Falling Snow (10 page)

“You’ll be old news in three weeks anyway. When you leave she will forget you ever existed.”

***

Adler stepped off the lift and walked towards the woods. She had a short hike across the face of the mountain to get to the back country area that was off limits to anyone but professionals. In fact, that area wasn’t even on any of the maps of the mountains. Back country wasn’t groomed, it wasn’t mapped out, it wasn’t safe, but it was where all the pros went to ride powder. The one rule to back country was never go alone. If something happened it could be weeks before you were found. At least on one of the groomed trails you would be seen either by another rider or the ski patrol that made passes on the trails periodically checking for downed skiers and snowboarders. Back country was as free as a free ride gets, except for maybe jumping out of a helicopter. She didn’t think she’d ever be that fearless.

When she finally reached the spot she was heading to she found Gordy sitting in the snow waiting for her. He smiled and stood up. “I was starting to think you stood me up.”

“Oh please.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s a little busier than I expected. I had to wait to crossover.” She said. To get to their sweet spot you had to cross three different trails and that was treacherous when you were on foot, it was like playing Frogger with skiers and snowboarders flying down the trail as you tried to walk across.

“Uh huh,” He said with a laugh.

She stood up from her place in the snow with her board strapped to her feet. She jumped around to check her binding straps and pulled her goggles down from her helmet. “See you at the bottom if you can keep up little boy!” She yelled back over her shoulder and pointed her board towards the bottom. He quickly followed choosing to ride her line behind her.

They raced down the face of the mountain around trees and rocks and over crazy jumps. A few loose blond curls flowed behind Adler’s head. She felt free, her blood was on fire with adrenaline. She lived for the feeling she got when was shredding powder. She threw a different trick with every small jump that they hit. Gordy was right behind her throwing his own tricks. At one point Gordy carved across into his own line and they hit a tandem jump. Gordy did a cab five-forty and Adler did a frontside five-forty. She carved over behind him to follow his line over the last couple of jumps and around the last of the obstacles as they made their way towards the bottom.

“That was sick!” He yelled as he high-fived her at the bottom. They cut back over to the closest trail when they reached the bottom so that they would come out closer to the lift chair.

“Man, I almost didn’t see that last fucking tree.” She laughed and picked her board up. She’d been down the same path hundreds of times and it was just as thrilling as the first time every time.

Gordy laughed with her. “If I barely missed it I don’t know how you didn’t clip it.”

“I must have lightening speed cat-like reflexes.” She grinned.

“I guess so.” He shook his head. “That double jump was off the hook.”

“Yeah that was pretty sweet. I wish we had video to play back. Maybe we can pay some bum to stand there with a video camera one day.”

“Hey, that’s not a bad idea.” He said as they started walked towards the chair lift.

“Yeah, but then we risk giving our spot away. I know the pros ride there, but if the tourist ski buffs find it we’re screwed. We own the back country and I plan to keep it that way. Maybe we can get Amy to do it.” She said. She briefly thought of Cason, but not as the cameraman they were talking about, more like she wished she could show her this part of the mountain.

“That could work, but she lives in Salt Lake City.” He said.

“I know. I thought she was moving down by you.”

“In Vail?” He shrugged. “She never said anything to me about it. I thought she was a diehard Utah girl.”

“I know she was talking about moving and named a few places that she was looking at. They were all here in Colorado though.”

“I’ll sell her my house.” He said with a laugh as they got on the lift chair and headed back to the top of the mountain to ride again.

***

Cason was sleeping in an on call room when her cell phone went off. She rolled to the side and answered it. “How did I know it would be you calling when my phone rang at three a.m.?

“Tell me you’re on shift, otherwise why the fuck did you answer?” Warren teased.

“Yeah I’m on, just laid down about two hours ago.”

“Busy night up on the mountain?” He asked.

“No. More like nurse ‘busy hands’ is on shift and I don’t trust her with my eyes closed. I had to hide , sneak into a room and then lock the door.” She rubbed her tired eyes. “Thank god she only works twelve hour shifts. I think she’s gone now.”

