Chapter 2

Dawn had yet to break over the mountain peaks, but I was already awake and in the shower. My legs still had a little stiffness in them, but I think the soak in the jacuzzi the night before really helped loosen them up. The water cascaded down from the shower as I washed my short brown hair. I actually felt awake and rejuvenated this morning, which was not something I could normally say at 6:00am.

There was a bit of a spring in my step as I walked down to get some breakfast. I wasn’t quite sure why I felt so awake and alive, but I wasn’t about to question it. The room was busy as a few trays of food lined a table in the small dining space. I took some bacon, toast, and fruit and sat down at a small empty table near the back. A few people waved me over whom I recognized from the hot tub last night, but I simply waved back. I just wanted to get some food in me and then head for the buses.

I had that drive to hit the slopes once again, which felt really good to say to myself. The one question I had, though, was whether I would be going alone or would I have company today. I had finished eating and was about to head to my room to change into my ski gear when someone tapped me on the shoulder.

“Yo Shane, man. Where you headed today?” It was one of the guys from last night. I think his name was Dirk, or was it Dylan?

“Hey buddy, back to Sunshine. Where are you off to?” as I tried to make small talk.

“Heard Lake Louise got some nice powder last night, you should come and bring your daughter, man. Where is she anyway?”

“Daughter?” I didn’t know what he was talking about at first, “Oh, you mean Callie, she’s not my daughter. I just met her yesterday.”

“Dude, mad respect! You’re an animal to pull someone that hot at your age. Anyway, have fun and maybe we’ll catch you after.”

“Make some good tracks, have fun,” I replied, confused by that entire exchange as I watched him join a group of people, some of whom I recognized from last night. Did he really think I was sleeping with Callie? I was old enough to be her father, even though Reg looked a decade older than me. I tried to push that entire nonsense out of my mind as I changed into my ski gear and checked my phone. There were no texts or calls, so I guessed I was on my own until...

*Knock Knock*

I opened it to find Reg standing there in jeans and a hoodie, his head balding in the form of a horseshoe around the sides. I wondered what was going on.

“Hey Shane, I’m glad I caught you. Theresa and I were wondering if you could take Callie skiing with you today. We’re thinking of having a little “personal time” (he really did the finger quotes there?) and then wandering around town for the day. She seemed to enjoy your lessons, so I hope you don’t mind.”

“No Reg, that’s fine. She seems like a great kid. Are you sure you don’t want to come with us, though?” I asked, just to make sure this wasn’t some kind of strange joke.

“Shane, buddy, when the kitty purrs, you gotta stroke it while it’s hot,” he said with a wink. In that moment, I wish I could bleach my brain of the images those words spawned. “Here’s $40 to get some food for the two of you, on me. Actually, here’s $80, so maybe take her to dinner, too.” He handed me some green, blue, and purple bills that I had to look at as I couldn’t remember what color was what, in this weird country’s Monopoly currency. Cash should be all green, as God and Washington intended.

“Uh, thanks. When will she be ready?”

“She’s waiting for you in the lobby. She’s been up for hours. Have fun, I know we will!” Reg said as he patted me hard on the shoulder and moved quickly towards his room at a speed I was surprised he was capable of. I collected the rest of my gear and headed to the lockup to get my skis. I found Callie standing with her stuff by the lobby door, her pink jacket stuck out in a sea of solid primary colors.

“They totally bailed. I figured they would,” said Callie as I approached. “I’m glad I have you to keep me company.”

“I’m sorry, I promise we’ll have fun without them,” I replied. She gave me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“I know we will, let’s go!”

We walked down to the road and waited a few minutes for the right bus. A few came by and headed to different mountains in the area, but it took ten minutes for the bus to Sunshine to arrive. As we waited, I could feel the air was colder than the previous day. The wind was a little stronger, too. The chill on the mountain likely would be felt more in the higher elevations. I was dressed warm enough, as I knew to layer well, but I hoped Callie had done the same. When the bus rolled in, we loaded up and hopped on, as the two of us looked at a trail map and planned some runs. The bus bounced down the road towards our destination.

