Falling Snow Read online

  “Cason?” Adler whispered. She wasn’t completely sure, but it had to be the same woman. She watched the doctor grin and knew right away it was the same sexy body she had plowed into and blatantly cruised. She was already embarrassed as it was and now she had to see her again.

  Cason saw the recognition in her face and grinned. She was surprised to hear her name. She figured that was old news for the local superstar. Apparently, she had left an impression of some sort. She cleared that thought from her mind quickly. “I’m surprised you remember me.” She smiled as she opened the clipboard and signed the release form. “I’d say you have a slight concussion, but it’s so slight that it’s almost of the chart. Still, I am medically responsible for you at the moment so I’m going to give you the required paperwork that accompanies a head injury.” Cason quickly ran through the checklist. “My personal advice is to lay low for a few days. I know you’ll be busy this weekend, but if you happen to fall and hit your head again you risk serious injury.”

  Adler had been through the song and dance a couple of times, thankfully she’d never had more than a minor bump on her head and a broken arm. She watched the doctor…Cason…write a few notes on the clipboard and then pull another sheet loose. “How’s your head?” She said before she thought about it. That was three weeks ago, she was probably long over the incident in the village.

  Cason smiled brightly and laughed. “My head’s fine. I had a smaller bump than you do now if that gives you any indication. I think my pride was hurt more. You pack a lot of punch for such a slender body.” She said as she looked down at the top half of Adler’s body which was covered only by a tight crème colored thermal shirt.

  “I may be slim, but it’s all lithe lean muscle.” Adler grinned.

  “Oh I don’t doubt that. You nailed me like a full back. I never saw you coming.” Adler laughed again. “It’s nice to finally meet you though. I’m sorry it’s under these circumstances.”

  “So, you’re an ER doctor here. Why haven’t I seen you before? I mean in the village.”

  Cason raised an eyebrow. “I’m sure you steer clear of people, from what I hear you’re somewhat of a celebrity. We’ve already had to close off this floor to ER personnel only.” Cason grinned when Adler’s eyes widened. “I’m kidding. No one knows you’re here but me, the nurse assisting me, and the EMT’s that brought you in. Oh and I think you have some friends in the waiting room.” She shrugged. “You haven’t seen me before because I’m not an ER doctor I’m a trauma surgeon. I actually live in Denver. It’s a long story. I’m here helping this hospital out for a few weeks.”

  “Oh.” Adler said. She had almost forgotten about her slimy piece of shit husband for a couple minutes. Almost. Dr. Cason Macauley was easy to talk to and definitely easy on the eyes. Where had that come from? Adler had never looked twice at a woman and she’d been naked with them many times changing for photo shoots or in the sauna after a long day of competition. Not once had she ever felt drawn to someone like she did with Cason…the doctor.

  Cason handed Adler the discharge papers and stepped back. “I’ll have the nurse escort your friends back here to take you home.” She turned to leave, but turned back around and stuck her hand out Adler place her surprisingly soft hand in hers. “Good luck this weekend.”

  Adler gently squeezed the warm soft skin of the slightly larger hand holding hers. “Thanks. Are you going?”

  “I’ll be there.” Cason winked and released her hand. Adler watched her walk out of the room.

  Nine

  Adler laid back down on the couch in her townhouse. She was on her second dose of Advil for the day and her head was still pounding. She wondered how much of it was because of the bump on the back of her head and how much was the stress of the situation her husband had created. She wanted a glass of wine. No, she wanted a bottle of wine, but she knew better than to mix the drugs and head injury with alcohol. She looked over at the picture of her and Kevin standing in the waves at Huntington Beach in California. Was he cheating then? How long had he been seeing other women? Did he even love her? Looking back on their three years together and two years of marriage she knew she loved him, but they never saw each other, they literally lived in two worlds. Was that fair to either of them? Still, it wasn’t a reason to run out and sleep with other people. When they did see each other he didn’t act like anything was wrong, but then again most cheating husbands played the role of husband really well. She got up and turned the picture around. She didn’t want to see his smiling face mocking her. She was glad she didn’t have a phone. She was sure he was probably calling constantly after his little shower blow job when he discovered who the caller was. She told Amy and Gordy she lost it in the snow on the mountain when they dropped her off. Amy drove her SUV for her and she rode with Gordy. He asked if she wanted to use his phone to call Kevin, she laughed and said no. He figured her head was still fuzzy or something and shrugged it off.

  “Men are pieces of shit. No offense Clyde.” She petted the white and grey cat. “Unless, you’re cheating on me too.” She grinned when he meowed. “I did notice you eat those cheap treats Mrs. Jackson gives you when she watches you. Why do you make me by the expensive ones?” She shook her head. She was sitting here accusing her cat of cheating. She really needed to get some air, the walls were starting to close in on her. She wasn’t use to sitting at home. She decided to take a day off even though it would be crucial to her training for the X Games. She needed to clear the cobwebs from her head, so she sat out the second day of practice leaving her only one practice day before qualifying on Thursday afternoon.

