Dean? What time was it? I was so incredibly disoriented.
“Sure, hold on,” I told him, as I took the folder out of his hands. I rubbed my eyes, dragged my fingers through my obnoxiously red hair, and walked to the kitchen. It was already nine o’clock.
“Oh god,” I said under my breath. “Chase, I’m so sorry. Did you eat dinner?”
Chase nodded.
“Yeah!” he exclaimed. “Dean and I made pizza!”
I put the folder on the counter. So much pizza, so little time.
“You and Dean?”
Chase nodded again excitedly.
“I see.”
This was turning out to be a quick lesson in what not to do when you find out you’ve been given children as an early Christmas present.
I looked around to see Dean still sitting nonchalantly on the couch. I walked over to see that Emma was no longer sleeping, but sitting in his lap playing with a little plastic horse.
“Yay!” Emma said when she saw me. Then she leaned up and whispered not so quietly into Dean’s ear. “She’s awake!”
Dean turned and smiled coyly at me.
“Well, looks like Sleeping Beauty has finally decided to wake up,” he said.
I scoffed again. I didn’t know how to react to his constant flirting mixed with subtle insults.
“Sorry,” I said flatly as I shook my head. “I’m not sure how that happened.”
“No worries,” he said turning back to Emma. “I told you I was here for the long haul.”
“What are you talking about?” I picked up the remote and turned off the TV.
“I’m staying here until you agree to come,” he said.
I threw my hands in the air.
“So if I say I’ll come on the trip, You’ll leave?”
“Yes, but you have to actually keep your word on that one. I’m not letting you off the hook that easily.”
Great, he knew I was planning to run. I could be gone before the weekend, anyway, so it didn’t matter.
“Fine, I’ll go.”
“Hmm,” he said. “I don’t know if I believe you. Maybe we should pinky promise.”
Could he be any more annoying?
“Nope,” I said, crossing my arms. “Not gonna happen.”
“Emma, she’s refusing to pinky promise me. I think that means she doesn’t want to go,” he said more to me than to her.
“Pinky promise!” Emma shouted, still looking at the horse.
Dean gave me a look.
“Fine!” I said, holding out my pinky. I had never felt so stupid in my life.
“Great.” He moved Emma off of his lap, and she whined in protest.
“No,” she said as the horse crashed to the ground. She threw her arms around his neck. “Don’t leave!”
He disentangled her and pulled her back to look at him.
“I have to,” he said. “I promised Lauren I would leave if she promised me something, so now it’s time for me to go.”
Emma frowned and turned to me.
“Why would you want him to leave?”
She had me on that one.
“Time for bed, Emma,” I told her. “You have to get ready for school in the morning, remember?”
“School is going to be so much fun,” Dean said. “And I bet Lauren will even let you have Lucky Charms for breakfast if you’re extra nice to her.”
Emma’s eyes lit up. These kids were going to be in a sugar coma for the rest of their lives if this continued.
“Really?”
“Definitely,” I said. “But only if you can get your pj’s on in the next minute!”
She jumped off of Dean’s lap and ran upstairs, accepting the challenge.
He got up and I followed him over to the door.
“Thanks.”
He looked surprised. “For what?”
“For making them dinner,” I said softly.
“Anytime, Lauren Lindsay,” he said as he left. “Anytime.”
I shut the door and exhaled loudly, thinking I was alone.
“It’s fine,” I heard a voice call from upstairs. “Everyone’s in love with him.”
I turned around and saw Callie and Jenny standing at the top of the stairs.
“It’s really annoying, actually,” Jenny added.
“Bye Jenny,” Callie said, not moving from her post.
Jenny looked offended, but brushed past me as she walked down the stairs and out the door without a word.
I didn’t want to deal with Callie, so I walked back to the kitchen and ate the last slice of pizza. Next to it, there was a small note written on a scrap of a paper towel.
I took the note and crumpled it with my fist.