The weather was, in fact, colder when we reached the top of the Great Divide ski lift. The sky was cloudier than the previous day, but there were still pockets of sun and blue sky that broke through the grey. Callie seemed excited as we did the first couple of runs of the day. The snow conditions were crisp and fast, so we managed to carve out the blue runs as a fast warmup.

Callie was improving quite quickly and wanted to push on to some black runs, but I thought we should stop and warm up a bit first. I could see her face was getting red and a little wind burnt, so I suggested a bathroom break and maybe grab a hot chocolate before we went up again. She seemed to reluctantly agree, but I had a feeling she was getting cold and didn’t want to look like a wimp in front of me. We parked our skis and headed in, stopping by the washrooms before we headed to the bar. There was a nice seat by the windows, so we picked up our drinks and sat down to people-watch.

“Are you warming up, Callie?” I asked as I saw her holding her drink with both hands.

“I’m not cold. You don’t need to take care of me. I can take care of myself, you know,” she said as she seemed offended by my question.

“I’m sure you can. It just looked like your face was getting chilled, what with the gross snot frozen to your face,” I joked to help lighten the mood.

“You’re a jerk,” Callie playfully chided me and kicked my ski boot. “You had one going too, old man.”

“Yeah, that’s what happens. I’m pretty used to it, but I’m not a pretty girl who cares about her looks.”

“Hey, I’m not some girly girl. Don’t blame me for just naturally being cute. At least you noticed I was pretty,” she said in a flirty tone.

“It was tough not to notice in the hot tub. Apparently, people thought you were my daughter.”

“Should I call you Daddy, then?”

“No, that would make it worse since I said we weren’t and now they think we’re hooking up,” I said with a laugh.

Callie burst out in a fit of girlish laughter, nearly spilling some of her drink on the table. “Maybe I should call you daddy from now on. Think of all the street cred you’ll get.”

I replied sarcastically, “Yeah right, that’s what I need, people thinking that I’m sleeping with a teenager.”

“Don’t knock it till you try it, old man. I could be a double-black diamond wild ride that you’d never forget!”

Things were getting a little flirtier than I was comfortable with, so I tried to change the subject to her school. She was apparently a good student and wanted to go into English. It was weird how easy it was to talk to her while her youthful energy kept things flying by. I noticed that we’d been sitting there for over an hour and suggested we hit a few more trails before lunch. We discarded the cups and wrapped ourselves back up before heading out.

The day went quickly after that. The weather got completely overcast, but it didn’t seem to dampen our moods. Callie handled the increased difficulty well, and I gave her a few more tips for improving her posture and positioning. She would playfully call me daddy whenever she could, much to my chagrin.

“You’ve got to keep your legs together. I see your knees separating, and it’s causing your stance to widen.”

“Huh, I figured you’d want the opposite.”

I was confused, “What do you mean?”

“I thought you’d want my legs wide open, Daddy.”

“Now Callie, behave.”

“Or what, you’ll give me a spanking?”

“Don’t tempt me, young lady.” I used my pole to smack her bottom, which brought out a laugh from the girl.

The rest of our time skiing was filled with that sort of exchange. Lots of little flirty comments that caused us both to laugh. While I probably should have stopped them, I found myself enjoying the witty repartee of the exchanges. Callie was a clever girl and fun to chat with, and I found myself lost in our little verbal engagements. When we finally got back to the hotel, we went to our respective rooms to get cleaned up. We’d then meet together for dinner.

The hot shower felt good, and it was nice to get the sweaty feeling off of me as I cleaned myself up. I fixed myself up as nicely as I could, with combed hair and some reasonable clothes. I hadn’t brought a lot of nice stuff with me since I hadn’t expected to do much more than ski and sleep the whole time. Who’d expect to run into people you knew in a different country, after all. It felt like I was getting ready for a date, and I even had a little nervousness in my gut as I put on my jacket and headed to the lobby. I wasn’t really sure about what I was feeling, but things couldn’t get out of hand, right?

