She sputtered out a laugh. “Wow.”
“What? You know I have to meet a friend at the rink.”
“Oh, my God, you’re so much like Kurt. It’s hilarious.”
“How would you know? The last time you saw him you were five.”
She went quiet.
Ah, hell. He hadn’t meant to be mean. “Do you have any memories of him?”
“Not really.” Her troubled look made him feel like shit for bringing it up. “You know what’s sad? I remember my first pair of butter-yellow patent leather Mary Janes, but I barely remember my father.”
He braked as the gate slowly swung open. “Well, you were young.”
“I wonder if I’d have turned out differently with Kurt in my life.” She smoothed her shorts. “If I’d kept coming here, would I have wound up loving it? I can just see my mum’s expression when I got off the plane at Heathrow with straw in my hair and a farmer’s tan.” Her smile faded. “I was on track to become just like her, but if I’d had Kurt to…I don’t know, sort of balance out her influence, what sort of person would I have become?”
“I think you turned out just fine. But sure, he’d have had an impact. He would’ve led by example, though, and left it up to you to follow or not.
“Why did you follow it, do you think?”
As he drove down 191, he could admit the truth. “I wanted to be worthy of his investment.”
“What does that mean?”
Yeah, Declan, what do you mean? He gave it some thought. “He was the best hockey player in the country, and he took time out of his schedule to work with us. I just wanted to, you know, respect his time.”
“You didn’t want him to give up on you. Lose interest. I can see that.”
“Kurt’s been retired for ten years, and still, no one’s beaten his records. That’s how good he was. And the fact that he started a travel team for the four of us…it was a big deal. I wanted it to be worthwhile for him.”
“Did the other guys take it as seriously?”
“Absolutely. We all did.” I just really wanted to make him proud.
“So why is Cole the only one playing professionally?”
Ha. Good question. “Oh, well, you know. Shit happens.” Nothing he wanted to talk about. “It’s a long story.”
“How far’s the rink?”
“Not far enough.” He fought a grin.
“Hey, I told you my story.”
“Yep. You sure did.”
She gave him a playful shove. “Oh, come on. How bad can it be?”
“It’s pretty bad.” Reflexively, his fingers squeezed the steering wheel. “One of the guys almost died.”
“Oh. I’m sorry. I had no idea…”
His chest tightened, and his palms went clammy. It didn’t happen all that often anymore—ten years was a long time—but when something triggered memories of that night, it all came back to him. And not just the images but the volatile cocktail of emotions.
He’d get that flash of Booker’s parachute buckling, and his blood would freeze. “We’d done a lot of extreme shit together, and we’d been lucky.”
“I’m guessing your luck ran out?”
“Yep.”
“In the lawyer’s office the other day, it was clear something had happened, but I couldn’t make out what. You were very intense, watching their faces, reading their reactions.” She sat up, shifting to face him. “Did my father do something? Is that why he left you the team, so he could make up for something he did to break up your friendships?”
“One day, you’ll stop painting Kurt with your mom’s brush, and you’ll see him through your own eyes. No, what happened that night was all on us. Kurt had nothing to do with it.”
“So, if you don’t mind my asking, what happened?”
With his heart racing and chest tightening, a weird sensation took hold, like his mind was drifting away from his body. But he wouldn’t let anxiety take control. No, he could do this. For her, he would. “It was the summer after senior year. The night before Booker was heading to L.A. to play for the Kings. Cole was going to play for the Renegades, your dad’s team. Jaime was heading to Canada to play in the Junior Division.”
“And you?”
“I went to University of Michigan.”
“Oh, you weren’t…” Her jaw snapped shut.
Pretty sure she was going to say you weren’t good enough? He couldn’t help chuckling. He, Booker, and Cole had been all over magazines and newspapers for being the rare trio from a small town in Wyoming to make the big leagues. “No, I could’ve played. Your dad wanted me on the Renegades, but I wanted a college education.”
“So, what happened?” She said it softly, as if she understood how hard this conversation was for him.
“The night before Booker and I left—him for training, me for college—Jaime’s parents told him they were selling the dude ranch. They’d been in the red too long, and with him leaving, they just couldn’t do it anymore. They couldn’t afford to hire someone to replace him. His entire family had given their blood and sweat for that ranch, and he couldn’t walk away, so he gave up his spot on the Canadian team to stay and help.”
“Wow, that had to be awful for him.”
“He said there was no decision to be made. Family first. But, yeah, it sucked, so he asked us to hang out with him one more night. I was already packed, ready for bed. I had to get up at five to make my flight out of Idaho Falls, so I said no. I’d see them over the holidays. Booker said the same thing because we knew, anytime the four of us got together—”
“Shenanigans.”
“Yeah. But Cole was down for it, and he told us to meet at the airstrip instead of going to Jaime’s house. He’d steal his dad’s Piper Cub and fly up to the ridge where they had a cabin.”
“Fancy.”
Right. She didn’t know. “Cole’s dad is Trevor Montgomery.”
“Shut up.” Her feet landed on the floorboard. “You’re joking?”
He shook his head.
“Cut it out. Trevor Montgomery, the movie star, is your friend’s dad?”
“Yeah. He lives in Malibu, but he prefers his place in Calamity. A lot of celebrities move here because they’re left alone. No one gives a shit about their portfolio or fame. But anyhow, he built a cabin on top of a mountain. Coolest place you’ve ever seen. It literally sits at the edge of the world, overlooking all of Jackson Hole. In any event, they promised it wouldn’t be a crazy night, so Booker and I went along.”
Her fingers bunched the fabric of her shorts. “Oh, no.”
Yeah. “It was fine at first. We had a bonfire. Jaime’s the kind of guy who can handle his liquor so you wouldn’t even know he was drunk. It was getting late, and I had a big day of travel, so I said we should head out, and that’s when Jaime got this wild look on his face, and he announced he was going to BASE jump.”
“What is that, exactly?”
As he approached the hot zone of the story, he let out a slow, unsteady breath. “It’s when you jump from a fixed object like a bridge or a building—”