Chapter 10

Crystal opened her mouth and let the snowflakes drift into it to melt on her tongue. The snowflakes were tasteless--soft and cold, but so velvety on her pink tongue. She walked through the Vermont woods towards the small, isolated cabin inhaling the sweet, brisk air, enjoying the pungent odor of woodsmoke from the cabin and trying hard to adjust to the fact by Christmas she'd be married and the wife of a millionaire.

It was mid-December with many changes in her life in the past couple of months, since she'd first met Gunnar's house guest. Bob Gardner was a wealthy young man who'd been living in Europe and had come home to be struck down by love for her. She'd been swept right along with him, into an intense affair that could only end in marriage.

"I just have to finish my financial business here in New York," he told her, "and then we can be married and go on back to Europe. Paris, London, Rome to begin with. I see us settling down in the South of France."

It was an incredible change for her. All her life she'd struggled--to get her degree, to work in her first computer job, to help her father, to pull off that West Air thing, and then to flee to the East and go to work for A-C. She'd given not the slightest thought to marriage and children and settling down.

Bob told her that West Air would be no problem at all. He'd pay them the hundred thousand and his lawyer could arrange a deal where she would be neither prosecuted nor have her reputation smirched by any charges.

She'd quit the Avery-Cascade Corporation and taken her first ever vacation in years. It was ending now with this ski trip to the slopes of the Vermont mountains where Bob had taken this hideaway cabin.

There was a pair of skis leaning outside the cabin, alongside of the door--Bob's. He'd come up ahead of her to try the slopes, and written to say the place was great and to give her complete instructions on how to reach the cabin which was close to, but not a part of, the Greenbrier Ski Complex.

She stopped short in surprise, then laughed. Bob's cabin included a hot tub! There it sat, round and inviting, steam rising from the hot water, the snow melted away from its base and the snowflakes vanishing as they met the upward flow of warm air from the tub. Talk about luxury!

She didn't find Bob at first when she went inside. There was a cozy fire laid in the fireplace and some kind of luscious smelling stew bubbling on the stove. The cabin was rustic in its furnishings, and yet luxurious, with lots of shining early American brass and good wood antiques.

She dumped her gear in one of the bedrooms and then saw the bathroom door was closed. She tapped on it.

"BOB. I'M HERE.' She got an inspiration. "I-I'LL BE OUTSIDE IN YOUR HOT TUB!"

"Yo," came his response from inside.

Chuckling, she disrobed. Naturally she hadn't brought a bathing suit--it wasn't what you'd bring along on a ski trip, but naked would be fine. Bob was no sex fiend like Gunnar Strand had been, so after the first time or two they held back. It was as if, knowing they'd be married they wanted to wait. But up here in the woods... all alone... in that hot tub... later in the cabin.

Naked, she just dashed through the cabin and outdoors. The cold air stung her skin. She laughed in glee and then cooed in pleasure as she immersed her body in the hot tub, which was deep enough to take her to her shoulders. Out west those tubs usually ran about a hundred and eight degrees. This one was about ninety in the Cold Vermont air, but it was plenty warm and made her body feel great. She sank down in the warm water, leaving only her head out in the cold air. It was glorious!

"YEEEEE!" she cried, listening to her voice echo across the pine-tree-covered valley.

Oh, it was great to be alive... to be free of her problems... no more worry about West Air, or being caught with her computer antics with A-C. They'd hated to lose her and, in truth, she missed her job, her life among the big machines and tutoring executives. She was going to have to discuss with Bob the idea of doing something useful after they were married. As the son of a rich man, he didn't understand about work, nor did he have much intellectual curiosity. She'd have to work on him to open his mind a little. He lacked in that direction.

She wished Leaf could be here. Crystal had gone to visit Leaf in her Pennsylvania town when she'd run out of things to do and the shopping for her new wardrobe palled. She'd not found Leaf, only the sad young man from New York who'd gone down there with Leaf and gotten himself a job in the local bank, hoping to marry Leaf.

"She just took off," he reported. "She said she wanted to give New York another try."

