Day Four
LEE
While taking his morning shower, Lee thought about the series of short but terrifying dreams he'd had where he kept losing Amanda in the snowstorm. He'd yell her name, then see a ghostly figure he thought was her. When he tried to ski to her, it was like skiing in Jell-O and he could barely get anywhere, and then she'd disappear again.
With the clearer head of the morning, Lee was comforted by Amanda's excellent skiing chops. He shook his head in impressed bewilderment. Would there ever be an end to her talents? Not those kinds of talents, he scolded his errant mind.
Amanda's lifestyle and earnestness could fool you into thinking she was naive or weak. That was a talent too, one she'd employed to excellent effect several times on cases. But she really was a tough cookie. Not hard like Francine. Amanda believed in people in a way Francine never would. She believed in him in a way no one ever had. And not just in his skills in the field. Francine trusted those, but Amanda trusted him.
With the cold water tap shut all the way off and the hot water getting cooler, Lee finally got out of the shower. The message light on the phone caught his eye. He hoped the call he'd missed was Francine or Billy with information on Wally Richter - or whatever his real name was. Instead, it was Amanda letting him know that because everyone was tired from skiing and the sauna and massages, the group was going to meet for a later breakfast at 10:30. 'Don't be late, they close the breakfast buffet at eleven,' she said before hanging up.
He called the office for an update, and got Francine's curt, "Nothing yet. I'm not a miracle worker, Lee."
With just a towel around his waist and his hair still wet, Lee flopped onto the bed and considered indulging in some recreational contemplation of what Amanda's other hidden talents might be. But it just didn't feel right. Not that he hadn't ever considered - and admired - the physical attributes and assets of his partner.
As lovely as she was, Lee had dismissed Amanda almost right away as simply not being in his demographic. She was nothing like Randy or Gillian or Margot. She was more like Dorothy or Eva - minus the treason - smart, strong, and beautiful. They were also the only women he'd been serious about. But wasn't that the point of the Randys, Gillians, and Margots? His heart couldn't be broken if he didn't take his relationships seriously.
Heaving a sigh as he sat up, Lee rose to shave and get dressed. Dr. Pfaff would've applauded his self-reflection, though he wasn't doing it on purpose. Thoughts of Amanda flickered in his brain with a persistence much like the woman herself.
After the past day and a half, there was no denying that there was something going on. Even if the chemistry between them in the hallway the other night had somehow escaped her notice, the sparks that flew in the lift hut were unambiguous. He knew she'd felt the heat between them as much as he had.
Lee was the first of the group to arrive in the dining room. He claimed the same table they'd had yesterday morning, fetched coffee for he and Amanda, then put together a plate of breakfast for her. And doubled up on some of the items for himself.
When Amanda arrived, she stood in the doorway sweeping her eyes around the room. Lee raised a long arm and gestured for her to come to the table. He stood as she approached, pulled out the chair next to him and found himself trying to make small talk.
"Hi. Sleep well? I got you breakfast."
"Thanks for the coffee, but that's an awful lot of food," Amanda said as she pulled her chair in.
"Some's for me." He picked up a bacon slice.
"You? Breakfast?"
"I'm calling mine brunch."
She laughed and Lee felt a tautness release from somewhere in his chest. He smiled and they 'clinked' pieces of bacon.
Before he could tell her about Wally's bar run and East German accent, the man himself was joining them, along with Kathy and Joyce.
"We got in at the omelette bar just in time." Joyce juggled her plate of eggs, cup of coffee, and a smaller plate with sausage, fruit, and a danish.
Jodie, Darlene, and Janet trailed behind, no omelettes in hand. "And we got to the omelette bar just after time," Darlene said.
The easy teasing and general silliness of Joyce and Darlene, Jodie, and Janet was contrasted by Wally and Kathy's sullen demeanors - mostly Wally's. Kathy was trailing her fingers over his thigh and playing with his shirt collar. The object of her attention did not seem pleased.
Proving their similarities, Jodie and Amanda started to speak at the same time, trying to get the whole group on the same lighthearted page.
"So, who's skiing again today?" "Who's going to ski today?"
There was a split-second of awkward silence before Amanda and Jodie started laughing at themselves. "Jinx!" they said simultaneously.
"Jinx again!" they chorused and fell into another round of giggles.
Lee was unexpectedly charmed by their juvenile antics. Amanda's eyes sparkled - probably because she was laughing so hard that tears were streaming down her face - and she looked so happy. He wanted to bask in the way it was radiating off of her.
Grumpy Wally continued to scowl while Kathy tried in vain to bridge the gap between his stoicism and her cheery friends. In support of Amanda and Jodie's efforts, Lee decided to try another angle.
