Intercepted (12 page)

“You were supposed to come back Wednesday. What changed?”

He shrugs. “I had a couple of people to meet in downtown Aspen.” He doesn
’
t make eye contact and doesn
’
t explain further. I wonder if ‘people
’
means
clients
. I squash the thought
because the idea of Jake with other women is revolting to me. I don
’
t know why it bothers me so much, but it does. I
don
’
t want to think about Jake
’
s line of work right now.

“See you later?” I smile as he holds the door open for me. His answering
smile sends a whirlpool to my stomach. I lean over and give him a kiss on the
cheek.

“Later,” he says, and he
’
s still smiling.

I work my shift feeling almost normal for the first time since I came
back. The Marc nightmare is starting to fade to the background and even though
I am two-thirds full of dread, it seems to be receding. I also don
’
t want to admit that the other third of me is
filled with thoughts of Jake. Jake is a dead end and even though he rescued me
from death he is far from being a knight on a white horse. But I
’
d be lying if I said that knowing I will meet
with him after my shift is not making me smile more than I should be smiling
after breaking up with my fiancée.

I am waiting at the pool at four thirty sharp, like we agreed. Jake shows
up wrapped in a robe like the one he put on me last night.
Maybe it
’
s the same one?
I am bundled in a long parka, sitting on the edge of the pool with my
feet in the water. It is like 90 degrees in the pool and it feels heavenly. I
give him a little wave and he smiles. He looks like a Greek Adonis, all six
feet four of him in that long white robe. He sits next to me and kisses my
cheek. My heart wakes up.

“Ready?” he says. I nod and shrug off my parka. He does the same and gets
into the water first, then holds my hand to pull me in. I still.

“Come on, chicken. You have this part down, remember?”

I smirk, but oblige.

Jake is all business today. He makes me stretch my arms in front of me
and grip the edge of the pool while I kick with my feet. He stays close and
makes corrections. I feel safe because he
’
s
standing right next to me and I am no longer afraid I will drown. Somehow,
being so close to my death last night has significantly diminished my fear of
drowning. I know I owe that to Jake, so I want to make his time worthwhile and
show him I can do this.

He gives me a foam board and tells me to practice kicking while he swims
right by my side. He seems so at ease in the water and I envy him. I can tell
he loves it. He smiles and he looks so handsome I get distracted more than
once.

Next, I stand and watch while he shows me the free-style movement of the
arms. He makes me practice it at the shallow end and once I
’
ve got it down he tells me it is time to put it
all together. I am nervous, but Jake reassures me that I
’
ve got this. I begin by pushing myself off the
wall and practice what he
’
s taught me.
At first I
’
m overcome by a sudden panic
that I will sink, but Jake places his palm under my stomach and supports me.
Before I know it, he
’
s pulled it
away and I am freaking doing it. I push the water backward with my cupped hands
like he showed me and don
’
t stop until
I meet the wall at the deep end. I hold on to the edge of the pool, panting and
grinning.

“I did it, Jake! I can swim. OMG!”

Jake
’
s smile is disarming and I have
to fight the urge to kiss him because I am so freaking happy and it feels good
to be sharing this moment with him.

I swim to the other side and he makes me practice it several times. When
we finish, I am panting and only half-way full of Marc-dread and half full of
happiness and Jake.

“Thank you,” I say, looking up at him.

“You are welcome. I am proud of you, Natalia. You
’
ve got this.”

The way he says my name combined with the fact that I just made him proud
makes my chest swell. I jump and wrap my arms around his neck, startling him.
His arms close around me and we hug each other for a few silent seconds. I
suddenly realize how much more intimate this is because we are only wearing
bathing suits. I slowly pull away and meet his eyes. I see pride in their
caramel background. He
’
s got amazing
eyes.

“Let
’
s celebrate,” he says. “
Tonight. Dinner at
my place.
”

I open my mouth to question whether that
’
s a good idea, but he stops me.

“We already spent the night together and there is no risk of feelings
being misunderstood, so dinner and a movie would be fun if you are up to it. My
friends get here tomorrow and I won
’
t have
the place to myself anymore.”

I smile, but can
’
t help a pang
of disappointment. I don
’
t want our
feelings misunderstood, but I also can
’
t help
how much I like spending time with Jake. Dinner and a movie seem safe and
exactly what I need at the moment, so I agree. He hands me my parka and out of
the corner of my eye I see someone approaching. I look up and my whole body
freezes at once.

Marc.

