Harrison smiled and closed his eyes again. “I don’t think I can go skiing today,” he said.
“Oh, thank God,” Isabel a said. She was so sore from yesterday that it hurt to talk. “Maybe we can go get lunch in town?”
“Isabel a, I don’t think I can move right now.”
Harrison never cal ed her Iz or Izzy. It was always Isabel a. It was always formal. It made her think of Ben and the way that he would sing to her in the mornings, “Izzy, Isabel a,” kissing her stomach until she woke up. Thinking of Ben made her lonely, which wasn’t what she’d expected. She hated Ben. But she knew him, at least. She wouldn’t have to be polite with him if he were here right now. She could tel him to get up and go downstairs with her. Instead, she was stuck here with Harrison, who cal ed her by her ful name and was never mean. It was basical y like being with Miss Manners.
Isabel a lay next to him while he slept. Once she got up to go to the bathroom and ate a granola bar she had in her bag. She sat in the bottom bunk for a little while and read her book, but she couldn’t concentrate so she climbed back up the ladder and lay down next to Harrison again.
Maybe she didn’t real y know him, but compared to the people downstairs, he was her closest friend, her al y. She wasn’t leaving his side.
Sometime after the sun went down and it was night again, Harrison woke up. Isabel a was staring at the ceiling. “What are you doing?” he asked her.
“Thinking,” she said.
“You look like a crazy person,” he said and laughed a little bit. “Have you been here al day?”
She nodded. “I didn’t want to go downstairs,” she said. Her eyes started to fil with tears. “I didn’t know anyone, so I just stayed here.”
Harrison turned toward her and smoothed back her hair. Al she wanted was not to cry. She couldn’t cry; they hadn’t been dating long enough. He would think she was crazy, a nut.
“Sorry,” he whispered right next to her ear.
“That’s okay,” she said. “You know, they probably think we’re making out up here. No one’s come up al day.”
Harrison smiled. “Then maybe we should prove them right,” he said and slid himself on top of her careful y.
“I’ve never had sex in a bunk bed,” she said.
“There’s a first time for everything,” he said. “Just don’t fal off.”
Harrison stayed by her side that night, and she was grateful. They went to a local bar, for which she was also grateful. She stayed even closer to Harrison than she had the night before. Part of her was touching him at al times.
“So, you want to go skiing tomorrow?” he asked. “It’s our last chance. Plus, I think we can go on some diamonds.”
Isabel a said, “Absolutely.”
The second day of skiing started off better. It had snowed the night before, so when Isabel a fel , she fel on soft snow instead of the ice. It was also a little warmer, and Isabel a even started to have some fun.
Harrison was conscious of her at al times. He was faster than she was, but he always waited at certain points to let her catch up. This was a big mountain, and there were different forks and turns you could take. Harrison always pointed out the path they were going to take on the map before they went.
For the last run of the day, Harrison wanted to try something different. Isabel a felt bad that she had been holding him back on the easier mountains and so she agreed. They had to take two chair lifts up and would ski down a blue, then a black, then finish on a blue. “It’s easy, see?”
Harrison said, running his finger along the map. “Just keep staying to the right and you’l get to the next run. I’l wait for you at the top of each.”
Isabel a nodded. She was cold again and ready for this day to be over. Just one more run and the whole day would end on a good note.
The second chairlift was higher than any of the other ones they had been on. It stopped halfway up the mountain and Isabel a started seeing black.
“Scared?” Harrison asked.
Isabel a nodded and Harrison just laughed. He thought it was real y funny. She felt like she was dying. The metal creaked and kicked and the lift started moving again. Isabel a waited for the whole chair to plummet to the ground, and was surprised when they skied off at the top.
“Okay, so you remember the way?” Harrison asked. He put his sunglasses down and smiled at her. She nodded. Almost over. It was almost over.
They started down the mountain and it was going okay. Isabel a had gotten used to the blues and her snowplow wasn’t such an embarrassing giant wedge anymore. She even let herself go a little fast sometimes. She finished the run and skied up to Harrison.
“Awesome,” he said. “Ready for the next one?”
He was already moving before he finished talking. There were moguls at the top of the run and Isabel a hesitated. She saw Harrison flying down the mountain, and then the next second she was on the ground, rol ing down the steep hil . One ski came off and al she could see was black when she hit the ground. She knocked over another skier and the two of them tangled up together and slowed down to a stop.
“You okay?” the guy asked her. She nodded.
“Wel , then watch it next time. You shouldn’t be on this slope if you can’t handle it,” he said and stood up and skied off.
Isabel a sat in the snow. She only had one ski and couldn’t even see where the other one had gone. That guy had been such an asshole, she thought as she climbed back up the hil . What a jerk. They could have been kil ed. It wasn’t her fault, total y, was it? No, he had gotten in her way.
The whole time she climbed back up the hil and struggled to put the runaway ski back on, Isabel a thanked God that Harrison hadn’t been there to see it. That would have been mortifying. She crawled up and snapped her boot back into the ski. She sat for a moment to get her bearings, and then she stood up. She had to ski down. There was no other way off the mountain. She was a little turned around, but stayed to the right. That was what Harrison had said to do.
She skied down the rest of the mountain and didn’t see Harrison once. Maybe she’d taken too long after her fal . She skied right up to the lodge and took her skis off. She was done.
Isabel a clomped into the lodge in her boots and took out her cel phone to cal Harrison. “Where are you?” he asked when he answered. “I was getting worried.”
“I’m at the lodge,” she said. “I fel .”
“I’m at the lodge too,” he said. “Where are you?”
“I’m right by the food counter.”
“I don’t see you.”
Isabel a looked around for Harrison and then realized that this lodge looked very different. “Um, Harrison, I think I’m somewhere else. The sign says the Blackbear Lodge. Do you know where that is?”
Harrison was quiet for a moment. “That’s on the other side of the mountain. How did you get there?”
Isabel a could tel he was laughing. Her eyes started to fil with tears again.
“I don’t know! Where am I?”
“Stay there, okay? I’l come to you,” Harrison said and hung up.
Isabel a limped over to the counter and ordered hot chocolate. She had started crying a little, which made her nose run even more. The cashier was a high-school boy and he looked frightened of her. He was probably scared she was going to talk to him and tel him her problems.
She took as many napkins as she could and walked with her hot chocolate back to her table. On the way, she spil ed hot liquid on her hand. Now the tears started again. She was pathetic. She was a pathetic person.
Isabel a was blowing her nose when Harrison walked in.
“Hey there,” he said. “There’s my little Rand McNal y.”
Isabel a laughed and then started crying again. She couldn’t stop. Now this real y would be the end of them. Harrison would see how crazy she was and he would have to break up with her. Then they would have to drive back to the city together. This was a nightmare.