I was so angry at him. How did he have the right to just waltz in here and take over? I was going to leave soon anyway, so it didn’t matter. Clearly, I couldn’t take care of anyone but myself, and I refused to be just another girl who fell for Dean Powell.
I WAS TRICKED. As it turned out, Jed and Mary were more than supportive about the ski trip, and all but shoved me out the door for the weekend. I wasn’t sure why they suddenly had so much enthusiasm, but it seemed to have something to do with the fact that they hoped I would start to make friends and want to stay.
I did want to catch up with Kenzie, but her boyfriend, Luke, would also be there, so I wasn’t sure how much time we would actually get to spend together. I wasn’t going to lie to myself and say that my reason for going had nothing to do with Dean, either. As much as he annoyed me, there was something about him that I couldn’t quite put my finger on yet. It was something that made me want to be around him, even if it was just for a weekend before I left.
That afternoon, a huge SUV pulled up outside of the house. My tiny overnight bag was packed, and Jed and Mary were waving me off like normal parents would, which made me feel like this was some kind of parallel universe. It was also strange to leave Emma, who had been my constant companion for the past few days, except for when she was at school. She even looked sad when I told her I would be going away for a couple of days, which broke my heart since she didn’t know I wouldn’t be staying with them for much longer. She would be much better without me in the long run, whether she knew it or not.
Kenzie climbed out of the black car and grabbed me immediately.
“Oh my god, we’re going to have so much fun! This is going to be just like the old days!” She gestured at her boyfriend, Luke. I recognized him from his visits when he came to visit Kenzie at school before she transferred. He had always gone to school on the Springs campus. “Luke, you remember Lauren. Lauren, Luke.” He pulled me into a quick hug and shot me a megawatt smile.
“Here, I’ll take your bag for you,” he offered, and took it out of my hands. Without it, I somehow felt even more awkward and exposed.
“Thanks,” I said, giving him a weak smile. I was already regretting the fact that I agreed to come on this trip.
“Come on,” Kenzie said as she winked slyly at me. She was up to something. “You get to sit in the back with Dean.”
She opened the car door and climbed into the middle row of seats next to Luke, and then helped me pull up the other middle seat so I could make my way into the third row. I knew Dean was sitting there, but didn’t acknowledge him at first. The driver was apparently named Alex Hamilton, and was probably a descendant of one of the founding fathers, judging by the sleek Escalade we were currently riding in.
I brought my attention back to the far backseat, and realized Dean wasn’t alone. An extremely pretty blonde girl was cozied up next to him and glared at me when we made eye contact. I was so not prepared for this. Was it some kind of sick joke? Why did he want me to come so badly if he was going to bring his girlfriend?
“Kenz,” I said turning back to her, “How about I just sit with you and Luke?” I would most definitely rather third-wheel it with the two of them than Dean and the mystery girl.
“We still have to go back and get Alex’s brother John, and
his girlfriend. So all of the seats will be full.” She gave me a sympathetic look that said she was sorry, but also not sorry at all. It did make more sense if people didn’t have to keep climbing over me to get to the backseat, but I really didn’t want to deal with the Love Boat back here.
I hoped to god we were still meeting other people there, because so far, Alex and I were the only ones who weren’t paired off.
I wistfully climbed into the backseat on the other side of Dean, but didn’t say a word. Apparently, he didn’t feel the need to deliver any of his usual charming lines either, but that didn’t surprise me now that I knew he wasn’t single. I couldn’t believe I had been so stupid. Just because he’d flirted with me a little didn’t mean he wasn’t taken. He probably felt sorry for me because of what happened, and that was just his way of being nice.
The car ride there was made tolerable by the fact that Kenzie and Luke spent the entire time trying to distract me from the blonde girl on the other side of Dean. She was trying her best to seduce him right in front of all of us.
Luke was just as funny as I remembered, and he and Kenzie were gorgeous together. They had an air to them that most couples our age didn’t. That longevity factor, coupled with the fact that they were so obviously taken with each other, made me so extremely happy for them.