Crystal had dinner with Leaf's nice but stuffy parents, avoided the clumsy passes of Fellows, the teller, and left the next day.

There was a cry of delight, a flash of nudity and someone suddenly shot from the cabin and joined her in the hottub.

"Bob, you--" Crystal exclaimed then cried in shock: "LEAF!"

"Isn't it great," said her former roommate, sinking in the water, her face pink with delight. "I've never been to a ski place before."

There was no time to absorb this sudden appearance of her old friend. There came another shout from the cabin and a male body hurtled into the tub with them. She found herself staring into the wolfish grin of-

"GUNNAR!" she shrieked. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

"Bob invited us," he said. "We just got in yesterday."

She hadn't seen Gunnar since she'd taken up with Bob. She thought that was a fine idea. Of course, she owed him for introducing her to Bob--

"Well, now," she said, "this turns my head around."

She felt a little embarrassed. Both Leaf and Gunnar were nude, as she was, in the hot tub.

"I find this kind of sexy," said Gunnar.

"I don't," she snapped. "Where's Bob?"

"Haven't seen him since yesterday," said Gunnar. He began to run his hands over Leaf's smooth, young shoulders.

Leaf's eyes began to glaze. Gunnar's hands disappeared under the water and Leaf gave a grunt.

"Goddammmit, Leaf," snarled Crystal, "are you going to let him fondle you right in front of me?"

"Fuck, is what I was thinking," said Gunnar. "It's great in the hot tub."

Leaf seemed to snap out of it.

"Oh, yes, Crystal. Bob called about noon and left a message. He ran into one of his ex-wives on the slopes and they were going to fly to Aspen for a few days. Somebody he was married to in Switzerland."

"EX-WIFE!" cried Crystal. "But he's only twenty-eight!"

"Oh, he has a couple more," said Gunnar easily. "He gets married a lot. A rich man's different from us working stiffs."

"But--but--he never told me."

"Had his mind on other things," said Gunnar. "You see, his folks left him his four million dollars in trust. He got only a small monthly allowance. He was my client on the C-M con. The racket I worked for him--I slipped a million of his bucks out of that tied-up trust fund, using the computer, so he could have cash. He paid me a fee--now the bank can whistle."

"It's kind of neat," said Leaf. "He stole his own money from the bank. It'll be pretty hard for them to put him in jail for that."

"Gunnar, you won't get away with that!" cried Crystal.

"I already have, dear heart. Computer error. I was terribly sorry, and all that. Of course A-C fired me, but at least I got the money to pay off your debt to West Air, plus a little more."

"BOB PAID OFF MY DEBT."

Gunnar shook his head.

"Bob doesn't give money to women, except as alimony. He wanted me to let you think he paid it, though. He's a little odd that way. Wants the credit without spending the dough. It's a rich man's way."

"I don't believe this. It's all lies!" cried Crystal. "I'll clear it when I talk to Bob."

"I have the name of his motel in Aspen, Colorado," said Leaf. "You could call him from here. He's probably there by now."

"My God!" said Crystal, feeling her future dissolve.

There was a dead silence between the three companions as the silent snow fell down and the steam rose from the tub. Tears ran down Crystal's cheeks.

"Uh, Crystal," said Gunnar. "Do you mind if Leaf and I fuck in the tub? It's great fun."

"OF COURSE I MIND. MY LIFE'S SHATTERED!" cried Crystal. The tears came fast now as she felt the bottom drop out of her life. Of course there'd been hints... Bob's willingness to stay in her apartment, his low sex demands, his eternal calls to Europe, his boredom with her computer life. Still, when you thought you loved someone... and he was a millionaire, and there were promises--but, of course, if he were like that it wouldn't matter if he were penniless.

She folded into Leaf's arms and wept. It was just too much after all that had happened. And to think it was Gunnar's fee from Bob that bailed her out with West Air! And here was Leaf back in Gunnar's act, and...

She howled and wept out all of her tension from the weeks and months of the New York experience, folded in the arms of Leaf, against that soft body. She felt Gunnar's hands stroking her shoulders and then down on her back.