Best Laid Plans

by Tamie Dearen

  “If you don’t want to go to Vegas for the honeymoon, how about Disneyworld?”

  “Disneyworld sounds likes loads of fun. And maybe we can drive pieces of bamboo under our fingernails.”

  “Great! I’m glad you like Disneyworld. And we need to pick out china, too...”

  He tuned her out for the sake of sanity.

  THE MORNING WAS CLEAR, but cold, while snow was expected in the afternoon. Charlie forgot all her worries while they were flying down the slopes. She was enjoying the switch to a snowboard. All the men except Josh were riding boards instead of skiing now, although she and Grace were the only girls on boards. Josh still felt he could help Jace more if they were both on skis, but in Charlie’s opinion, Jace was progressing at a fantastic pace.

  He was making smooth parallel turns and no longer reverted to a wedge on the steeper slopes when he was nervous. He was reveling in the attention and praise he received, not only from Josh and Charlie, but also from Anne and Steven. Most of the time, Charlie still took up a protective place in the rear behind Jace. This allowed her to observe and encourage him and to help him get up when he fell. However, Jace’s independence and pride were emerging, and he began to refuse help when he fell.

  Olivia, Hannah and Claire, on the other hand, seemed to make a habit of falling, almost always leaving behind a trail of ski equipment on the slope, and lying in the snow afterward in helpless laughter while others retrieved their things for them. Charlie chuckled while Claire failed at her attempt to land a jump. Though she was only a few inches off the snow, she screeched with excitement and vaulted into a somersault after landing on the tails of her skis. Soon the slope was littered with skis and poles, and both her helmet and her jacket were packed with snow.

  Jace loved the fact he wasn’t the one producing the spectacular falls and even managed to retrieve one of Claire’s poles, while spouting some advice about keeping her weight forward. Charlie was proud of her for at least attempting the jump, since both Hannah and Olivia seemed to be afraid to try anything challenging. Jace made it clear he intended to ski a black run before the end of the week. Claire was also planning to conquer at least one black diamond run, but Hannah and Olivia expressed no interest in attempting anything challenging.

  The four sisters were so different from each other, with Grace and Claire, the oldest and the youngest, being the most adventuresome and athletic. Charlie complimented Grace on her skill with the snowboard and her rather fearless attitude.

  “That’s because you’re so short you don’t have far to fall.” Olivia made the wisecrack, dodging the snowball Grace threw at her head.

  Steven, as with every sport, was an excellent skier and snowboarder. Anne, wasn’t quite as skilled, but because of her extreme competitive nature, she always kept up with him and refused to allow any fears to hold her back.

  Emily and Spencer were well paired. Spencer was naturally athletic and competitive, while Emily was a smooth, graceful skier, having skied every year since she was five years old.

  Charlie had to admit Derek might have bested her on the snowboard if he’d spent half as much time on the slopes. But for now, she enjoyed the fact she could beat him in any race and out-jump him, throwing in a tail-grab or even an occasional three-sixty.

  No matter what trick she accomplished, Derek would always throw in, “Yes, but you looked goofy.” This was his way of teasing her for riding ‘goofy-foot’, the term used for riding a snowboard with the right foot forward.

  But Josh... Josh was amazing. She hadn’t seen him on a board, but he was probably as good as she was on a pair of skis. She was itching to race him on a black, or maybe get him into a terrain park. Seeing how easily Jace had picked up the skill, she surmised athletic ability must run in his family. She wondered if his sister had also been athletic. What a shame Josh never got to know his sister, and no wonder he was so determined to make sure Jace and Chloe grew up together.

  “Can I ride up with you?” Anne asked as they approached the two-person lift at the bottom. “We’ve hardly even seen each other this whole trip.”

  “Sure Mom. Is this your way of telling me you want to try snowboarding again?” Anne had attempted boarding once in the past. But after one day of being flung forcibly to the hard ground onto her knees or her bottom, she swore never to try again.

