He’d seen the concentration on her face, the frustration when she’d fallen in an inelegant heap, and the determination with which she’d scrambled upright again. It was as if that ski run had been in some way representative of the way she inte
nded to live her life.
Watching her made him wonder when he’d last pushed himself out of his comfort zone.
Marriage, probably.
In a serious relationship that had demanded things of him, he’d been seriously out of his comfort zone.
When he’d come here with Alison, she’d insisted that he stay by her side in case she fell. It had taken a matter of hours for her to decide skiing was an expensive form of suicide, and after that she’d resented the time he spent skiing.
I don’t even get to see you when we’re on vacation.
Harriet actively encouraged him to leave her and ski with Tyler.
“It will be less embarrassing for me if you’re not standing there watching.” She let him haul her to her feet again after yet another fall. “I plan to go up and down this run until I can do it without falling.”
In the end she persuaded him to go and he and Tyler had one of the best days skiing either of them could remember. They skied Devil’s Gully, which, Ethan reflected, probably wasn’t the most sensible thing he’d ever done in his life given that most of the year his fitness was honed on machines. Pounding on a treadmill and hefting weights wasn’t the same as hurling yourself off a cliff and hurtling down a slope so steep it made your thighs scream and your gut churn. For the seven minutes of hair-raising descent, he’d definitely been out of his comfort zone.
He reached the bottom of the run in the same condition he’d started it, and counted himself lucky.
“You’re out of condition.” Tyler grinned at him. “City life is making you soft.”
Halfway through the week the rest of his family arrived. First his parents, who had booked a lodge to themselves, and then his sister, who drove up from New York with her husband and Karen, who seemed to have almost fully recovered from her ordeal.
Much to Harriet’s delight, Madi was with them.
The dog greeted Ethan with an enthusiasm he knew he didn’t deserve.
Maybe Harriet wasn’t the only one who had changed, he thought as he dropped to his haunches to play with the dog. He’d changed too.
His mother cooked and they ate in the cabin. Several times over dinner he caught his sister watching him, and knew she had questions that no doubt she wouldn’t hold back from asking.
The problem was, he didn’t have answers.
His decision to invite Harriet to join him on this trip had been an impulsive one. As it turned out, it had also been a good one. She charmed everyone with her kind, quiet nature and she especially charmed the dogs. They followed her around the resort as if she were the Pied Piper.
The grilling he’d been expecting came as he and his sister washed up.
“So—” Debra thrust a dripping plate into his hands. “Is there something you need to tell me?”
“Nothing.” He dried the plate and placed it back in the rack. “If you’re planning an interrogation, don’t waste your breath.”
“I like Harriet. No, that’s not true. I love Harriet. She is a sweet, kind, dear person. If you upset her, I will kill you.”
“Are you always this protective of your dog walkers?”
“I’ve only ever had one dog walker—” she sent him a look “—Harriet. I don’t want to ever have to replace her, so don’t make me choose because I tell you now if you do that, you’re history.”
“Nice to know where you stand on family loyalty.”
She didn’t laugh. Instead, she looked troubled. “Are you going to break her heart?”
“I hope not.”
“So what’s going on? What are your intentions? Is this about sex and a home-cooked meal? Or is it something more?”
“I don’t know what it is. I’m a man. I don’t analyze everything the way you do. But it’s more than sex and a home-cooked meal. And as for my intentions—” Ethan took the plate from her hands “—my intentions are to have the best possible vacation, and make sure she does too.”