Of course every girl wishes for a fairy tale, and even if I didn’t hold out much hope for myself, it was nice to see that some things in the world did work out the way they were supposed to, like Kenzie and Luke. I half wondered when I would be getting a frantic call from her that would most likely break my eardrums, telling me that Luke proposed.
Finding a wedding date for that wouldn’t be my forte, but I’m sure I could dig up a Dermot Mulroney in a pinch.
“Lauren,” Kenzie said, helping me pull my bags from the trunk. “I really hope you don’t mind, I’m rooming with Luke. Your room is right next to ours, so in case you need anything, we’ll be right there.”
I didn’t really like to think that I needed a babysitter, or that I would interrupt anything, but it was nice to know that she cared enough to make sure we were still close. Especially when I was really wondering why I had gone on this trip to begin with. As it turned out, Alex’s girlfriend Kelly was meeting us there, so I was officially the only one who wasn’t half of a couple. At least that meant a room to myself, but that wasn’t much of a consolation prize.
My theory about Alex and John being relation to one of the founding fathers was perpetuated by the fact that where we were staying was some kind of lodge complex near Breckenridge with a fancy sign out front sporting the Hamilton name. It also kind of reminded me of the Overlook Hotel from The Shining because of all the snow and no cell service whatsoever. John warned us that if we needed to talk to anyone, we’d have to take the snow cat about two miles down the mountain because they hadn’t finished the cell towers yet.
Where were we?
My life the past few days hadn’t been completely normal, so I was somehow embracing yet another unexpected change with strange bravado. It would be a winter break for the records, that was for sure.
I followed Kenzie and Luke two floors upstairs to our rooms, which took up the entire floor. I tried not to take notice when Dean went one floor up. He lugged his duffel up by himself, and I thought for a moment that he might be alone until I saw the blonde girl trotting up after him.
As soon as I was sure she was out of earshot, I questioned Kenzie.
“How come you didn’t tell me he has a girlfriend?”
She exchanged looks with Luke.
“She’s not exactly his girlfriend,” she said, making a face. “Stacia doesn’t do relationships. But he doesn’t either.”
“So then, why am I here?”
Kenzie came closer and tugged on my hands.
“Oh Lauren,” she said, biting her lip. “Don’t be like that. I’m sorry. I didn’t know Stacia was coming. It was really last minute I guess, and to be honest, I don’t think he even likes her.”
Well, he certainly didn’t like me, so she and I had that in common. Yet, he still seemed to put up with both of us, and even let her follow him around.
Great.
“We’ll have fun,” she said hopefully. “I promise.”
I hoped she was right, and I guessed I would find out in the morning.
“DUDE, DID YOU bring your board? You can borrow mine if not.”
I took another bite of my cereal and continued to read the paper, because my phone was useless and dead in my room.
“Dude, did you hear me?”
I looked up to see Alex staring straight at me. I glanced behind me to see if he was talking to someone else, considering I wasn’t used to being called “dude”.
“Nope,” I said, trying to recover. “I haven’t even been up in years.”
It was the truth. Since college, I’d been way too busy in the winter. Not to mention ski passes were way too expensive for the few times I might actually go.
“That’s okay,” Kenzie interrupted, swinging down the stairs on Luke’s arm. “We’re going shopping today!”
“Shopping?”
I wondered how we were going to find shops in the isolated area.
“Oh yeah,” Alex said. “Jimmy can take you wherever, just call him on the satellite phone.”
He looked around.
“Wait, where is it?”
John came around the corner holding it up.
“Just talked to Dad. He said there’s an avalanche watch, so just stay off of peak three.”
“No one ever goes over there anyway,” Alex said reassuringly. “That’s just where the staff lodge is, but Jimmy won’t be up here at night and we have the phone right here.”
“Deal,” John agreed. “Nobody head over there and we’re good.”
We all nodded, even though I had no idea where peak three or the staff lodge were located.