He is completely dressed in black, Armani, no doubt. His face is serious
and determined as he gets closer. I frown. He is the last person I want to see
right now and I also don
’
t want Marc
to be a part of my memories in Aspen. At all. As far as I
’
m concerned Marc is a memory-wrencher.

He stops a few steps away and his clear blue eyes lock on Jake, trying to
assess the situation.

“What are you doing here?” I snarl.

“I need to talk to you and you don
’
t answer
my calls.” His tone is calm and that makes me madder. I look up at Jake and his
eyes are burning a hole on Marc. Jake turns to me and his whole face is etched
in fury. His hand flexes into a fist.

“You okay?” He says, ignoring Marc who is now looking at him full-on.

I glance up at Marc and nod, even though I want him to leave. In my mind,
we are over and nothing he says will change that. But maybe this is inevitable
and we need to have closure.

Jake gives Marc another murderous glare and tells me he
’
ll see me later. Then walks away.

“I
’
m
cold,
” I say to Marc. “
Let me change.
” I tell him to get his car and that I will meet
him at the curb. I don
’
t want to
talk to Marc here because this is my workplace and I have maxed out on drama
last night. He frowns, but agrees.

We drive a few miles and stop by a small rest area with a view point of
the valley. It
’
s breathtaking and in other
circumstances it would be extremely romantic. Marc kills the engine and turns
to me.

“
I am so sorry, Natalia. Can we just
…
start over?
”

I frown. “Just like that? Start over?”

“I
’
m in love with you.” He reaches
for my hand and I pull it away.

“You have a funny way to show love, Marc.” I look up at him with narrow
eyes. “How could you. How could you fucking cheat on me? I would
never
do that to you. You ruined everything.”

“You are right. I
’
m sorry. The
truth is that this whole long-distance thing has been much harder than I
thought.”

“That
’
s your excuse? It was
hard
?
You could have told me before. We could have worked something out.”

“Really? Like what?” He snaps. “You are so wrapped up into working and
getting the internship. Every minute in your life is accounted for, Natalia. I
got the feeling we would never reach a point where it was just you and me. I
need you by my side. I want you to be my
wife
. The rest has to come
second to that.”

“Are you kidding? You were
fucking
someone else TWO FUCKING DAYS
AGO.”

“
She doesn
’
t mean anything.”

“Stop saying that. It just makes it worse. All it means is that you
couldn
’
t keep your dick in your pants. Tell me something.
How many were there?”

“What?”

“How many women, Marc? I want to know.”

He looks disconcerted and his eyes dart to the picturesque view outside.
And I have my answer. But I want to hear it from his lying, cheating lips.

“
Tell me.
”

“
I don’
t know. What does it
matter? I want to marry
you
. That won
’
t happen again, Natalia.”

“You are damn right it won
’
t.
Because I don
’
t ever want to see you again.”
A knot swells in my throat and burning tears are streaming down my cheeks. He
tries to pull me into a hug and I start hitting him with my fists and calling
him a liar and a cheater. He is way stronger than me and grips me hard against
his chest, wrapping his arms around me. It
’
s uncomfortable because we are pressed against
each other in the confined space of the car. I stop fighting him and cry. Hard.
Marc kisses my hair and asks me to forgive him, over and over. He pleads for
another chance. I still love him and part of me wonders if another chance can
save us. Maybe I can learn to forgive. Any option seems better than the pain
this is causing me. But despite the jagged meteorite churning in my chest, I
know.

This is the end of us.

Chapter 16:
Jake

I go downtown and pace around. I need to think and let the rage from the
last ten minutes flow. Plus I told Natalia I had people to see,
which
was complete bullshit, but now I need to keep
appearances. I wonder aimlessly around the small town. The sky is overcast and
the streets are painted with fresh snow. People walk in and out of restaurants,
bundled up and looking happy to be out in the high season of Aspen.

At a liquor store, I buy a couple of bottles of wine for my dinner with
Natalia tonight. I wonder if we still have a date. With the turn things took,
who the fuck knows. I may be drinking alone.

It starts to snow, so I grab a coffee, then go into a couple of art
galleries to kill time. I am soon out of distractions and can
’
t take my mind off this afternoon. I want to know
what happened between Natalia and that shithead. Not that I blame him for
showing up, I would
’
ve done the
same. But I sure as hell hope he
’
s still
downgraded to ex-fiancée. Why in the fuck any guy would cheat on a woman like
Natalia is beyond me.