"So, how did you ladies enjoy your saunas and massages last night?" he said in a voice that projected inquisitives and got their attention.
Darlene pointed to herself. "Does this look like the face of relaxation, or what?"
Lee smiled and agreed that she did, in fact, look like the picture of serenity.
"And how about this for a matching 'zen' face?" Joyce asked, closing her eyes and sighing.
"Nice." Lee nodded appreciatively.
"I skipped the sauna. These two," Janet said patting her belly, "are like having my own internal sauna. The massage was great though. My feet were very happy. Too bad it won't last."
"That's it!" Jodie broke in. "I'm calling Mark to insist he perform that particular personal service for you until you can reach your own feet again. It's the least he can do while you incubate his twins." She leaned in affectionately and put her hand over Janet's.
They all looked toward Amanda and Kathy to comment on their experience.
Amanda spoke first. "It was nice to be warm and pampered after being out in that crazy snow storm yesterday."
"Didn't you generate any heat or get 'pampered' while you and Lee were stuck in that lift shack?" Darlene cracked herself up. Joyce rolled her eyes but laughed along.
"Now, now…" Lee began, with a mock scold in his voice. "Information about any 'heat' Amanda and I may - or may not - have generated is classified. Strictly 'need to know'." Lee turned to Amanda and winked. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Wally jerk his head up. Lee hoped he hadn't given himself away with that phrase. He decided to head it off at the pass just in case. "Isn't that what you government types say?" he gestured to Kathy and Jodie.
Kathy hurried to answer in a rush of words as she waived off the question. "Not really. Well, maybe some people we work with. Higher ups and administrators. We don't really do anything like that."
Jodie looked at her co-worker - her friend and maid of honor - with a worried furrow on her brow. Lee felt for Jodie. This was supposed to be her weekend with friends, not the setting for treason and betrayal. The facts couldn't be helped, but he still felt bad.
He nodded acquiescence at Kathy. "Fair enough. How'd you enjoy the spa while poor Wally and I had to do without you gals?"
"Oh, it really was great! I mean… sorry to have left you two behind, but there's something very bonding about hanging around in just a towel with your girlfriends." Kathy tittered a nervous laugh.
If Lee's remark about 'need to know' information had made Wally sit up, Kathy's reference to nudity had him at full attention. He heard Amanda stifle a snort and felt her hand land firmly on his knee as she tried not to laugh.
Joyce had no such filter or subtlety. "Kathy, I think you just pulled Wally out of his bad mood. Take a breath there, man!"
Kathy turned to Wally, genuinely surprised at his reaction. She acted fast and took advantage. With her hand scandalously high on Wally's leg, Kathy put her lips at his ear and whispered. Lee knew a proposition when he saw one, and wondered if they'd forgo skiing in favor of indoor 'sports.'
Darlene gave a low whistle and Janet chimed in with a 'woo hoo.' Jodie's concerned expression softened to a warm smile. While the others were distracted, Lee bent to talk softly to Amanda.
"While you were sitting around with only a towel on last night," he began and then stalled out. That persistent flicker felt more like a lick of flame from a blow torch as he got caught up in the idea of Amanda wearing a towel and nothing else.
Amanda, whose hand was still on his knee, gave his leg some questioning taps. Lee sat back and blinked a few times. "Uh, I'll tell you later."
He grabbed for his coffee and drank it down, using the prop to cover his fluster and the bitterness to shock his brain back to the situation at hand. Amanda gave him a look of worry, which he responded to with a wink. When in doubt, distract 'em, he thought.
In spite of Lee's prediction that Kathy and Wally would dash back to one of their rooms, they declared their commitment to conquering the bunny slopes again. Jodie proposed that the rest of them rent cross country skis and explore the trails around the lodge. Amanda looked thrilled and Janet got excited about renting snowshoes and coming along.
As they left the dining room, Lee took Amanda's hand and slowed her down. He took a second run at filling Amanda in on what he'd learned about Wally.
"I knew there was something off about him! Oh, and last night Jodie was irritated at Kathy because she wanted to call into work. When I walked up, Kathy was very eager to change the subject."
"Based on Wally's mood this morning, it looks like she struck out on that call."
Once in the lobby, there was much debate among the women about what to wear while cross country skiing. That was followed by a half-an-hour of waiting while they changed clothes. After another 30 minutes getting their equipment, Jodie, Janet, Darlene, Joyce, Amanda, and Lee finally made it outside.
The day was crisp and cold, but the patchy clouds that moved swiftly through the sky gave the sun a chance to spread its warmth. Tree boughs drooped under the weight of the snow from the previous day's storm and when the sun was out, everything sparkled like millions of tiny diamonds.