Dean came down the stairs and grabbed a board off the wall, then promptly followed Alex and John out the door. There was an awkward moment as Kelly, Amanda, and Kenzie all kissed their boyfriends, and I just sat at the table eating my cereal, pretending this was normal.
Luckily, the blonde girl from last night was nowhere in sight, and didn’t come to see Dean off. I took misguided satisfaction in that.
Kelly and Amanda decided to go shop with us rather than brave the cold, for which I was grateful. It didn’t feel forced or awkward, just a bunch of girlfriends on a shopping trip in the mountains, even if I only knew Kenzie to begin with.
We stopped to get coffee, or in Kenzie’s case, hot chocolate, before heading back to the lodge.
“Can someone else figure out how to use this thing?” Kenzie asked, waving the satellite phone around. “I’m freezing, and I want Jimmy to find us sooner rather than later.”
Jimmy, who was apparently John and Alex’s chauffeur for the weekend, had dropped us off and instructed us to call him when we needed him to come back and get us. It was all very convenient, really.
Amanda grabbed the phone and punched in a few numbers.
“So,” Kelly said, sipping her drink. “Lauren, what do you think of Dean?”
Kenzie punched her in the arm.
“Kelly!” she hissed through her teeth as she gave her a look.
I nearly choked on my espresso.
“What?” Kelly exclaimed. “We all have eyes, and God knows I love Alex, but that boy is something else.”
This was starting to sound like some kind of Housewives of Aspen reality show.
“He’s kind of weird,” I said honestly. “He was really adamant that I come on the trip. I mean, really adamant. And then he goes off with that other girl and he hasn’t said one word to me the entire time.”
Amanda put the phone down and scoffed.
“Oh sweetie, you don’t have to worry about Stacia. I don’t even know why he lets her hang around.”
She waved her coffee at me dismissively.
Kenzie had said ear
lier that she wasn’t sure that he even liked her. If he clearly didn’t want her with him, why did he let her make it seem like they were together?
The enigma that was Dean Powell just continued to get more and more confusing.
As I took another sip of my coffee, I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that it was just going to get worse.
Jimmy picked us up from the shopping center and drove us back to The Overlook, as I had so lovingly deemed it. I honestly expected to find a frozen Jack Nicholson at any time now.
The boys weren’t back yet, but it was getting dark. I saw Stacia slink up to the third floor, but she didn’t say anything to us, and we didn’t acknowledge her.
Part of me felt bad, but I didn’t really like the way she clung onto Dean like some kind of parasite, so I tried to brush it off.
“Hot tub time!” Kenzie shouted enthusiastically after we had all finished with dinner. She let me borrow her extra suit, which turned out to be a skimpy white bikini that I would never have picked out for myself.
“You look hot,” she said as I turned in the mirror. “Stop worrying. No one’s going to see you in the water. But maybe you should, you know, lounge around, just until Dean gets here.”
She winked, and I shot her a look.
“Kenz,” I asked, “if he’s already with Stacia, and he has such a weird past, like you all keep alluding to, why do you want me to get with him so badly?”
She sighed and took my hands.
“He’s hot. And you’re under a lot of stress. Just let go. It’ll be fun!”
I rolled my eyes, knowing that I would under no circumstances, let that happen. I was pretty sure he wouldn’t either, so it was a non-issue. It was best to just let Kenzie think she had everything under control.
We had all settled into the hot tub, which was actually really relaxing, when the front door opened and the boys completely changed the atmosphere. Instead of a zen-like spa, it became a dumping zone for clothes. They must have planned ahead, because every single one of them started peeling off their outerwear on sight. Alex and John even cannonballed in, which caused all of us to scream from the splashes.
I glanced over to see where Dean was. His clothes were on the floor in a pile near Alex and John’s, but he was in the kitchen grabbing a soda from the fridge. As he turned around, our eyes met, and I couldn’t help but feel like the hot tub was getting to me. He didn’t look away, but set the can down on the counter and sauntered over to the hot tub.
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