Boone got them up early the next morning. They were scheduled to meet the snowboard instructor at nine-thirty, and he wanted them to have a good breakfast in them before then. He was paying the guy a considerable sum and was determined to get his money's worth.
He was standing at the stove when Shannon came down to the kitchen, dressed in a very tight fitting and revealing set of long underwear. Who knew something so old-fashioned could be so provocative? He leaned back from the range as she passed and gave her the once over.
"You're looking at my ass, aren't you," she asked as she went around the table.
"No, no, not at all," he lied quickly, turning back to stirring the saucepan, trying to not get in trouble.
"Too bad, asswipe, because that would have earned you some brownie points; even a woman my age likes to know she's appreciated." She sat at the table and looked at him.
"Well, maybe I was, a little." He allowed, hanging his head, a bit embarrassed.
"You're so fucking easy, God but I love you." She snorted laughter at his discomfort.
He briefly wondered if this was how she was with every guy she'd been with. Their relationship was so complex, he couldn't imagine a Brian or a Mark, reacting the same way he did. He poured her coffee and set it in front of her, turning the mug so the handle faced her, and considered broaching the subject when Andrew walked in.
"Hey guys," he greeted them, as Boone handed him a mug of tea and milk; he took it and went over to kiss Shannon's cheek.
"Hey, bud," she ruffled his hair.
He was positively vibrating with excitement. "You aren't looking forward to this at all, are you?" she asked sarcastically.
He was as quick as she was; it was like it was a contest. "Looking forward to what?" He asked innocently.
He'd bested her; she was impressed, "Oh, I don't know, lunch at Subway?"
"I prefer Quizno's, after all, toasted tastes better, but I'm pretty excited, yeah." He shrugged.
They dissolved into laughter. Boone just shook his head as he dished out breakfast.
They both appeared unimpressed at the bowls of oatmeal he placed in front of them. Tentatively, he added a peanut butter topped slice of whole grain toast and some fruit. They both just looked at him.
"Have we been especially bad?" Shannon asked, poking her spoon at the semi-solid mass.
"Can't you guys at least try it?" Boone coaxed, he wanted them to have a hot nutritious breakfast; the day was probably going to be pretty physically draining.
Andrew took a deep breath and dug his spoon in. His expression changed as he tasted it. 'It's pretty good, actually,' he allowed, his mouth still full.
Shannon shot him a distrustful glance, as she spooned up a portion, her expression changing as she tasted it. "It's not bad."
"I put some freshly grated apple and clover honey in it with…" Boone started enthusing.
"You must have mistaken me for someone who gives a shit." Shannon cut him off. She was always pretty snarky in the mornings till she had a full cup of coffee.
"Oh, yeah, sorry," he looked a bit crestfallen, the smile faded from his face as he got his own bowl from the counter.
Andrew kicked her under the table, 'Great way to start the day, Shan, making him feel bad. Fix it.'
"Is that cinnamon, I taste?" she took a stab at identifying an ingredient.
Boone nodded, and sat, knowing she was trying to make up to him, realizing that she shouldn't really have to, he'd reacted badly. His old habits still came just far too easily; he cursed himself silently for readopting the beaten puppy body language, and straightened in the chair. "Sorry Shan, I know you didn't mean it the way I took it. Momentary relapse on my part is all. I'm trying."
"Yeah, you're very trying." She quipped.
That won her a small smile.
"You sure you're okay?" Boone nodded. "I didn't mean to make you feel bad. Sometimes it's really hard to know how you're going to react to something, sometimes you're okay, and I can verbally joust with you just fine, then other times you get all small and folded in on yourself." She frowned a bit.
He breathed a little laugh, "I was just thinking the exact same thing. I'm doing better though, right?"
"You're doing better." She gave him her best smile, and he felt like the sun had come out just for him.
Andrew reached for the paper and looked for the comics section. Turning it to the word scramble, he picked up the pen Boone had laid by his place and started filling it in, alternately eating bites of breakfast, and writing letters in the little squares.
"Where's your wrist brace?" Boone noticed after a few minutes.
"In my room," he answered absently, tapping the top of the pen on his chin.
"Don't even think about not wearing it today." Boone watched him. "We didn't have it made, at the doctor's suggestion, for this trip, so it could sit on your dresser."
Shannon hid a smile; there it was again, the parenting method Boone had adopted. She wondered whether it had been a conscious decision, or he'd just fallen into it. He rarely ever gave Andrew a direct order, usually employing some kind of version of a double negative instead, making it seem more like the kid had some kind of say in it, appealing to how intelligent he was. It was so diametrically opposite to how Boone had been raised, what with the cold commands and snide remarks with which Sabrina had routinely cut her son. Regardless of whether Andrew had actually planned on not wearing the brace or not, the only answer to the statement Boone had just made, that wouldn't make Andrew appear foolish, was to agree completely. Which, now of course he did.
"I wasn't thinking that. I just figured I'd put it on before we left for the slopes, after breakfast. I'm sure that even your oatmeal's not heavy enough that I need added support to lift a spoonful of it to my mouth." He couldn't resist being a bit smart.
"Funny," Boone commented dryly, and picked up a section of the paper.
