Chocolate Kisses and Love Filled Wishes: Kissing Bridge Mountain - Book 3 (8 page)

Chapter 15

             
K
acey felt a new lease on life, like the very air she breathed had a different taste. So what if she still had feelings for Brody? He obviously didn’t hold any for her anymore. Maybe time away on a far-flung island with the world’s most handsome and passionate activist would do her some good. There’d be nothing there to remind her of Brody and her heartbreak—no colossal mountains, no snow.

              Once she’d got the US Open down, she’d be on a plane to a faraway place, where her heart could mend and she could leave the troubles of the past behind.

Of course, she’d have to face Brody there. She looked down at her marriage finger.

Tanner had promised her a ring but had not picked it out yet. She was happy she wouldn’t have to explain a ring to the press or to Brody—not that he’d care.

Kacey planned to put her full heart into training.

She might not be crazy in love, but she felt safe knowing that there was something on the other side for her. She didn’t have to worry about her future anymore.

*******************

Kacey headed back to the slope early the next morning, determined to get her big final jump prepared. She knew her signature trick the “
Anderson Twist
” would be something so spectacular, that everyone would gasp. Being unique was the most coveted quality of a snowboarder. Kacey knew she had invented a move like nothing the world had ever seen before. Not only was the move insanely cool, but Kacey was likely the only boarder who had the athleticism to pull it off.

Okay, maybe Brody, she conceded.

          She smiled at the thought of “98” she couldn’t help but adore him. He really was an enigma—even to
himself
.
             

              Kacey surveyed the run.  It looked perfect. She stretched her arms above her head and twisted her body in a quick warm up. She felt good. She felt strong.

She set off down the shorter slope approaching the ridge, grinning, when she imagined Tanner’s face when she showed off her perfected version to him.

And as soon as she hit the ledge, she tried to twist and turn in just the right way, but she couldn’t hit it the way she wanted. Gosh darn it. Her body was not cooperating! Her back still wasn’t healed all the way but she knew she could work around it. She had been training hard and doing yoga daily. She was supple and limber and ready.

        Cursing herself as she skidded to a halt, she set off back to the top again, telling herself she just hadn’t gotten enough momentum. The second time would be better, definitely.

              The next try was a little better, the twisting just a bit more satisfying, but it wasn’t at all what she’d imagined.

          Darn it.

It was so frustrating having the perfect image in her head and not being able to match up to it.

It had been months now.

She should be back to top shape.

The third try, she told herself she’d do it.

        Third time lucky and all that.
This is it,
she psyched herself up, as she stood at the top. She willed success to come her way. If she nailed this, it would be a sure sign she was ready to go back and start training with the team full time. They couldn’t deny her ability when they saw this. Inside, she was full of hope that Brody would be impressed as well. He had always told her that the girls just couldn’t meet the men in height and difficulty in big airs, and she meant to prove him wrong.

Zoom! She was off, and then she was in the air—twist, turn, twist, turn, twist, turn….she went for the board grab, but it slipped out of her hand. She tried to right herself, but it was too late.

Kacey fell from the sky in a tangled mess of legs and boards and snow that sent her reeling in a topsy-turvy tumble down the hill at a dizzying height and speed.

“Oh no, no..” Kacey thought as she fought to get her board under her for a safe landing. But to no avail.  She fell hard.

              There was a horrible snap.

           Suddenly, everything went black.

Chapter 16

             
“O
h my goodness,” Dodie whispered. She looked back to see the horror on Jason’s face, and her heart twisted with sick worry.

Tubes streaked in and out of Kacey’s face and hand.  One side of her head and face was black and blue. Her eyes were closed, and the doctors had told the family that she was unresponsive. She looked like a little girl—not like the tough snowboarding champ she was.

When she had found out from Jason that Kacey had been brought into the hospital from a fall, she had assumed it was a sprain or worse—a broken ankle. Looking at her now, she realized things were much worse.

The Anderson parents stood by her bedside, their faces clouded with concern. Dodie could not even begin to imagine what was raging in their hearts.

The Anderson family had another, perhaps much bigger, problem to worry about.

Jason’s phone rang and he stepped out in the hallway to take it. He came back after a few seconds, his face white.

“Well, the VIP’s checked in with Earl at the lodge two hours ago, but Brad still hasn’t come back to home base. That’s a ten-minute flight in good weather.”

“What about
bad
weather?” Mrs. Anderson asked, clutching her husband.

Mr. Anderson asked for clarification. “So Jason, are you saying that Brad should have been back hours ago?”

Jason nodded. “I didn’t want to worry you until he had time to make it back or until I heard from him.”

Dodie’s heart sank into her feet.

A sudden late blizzard front had started to move in to Kissing Bridge that morning and the whole mountain had been on stand by with extra provisions and supplies to wait it out. People had been warned to stay home and only emergency and state vehicles were allowed on the road. It had been all over the news. With Kacey in the hospital they all had been granted access.

“I’ve got to go look for him,” Jason said. 

Mrs. Anderson started to cry. It was all too much.

