3
James watched as the petite blonde hurried away. When she’d first bumped into him, he’d been annoyed, just wanting to take off with his supplies from the general store and head to his cabin without interruption. He hadn’t expected to have his bags nearly knocked out of his arms by anyone, let alone a woman, who, if he had to admit it to himself, was drop-dead gorgeous with her silky blonde hair, pretty blue eyes, and heart-shaped face. If he’d let himself think about her as anything more than a nuisance, she’d be the kind of trouble he didn’t need. That’s exactly why he was so caustic in his reply. It was better to keep to himself while he spent the required time off ordered by his commander. He couldn’t help but let his mind drift back to the conversation from the previous day.
“I’m sorry for having to do this, Franklin, but you’ve been distracted ever since the incident in Santa Fe,” Master Sergeant ‘Sarge’ Trevor Young, the middle-aged, salt and peppered brown haired DCSRA commander sympathized with a tight frown. “Canter mentioned that you missed a few crucial cues with certain trainees during the last session. No one got hurt, but it’s a sign that you need some time off. I should have ordered it when you got back, but I honestly didn’t realize it would affect you so badly. I mean, we’ve all lost victims over our career, but it’s our job to compartmentalize it and move on with our job. Somehow though, this is different for you.”
James stiffened under the criticism. It was rare for him to receive negative feedback, and it felt foreign. He could argue with Sarge, but he knew it wouldn’t get him anywhere. It was better to do what he said and follow his orders to make this go away as quickly as possible. “How long do I need to take off?”
“Let’s start with two weeks and go from there. I’ll have the Deputy Commander fill in for you while you’re away, but your spot will be here when we both feel you’re ready to come back.”
“You’re the boss; I’ll do what you tell me to,” James deferred, hating that he was being forced to take a break from the job he loved. Part of him knew Sarge was right. He hadn’t been concentrating on work the way he should; his mind continued to drift back to Melanie Price’s face as she realized he wasn’t going to be able to pull her up in time. It bothered him that no one cared that Melanie Price was dead. It seemed all that anyone cared about was the fact that he saved the governor’s daughter with Ross’ help. If he was in charge and had a distracted instructor, he would order him to take a break, too. There was, however, no way he was kenneling his partner while he was gone. “I’m taking Siku with me though.”
Sarge nodded. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
A day later, he arrived in Colorado and drove up to the cabin he’d inherited from his parents. Sarge might be able to order him on vacation but the DCSRA commander couldn’t force James to leave the mountain behind altogether. He’d grown up hunting, fishing, skiing, and hiking on Clear Mountain; he knew every inch of the land. If he had to go somewhere and hang out until he could prove he was fit for work, he preferred it to be at his second home.
“You know who that was, right?” José Gomez, the black-haired, tan man who was head of the ski patrol for the resort and James’ childhood friend asked as he came up besides James.
“No, I have no idea,” James admitted with a shrug.
“That was Nicole West.” The way José said her name, it was as if he expected James to know who she was.
“And?” he asked with raised eyebrows. “Am I supposed to recognize that name?”
“You’re kidding me; you don’t know who Nicole West is? She’s the number one box office sweetheart in America. Everyone loves her hilarious romantic comedies.”
“Not me; I’ve never even heard of her.”
“I can’t believe you blew her off like that. Are you crazy? You totally had an opening to ask her out on a date,” José pointed out.
“I’m not here to date anyone—I just want to hide out in my cabin until I can go back to work.”
“It never ceases to amaze me how you pay no attention to pop culture. Even when we were kids, you didn’t care about going to the movies or spying on the celebrities that visited the resort.”
“What can I say, I’d rather spend my time outdoors, than cooped up inside.” Shifting the bags in his arms, James started to move towards the exit of the resort. Over his shoulder, he said, “I’ll catch you later, José.”
“How long are you going to be here this time?”
“A couple of weeks,” he said, leaving out the reason for his forced stay.
“Good, tomorrow is my day off. Let’s hit the slopes in the morning. I’ll text you with a time and place to meet.”
James’ first instinct was to reject the offer, but he figured it couldn’t hurt to hang out with José since he had the time. He was a good guy, and knew James well enough not to push him to do things he didn’t want to do, like socializing with people or participating in small talk. “Sounds good. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
A short twenty-minute drive later, James arrived at his cabin. He unloaded Siku from her spot in the passenger side of his truck, then grabbed his duffle bag before they headed inside. He started the generator, turned on the propane tank, and opened the curtains, grateful that the cabin’s fully off-grid, self-sustaining system was still functioning. Next, he pulled out the ladder from his storage shed and climbed on top of his cabin, salting the roof and gutter before the storm hit tomorrow night.
While he stayed busy opening up the cabin and putting away his belongings, he was distracted enough that he didn’t think about anything else. The issue was when he settled down on the couch next to Siku, he couldn’t concentrate on the training manual from DCSRA. His mind couldn’t stay focused long enough to think about what he wanted to adjust for his department. He couldn’t shake the image of Melanie’s fear-filled eyes from his head. When Canter cut the rope and she was taken by the avalanche, the last thing he saw was the terror in her eyes. Her look of shock and betrayal still haunted him whenever he wasn’t busy doing something.
“Well, Siku, obviously sitting here trying to read isn’t working,” he said, as he rubbed the spot between her ears. “What do you say, should we go for a hike?”
Siku barked, jumping up from her spot on the couch and racing towards the door. “I guess that’s a ‘yes,’” he chuckled, standing up from the couch. “Just give me a minute, girl, I need to change into my snow outfit and get my boots on, and then we can head out.”
Try as he might, even when he was outside where he always felt like he belonged, it did him little good. Even as he pushed himself harder and harder as they climbed the mountain, he couldn’t erase Melanie’s frightened face from his mind.
4
“I want everyone to head straight back to the resort. We’ll pick up first thing tomorrow morning, weather permitting,” Donald explained, as they finished up closing the set down for the day and loading the gear onto the back of the various snowmobiles.