“That’s just crazy. Either hit it or turn her in for harassment.”

Cason rolled onto her back on the tiny hospital bed. Over the years she had gotten somewhat used to sleeping on them. “I’m not going to ruin her career over some heavy flirtation and I am definitely not sleeping with her. Hell no,” She sighed. “I guess she just got to me tonight. She pushed the right combination of buttons when I came on this morning and pissed me off pretty good.”

“You’ll be out of there in a few weeks anyway. So, how many ski-bunnies did you hook up with? I’m still mad you didn’t invite me up.”

She laughed. “I haven’t hooked up with anyone. I’ve actually been kind of busy outside of the hospital. I worked as a back-up medic at the X Games and I’ve been hanging out with a snowboarder that I met.”

“Oh really, do tell. Does she have friends?” He said.

“It’s not like that. She’s one of the pros and she is straight and married.”

“I see.”

“I haven’t met any of her friends. I think they live all over the world actually. She travels a lot so I imagine she doesn’t stay in one place for long, but it’s been fun getting to know her.”

“So you’ve been up there five weeks and you haven’t gotten laid once? What happened to the ‘hotter than hot’ doctor love that all the nurses chase around? What have you done with my friend?”

She laughed. “Oh Warren, you know better than that. I haven’t slept with or even attempted to sleep with nowhere near the amount of women you seem to think I pick up.”

He laughed. “I love jerking your chain. I know you’re a saint. I still think there have been a few nurses you never told me about.”

“Nurses are like hairdressers, if you’ve done one you’ve done them all. They gossip like newshounds. You know I made the mistake of sleeping with Camille, that ICU nurse like four years ago, she told everyone that would listen and then it just spread from there. She doesn’t even work at DMC anymore and the rumor is still going around that I like to play doctor with nurses.” She shook her head and laughed. “She was the one and only nurse I have ever slept with and the sex with her wasn’t even good!”

He laughed. “I’m glad you’re coming back soon. It’s so dull around here without you.” He paused. “Oh gotta go. Got an MVA coming in with multiple vics.”

“Must be nice to have work to do. I’m going back to sleep.”

***

Cason finished her shift without any traumatic events. She envied Warren a little bit. She missed home. She missed the fast paced lifestyle of the big city and busy hospital. She would miss Aspen just as much when she left, but for a whole new reason this year. She wondered what Adler was doing. She was surprised to see Adler’s name light up on her phone when it rang.

“Hey you,”

“Hey, what are you doing? Are you working?” Adler asked.

“No. I just got off shift a little bit ago actually. Why? What’s up?”

“Do you want to go with me on a photo shoot? It will probably be boring, but…”

“I’d love to.”

“Cool. I’ll pick you up in twenty minutes.”

Eighteen

Cason was surprised when they parked in front of a small building in the middle of downtown Aspen. The town was extremely small to begin with so downtown was pretty much just two square blocks of shops and businesses. Adler put a handful of quarters in the meter a few feet away and printed a parking ticket to put on her dash.

“Now I see why you brought me along.” Cason nodded towards the meter. “To keep up with the time on your parking ticket.”

Adler smiled. “Yeah, I guess you figured it out.” She said as she grabbed her hand and pulled her inside the small brick building. “This place is pretty cool. The first time I came here I thought it was a hole in the wall, but it’s actually a very popular photography studio.”

Cason looked around at the drab decorations and black and white photos on the brick walls. She almost missed the skinny little guy that came out of the back and appeared next to Adler. He was about Cason’s height with thinning hair brown hair pulled back into a stringy ponytail. The sleeves of his thin button down shirt were rolled up to his elbows and his skinny jeans were that new style that looked worn and dirty. She expected to see flip flops on his feet, but he was wearing some kind of shoes that reminded her of the ones Gilligan wore in Gilligan’s Island.

“Cason, this is Harvey, he’s an awesome photographer. He owns this place.” Adler said.

“It’s nice to meet you.” Cason continued to look around the room. She wondered if he was a hippy.