Jason comforted her. “Don’t worry, Mom. I’m going to get the whole of Kissing Bridge out looking for him, if need be. At this point, we need a search team.”

He shook his head in disbelief. “I know him. If he changed plans, he’d have called me.”

Mrs. Anderson was beside herself.   Mr. Anderson held her closely.

“It’s a bad time, Annie, but we’ve gotten through bad times before. We’ll get through this too.”

He dried her tears. Mrs. Anderson nodded and kissed him sweetly on the cheek.

Dodie noticed how beautiful they were—still in love and now bonded in grief during this difficult time. She could tell theirs was a love that had endured many things.

Dodie spoke up. “The doctor said that with the sedatives they gave her for the pain, Kacey should sleep through the night. Why don’t you all go and I’ll stay a while longer, just in case she wakes up?”

Mrs. Anderson nodded. She stood up and gathered her belongings.

“Then I best make use of myself. I’ll gather the women and we’ll do what we can to get a ground plan together.”

Jason leant in and kissed Dodie on the cheek.

“Thanks for being you.”

Then Jason grabbed his coat and with that, the Anderson clan was out the door.

“God bless you,” Dodie whispered, as she watched them rush down the hall and out into the oncoming blizzard.

Chapter 17

S
ummer finished her shoot on the Malibu pier and the crew was packing it up. It had been a long hot day in the California sun. They had posed the models on the pier, in the sand, on the rocks – and joyous to Summer – she had gotten to ride a couple waves on a surfboard for some ‘authentic’ surf shots.

They had planned to highlight her on the cover of
Sports Illustrated
and she secretly hoped they’d pick the surf picture instead of her biting her lips, rolling around in the waves.

She smiled to herself. Well, that was over!

She just needed to finish out her contract with Clairol and she was a free agent—or free
model
, in her case. That meant she was free to go where she wanted when she wanted. No more flying around the world at the drop of a dime. No more lonely nights in strange cities with no one but her cat ‘Fluff’ for company.

In fact, Fluff was a horrible companion to travel with. He always got ruffled after long flights and was extra huffy puffy. It was a version of male feline PMS and not even the super decadent kitty treats would soothe him. He certainly wasn’t going to appreciate the gluten-free cat treats she had just bought to help him slim down.

She dried off her long blonde locks and looked at the blazing sun. It shone off her gold bikini, almost blinding her. She hadn’t been back to California in a while and the hot sun felt good.  But she missed Brad and the cold homeliness of Kissing Bridge. She put on her Gucci sunglasses and watched the waves roll in on Surfrider beach for a moment—wishing Brad was standing behind her, with his arms wrapped around her.

Missing him so badly that she had to hear his voice
right now,
she went back into the makeup truck and fished her iPhone out of her bag. Still no return call from Brad. That was strange.

She knew he was unhappy about her having to go back to work and leave their new life they were starting, but she hadn’t any choice. They had argued briefly about it, but in the end Brad knew she was almost as distraught as he was about her having to leave and finish her contract.

He had planned to work on the house while she was away—they both wanted a pool in the sunroom so they could swim year round. It was an ultra extravagance but would be greatly used.  She had to be gone for a month to finish off her contracted shoots, so she was excited to think the pool may be done when she got back.

In the meantime, he and Jason were building up their new business
‘Aero Anderson’
that specialized in small group excursions to the mountain for skiers and other tourists. With Summer’s contacts in the magazine and movie business, it had been easy for her to spread the word and advertise for a “secret special get-away for ski enthusiasts” and stressed out Los Angeles executives. The VIP service was perfect to help local businesses in Kissing Bridge, such as the cafés, the lodge and of course, their new private plane service.

It was working out so perfectly.

Even her having to come to L.A. had, in all actuality, helped build their new business. She had been networking and helping market their VIP service so she could stay home and have their children. She rubbed her flat stomach. Well, she chuckled to herself; she had certainly gotten her money’s worth out of that!

She hoped to have it rounded out with a baby on the way by this time next year when she was “Mrs. Brad Anderson”!

Summer had decided to use her month away to engulf herself in networking and to focus on all the minutia for their wedding on Easter weekend. The color theme had been a no brainer—Tiffany blue. 

The tables and the bridesmaids would both be sporting the Lander’s favorite color. She hadn’t broached Dodie yet, but she hoped she would stand up with Summer as her bridesmaid. It looked like she and Jason wouldn’t be so far behind them at the altar and she relished having a sister—or sister-in-law—as sweet and loving as Dodie.

Summer smiled to herself. Her dream was coming true.

All those years of hoping and wondering what her life would have been like if she married Brad, and now here it was, just six weeks away.

She was still smiling when her phone rang and she saw it was her mother on the line.

“Hi, Mom! How are you?”

But her smile fell from her face as she listened to her mother’s words.

Brad’s plane had gone down in the mountains and there was still no sight of the plane, or communication from Brad.

Summer’s head began to swim and she clutched the pier railing to steady herself.

Brad was lost.

Summer feared the Landers’ curse had hit again.

The tears welled up and spilled from her eyes and rolled into the waves below.

Brad.