I'll Miss This One This Year
Winter
"Bah humbug!"
"Well, that's a bit strong!" Emma defended herself, letting out a light chuckle.
She cradled her hot chocolate in her hands, complete with cinnamon of course, and was sat in one of the booths within Granny's café. Mary Margaret and Ruby were sat across from her, the latter most astounded by Emma's earlier statement.
"You know it is my favorite holiday," Emma maintained.
"You can't claim it's your favorite holiday whilst insisting that you're not doing anything for Christmas!" Ruby protested, sounding entirely horrified at the suggestion.
Emma didn't see the big deal. It wasn't like her lack of Christmas plans were going to affect Ruby. She had already delved, with a copious amount of detail, into her own intentions for a magnificent Christmas with Granny.
"I've had a hectic year. The thought of sitting down and doing all-but nothing is very appealing," Emma explained her reasoning. "Besides, I had Henry over Christmas last year so he's with Neal this year. It's Christmas by myself this year. There's not much I can do."
"I don't think you should be spending Christmas alone, Emma," Mary Margaret voiced her opinion on the matter for the first time, sounding slightly concerned. "You're more than welcome to come to ours. David won't mind and Leo loves you."
Leo Nolan, Mary Margaret and David's two-and-a-half year old son, loved everyone. She wasn't special there.
Emma waved a dismissive hand, "I don't want to impose."
"That's nonsense!" Mary Margaret shook her head. "Besides, we have plenty of food to go around. Something possessed David to buy a twenty-pound turkey so he seems to be expecting to feed a small army."
"Hold on, a twenty-pound turkey for three of you?" Ruby repeated, like she didn't quite believe what she was hearing.
"Yeah. We're going to be up to our ears in turkey and eating turkey sandwiches all through January," Mary Margaret replied with a small chuckle at the situation. "So please come, Emma."
"Fine, I'll come," Emma conceded, agreeing that it did sound better than spending the entirety of Christmas Day entirely on her own, "but, even with the four of us, it will barely put a dent in that turkey."
"I could invite some other people who would otherwise be spending Christmas on their own!" Mary Margaret sat up a little straighter as the idea hit her. Her eyes brightened as it all started to come together in her mind, "Ooh! I could invite Graham!"
"Woah, hold on a minute," Emma cut in, interrupting before Mary Margaret could get too ahead of herself. "I could very easily change my mind on coming if I suspect you're making plans to set me up with Graham. Again."
"I just think that you two would work really well together," Mary Margaret explained softly.
"Yes, we do work well together. At work. At the station. We tried the whole dating thing, remember? Work got awkward, it didn't work and we both agreed things were simpler as friends," Emma reminded her.
"If that's what you want," Mary Margaret shrugged, though she didn't sound at all convinced.
"I know what Emma wants!" Ruby piped up again, a huge gleeful grin plastered across her face.
An inquisitive Mary Margaret instantly turned to Ruby. Emma had a horrible feeling she knew exactly what was coming out of Ruby's mouth next. She hoped she was wrong.
"Killian."
Damn. She said it.
Emma squeezed her eyes shut. That was going to lead to a whole load of questions.
"Who's Killian?" Mary Margaret asked, glancing between the two other women.
"You must have heard about Killian!" Ruby proclaimed, completely oblivious to Emma's stare screaming at her to stop talking. "You know, skydiving, skiing, global explorer Killian."
Mary Margaret looked totally lost and she turned to Emma, "You've never mentioned a Killian to me."
"Because there isn't much to tell," Emma shrugged.
She promptly took a long sip of her hot chocolate, trying her best to hide behind the mug. If she took long enough drinking, were it at all possible the conversation topic would get moved along? Long shot, she knew, but she was desperate.
Unfortunately for Emma, Ruby decided that Emma's actions were a cue for her to step in, "They met the morning after Christmas Day! Emma was on the ski slopes and she lost her balance-"
"Woah, woah, woah!" Emma interrupted, hastily placing her mug back down on the table, "if you're going to tell the story, at least tell it accurately."
"Well, you tell it then," Ruby prompted her. "You were there. You'll be more accurate."
Emma couldn't exactly argue. She had caught her out there.
Mary Margaret was leaning forward, awaiting the information eagerly.
"Okay," Emma conceded, knowing her two friends well enough to know they wouldn't give in until they got what they were after. "It happened last Christmas when Henry and I went skiing for that week. It was our last morning before we had to come home…"
"Alright, Henry, this really is the last one this time," Emma maintained as they both hopped off the ski lift. "I need to get you to your dad's."