“They finally sent all the outfits and suggestions a few days ago. I laid out a few ideas I want to try and then I figured we would just run with it. Did you bring the props?” He said with a slightly squeaky voice.

Adler pointed to the snowboards and boots that she and Cason carried in with them. “Awesome. Let’s get to it then.” He led them to a large room in the back with huge lighting and shading equipment scattered all around. Cason watched as he and Adler took a look at all of the various ski items that her clothing sponsor sent for the shoot. She agreed with his choices and read the suggestions that the sponsor sent.

“White Out, my clothing sponsor, is in Maine so it’s easier for them to send everything here and have Harvey take the preliminary shots, then they make the decision on what outfits they want and we go out on the mountain and take more pictures. It’s kind of a monotonous task, but they pay me well so I deal with it twice a year.”

“So these pictures will be magazines?” Cason asked.

“Yeah, and billboards or whatever else they want to put them on to promote their clothing line. I’ve been with them for three years. They make fashionable ski clothes that are functional.” Adler was talking and taking her jeans and sweater off at the same time. Harvey turned the heat off so at least it wouldn’t be eighty degrees, but it would still be pretty warm in the thermal jackets and pants and ski caps. Cason swallowed hard as Adler turned to her in just her bra and low slung jeans that were unbuttoned and hanging open. The top of baby blue panties were barely visible in the V.

“Come on doc, I’m sure you see people in a lot less than panties and bra.” Adler said and laughed.

“Yeah well they are usually dying of some sort of serious injury and none look like you.” Cason said with her back still to the blond.

Adler quickly pulled on a pair of white ski pants and a turquoise jacket. “You can turn around now.” She grinned when Cason gave her the once over.

“That jacket makes your eyes glow. I like it.” Cason met her eyes and held them a little longer than she probably should have.

“Let’s hope the camera likes it too.” Adler wiggled her eyebrows and smiled.

Cason watched as the skinny little photographer slithered around the room taking pictures from all angles. After about twenty pictures and a dozen poses he sent her to change again. Adler quickly shed her clothes and pulled on another combination of colors. Again, Cason turned her head.

An hour later, Harvey uploaded about a hundred photos to his computer and put them up on a large projector screen in another room. He and Adler went through each outfit and picked out the best pose. Once they had everything finished he emailed the proofs to her agent at White Out.

Harvey spun around in his chair with his hands folded behind his head. “Now, we wait.”

“We’re going to go get some lunch. Call me if you hear from them. We’ll be back in an hour.” Adler said as she stood up from the seat on the other side of the desk. Cason followed her out of the building. “So, this is where you say take me home, I’m bored to death.” She laughed.

“No. It’s interesting actually, this whole process.”

“They are so picky it’s ridiculous. By doing it this way though, they only have to pay for the photographers time. They don’t have to send my agent all the way here to oversee a couple hours of picture taking. All of my major sponsors do things differently. The inconsistencies kind of drive me crazy.” Adler drove them to a small bistro on the other side of downtown.

“We could have walked here.” Cason said when she got out.

“Hi Adler, can I have you autograph?” A young girl asked when Adler stepped onto the curb in front of the restaurant. Adler got a marker out of her SUV and signed the girls ski cap.

“That’s why we didn’t walk. We would’ve had to stop a lot. I always sign autographs when I’m asked. I think it’s an honor to have someone ask for you to write your name on one of their possessions, or their body. And yes that has happened.”

“I wouldn’t have minded.” Cason said. “Except for the body part, that’s a little odd.”

“You’d be surprised. A few guys have asked me to sign their chests.” She shrugged. “Gordy had some girl ask him to sign her tits once. I almost died when she pulled her shirt up and let him have full view to decide where to sign.”

“Wow. That’s crazy. Maybe they shouldn’t sell alcohol at these events.” Cason said and laughed.

“What gets me is they want us to write on them with a marker that will erase if and when they decide to shower. Why not ask for a picture or an autograph on something that you will remember in the morning?”