  ***

  Cason walked into a local Italian restaurant that seemed to be the place to go based on the nurses at the hospital. She’d only been up to Aspen Mountain a few times and never bothered to go to the local eatery when she was there. Most of her time was spent on Snowmass Mountain or the hospital. She did go to downtown Aspen quite often to walk around the shops and eat at the fancy restaurants. She looked around for an open table in the dimly lit room. For a Tuesday night the place was actually about half full.

  Adler felt her before she saw her. When she looked up Cason was standing a few feet away dressed similar to that first day in the village in jeans and her black ski jacket. She brushed the snow from her short messy dark hair and smiled when Adler waved.

  “Would you like to join me?” Adler heard herself say.

  Cason shrugged. “Sure, unless, you’re waiting for someone.”

  “No. No one.” Adler looked down at her menu. Cason took her jacket off and sat across from her at the small intimate table. Adler watched her as she sat down and got situated. She was wearing a grey v-neck sweater with what looked like a black t-shirt under it.

  “I’ve never been here. The nurses keep telling me I need to experience this place, so here I am.” She smiled and watched Adler as she told her the history of the small local dive. Her long blond hair hung in loose spiral curls around her shoulders and the open top of her scallop neck lavender sweater. Her eyes were so bright Cason could swear they were glowing in the low light. She was beautiful.

  “Everything’s good except for the spaghetti, I make it better.” Adler grinned.

  Cason smiled. “I’ll have to remember that the next time I’m in the mood for spaghetti.” She opened her menu and pretended to study it. She had no idea why she decided to go out for dinner and why the hell was she sitting at Adler Troy’s table? She swallowed the lump in her throat. This probably wasn’t the best decision she made recently. The beautiful blond sitting across from her was young, way too young, and most definitely straight. The married kind of straight or at least that’s what her Winter X Games bio said when she read it last night. Cason noticed her left hand bore no ring, she wondered if maybe she just didn’t wear one. Oh well, it was none of her business.

  “I like coming here because it’s quiet and the kind of place only locals go. I usually don’t get bothered.”

  “Would you like
me to sit somewhere else? I didn’t mean to impose on your privacy.” Cason started to get it up, but Adler grabbed her hand and squeezed.

  “I invited you to sit with me. If I didn’t want you to sit here I wouldn’t have said anything.” Adler said. She was so moved by the depth of the blue eyes staring back at her she forgot to release the hand she was holding. She quickly let go and reopened her menu. Cason had a feeling she knew it by heart and probably had decided on her meal before she even walked in the door.

  When the waiter finally walked over they both ordered pasta dishes, but neither ordered the spaghetti. “I looked for you today.” Cason said.

  Adler raised an eyebrow. “Me? Where?”

  “The Super Pipe.”

  Adler raised both of her eyebrows then furled them together. “Were you checking up on me doc?” She grinned.

  Cason bit the inside of the bottom lip. “Not necessarily. Do to all the recent activity lately and accidents and so on the officials asked the hospital if they had a doctor on staff that wouldn’t mind hanging around for the pipe events. I’m the best candidate because of my trauma field and I happen to be off those two days so I volunteered. I went up there today when my shift ended to meet with him and get the schedule. I’m glad you weren’t there.” She paused. “Any head injury is too serious to ignore.”

  “I’m not reckless Dr. Macauley.” That was true usually. The day the accident had happened she was being reckless and she was lucky she didn’t get hurt worse. She spent the day trying to figure out how to turn all of the anger into positive energy at least for her competition this weekend.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.” Cason had a hard time looking Adler in the eyes. She was afraid she wouldn’t be able to look away once those striking blue-green eyes locked on hers. She didn’t want to be sitting at this table struggling to not be drawn to this woman.

  “I’m not upset. I guess I have given you reason to think I’m careless after the village incident and then I come into the hospital with a concussion from snowboarding.” She took a sip of water. “Cason I’m a pro snowboarder, it’s not exactly the most laid back lifestyle. It is reckless in a lot of ways, but one thing I take very seriously is riding that board. I know every time I strap my boots into the bindings it could very well be my last. To get to the level that I’m at you learn to be fearless, you’re fueled by adrenaline and a drive most people won’t ever understand. People get seriously injured doing what I do, or worse they die. Nothing makes me happier in this entire world than shredding powder or riding pipe. They only way I get to keep doing what I love every day is taking care of myself. That means sitting out very important practice time to let my head heel from a nasty fall.” She locked eyes with Cason.

  “I don’t even know you, but somehow you move me. Your valiant ambition is admirable. I will probably never understand why you do what you do.” She smiled. “But, that’s the doctor in me talking. I tend to steer clear of danger. I see the negative repercussions all too often.”

  The waiter set their dinner plates on the table and walked away like he had no clue who was dining there. There was a small possibility that he didn’t, but Cason doubted that. It was nice to see local people respecting her privacy. Cason looked up from her plate when Adler spoke between bites.

  “Have you ever been snowboarding?” Adler remembered Cason saying she was a trauma surgeon, she was sure she had seen much more severe injuries than a simple concussion. She was obviously a very strong person or she wouldn’t be in that line of medicine.

  Cason cringed. She loved watching the snow sports, but they didn’t love her back. “Uh, yeah once. I think I’m just told old to learn something new that scares the hell out of me. I love to watch it though and skiing. It’s why I chose to rotate here this time of year instead of the summer like one of my fellow co-workers.”