I didn’t have to wait long, as Callie arrived a few minutes later dressed in her pink jacket and tight-fitting jeans. We walked ten minutes to the main heart of the town and looked at all the places to eat before settling on a place called Earl’s.

“Dad and Theresa seemed pissed when I got back,” Callie told me, as we browsed the menu, “they practically rushed me out of there.”

“Well, you look great. They probably just want some alone time. Don’t take it personally.”

“They’re always like that. I don’t know why they even bring me along. I usually just get dumped somewhere while they do whatever they want.” She sounded a little sad, which I could understand. She reached across the table and held my hand, “At least this time I have you to keep me company.”

I lightly squeezed her hand in a reassuring way, “You do, and I’ve had a wonderful time so far. You’re a better companion than I planned to come here with. I’m lucky to have run into your father.”

“Dad said you were engaged. Mind if I asked what happened? It clearly was recent since she, I’m assuming it was a she, was supposed to come here with you.”

I took a deep breath as I knew the plunge into this conversation might happen at some point. The server brought our food, so I knew there was no escape possible. I took a bite of a fry and decided to just dive into both the food and the topic.

“Her name was Jen. We met in college, and I thought we were happy. It had been her idea to move to Des Moines because she wanted to be closer to her family. Things were good for years. We’d laugh and go on trips together, but she always seemed to push the big things aside. We’d been engaged for years. I proposed a few months after graduation, but when it came to actually getting married, there was always something that got in the way. Work, family, or even bad weather seemed to spook her.”

“Then why’d she agree to the engagement?” Callie interjected as she took a sip of Coke.

“She was young. She thought that’s what life was supposed to be like, the order of things. It turned out she’d grown tired of suburban life and wanted to feel young again. We’d booked this trip to regain that sense of adventure that we’d had in our twenties. Unfortunately, it was too little, too late, and I came home to find she’d taken off. She’d packed a few bags and moved to California. Her family wouldn’t say where she’d gone, and it was best for me to move on. I’ve not seen or heard from her since.”

“I’m so sorry, Shane. Why’d you still come on the trip then?”

“I figured, why not? It was already paid for, and maybe I could have some adventures of my own. Plus, being in the mountains is better than sulking at home. The fresh air and scenery have definitely been a pick-me-up, as has the company.”

“I’m glad you decided to come here. I’d have been bored without you.”

We finished our meal and headed back to the hotel. Callie asked if I wanted to jump into the hot tub again, but as we reached the overlook, I could see they were jammed with people. I told her I would just get some early sleep and that I planned to take the day off skiing to do some exploration tomorrow. She wasn’t sure what her dad and Theresa planned to do, so she would let me know what her plans were then. We said goodnight, and she gave me another hug and a kiss on the cheek before we parted. I couldn’t help but watch her ass go up the stairs before I headed to my room. I jerked off thinking of what was beneath that denim before I fell asleep.

I woke up the next day at the same time as the day before, even though I hadn’t set my alarm. It probably didn’t help that I went to bed at like 9:30 last night. So I figured I may as well get up. After a quick shower, I headed down to get some breakfast. I drank a couple of cups of coffee and had a heavier breakfast than normal since I wasn’t planning on doing much today. I’ve found it’s always good to have a rest day now and then, to keep the legs fresh and to get to explore a bit.

As I sat at my table, I noticed Callie, Reg, and Theresa enter the dining room. Callie saw me and waved, which drew the rest over to the table when they’d filled their plates. I was curious what their plans were for the day since I wouldn’t be hitting the slopes today.

“Oh, you’re not going skiing either?” Reg said in a tone of surprise.

“No, I want to give my legs a rest and also check out the town. Besides dinner last night, I haven’t really left the hotel property beyond the bus line.”

“That’s too bad. Callie wanted to stay behind, too. Terri and I are going out, though. Maybe we can all get together for dinner?” Reg suggested.

“Yeah, sure. Maybe we all meet up around 5:30?”