Lee had to admit that the discussion over outfits had some merit. Most of them - Lee and Amanda included - had opted for sunglasses rather than goggles and instead of a stocking cap, Amanda wore a knit headband that covered her ears. He thought she looked downright adorable - until he stood behind her as she bent to make sure her toes were fully in their ski bindings. She had on a pair of stretchy black ski pants instead of the bulkier ones she'd worn yesterday, and they were doing wonders for her already-shapely legs and rear end. Adorable was no longer the word that came to mind.
He about jumped out of his ski bindings when Darlene batted him with her ski pole. "It's warmer today, but it looks like you're ready to crank up the heat even further."
Amanda stood up and twisted around to see what Darlene was talking about. Lee shrugged innocently and swatted Darlene with one of his ski poles as soon as Amanda turned away again.
She proved to be the most adept and agile on the narrow cross country skis, which featured only a toe binding. The others seemed to have some experience, but Lee had only skied cross country once before.
"Please tell me I don't look as uncoordinated as I feel. Or as clumsy as Wally and Kathy," he pleaded with Amanda.
"No! You look good," Amanda said, smiling mischievously at him and gesturing up and down with a ski pole.
Whether she was trying to distract him from his cross country skiing ineptitude or she really meant that he looked good, Lee took the compliment. How could he not when she stared at him like that?
As they tackled what was really just a very small incline, Janet - in her snowshoes - and Amanda were the only ones who made it to the top without sliding backwards at least a foot for each three they went forward. If he'd been with anyone else, Lee knew he'd be trying to show off or would've blamed his beginner's clumsiness on the equipment. Instead, under Amanda's good influence, he couldn't help but join in the laughter among and between them all.
"Whose idea was this anyway?" Jodie asked, putting on a face of pure innocence.
"Um, yours!" said Darlene, with a 'duh' expression.
"'Let's cross country ski,' you said. 'It'll be fun,' you said!" Between the aerobic effort of getting up the slope and the gasps of laughter, Joyce was bent over at the waist and leaning heavily on her ski poles as she tried to catch her breath.
They continued on through a flatter and curvier section of the trail, where the trees were closer in. Lee thought the scene could've been on a postcard. At the loop's quarter-way point, Janet declared herself done. Amanda volunteered to keep her company on the way back to the lodge and Lee followed along. Jodie, Darlene, and Joyce forged ahead.
"Catch up to us on one of the shortcut trails!" Jodie called as they rounded a turn and disappeared from view.
Going down that very small incline was certainly a faster endeavour, but Lee got one ski caught in a groove in the snow and flopped over.
"Oops, man down!" Janet announced.
Amanda tried not to laugh as Lee battled his long frame and the long skis and poles trying to get up.
"You can do it," she encouraged.
Lee glared up at her, or tried to anyway. She was framed by the sun and those damned picturesque snow covered trees. He just couldn't be mad.
The rest of the way back was - thankfully - flat and easy going, affording Lee a chance to reflect. He thought this had to be the craziest case he'd been on. Not the case itself, but these in between moments. Competitive by nature, he was a 'work hard, play hard' kind of guy, so he marveled at finding this playful approach to recreation contagious. Maybe it was because he didn't particularly need to impress anyone here. He wasn't trying to outdo a foe in the field or outperform a fellow agent. Among a group of women - even those who were already attached - he would've normally acted quite the show off. Had he actually been Lee Steadman who'd just met Amanda King, he would have been trying to impress her with bravado stunts. He probably should've been doing it for their cover. Instead, Lee trusted Amanda and her friends to buy their attraction just by being himself.
Once they were by the lodge again, Janet waved Lee and Amanda back to the trail. "Have fun storming the castle!"
They conferred quickly and picked one of the shortcut trails to follow. It would put them back on the main loop trail about three-quarters of the way around, where they would intersect the rest of their group.
Halfway through the shortcut they came to a small hill. Not a very small incline like the one they'd encountered earlier, an actual small hill.
"Oh, great." Lee said.
"C'mon old man."
"Har, har." Lee wasn't sure if he wanted her to go ahead of him so he wouldn't have to know she was watching him struggle behind his back, or if it would be better to have her staring at him from the top. That second option would entail her skiing up the hill ahead of him, which would have the distinct advantage of providing a lovely view of her backside.
He didn't get to find out which was truly the better option, because she stayed next to him and they made their way up together.
"You're doing a lot better than earlier."
"I think I'm getting the hang of it. But it's a whole different set of muscles than downhill skiing."
"Yeah. You'll be sore tomorrow," Amanda agreed. "We both will, I haven't done this in ages."
"Could've fooled me. You'll need another massage."
