BooksBarbecue
Back Baggage Claim Save as PDF
Chapters (48)
  1. 1. One
  2. 2. Two
  3. 3. Three
  4. 4. Four
  5. 5. Five
  6. 6. Six
  7. 7. Seven
  8. 8. Eight
  9. 9. Nine
  10. 10. Ten
  11. 11. Eleven
  12. 12. Twelve
  13. 13. Thirteen
  14. 14. Fourteen
  15. 15. Fifteen
  16. 16. Sixteen
  17. 17. Seventeen
  18. 18. Eighteen
  19. 19. Nineteen
  20. 20. Twenty
  21. 21. Twenty-One
  22. 22. Twenty-Two
  23. 23. Twenty-Three
  24. 24. Twenty-Four
  25. 25. Twenty-Five
  26. 26. Twenty-Six
  27. 27. Twenty-Seven
  28. 28. Twenty-Eight
  29. 29. Twenty-Nine
  30. 30. Thirty
  31. 31. Thirty-One
  32. 32. Thirty-Two
  33. 33. Thirty-three
  34. 34. Thirty-Four
  35. 35. Thirty-Five
  36. 36. Thirty-Six
  37. 37. Thirty-Seven
  38. 38. Thirty-Eight
  39. 39. Thirty-Nine
  40. 40. Forty
  41. 41. Forty-One
  42. 42. Forty-Two
  43. 43. Forty-three
  44. 44. Epilogue
  45. Afterword
  46. Also by
  47. Acknowledgments
  48. About Author

I smiled and jerked my head to the bottom of the hill. Alea and Coop passed us, and Coop waved. Alea matched my speed and said to Olive, “Straighten your feet!”

Little show off.

Olive breathed deeply and pointed her skis as Alea said. She grinned ever so slightly at me and loosened up her grip on the skis, letting herself naturally slide down the snowy hill. She was doing it. And I couldn’t remember a time I had ever been so proud of anyone.

“That’s it, babe! Keep coming.” I sped up to get her coming down faster. She followed my lead, laughing loudly as she went faster.

“I’m doing it!” She shouted at me, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

We were on a children’s hill, people flying by us left and right. The ten-year-old girl beside me had done this a hundred times, but my Olive was effortlessly gliding down like a natural. We laughed and smiled until we reached the bottom. I stopped and lifted her in the air, her hips over my shoulder and her skis almost hitting me, shouting as I did.

“My girlfriend can ski!” I pointed to her sitting on my shoulder. Tourists stared at us like we were crazy, but I didn’t care.

She laughed against me and said, “Put me down, Finland.” I approved her request and plopped her into the snow with a kiss on her tiny red nose.

Alea rolled her eyes, “Remind me to never date when I’m older,” I heard her groan to Coop, and I laughed.

We convinced Olive to go again and again until we were sore and exhausted from climbing and skiing. I was ecstatic. Nothing compared to this moment. Me with my little Grinch.

44. Epilogue

image-placeholder

One month later

”Come on!”

“Get the puck, watch the puck!”

“Use the wall!”

Finn, Matt, and my dad were on their feet beside us, screaming at the men on the ice. My Christmas gift to Finn was tickets to an Avalanche game. He’d never admit it, but he cried when he opened them.

I bought three tickets, but when he realized I hadn’t included myself, he immediately purchased one more for me. He said, “Not worth going if you’re not there,” which absolutely enchanted me.

The game was full of fights and shouting, which made the twenty-three percent of enneagram type two in me violently uncomfortable. They also played a celebrity look-alike game at breaks. It was hilarious to all of us until Matt popped up next to a picture of Miles Teller with his identical mustache. Matt’s smile fell, and he said, “Pssh. I don’t even look like him.” He pouted in the next seat over. He wished he looked like Miles Teller.