  Adler smiled brightly. “It’s not all that bad. Maybe I’ll show you sometime.” She took another bite of pasta. “So you said you live in Denver, right?”

  “Yeah, I’m only here January and February.”

  “How does that work out?”

  “Well, it’s sort of complicated. Aspen General can’t afford a trauma doctor on their staff so they work with other hospitals in the state to rotate a group of six trauma surgeons through AGH for a period of two months each. Another doctor from my hospital is usually here June and July. The other four doctors are from other cities.”

  “How long have you been doing this?”

  “This is my fourth year. I really enjoy it. One of my colleagues, and a good friend of mine, calls this my vacation. In a way, he’s right. I’ve seen more trauma in one day at DMC than I’ve literally seen in the four years here. I love the snow and the atmosphere here. It took me awhile to get acclimated to the slow pace. I still don’t think I’ve gotten completely used to it. I’m more at home running around with my hair on fire and someone’s life dangling in the palm of my hands. The laid back environment is a nice change though. I look forward to it every year.”

  “Wow. That’s interesting. So is that something you volunteer for or are you handpicked to come hang out here for two months?”

  “You volunteer, but the waiting list is pages and pages long. You sort of need to know someone to get chosen and you’re pretty much on the Interim Team until you decide to step down or you screw up, but that means you’d probably lose your medical license so that’s never really happened. We have had a few people step down though. It’s not easy to change pace like that and then eight weeks later change back. It drove me crazy my first and second year.”

  “You said I move you, well you definitely intrigue me, Cason.” Adler met her eyes.

  “You know I was surprised you remembered my name when I saw you in the hospital.”

  “Why is that? The head injury wasn’t that bad.” Adler laughed.

  “I was a simple person that you happened to have a very brief incident with. It’s not like you hung around to talk to me or anything. I’m sure you meet people all the time. Do you always remember the names of strangers you meet?”

  Adler chewed her bottom lip. How to answer that question? No. She didn’t remember strangers. In fact, she shied away from contact at all unless she was doing an autograph session. For some reason she had not only remembered Cason, she had actually thought of her a time or two. She shrugged. “It wasn’t exactly the most nonchalant meeting and you had a unique name. It stuck with me. And I really did wonder if you were okay I did hit you pretty hard.”

  The waiter laid the bill in the center of the table and Cason grabbed it while Adler grabbed her hand. Adler felt like she just stuck her hand in fire, she quickly drew back. “Let me have that.” She said. “I invited you to sit with me.”

  Cason grinned. “I’ve got it. Maybe you can make me that spaghetti dinner one night to repay me.”

  “That’s means I would have to see you again.” Adler smiled.

  “After this weekend you probably won’t see me again anyway.” Cason said as she slid her check card into the black folder.

  “Why is that? I thought you were here until the end of February?” Adler asked.

  “I am, but I’ll be sort of working at the games this weekend. After that you have no reason to see me.”

  “Maybe I want to see you again silly.” Adler stood and put a khaki colored ski jacket on and a brown ski hat down her the top of her head and ears. Cason put her black ski jacket on and followed her outside. She wished she hadn’t left her ski hat in her SUV. At least she had her gloves, but her exposed ears were freezing.

  “Good luck this weekend Adler,” Cason stuck her hand out but Adler pulled her into a light hug.

  “Thanks. For some reason it’s going to feel just a little safer out there knowing you will be there if something goes wrong.”

  Ten

  Cason sat in her tiny condo contemplating going up to Buttermilk where all of the X Games courses were. Technically she didn’t need to be there until
the Super Pipe events on Friday and Saturday. That’s what the event coordinator had asked for. She knew Adler was getting back in the pipe today to practice and then she would be there Thursday afternoon to qualify. Adler Troy made her nervous. The closer she got to her the more she wanted to know her. She was so alive, her free spirit was contagious. Adler Troy was like a powerful magnet and Cason was a precious metal that couldn’t help being drawn to her. She couldn’t control the inevitable; she just hoped she survived the fall.

  ***

  Adler strapped her boots into her bindings and pulled her goggles down. She was as prepared as she was going to get. She stared at the bottom of the pipe wondering if she would see a familiar face when she finished her qualifying run.

  The day before was one of the hardest days of her life. She had never actually been scared to ride pipe, a little nervous here or there, but yesterday had been difficult. She tried meditating, relaxing massage, motivational books, nothing worked. She just couldn’t get her mind to focus. She finally went out and did some free riding that morning; there was nothing in the world like riding powder. Pipe was an adrenaline rush and free riding was a thrill. Halfway down the hill when she hit her first jump, performed a clean backside three-sixty, and landed smoothly her nerves settled and her head began to clear. It really wasn’t the minor injury that threw her, but after two riders were seriously injured and another died in the last two years any accident was severe enough to take a step back and readjust not only your riding but also your focus. She couldn’t let Kevin continue to get to her. Right now that part of her life didn’t matter. It couldn’t matter or it could potentially get her killed. She practiced pipe flawlessly, despite not attempting her new trick.