It was a good thing they were at the top of the small hill or the concentration that now abandoned Lee might've sent him sliding backwards. Why'd he have to bring up muscles and massages?
They skied on for a while until Amanda stopped at a small turnout and pulled out the map from her jacket pocket. "This is taking a lot longer than I expected. I want to make sure we're on the right trail."
Lee held on to half the map while she kept hold of the other. They considered their location, the time they'd been on the trail, and the direction of the sun.
"I think we're supposed to be over there," Lee said, pointing a gloved finger at a trail that started right next to the one they were on, but which took a much more direct path to meet the loop.
"Yep," Amanda agreed. "But we're almost at the loop now anyway. You know… after this morning's inquisition they're going to accuse us of getting lost on purpose."
"Did we?" Lee asked, looking directly at her.
The little clouds of her condensed breath started to come at a faster tempo as she looked back at him. He felt his own respiration pick up as well.
Amanda sidestepped the question. "I just love this weather, how the sky is that bright bluebird color. It's so beautiful."
Instead of being annoyed by her non-answer, Lee let the playfulness of the day guide him. "So are you." He didn't wait around for a reply and instead skied off, feeling pretty proud of himself.
Amanda was back alongside him in no time, but she didn't comment on his remark. He didn't need her to. It hadn't been a question, just a statement of fact that he wanted to share with her.
Incongruous to the sunshine beaming down, it suddenly started to snow. They stopped, took off their sunglasses, and looked up. "It's a sun snow shower," Amanda said, scanning the sky then smiling at Lee.
There was still plenty of blue along with the puffs of clouds here and there. A darker, heavier cloud directly overhead was dropping snowflakes in the midst of the sunshine that was beaming down from another angle. One landed on Amanda's eyelashes and she blinked it away. Lee reached out to touch a small cluster of snowflakes caught in her hair. The flakes stuck to his glove and Amanda cupped her mittened hands around Lee's so they could get a closer look. The tiny snow crystals were picture perfect structures, they almost looked fake.
Amanda's gaze darted up to meet Lee's eyes and he was enchanted. Even if they hadn't actually gotten lost, he felt like he'd been found. Her rosy cheeks, the sparkling snow, the snow crystals... the way she was looking at him, her eyes a lighter brown than he'd ever noticed before. It all swirled together and made its way right to his heart.
The charge in the air between them had a comfortingly familiar feel. He wanted to stay there with that spark of electricity zipping in the air until he could figure out how to make it never go away.
The sun's warmth had been working on melting yesterday's snow, so the 'pfloop' of snow falling from a nearby branch wasn't a surprise, but they jumped all the same. Then they laughed, but didn't bolt. Maybe they were better at keeping that electricity buzzing than he thought.
"They don't last long, do they?" Amanda remarked on the now melted snowflakes before changing the subject. "You want a snack? I brought gorp."
"You brought what?" Lee asked.
"Gorp. Trailblazer gorp."
"I'm afraid to ask."
Amanda reached into her jacket pocket, pulled out a baggie, and started to undo the twist tie. "You know, trail mix. 'Good old raisins and peanuts,' gorp. The Trailblazer version uses yogurt covered raisins and adds M&Ms."
Lee took his left glove off, Amanda shed her right mitten, and they dug in.
"This is good," Lee said, around a mouth full of gorp. "I can't believe I'm thankful for the Trailblazers."
"Just wait until you try the Bombers puppy chow."
Lee shot her a skeptical look and grabbed another handful of gorp before Amanda re-tied the bag and put it back in her pocket. She pulled her mitten on again and banged her hands together.
"Hands cold?" Lee asked.
"You know what they say, 'cold hands, warm heart.'"
"Here…" Lee removed his other glove and pulled both of Amanda's mittens from her hands. He shoved them all in his jacket pocket before gathering her hands in his. "Your hands are like icicles!"
Leaning over, he let out hot breath after hot breath on her fingers, then rubbed them in his hands. "Feel better?" Lee asked, looking up at her.
"Yeah." Amanda's usual hoarseness was even more pronounced, in that way that happened when she was emotional.
"Yeah," Lee agreed with a nod and small smile.
The alchemy between them was thrilling but not urgent. In the middle of this winter wonderland that sparkled almost as much as Amanda's eyes, they enjoyed the affirming warmth between them.
"We should probably…" Amanda started to say at nearly the same time that Lee gave her hands a final brisk rub.
They put their mittens and gloves back on and continued. After just a couple of bends in the trail, they met up with Jodie, Joyce, and Darlene on the main loop. Amanda shared her gorp and they raved about the Trailblazer's twist on the recipe. How does everyone know what gorp is except me? Lee wondered.