The still air rings with the clicking of snowboard bindings. The sound triggers a million memories, and excitement rushes through me. I rachet up my bindings and for the first time in ten years I feel alive. I’m going to push all this shit from my mind, just for a minute.

Curtis lines himself up with the topmost jump and soars off it into the air.

Brent whoops. “All right!”

I’m tingling with fear—a good sort of fear. Some people choose drugs to get this feeling, and arguably that might be safer, but I’ve always preferred to get it from sports. Here goes. My board hisses over the ice, picking up speed. Wind blasts my face, flapping the legs of my snowboard trousers. The high I get from pushing myself in the gym is nothing compared to this.

I reach the end of the takeoff and pop upward. There’s a familiar and oh-so-sweet stomach-dropping sensation as I sail through the air. I grab the toe edge of my board and bone out my front foot. Indy. And release the grab to land smoothly.

“Take it easy, Milla,” Curtis warns as I pull up beside him.

“Just for a moment, I was happy,” I say. “Why did you have to go and spoil it?”

“We’re on our own up here. If something happens, you’re screwed.”

I’m pumping with adrenaline. “I don’t see you taking it easy.”

“Yeah, but I’m still snowboarding regularly. You said you’re not.”

“It’s like riding a bicycle.”

“God, you are so like my sister. Just sometimes.” Must have seen my face. “Anyway, don’t go thinking you’re getting helicoptered off if you break something.”

“I’m aware of that.”

Curtis glances up at Dale and Brent, who are crouched over Dale’s board, fiddling with the bindings, and lowers his voice. “Why didn’t you tell them about the lift pass?”

“I don’t know.”

Curtis studies me thoughtfully. “Do you—” His jaw drops.

I turn to see Brent flipping through the air, grabbing his board upside down. He stomps the landing and brakes hard, spraying us with snow. There’s a huge grin on his face. I give him a high five. This, finally, is the Brent I used to know.

“Keep it safe,” Curtis calls.

“You telling me how to ride now, bro?”

“Am I the only one who’s aware of what’s going on?” Curtis shouts, clearly out of patience. “If something happens to one of us, it affects all of us.”

Just then, Dale flies through the air with some crazy corkscrewed spin.

Curtis throws his hands up. “Oh, for fuck’s sake!”