I take a cab back to the lodge and shower. It
’
s almost eight in the evening and I wish I
’
d asked Natalia for her number, so I can check if
she
’
s still coming. I feel like a goddamn teen before
my first date with the girl I
’
ve got a
crush on. I pour myself a scotch and down it.
Easy, Jake. No false
expectations, remember?

Half an hour later there
’
s a knock
on the door and I rush to it. I run both hands through my hair and take a deep
breath, laughing at myself. When I open the door she
’
s there, dressed in a white turtleneck and jeans.
She looks beautiful and I love that she
’
s not
trying to impress me and chose to wear something comfortable. She smiles as she
kisses my cheek and walks in. I fucking love Argentina and their greeting
customs.

“I brought popcorn,” she says, handing me a couple of pouches of
microwavable stuff.

“Great.” I follow her in. She looks calm and I want to ask her about this
afternoon. The fact that she
’
s here with
popcorn is a good sign that she and the cheating fuck didn
’
t get back together, so I relax. I hand her a
room service menu and tell her we can choose a movie while we wait for the
food. She likes my plan and tells me she
’
s
starving. I like that she
’
s hungry and
that she didn
’
t eat before our date, like
most women would have. I order our dinner and reach into the fridge for the
bottle of Sauvignon Blanc I bought this afternoon. I pour two glasses and we
toast to her new swimming abilities. She laughs and thanks me for the millionth
time.

“It
’
s okay, you can ask me,” she
says, plopping on the couch as she sips the last of her wine.

“What?”

“You are not curious as to how my afternoon went?”

Yes. I am in fucking agony.
I shrug. “I figured you would tell me if you
wanted to talk about it.” I place a few logs into the fireplace and light it.
The fire crackles as it comes to life. She lets out a long sigh.

“He wants another chance. He promised it will never happen again.”

I nod. “What do you think?”

She rolls her eyes. “Seriously, Jake. How stupid do you think I am? The
worst part is that I asked him how many women there have been and he had to
look away.”

“Asshole,” I mutter.

“
Yeah
. He is an asshole. It sucks. I guess I
’
m glad it happened now and not in a few years
when we had a family. But it hurts, you know? I wish it didn
’
t hurt this much, but it does.” Her eyes are full
of pain and I close my hands into fists. I swear if I had that motherfucker in
front of me right now, I
’
d make him
swallow his teeth. Despite the front she
’
s trying
to put up, Natalia looks heartbroken and there
’
s nothing I wouldn
’
t do to take that pain away.

“I
’
m sorry.” I sit next to her on
the couch and take her hand. She stares at the fire and a sad smile stretches
on her face. “That was my first fear. That Marc would leave me. The other one
was to go down the Women
’
s Downhill.”

“How come?”

“I had a childhood friend. Tango. We became soul mates the day we met. We
were only seven. His dad was a mean drunk and his mom had passed, so even
though we didn
’
t have much, he practically
lived at my house. My mom loved him, sometimes I think more than she loved me,
but that
’
s okay. Tango had nobody.

“He always pushed me to do things I was afraid of doing. He said I had to
toughen up and be brave so I could take care of myself. Tango spent a lot of
time on the streets. He was smart. So smart. He was a hell of a poker player,
too.” She laughs.

“Ah. So that
’
s where those ruthless skills
came from.”

She nods, smiling. “Yup. He was a good teacher. Beat me at everything.
Even as we got older, the only things I could do better than him were cooking
and skiing. He teased me when I came to work up here for the season. He always
wished he could ski, but couldn
’
t afford
it. We used to watch the winter Olympics on TV. He dared me to become a better
skier, said I needed to ski the black diamonds for him. Two years ago, I had
finally saved enough for his airline ticket and a season pass. I was going to
surprise him. But while I was up here I found out he had dropped out of law
school and hadn
’
t told me anything. I was so
angry with him.”

“
Wait.
Law
school? How could he afford that?”

“Public colleges are free in Argentina. Some of them are the best.
Especially law school. Becoming a lawyer doesn
’
t cost you a dime.”

“Are you serious?”

She nods. “He would have made an amazing lawyer. I wanted that for him,
so bad. Anyway, every year I came here and Tango stayed in Buenos Aires. We
Skyped at night and he would dare me to take on the Women
’
s Downhill. That was our thing.” She smiles.
“Daring each other. He knew I was terrified of it. So I said I would do it if
he went back to school and finished. He gave me a hard time, but finally
agreed. That morning I made myself take on the run and Tango took the bus
downtown to fill out the registration.” She stops and tears pool in her eyes.
“He never made it to the school building. A bus hit him full on as he was
crossing the street. When I came to the base Dani told me. The hospital found
my number in his cell phone and she answered.” She is crying harder and it
kills me to see her like this. I put my arm around her and rub her back. “If I
hadn
’
t pushed him to do that, he would still be alive.
I lost my best friend on a fucking dare.”