"I know, I know!" Henry responded, nodding as he hurried off ahead.
Henry had taken to skiing like a fish to water. He loved it. It also turned out he was somewhat of a natural skier, or at least more natural than Emma. Sure, he had fallen a few times, especially when first getting to grips with it, but Emma reluctantly admitted to herself that she had fallen more.
At the very least, the kid didn't seem to be counting. He was too caught up in his joy of skiing to care.
"Race you to the bottom!" Henry exclaimed.
Within moments, he was off down the slope, picking up speed as he went, twisting and turning as he navigated his route down.
"Oh, that's totally cheating!" Emma laughed, not that he could hear her complaints. She hadn't been ready, and he knew that.
Head-start or not, Emma was determined to give him a run for his money. She wasn't about to allow him to win that easily. She set off after him, picking up as much speed as she could and throwing all caution to the wind. Her competitive streak had been brought out and she wasn't prepared to lose to a ten-year-old.
The picturesque views she took in over the last week were ignored on her final ski of the trip. Her sole focus was on Henry who she was slowly, but surely, gaining on. The scenery around her blurred as her speed gradually increased.
Before long, the bottom of the slope was nearing them. Emma had managed to get herself in line with Henry over on the other side of the slope. They were neck and neck! She was satisfied with that, willing to take the draw if it kept him from demanding a rematch. There was no time for that.
Just as she was approaching the bottom, a young child, no older than four, appeared out of nowhere, jumping around in the snow, utterly oblivious to the surroundings he found himself in. Emma was heading straight for him. In a blind panic, Emma swerved to the left, avoiding the child. Her new course, however, was sending her straight towards the large sign at the foot of the slope, which mapped out the area. Once certain she was clear of the child, she swerved back to the right.
It was a move which came too late.
Her left ski caught against the pillar of the sign and the jolt in momentum sent Emma flying. Her eyes squeezed shut as she braced for impact in the snow. There was an unexpected 'uff', followed by an 'oof' and then by an 'urgh' as Emma finally landed on the ground.
Except, it wasn't the ground.
Whatever she had landed on was more solid than she had come to know the snow to be.
She snapped her eyes open and then instantly wanted to be swallowed by the ground when she saw that she had knocked a man off his feet in her flight. She had landed right on top of him, using him as her own personal crash mat.
And, of course, he had to be hot.
Ridiculously hot.
Hot to the point she wouldn't be surprised if the snow started melting around him.
What a fabulous first impression she had no doubt made.
She suddenly caught herself just staring at him and blinked out of that mortifying trance. To make matters worse, she found she was still on top of him, no doubt squashing his chest. She scrambled off him into the snow beside him.
It wasn't very often Emma found herself wanting to disappear, however, it was one of those times. The temperature was rising unbearably rapidly under the ski helmet and visor she was wearing, which was most definitely caused by the exercise she had just done, and only that. She pulled the helmet off, dropping it into the snow next to her, watching from the corner of her eye as the stranger pushed himself into a sitting position.
He turned to her and Emma was ready for anger, irritation or some other form of hostility. In a sight which caught her entirely off guard, there was none of that. Instead, there was a huge grin across his face which, when combined with the copious amount of snow in his messy hair, made him look like a madman. It was his blue eyes which drew her in, the concern in them being especially unexpected.
"Are you alright, love?" he asked.
And with that question came her third surprise in just as many minutes.
He was British, complete with the dreamy accent that Emma had never before understood the fuss over. She got it, with him.
Emma couldn't quite believe what was happening. She was in the middle of Colorado and she had managed to go flying straight into a ridiculously handsome British guy.
If she hadn't made such a fool of herself, she would have been questioning where her good luck has suddenly come from. Instead, she had to force herself to snap out of the weird trance she had fallen into once more and pull herself together. She was a grown woman, not a damn teenager with a high school crush.
"Am I alright?" Emma repeated as she began unclipping her boots from the skis. Avoid eye contact, reduce humiliation. "You're the one I knocked off your feet. Are you alright?"
"I'm perfectly fine," he assured her with a light chuckle. "You are the one who came flying out of nowhere."
"Which was not my fault!" Emma hastily informed him. "I was on the slope and this kid came out of nowhere. I had to swerve to avoid him and hit the sign. Honestly, I have no idea where his parents were but they most definitely weren't watching-"
"HOOK!"