  “No, thank you. I’m happy to merely ski for the rest of my life. But I can’t wait to teach Ellis and Micah how to ski. I remember how cute you girls were when you were riding the lifts. Your legs were so short they stuck straight out in front of you and your skis were straight up and down. And we had to give you a boost to get you up onto the lift.”

  “What are they doing at the child care? Do they just play in the snow?”

  “You’ll have to go see. It’s so cute. They have a playground in the snow. And they put these little short skis on their feet and they just naturally figure out how to move around with them.”

  “Awww, how adorable.”

  “I’ve been thinking...” Her mom’s voice was tinged with worry. “I wondered if you might be willing to help Olivia a little.”

  “Help her with what?”

  “Well, you know... She doesn’t really like kids all that much. I thought maybe you could kind of take them off her hands some. I know she’s planning to leave all the actual parenting to Josh, but occasionally he’s going to be gone, and they’ll be her responsibility. Like, if he gets called into work at night. We’ve offered to help, but I thought you’d be a good backup.”

  “Surely after a month or so she won’t be afraid to be left with the kids anymore. I mean, she’ll get used to it.”

  “Well I suppose she could, but she doesn’t want to. To tell you the truth, I’m kind of worried about Jace and Chloe.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know how to put it... I’m afraid they’ll feel... rejected, I guess. Because I think they’ll be able to sense Olivia resents them.”

  “She would never resent them. Olivia’s not like that.”

  “Well, I don’t think she would do it on purpose, but this is obviously not the life she would have chosen. She wasn’t ready to be a mother, and these aren’t her kids.”

  “But Mom,” she said, “When you love someone, you willingly make little sacrifices. I mean, if Josh loves those kids, she’ll love them, too.”

  “It’s so interesting you should say that,” Anne remarked.

  “Why?”

  “Well, that’s exactly what I thought. I thought if Steven had already had some kids I would have loved them to death, just because he loved them. Just like Steven loved both of you. But Olivia... Well, I don’t want to judge her or anything, but I’m not sure she really loves Josh. I mean, at first I thought she was pretending she didn’t love him because she thought he didn’t love her. But now...” Anne clamped her lips tight. “Oh, Charlie—I shouldn’t have said anything. That was a terrible thing to say. Please forget I said it. I’m a terrible gossip, and I hate people who gossip.”

  “It’s okay, Mom. I know you didn’t mean to be critical. You’re just worried.”

  “No. Seriously. I’m sure she loves Josh in her own way, even if I don’t understand it. Everything will be fine. I’m sure it won’t end up in a divorce where Jace would have to deal with losing another mother.”

  “A divorce?”

  “Well, yes. You know, originally, they were planning to only be married for a year, but then Josh decided a divorce would be too hard on Jace. I just hope they can actually make this thing work. If only...”

  “If only what?”

  “It’s just a silly thought, and it doesn’t make any sense. Never mind.”

  “No. What is it? I won’t tell anyone.”

  “It’s just that... Now I know you don’t love Josh or anything, but you do seem to love Chloe and Jace so much. I was thinking you would make a much better mother for them. But see how stupid that is? You’d love the kids, but you wouldn’t be in love with Josh. That wou
ldn’t work any better than it would with Josh and Olivia. I told you it was silly.”

  “Ha! Josh would never ask me, anyway.”

  “Oh, you’re right. He’s much too proud. He would never, ever ask you to do something like that. And it’s a good thing, too, because you’re just the sort of soft-hearted girl who’d probably agree to a crazy proposal like that. And there you’d be, stuck in a marriage with a man you didn’t love. But at least Jace and Chloe would have a mother who loved them. Still, that wouldn’t make up for a lifetime of misery.”

  “Don’t you think she’ll grow to love him?” Charlie chewed on her lip.

  “I hope so,” said Anne. “But I know it would be so hard for me to love Steven if he didn’t love you and Emily. So I just don’t know how Josh will be able to love Olivia if she doesn’t love Jace and Chloe.”

  Anne put a bright smile on her face. “But let’s forget all of that. The important thing is I’m going to get to help plan another wedding. Josh wanted a small ceremony with a few friends and family, but Olivia wants a humongous wedding, probably even bigger than Grace’s. I don’t know how they’re going to pull it off. And Olivia hasn’t even told her parents yet, because she knows they’ll be upset. Isn’t it all so exciting?” Anne asked as they departed the chair at the top of the lift.

