Thankfully, she had her job covered during the two week absence because she was doing her work from home these days editing and proofreading various written projects for the political action committee that paid her wages. There was no way she could infect anyone sending her work in to the main office via email each day just as if she were in her own home up state.

The young man that had offered to put her skis under the bus was sitting at the other end of the long seat and he was so into his phone in his lap that she wondered if he was just as disappointed as her in missing the three day trip to the ski lodge.

When she saw him close his phone, she asked him, “Did you have any idea that this would happen to you?”

He smiled at her and answered, “Not a clue, I’m afraid. I just as guilty as the rest of us in not reading the small print on the contract.”

She turned on the charm and smiled hoping he wouldn’t notice the gap in her front teeth. A lot of guys told her they thought it was sexy, but she had her doubts about that possibility.

“My name is Heather. Sorry about the skis. I had to take out a loan to buy these things. I usually just rent them out, but they told us that we had to bring our own skies for this trip.”

“Hi, Heather, I have to admit I don’t even know how to ski. My name is Mark. I was doing a story on ski trips and young couples on the mountain looking for romance in the ski lodge rather than up on the slopes where the snow is so deep it is in danger of causing a slide without much effort.”

Heather knew she was blushing because it was her agenda from start to finish and she felt guilty without knowing the reason why.

A girl came down the aisle passing out masks for everyone to wear. Every other seat was empty, so they were socially spaced enough to meet that requirement.

Heather put on her mask covering the bottom half of her face.

She hoped it would hide her guilty plans to find some romance in the ski lodge with her boyfriend Tommy or some other suitable candidate to finally make her give up her virginity which was suddenly a burden to her as she was fast approaching that dreaded thirtieth birthday. The thought of her mother asking yet again, “Have you met any nice boys, Heather dear?” was a grim reminder that time was passing her by, and she wasn’t having any fun fooling around with her girlfriends any longer. Besides, most of them were already married and she hated meeting them and getting the look of pity for her single status.

Mark put on his mask and she felt a little tingle down there where the grass grows greener thinking he looked like a desperado with carnal thoughts on his mind.

In fact, Mark was thinking about the funny girl with the skis as baggage and that she looked dangerous with her mask hiding her thoughts. Still, her eyes told him that she was thinking about sex and the look she gave him was more invitation than rejection judging from prior experience with young girls with time on their hands.

The guide was telling them that they would be given private rooms unless they wanted to pair up with somebody. Those that paired up would be given a bonus refund of the cost of a room and she seriously considered it because it would be well over a thousand dollars for the full fourteen night stay.

Several of the girls spoke up joining with another girl that they knew before and she jokingly asked Mark if he had any friends, he would consider as a room-mate.