Plus it meant more time in Cedar Ridge.
It’s not Cedar Ridge you rushed up here for…
Laughing at herself, she dropped off her bag at the efficiency apartment and walked in the dark to the village. Past the tiny coffee hut, closed now, but she could still smell the faint scent of the caffeine and sugar that were mainlined there every morning. The rental shop was shut up tight as well, for once utterly devoid of the hundreds of skiers and boarders that passed through the place every morning seeking equipment. The beauty salon was closed, too, but there was a light on and within she caught sight of Aidan’s girlfriend Lily hunched over a laptop. She waved.
Other than that, there was no one else around. The mountain had closed to skiers and boarders several hours ago. The only thing open now was the cafeteria, and that was getting ready to close too.
The path had been cleared and rock salt laid down to keep it from icing up. They’d had a bunch of snow this week, she thought, a little surprised at the berms built high on either side of the trail. The wind had died a little bit and the snow fell silently in thick lines, each snowflake the size of a big white dinner plate.
It never failed to awe her as she stopped and just took it all in: the glorious view of the mountain backdropped against the black night, the eerie, calm quiet echoing around her.
She stared up at the mural—protected from the elements by two walls of the lodge and the huge overhanging patio roof. The beautiful tree was the centerpiece, stretched across the top and bottom of the wall, framing in the highlights on the family tree as they moved in chronological order from left to right. She’d started with Gray, since he was the oldest. The leader. The glue.
Well actually, Penny was the glue, Bailey corrected with a smile. She loved them both already, adored their relationship, and knew that the others did as well.
In any case, she could now see what the entire tapestry would look like and for a moment she felt an overwhelming surge of emotion.
Pride.
Because she was really doing it. Surviving and living and doing something with her life, something she’d never expected to get to do.
From the corner of her eye, she caught a profile of a man in the shadows. Hudson. Her heart skipped a beat and she smiled at him.
He smiled back, much more muted than she expected. Then he stepped closer and she realized her mistake. Not Hudson at all.
Aidan.
He looked up at the mural and smiled. “So it turns out that you can paint.”
She went brows up. “Lucky for you.”
He laughed. “I had a feeling.”
She stared at him. “You hired me on a feeling?”
He lifted a shoulder. “Well you did come at a good price.” He flashed her a smile that was so close to Hud’s her heart skipped another beat. “And as a bonus—you get Hud.”
“That’s a bonus?” she asked.
He laughed. “Hell yeah.”
She cocked her head at the echo of what sounded like a couple of guys whooping it up. Turning to the mountain, lit only by the glow of the night, she saw them.
Two skiers, careening down the run at breakneck speed. “Ohmigod,” she whispered. “Is that—”
“Yeah.” Aidan let out a low laugh as he acknowledged two of his brothers doing the unthinkable—skiing in the dark, in a storm. “It’s how they let off steam.”She couldn’t take her eyes off the two figures attacking the mountain with that incredible speed, and yet each movement they made was sheer, unchoreographed grace. “Isn’t it dangerous?”
“Living is dangerous,” Aidan said.
“I’m serious! They can’t have very good depth perception.”
“Actually,” he said, “with the lighting the way it is right now with the snow and the reflection from the clouds, it’s pretty awesome. It’s not too cold, the wind died down, and they have the entire mountain to themselves. It’s not dangerous for two guys who know this mountain inside and out as they do.”
“So why aren’t you up there then?” she asked.
The smile widened. “I kicked Gray out of his office because he works too hard. And I don’t think Hud’s taken a day off in… I have no idea. Between running all of ski patrol and working shifts at the cop shop several times a week, I don’t even know how he’s still on his feet. With all he’s got on his plate, I’m glad he’s taking a break.”
The moment was interrupted by low voices carrying across the night air.
The skiers returning.
Gray waved. Hud met Bailey’s eyes but didn’t wave. They vanished into the thick woods.
“They’re climbing back to the top for round three,” Aidan said. “Or maybe it’s four.”
“That’s as crazy as skiing in the dark!”
“It’s part of the adventure,” Aidan said on a low laugh. “It’s what we Kincaids do.”
“And what’s that? Dare death at every turn?”
He smiled. “Live. Live hard. Confront life at every turn. We’re tough, and that’s because we’ve had to be.”
Okay, she was starting to get that. If there was a problem, Hud faced it head-on, dangerous or not. He faced everything that way, without flinching.
He thought she was the tough one, but she wasn’t. All her life she’d just gone along with the tide, letting the ride take her where it would.
That wasn’t Hudson’s style. In fact, given all that she knew about him—how he’d grown up and the way he watched out for his family at any cost—he was one of the toughest people she’d ever met. She said so out loud.
Aidan nodded at that, his eyes solemn now. “Yeah, he is.” His warm hand touched her cold face, a brief caress. “So the question is, are you tough enough to take him on? How brave are you feeling, Bailey?”
“I’m not—” She swallowed at Aidan’s steady gaze. Hud thought she was brave and she’d loved knowing that. Maybe it was time she owned it. “It’s not what you think.”
“What I think is that my brother is one of the best guys I know, and he deserves a hell of a lot more than the hand he’s been dealt. If you’re not willing to push hard to get to the finish line with him, then you should think about dropping out of the race now before anyone gets hurt.”
“We’re not… There’s no race.” But she was talking to the night air because Aidan was gone.
Chapter 14
It was past midnight when Hud and Gray had had enough of night skiing. Exhausted, Gray left Hud so that he could crawl into bed with Penny.
Hud knew he should get into bed too. The night before he’d been called in to sub for a graveyard shift in town where he’d gone on one idiotic call after another. The first one had set the tone for the night. It’d started as a domestic disturbance. A couple had gotten in a fight at their home, where they’d each—from separate rooms in the house—thrown the other’s shit out the windows.
Their mistake had been when one of them had somehow come to the conclusion that lighting their spouse’s belongings on fire would be a good idea. They were instantly copied by the other—of course neither would cop to starting it—and they’d accidentally set their yard on fire as well. Consequently, while they were yelling and screaming at each other, their house had gone up in flames.