  As Charlie sat in the cold snow to fasten her boot to the board, she tried to put their conversation out of her mind. Her mother’s version of the situation wasn’t exciting at all. Charlie couldn’t bear the thought of Jace being hurt again. Surely her mother was imagining things. She must have misunderstood Olivia’s words. Maybe she could ride up with Olivia after this run and set her mind at ease.

  “Come on, Aunt Charlie!” yelled Jace as he started down the slope.

  Derek plopped down next to her on the snow. “Wanna cut through the trees at the top?”

  “Sure,” she said, pushing up and hopping to start downward. I’m just going to put all this stuff out of my mind and enjoy the snow.

  JOSH FELT ANOTHER SURGE of irritation as he saw Charlie and Derek emerge from the trees, laughing and whooping. He thought once again he didn’t care for Derek at all. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it. What was it about him that was so annoying?

  Josh watched as Charlie fell back on the snow to rest and Derek stopped on the hill directly below, facing her. When she tossed a glove-full of snow up at his face, he laughed and grabbed her jacket to pull her up into a kiss. Josh suddenly remembered exactly why he didn’t like Derek.

  “Uncle Josh! Let’s go,” called Jace. “Grammy’s way ahead of us.”

  “I’m coming,” He started after Jace with one last glance up the hill where Derek and Charlie were wrestling in the snow. He had to ski fast to catch up with his nephew, who was getting speedier on every run. Jace’s motivation wasn’t hurt by the fact Olivia and her sisters constantly gushed about how great he was every time he caught up with them.

  “Am I better than you were, Uncle Josh, when you were nine?”

  “I didn’t even ski for the first time until I was eighteen,” Josh declared. “So I guess you’re way better than I was.”

  “And pretty soon I’ll be able to beat you.”

  Josh chuckled. “If you start getting that good, I’m going to be fighting pretty hard to win.”

  Near the bottom, the group stopped at a turn-off. Olivia announced, “We’re leaving early to go shopping. Who wants to come?”

  All four of Spencer’s sisters opted for the shopping trip. But Josh wasn’t surprised when Emily, Charlie and Anne refused to abandon the slopes.

  “I figure I can shop when I’m old,” Anne declared with a laugh. “I have to ski all I can, now.”

  “Besides,” Charlie frowned. “The snow is great right now, and it’s not even that cold.” She looked totally baffled anyone would forgo a single minute of skiing for any reason whatsoever.

  “No way.” Emily smiled. “Us Best girls have skiing in our blood, despite the fact we were all born in Texas.”

  After the Marshall sisters departed, Brad said, “Next time down this run, let’s do the jumps and get some pictures while the sun is still out. We should get some awesome shots.”

  Josh made a casual attempt to ride up with Charlie, despite his better judgment. But Jace pushed ahead. “Aunt Charlie. Can I ride with you?”

  “Sure,” she said, forcing Derek to relinquish his place and inadvertently pairing him with Josh.

  The men sat together in awkward silence for the first part of the lift ride until Derek broke the ice. “Are you upset with me or something? Because I’m getting some hate vibes every time you look at me.”

  Josh tamped down his anger, knowing he had no reasonable explanation for it. He attempted to make his expression pleasant. “No, I’m sorry—I’m a little tense.”

  “But you still mean what you said night before last? You’re in love with Olivia, and I’m free to date Charlie?”

  Josh couldn’t quite make himself say it, so he grunted and nodded his head.

  “I just wondered, because Charlie seemed pretty ticked off when I told her what you said.”

  “You told her what I said?” Josh practically growled at him. “That was between us. You weren’t supposed to tell her.”

  “Well, you didn’t tell me that. And she seemed so concerned about whether or not you were in love with Olivia, I just felt like she needed to know for sure.”

  “She was concerned about that?”

  “Oh yeah, she was really worried. I almost thought she had a thing for you. I can see why you’d choose Olivia over Charlie though.”

