Snow in Love by Claire Ray

trudged into the lodge, the sun had set, and the ski lights were on and I was right back where I started, wanting to be his girlfriend again. My face was red and cold—I probably looked like a big shiny apple—but I didn’t care. This was what I had needed. A day with Jake, to remind him that I was fun and interesting and that we could have a future outside of this town. “Want a hot chocolate? My treat, since I won most of the races.” We were standing in the doorway of the lodge, and the warmth of the room was making my fingers tingle.
    Jake didn’t answer. I don’t think he heard me. He was scanning the room, and I assumed that he was looking for Evie. I looked around the room too. There were a lot of people there, people like us who’d finished their day’s runs and were looking to warm up.
    But no Evie.
    Jake didn’t answer. So I poked him with my pole. “Hot chocolate? On me?”
    He looked at me finally, and mumbled, “Okay.”
    I went to the counter, where I recognized the girl working, the girl who had looked so smitten by Will Parker the other day. She was a friend of Erin’s from the resort. She went to college in Anchorage but came back home to work during weeks like this when it was so busy.
    I watched her make my hot chocolates and tried to think about what to do next. How to keep these good feelings going? We had had a fun time, and it was like it used to be, us skiing, laughing as we raced. We’d even taken a break and sat in the snow at the base of the hill, by the sledding tracks, and watched the kids race one another on souped-up, homebuilt sleds. I quickly retrieved my cell phone from the inner pocket of my parka, and texted Erin.
    FAVOR : CHECK SPA LOG . WHEN DOES RIVAL GET DONE ?
    The girl handed me my hot chocolates and I blew on them. The steam rising from the white whipped cream meant that we wouldn’t be able to drink them too soon. I checked my cell phone, willing Erin to get my message before Jake saw that the drinks were ready. Lo and behold, my friend came through:
    ONE HOUR . GODSPEED !
    I grabbed the handles on the mugs and weaved my way through the crowds to where Jake was sitting on a couch right in front of the fire. One hour was all I had to make him fall for me again, make him realize it was better to have a girlfriend with his interests. I mean, what, was he going to ski alone whenever he and Evie were at Mount Crow?
    I handed him the mugs, unzipped Will’s parka, and sat. The ends of my pigtails were frozen and tickled my neck.
    He handed me my mug and we both sipped, or tried to.
    “Sorry, they’re a little hot,” I said to him, but I kept looking at the fire. Skiing was one thing, but now, sitting next to him, I didn’t know what to say. I snuck a peek at him. Yup. He was the same old Jake, with his tan skin and his cute brown mole on his cheek. His hair was sweaty and mussed up from our day. He held the mug near his chin and looked at me. He smiled.
    I smiled back.
    Then he breathed in deeply. I did the same. Then, finally, I couldn’t take it anymore—I began to giggle, a terribly childish trait of mine. This broke the ice, though, and he put down his mug and poked me in the side. This sent me into catastrophic peals of laughter.
    “I forgot how ticklish you are!” he said.
    I put my hot chocolate on the table in front of me and turned with raised hands to play defense.
    “Stop it!” I squealed, doubled over to fend off his ticklish advances.
    “Nope! Winner’s prize is tickles!” He kept at it, until finally the women sitting behind us, on a couch that was back-to-back with ours, turned and shushed us.
    Jake and I looked at each other conspiratorially.
    “Sorry. Sorry,” I said to the ladies, and Jake had to bend over to keep himself from laughing.
    “You’re such a troublemaker,” he teased, grabbing my hand.
    And then this broke the giggle spell. He held on to my hand and I looked at him, and then it all came rushing back. All my hurt feelings about