Almost Perfect (37 page)

By the time they'd reached the lift house, he'd inhaled the entire sack lunch. He pocketed the receipt as a reminder to pay Lacy back, and shot the bag and empty soda can into the trash.

"Thanks," he said as he took the poles back, which was when he noticed his student was breathing a little too fast and had gone from pampered-princess pale to about-to-faint pale. "Hey, you didn't just arrive today, did you?"

"No, yesterday." She breathed in and out. "Why do you ask?"

"You look like you're having a little trouble with the altitude."

"I'm fine."

"You know, one of the dumbest mistakes people make every year is to step off a plane, hop on a ski lift, and faint at the top of a mountain. If we need to postpone your first lesson—"

"I told you, I'm fine." A hint of snootiness chilled her words. "I know how to handle the altitude."

Yeah, famous last words of low-landers everywhere.