Chapter 120: Ellie

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A/N: Mature content. ❤️❤️❤️


Having grown up on the Northern California coastline, with beaches and cliffs, the mountains in both Calgary and British Columbia felt unworldly from when we first left the Calgary airport. I captured their beautiful grayish-black contrast against the perfectly white snow majestic in more pictures than I counted. Their size, scale, and rugged, natural beauty humbled and even intimidated me as we rode through and around them.

"Do you miss Canada?" I asked Logan while my head rested against his shoulder and eyes drooped from their constant gaze out the bus window on his right side.

"I don't think about it much," he admitted quietly and kissed the top of my head, where his mouth lingered for a breath. "Guess home is where your family is."

I sat silent for a moment, then agreed, "Suppose that's true."

Words couldn't have expressed how grateful I felt at how civil Jake and Logan acted towards each other so far, despite how they faced each other in the PAC-12 Conference title game once this trip ended. Since Logan arrived at our house the night before our early flights, Jake had largely kept to himself.

After whatever the hell exchange that was in Dad's garage, Jake even seems to be getting along with Harper.

On the bus ride from the Calgary airport, I caught Jake's gaze reflected in the window from where he sat behind Logan's seat, in the last row on the nearly empty bus. A few times on the flights up, I saw he wore the same unreadable expression on his face, and the way he gawked at Harper couldn't have been more obvious, but his body language read relaxed and casual.

Guess Mom was right, we needed the break.

My curiosity from how quickly Jake rushed me and Logan out of the cabin vanished the moment Logan and I were driven into the small, picturesque town of Golden, British Columbia. The shuttle drove under an adorable town sign that arched over the road into town and 'Howdy Folks!' at the top of the arch. Charming red brick, flat-front stores lined both sides of the main street until we stopped at a local grocery store.

The four of us were only here for four days but even just the quiet, subdued grocery store trip while Logan and I shopped without any eyes, or better phones, on us was both quick and relaxing.

"Jake asked for those." I pointed at some ribeye steaks in the meat refrigerator. "He actually said he wanted to cook dinner for Harper tonight."

"Huh," was all Logan responded, along with an unreadable expression of his own, but he grabbed a package and put it in the cart.

Once the resort's shuttle returned us to the cabin, Logan and I ate a quick lunch, then layered up our winter clothes. I felt like a puffy snowman as we walked to the Kicking Horse Resort's reception desk and followed the directions for ski lessons until we reached the Telus Winter Snow School office. Our boots thumped on the worn wooden floors of what looked like a ski shop with all the gear that hung off racks on the walls.

"May I help you?" A girl around our age, with jet-black hair and brown eyes greeted us cheerfully. Ironically, her name 'Summer' was clipped on a nametag near the Telus logo on her sweatshirt.

Gosh, she sounds like Grace.

"My girlfriend wants some ski lessons." Logan patted one hand on my shoulder.

"Or at least how not to kill myself flying into a tree," I added with a slight grimace.

Summer laughed quietly. "We can take care of that."

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