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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 pictured trying to help Olive ski. I think if I dared to put my hands on her waist, I’d probably sprout a semi in front of her whole family. Her dad likes me, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t push me down a mountain.

“I don’t know. Got anything more subtle?”

He looked off in the distance like he was searching for more tips. “Maybe adjust her goggles. Put her skis on for her. Tell her she looks cute. You know, the essentials.”

I nodded quickly. “That’s more like it.”

Cooper and I suited up and did a few practice runs, gliding down the slopes effortlessly. He might’ve been faster than me, but I was more skilled. Together, we were a team known as “the Kings of the Hills”—a nickname we did not approve of but unfortunately got stuck with months ago. Cooper flew by me, laughing as he passed me, but then I would do a mute grab on a steep decline, and he would immediately shut up.

I was a kid when I first started skiing. My parents would take me to different slopes and let me loose. Soon I became addicted to the freedom it gave me. With wind in my face and my legs in control of every move I made, it was where I felt I naturally belonged. It was my comfort place, the best one I had. And although I had to give up on my dreams of being a professional, I loved my job, and I knew I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

When we got back to our bench, I saw a text from Olive.

Lil Grinch: We’ll be there soon. Please no more surprises.

Me: I make no promises.

Lil Grinch: I am fully prepared to push you down a hill.

I smiled down at my phone and waited to see her again.

10. Ten

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I had two goals for today:

1. Survive being with Sarah longer than an hour.

2. Don’t kill Finn.

It seemed simple enough, except being with my sister and her husband made my skin crawl. And it doesn’t help that Finn tended to make spur-of-the-moment decisions involving me and my dating life, a fact that’s become glaringly obvious on the last forty-eight hours

Thankfully, I packed well enough for the cold weather this trip, and I layered on my winter gear as best I could. Finn said he had some ski gear for me to borrow, since I had no clue where I could find any this late in the season—unless I wanted to pay an arm and a leg for them. But I needed that arm and leg to beat Finn when he inevitably embarrassed me.

“Olive, you ready to go, darling?” Mom shouted from the living room as I prepared myself to deal with this morning. I walked out into the main area where everyone stood ready to go.