  “You can?”

  “Of course. I mean... Charlie’s a lot of work. It’s really hard to know what she’s thinking. And she’s so competitive—I’ve got my work cut out for me.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, obviously she needs to be tamed a bit. She’s a little too dominant for her own good. Not that I won’t look forward to having a little tiger in the sack someday, but—” Josh’s gloved hand shot out to connect with Derek’s helmet. “Hey! What was that for?”

  “You’ve already been warned not to talk about Charlie like that,” Josh spoke between gritted teeth. “Another word, and I’ll take my gloves off and your helmet as well before I knock your teeth into your head.”

  “I don’t think I said anything bad if I’m talking about after we’re married,” Derek defended. “Right?”

  Josh almost choked. “You’re thinking about marrying Charlie?”

  “Well, I know it’s going to take some work. But yes, of course I am. I mean, this is just between us. I haven’t talked to her about it yet.”

  “But you hardly know her.”

  “If you think it takes a long time to realize she’s special, you don’t know Charlie as well as you think you do.”

  Josh fell back into silence, trying to process Derek’s words.

  “So we’ll probably end up being friends, you know.” Derek’s smile split his face. “In a month, you’ll be married to Olivia, and hopefully, not long after that, I’ll be married to Charlie.”

  Josh stared at him, speechless. He tried to imagine this future reality. He and Olivia having Charlie and Derek over for dinner. Charlie and Derek holding hands, touching each other, in love with each other, married.

  Derek continued, “I know you’ll have Jace and Chloe, but I’d be ready to start having kids with Charlie pretty soon. I hope she wants a lot of kids, because I want a big family.”

  Josh felt nauseous, picturing Charlie, pregnant with Derek’s child. Derek pushed his goggles up and lifted his chin to soak in the sun’s warmth. Josh’s eyes were riveted on Derek’s relaxed and happy face as a sense of helpless rage built inside him. He struggled with a sudden strong urge to toss him off the ski lift.

  Anne waited for Derek at the top of the run. He sat on the bench next to her while he buckled his boot onto the board. “Mrs. G, you were so right. That worked like a charm.” He la
ughed. “But I want you to know I risked my life for you on that chair lift. When I started talking about getting married to Charlie, I really thought he was going to kill me.”

  “Who was going to kill you?” Steven rode over on his board, sitting on Anne’s other side to lock his boot in.

  Anne panicked. “He was talking about... uhmm...”

  “I was telling your wife about racing Josh yesterday. I thought he was going to kill me, but he just barely beat me. I think I could beat him if we were both on boards, though.”

  Derek gave her a surreptitious wink.

  THE LONG GROOMED BLUE with a series of steep hills was set up perfectly for making jumps. Previous skiers and boarders had shaped a small area on the side of each hilltop into a lip to provide a bit more loft.

  They leapfrogged down the run. Two people would ski ahead with the camera, setting up down the hill and signaling the jumpers when the coast was clear. Steven, Derek, Spencer, Josh, and Charlie all took turns making jumps. With enough speed, they could clear a significant distance. Josh managed to do a spread-eagle and Charlie performed a tail-grab. They made four sets of jumps before the clouds rolled in, bringing with them snow and decreased visibility.

  “I can’t believe that came up so quickly,” Anne complained.

  “We can still take pictures,” said Charlie. “We’ve got one more good jump. I’ll just set up a little closer to the landing.”

  “I want to do a jump,” said Jace.

  Josh looked to Charlie for her opinion. “He can do a jump, if he doesn’t go too fast. Let him go last because he’ll flatten out the lip when he goes over it.”

  “I’ll go, too,” said Emily. “Just a slow one like Jace.”

  “Okay,” said Charlie. “I’ll try to get it a shot of it.”

  Charlie went down to set up the camera, and Anne skied below to watch. Charlie took off her board and set it end up in the snow as a warning. She could see the spot where previous jumpers had landed and checked to be sure there weren’t any dangerous ruts. Then she gave the all-clear sign, and they started down, one by one. First Derek, then Spencer, and then Steven.