“
Natalia, babe. You can
’
t blame
yourself for that. You were pushing him to be better, just like you said he did
with you. That
’
s what you do when you love
somebody.” I squeeze her against me and she sobs softly on my shoulder.

“I
’
ve never been able to ski that
run since. I only see him. That
’
s why I
went there last night. I wanted to lose my other fear.”

I tilt her chin up and wipe her tears with my thumbs, then pull her to me
and press a kiss to her lips. They are so soft. She closes her eyes and doesn
’
t push me away. I want to kiss her again, but I
refrain because what she needs right now is a friend.

“Come on,”
I tell her.
“You
’
ve been through a lot the last few days. You need
a break.”

She nods. “Yeah. I
’
m sorry. I
’
m usually not this depressing.”

There is a knock on the door and a voice announces room service. Natalia
doesn
’
t want the staff to see her here, so she leaves
to the bathroom. I let the guy in and sign the bill. When she comes back, I
have rolled the table with the food to the dining area. She sits and I fill her
wine glass almost to the top.

“Are you trying to get me drunk?” She laughs.

“Absolutely.”

She shakes her head. “
I won
’
t stop you. I
think I need it.”

We have dinner in comfortable silence. Afterwards we bring the second
bottle of wine to the couch and she starts scanning through the channels while
I step over to the kitchen to make the popcorn.

“Just rent whatever you want. I don
’
t think
you
’
ll find anything on TV,”
I tell her.

“OMG. Silver Linings Playbook. Can we watch this?”

I frown. “Haven
’
t you seen
that already? It
’
s been out for a while.”

“Yes. And I love it. Can we watch it, please?” She turns around in the
couch and smiles, bringing her hands together in a pleading gesture. It makes
me smile.

“Yeah. Whatever you want. Doesn
’
t matter
to me what we watch.”

She cheers and gets it set up while I pour the popcorn into a bowl.

We sit side by side with the bowl tucked between our legs. Our hands
accidentally touch now and then and it makes me want to kiss her. Everything
about her makes me want to kiss her. Her body so close to mine, her warmth, the
alluring scent of her perfume. It
’
s all
torture and it
’
s a good thing I
’
ve seen the movie before because I
’
m not paying attention at all. I am only aware of
her and every movement or sound she makes. Our shoes are off and our feet are
propped on the coffee table. She laughs at something in the movie and turns her
head to meet my eyes.

“
Thanks, Jake. I
’
m glad I
’
m here.” She nudges my foot with hers. I angle
mine so our feet are touching.

“I
’
m glad you
’
re here, too.” I slide my hand down and it leans
on hers. She stretches her hand out and I reflexively take it and interlace our
fingers. She doesn
’
t say anything and doesn
’
t pull it away. She just looks at our hands together.
It feels good.

And I want to kiss her.

The movie ends and she lets out a long sigh. “Well, I better get going.”

But as she gets up, I tug on our still interlaced hands.

“Don
’
t go,” I whisper. She sits back
on the couch and looks up at me.

“It
’
s kind of late.”

“
I don’
t want you to go. Stay a
little longer.”

“Okay. What are we going to do?”

I look into her eyes. “I want to kiss you.”

Her lips part a fraction and she inhales. I know she feels something,
too.

“Stay,” I whisper. She looks conflicted.

“Jake. I had a shitty weekend. I need to process. Staying here and
kissing
you… would not be a very good idea.”

I laugh. “You always say that.”

“Say what?”

“I ask you out, or invite you to dinner and you tell me it may not be a
good idea.”

She blushes and shrugs and it is adorable.

“Natalia. I want to spend more time with you, and we don
’
t have much left.” I brush her hand with the tips
of my fingers. “I know you just broke up with that asshole and all that. But it
doesn
’
t have to be complicated. I just want to be with
you.” I bite hard at the sound of my own words.
Who
’
s the asshole, Jake?

She looks down at our hands for a long moment, then up at me. “Okay.”

A sudden rush floods me.
“Okay?”

“Yes. I want to kiss you, too. No false promises. Just now. I
’
ve never done anything for just now. My entire
life has always been planned. I
’
m tired
of it. So kiss me, Jake.”