My Favorite Souvenir(13)

“What time is your flight?” he asked.

“Two. Yours?”

“Three.”

“Neither of our flights are going to go today,” he said.

“What makes you say that?”

“Round two of this storm is starting soon. The airport hasn’t even recovered from the wallop it took yesterday. I lived here for twenty-five years. The only local people who don’t know all the afternoon flights are going to get canceled are the people who work at the airlines.”

Yesterday morning I’d been dying to get home—so much so that I’d checked out of my luxurious hotel early and forfeited the small fortune we’d prepaid for our trip. Yet only twenty-four hours later, I wasn’t entirely upset at the notion of having to stick around another day. That is, assuming my brother stuck around, too.

“I guess we head to the airport and see what happens then?”

Milo rubbed the stubble on his cheek. “I was actually thinking of pushing off my flight until tomorrow. If we give up our hotel rooms, and our flights do cancel, there’s no chance they’ll still be available when we come crawling back with our luggage between our legs.”

“Oh. Yeah. Crap. I didn’t even think of that.”

“So what do you say? We both cancel, and I’ll take you on another adventure?”

“I don’t know…”

“Do you remember how you felt up there on the top of the mountain taking pictures last night?”

Of course I did. My body had an incredible buzz pulsing through it, and my heart had impersonated a runaway train—not that different from how I felt as I considered spending another day with Milo. Plus, I did have coverage at work for the next two weeks since I was supposed to be off, anyway. I really had nothing to rush back to. Maybe another adventure would bring even more clarity.

“You know what? Let’s do it. I’m in.”

I could see the smile in his eyes. “Excellent.”

“But I do have a request for our adventure today.”

“What’s that?”

“You teach me to ski.”

? ? ?

Well, what do you know? Apparently you needed appropriate attire to ski in Vail. Based on what I’d brought with me from Connecticut, I’d come prepared for sipping hot cocoa in the lodge, not actually skiing. Clearly, I’d had no intention of skiing when I’d packed to come here. Milo took me to a local shop, and we picked up items I hadn’t even heard of, like ski underwear and ski socks. We bought special trousers, a ski jacket, and a new hat and gloves. I already had gloves and a hat, but I figured they’d be all wet by the time we finished today, so spares were needed. Milo also insisted on buying me a helmet. When I asked whether everyone wore them, he said it was a requirement for beginners.

After our shopping jaunt, Milo took me to a local ski resort he said he used to frequent. It wasn’t the same one where he taught.

“Is it even possible to learn to ski in a day?” I asked as we sat on the chair lift.

He winked. “With a good instructor, it is.”

Being on a chair lift was scarier than being on the gondola last night. Even though we weren’t going nearly as high, it was just so open and easy to imagine I could slip out. Though I sort of wished I’d had my phone to take some more pictures. The view up here was spectacular. I’d left it back at the lodge—probably one of the first times I’d parted with it in ages. I had a feeling I was about to make a huge fool of myself, so I could only hope Milo had a lot of patience.

Once we got out to the slopes, I began to doubt whether asking him to take me skiing was a good idea since I’d underestimated just how green I’d be.

I had to say, though, I didn’t exactly mind all the close contact as he helped me put on the skis, something I had no clue how to do.

“Listen for the click.”

“Did it click?” I asked.

“Did you hear it click?”

I shrugged. “No.”

“Then it didn’t click.”

Wiseass.

“You think I’m the biggest idiot, don’t you?”

He looked up at me and flashed a smile. “Nah. It’s kind of cute. I used to teach total newbies like you all of the time.”

“That’s right. I forgot you’re probably used to this.”

Once he’d helped me get my skis on, he said, “Okay, so now you’re gonna jump up and down to make sure they’re on right.”

Feeling like a goof, I jumped several times. “They seem good.”

“Congratulations. You’ve passed the first step of skiing, which is getting your damn skis on.”

Then I could barely move. “Oh my gosh. How do you walk with these things?”

“That leads into your next lesson, actually. It’s called waddle walking.”

Milo began to demonstrate what he meant. He was basically teaching me to walk like a duck.

“So, just practice this technique,” he said. “It’s walking as if you have something between your legs.”

Interesting visual.

“This technique will help you get around if you lose one of your poles,” he added.

Lifting my legs one by one, I mimicked him. It was awkward. And it certainly had been a while since I’d had anything big between my legs. Ha! My mind had been in the gutter ever since I saw Milo in his towel this morning.