"It's a good thing you broke your left wrist, otherwise you'd have had to give up your puzzles." Shannon commented.
"Why?" he frowned.
She was confused, "Well, because you couldn't write."
He switched the pen to his other hand, and signed his name in the margin of the paper, and held it out to her, his frown mirroring her own confusion. She looked at the perfectly legible writing, almost exactly the same as he signed with his right hand. "You're ambidextrous?" He nodded, looking at her like she was an idiot. She tried to remember if she'd ever seen him writing with his left hand, but she just wasn't the kind to pay that much attention to details.
She reached over and plucked the paper out of Boone's hand, he blinked, startled. "He's ambidextrous?" she demanded.
"Yeah." He answered cautiously, now he was frowning too.
"You might have told me." She rose from her chair a little, leaned across the table, and smacked him on the head with the folded paper.
"I didn't think of it," he shrugged. "It'd be like telling you he's blonde, it's just something he is."
"God, I call myself his mother, and I didn't even know this. What else are you hiding?" Shannon demanded.
Andrew went back to his puzzle, tuning out their casual bickering.
After breakfast they tidied up and loaded their stuff into the rental car. The drive to the resort wasn't far, so even with the side trip to the supermarket that they thought Boone threw in at the last minute, but which he'd planned, they were there well in advance of their nine-thirty appointed time. They piled out of the car, and Boone shifted his purchases from the grocery bags to his backpack. Shannon had seen him stuffing some things from the kitchen into it before they'd left the house. They went up to the ticket building, and picked up the pre-paid passes for the week that Boone had bought on-line, then stood uncertainly off to the side, not sure where to meet the instructor. Shannon waited for her husband to go and ask for information.
Finally becoming frustrated at how he just kept looking around, a lost expression on his face, she decided to take charge. "Okay, I'll find out where we're supposed to meet this guy. Way to step up, dipshit."
"I was just trying to get my bearings," he made an excuse to her retreating back.
Boone had never been at a ski resort before, so it was all a new experience to him. All the times there'd been a planned school trip to a local resort, he'd had some track meet or other obligation, so he'd never actually been able to go. The colourful ski clothes, the masses of people, the sight of the skiers and snowboarders gliding down the hill, all new and invigorating. He smiled at Andrew and hugged his shoulder. "This was a great idea, bud."
Andrew was just as excited as Boone, and the fact that he'd arranged the activity that had resulted in the huge smile pasted on Boone's face, significantly adding to his joy. He knew Boone deserved all the happiness he could get.
Shannon came back, a man wearing a ski suit in the resort colours accompanying her.
"This is Brian." She flicked a glance at him as she announced the man's name. Boone did a bit of a double take. She raised her eyebrows and shrugged, it wasn't like it was an uncommon name.
They did introductions all around and Brian asked some questions, needing to know their level of snowboarding experience. At the revelation that they were all complete novices, though Shannon was a fairly experienced skier, he led them over to the bunny hill, and walked them up it.
Throughout the morning they proceeded with the basics of learning to stand and traverse across the hill, one foot strapped into the board, the other pushing along beside in a skating motion. At one point, Boone got kind of shifted down the fall line and ended up with both feet on the board, the back one braced against his back binding. He slid a fair distance down the hill, pin-wheeling his arms the whole way, but surprisingly staying on his feet before he could bring the board to a stop, falling on his ass in the snow. He released his front foot and walked back up the hill to where the others were waiting. He looked a little pleased with himself.
"You did good, there." Brian congratulated him. "But it wasn't the result you were planning on, you have to stay in control, you were just supposed to go across the hill. You could seriously hurt yourself or someone else if you lose it."
Boone listened intently, nodding his head in understanding. Shannon and Andrew glanced at each other exchanging a grin; he was so damn cute, drinking in the instructions like a sponge. Boone asked a few questions, filing away the answers in his head, you could almost see him shuffling through them and cataloguing them like a librarian employed the Dewey Decimal system. Shannon figured once he slept on it, his mind reshaping his thinking while his body rested, he'd come out tomorrow and surprise them all with how well he'd do. Either that or she'd be taking him home in a wheel chair. She certainly hoped for the former, but given how clumsy he was, she wasn't going to count her chickens quite yet.
They broke for lunch, Brian suggesting they all go to the restaurant in the main building. But, typical Boone, he'd packed them a lunch and asked instead if there was a place they could eat their own food. Thinking ahead he'd brought enough for the three of them plus one, anticipating that their instructor would be having lunch with them.
Locking their snowboards into the slots provided, he got his backpack from the car and they headed into the lodge
The antipasto spread he laid out was amazing; olives, pepperoncini, lean capicollo, fruit, low fat cheeses and whole grain bread. Who knew you accomplish so much in fifteen minutes in a local market? He pulled a few bottles of a popular sports drink out last, along with cutlery, plates and napkins.
"This is better than we'd get at the restaurant, that's for sure." Brian was impressed.
"Boone's a caterer." Andrew explained, around a mouthful of grapes.
"I should be so lucky with all of my students." Brian picked up a piece of meat and put it on a chunk of bread with some cheese and a slice of apple.
The people at the next table were craning their necks, enviously scoping out what the small party was eating. Boone smiled shyly in humility.