A young child's voice interrupted her as he appeared out of nowhere, darting straight at the stranger and jumping on top of him. The man let out a soft 'oof' as he fell back into the snow then laughed, grabbing the young child and lifting him into the air. The boy erupted into laughter before the man proceeded to gently drop him into the snow, much to the child's further amusement.
"-him…"
Emma trailed off lamely as that rare desperation to completely disappear returned once again. Of course, the child responsible for her accident was the very one that so clearly knew the man before her. And she'd just stuck her foot in it.
The sooner she got her skis off and got out of there the better.
Fate was being far from kind to her.
"I'm going to assume, from your reaction, it was this little lad who got in your way," the man assumed correctly, ruffling the boy's hair as he watched Emma, waiting for her response.
"Yeah," Emma admitted apologetically.
She had no idea what had gotten into her. Why the hell was she apologising? Everything she said was right. The man clearly hadn't been watching the boy properly for him to have wound up playing on the slope. Yet Emma found herself desperately wanting to avoid offending the man.
"Well, you're absolutely right. His father wasn't watching him," the man openly admitted as he got to his feet, brushing the snow off his clothes and out of his hair in the process. He gestured loosely with his right hand towards the row of cabins which made up the resort's ski stores and cafés. "He went off ages ago to find the lad some food and is taking his bloody time about it too."
He stood above her, a small smile on his face and offered his right hand for her to take. With both her skis finally unclipped from her boots, there was nothing stopping her from getting up. Matching his smile, she took his hand and let him help her up.
She glanced at the boy who was still in the snow, content and laughing away to himself as he made a snow angel.
"So… he's not yours?" Emma checked.
"No." It was an instant response. "No way. But, I must admit, I was meant to be watching him and, I do also confess, I got distracted so your little altercation with the sign was entirely my fault."
He held his hands up in a mock surrender and the smile on his face grew.
"What are you smiling about?" Emma challenged.
"Because I wouldn't have it any other way," he responded smugly.
"Let me get this straight, you're glad I hit the sign?" Emma clarified.
"Aye, for else we would never have met," he confirmed with a nod.
"I could have hit the kid you were supposed to be watching," Emma reminded him.
"You didn't have to put up with him trying to wake you up at three in the morning yesterday," he joked lightly. "In all seriousness though, I would greatly appreciate it if his minor misadventure remains between the two of us. Else, Robin would never let me hear the end of it."
"And what's in it for me?" Emma questioned, matching his previous smug tone.
"A trip to the Overlook for lunch, paid for by me, of course," he replied instantly. He hadn't even needed time to think about it.
Emma raised an eyebrow, "Like a date?"
"Aye," he confirmed.
Emma considered her options.
On one hand, she had only just met the guy, she didn't know him, and she didn't even know his name. The kid had yelled Hook whilst charging at him but there was no way that could be a name. Could it?
On the other hand, there was something about him that she felt drawn to, something hooking her in. She couldn't put her finger on it.
"Mom! Mom!" Henry's voice drew her back to reality.
Damn.
That was her decision made for her. She was surprised to find herself hit by a large pang of disappointment. Was she really about to dive in with both feet and go for lunch with a guy she knew nothing about?
"Can we go one more time? Please?" Henry pleaded.
"No way, kiddo," Emma replied to Henry following a brief glance at her watch. "We're already an hour behind."
Emma turned back to the man. It was his turn to look surprised, an eyebrow raised as he took in Henry's appearance.
"I'm sorry, I gotta go," Emma told him, "I've got to get my kid to his dad's on the east coast."
She bent down and grabbed her skis off the snow-covered ground. When she stood back up, the man had his phone in his hand.
"Well, can I at least get your name and number?" he asked. "We can get to know each other, make some other arrangements?"
Emma considered it for a moment and received a nudge from Henry in encouragement. In the end, she agreed, giving him both pieces of information. It was only after he had picked the child up out of the snow and walked away that Emma realised she hadn't received any of his information in return. Not even his name.
Seeing him again suddenly relied on him actually bothering to get in contact with her. Something told her that her number wasn't the first he had received all day. There was no way a single guy like him was walking around without any advancements.
Had she made that much of a good first impression? She had made an impression, she was sure of that, how could she not with her entrance? She was far from convinced it was a good one though.
By the time she and Henry had packed up their things and gotten to her yellow bug, Emma was surprised to find she had been contacted by an unknown number.
Hey love, you swept me off my feet in more ways than one today. Killian.
Emma was glad Henry was in the car already, head instantly buried in his book. He totally missed the blush that engulfed her cold, pale cheeks.