"Winter Rental", by Gratiana Lovelace (Done 2022) (copyrighted 2022)

Ch. 5: More than cross country skiing for Connie & Eddie

"Winter Rental", Ch. 5: More than cross country skiing for Connie & Eddie, by Gratiana Lovelace, January 30, 2022 (Post #1443) 

["Winter Rentla" is an original contemporary romance copyrighted by Gratiana Lovelace, 2022;  all rights reserved]   [(1) the "Winter Rental" story cover (above, left); other image credits are at the end of each chapter(s) post] 

[Author's notes: I cast my characters as I write my stories—to help myself and my readers visualize the main characters. So my main characters for "Winter Rental" are: Richard Armitage as Greg Halliday; Cameron Diaz as his younger sister Connie Halliday; Anne Hathaway as Diana Langley; Liam Hemsworth as Eddie Hughes; Rege-Jean Page as Mike Porter, and others as noted.

I will post new story chapters on both my SAL blog, as well as, on my Wattpad site.

This is also a gentle romance (with chapters being rated as PG-13 or so, unless otherwise noted), with some heartfelt romantic moments—and some mature romantic discussions put to humorous effect. So if you cannot or will not attend a movie with my maturity ratings, then don't read that chapter. And though I set my story in the lovely city and area of Galena, IL—which I have enjoyed visiting many times—for the purposes of my storytelling here, I use dramatic license of the facts, individuals, locations, etc. These are my disclaimers.]

"Winter Rental", Ch. 5: More than Cross Country Skiing for Connie and Eddie

As their Cross Country tour guide, the Pineridge Mountain Ski Resort's Recreation Director and Ski Pro Eddie Hughes gives his skiing safety guidelines to the tour group, Connie Halliday is mesmerized by him, her teenaged sweetheart—and her first love. And she wonders how fate worked its magic to bring them together again, after all these years? Twelve years, in fact. Connie doesn't plan to question their meeting again—just to accept it, and whatever destiny they might make for themselves together.

Then Eddie strides over to Connie just before his cross country skiing tour group gets underway. Eddie is thrilled to see Connie again—and delighted with her equally positive reaction to seeing him. Eddie has secretly borne his continuing love for Connie all these years. Despite him having another girlfriend, or two over the years, neither of these ladies progressed to the level of the soul searing connection that Eddie and Connie had once shared. And Eddie wonders deep in his heart, if maybe the flame of his and Connie's past love can be rekindled for their future together?

Eddie: "All set Connie?" He raises his eyebrows with a cordial smile. He does not wish to reveal his tender feelings about Connie in front of his tour group, lest they might feel slighted in his attention.

Connie: "I'm ready to go!" Connie smiles radiantly at Eddie, her thinking that he has truly matured into an amazingly handsome man. And that he is still so kind and gentlemanly—and not stodgy, like her older brother Greg.

Eddie: Leaning close, he whispers in Connie's ear. "Though we're having lunch as a group after the tour, I would love to have some private time for you and I to reconnect and catch up with each other. Will you have dinner tonight with me at the resort? My treat?" He smiles hopefully.

Connie: "Love to!" Connie adoringly smiles gazing up at Eddie, she can't help it. She hopes that she and Eddie might see if they want to begin dating again. She has never forgotten him over the years—measuring every man she met by Eddie's high bar.

Eddie and Connie are both smiling as their cross country skiing tour group gets under way. And Connie had noticed from the tour map that Eddie provided to everyone, that their route goes very near to her family's former vacation home that her parents sold to the resort a few years ago. So she wonders if Eddie might allow a slight detour today for her to see it. Or perhaps, they can visit it together on another day.

***

Connie is not only wearing her new hot pink ski jumpsuit outfit today—though she prefers pastels and earth tone colors, it is better for safety out in the snow to wear bright vivid colors—but she is on new cross country skis and boots that her brother Greg bought her, also at the Langley's sporting goods store in Galena. So she is a little shaky at first on her new skis—her getting accustomed to their weight and balance, with her also trying not to run over her slightly slower new cross country skiing novices tour group companions.

And to avoid any unintentional collisions, Eddie has the other cross country skiers in their tour group slightly spread apart to their sides, as well as, ahead and behind them. Eddie is taking the lead in order to make sure that he points out any difficult passages to his tour group. Though the cross country skiing tour route was planned for easy and level travel, the snow can hide many ground anomalies like felled tree limbs, holes, and such. Even a pine cone can throw off a skier's gait and balance. So skiers have to be ever vigilant. A fall at these relatively slow speeds on level ground is not likely to badly injure someone. But the last thing Eddie wants is for anyone to have a bad experience—and an injury, however slight, would surely do that.

Along their cross country ski tour, Eddie also points out various natural features in the woods at these lower level elevations of the Pineridge Mountain Ski Resort—including animals, with many rabbits and foxes flitting about them at a distance, while gratefully the bears are in full hibernation mode, so no danger there. Eddie also embellishes some resort history regarding its development, as well as famous guests over the years, in order to enliven his tour group's experience. If only a certain celebrity had skied, the Pineridge Mountain Ski Resort & Hotel might have gotten him to visit with his celebrity friends in the late 1950's—well before the 30 year old Eddie was born. If only.

For Connie's part, she enjoys the invigorating feeling of being out in nature as she cross country skis—despite the freezing cold. And she is enraptured by listening to Eddie's deep and soft as velvet voice as he weaves stories about the resort for their tour group. And Connie absentmindedly wonders if she'll have enough time after their tour group lunch at the Ski Resort to visit the resort's clothing store to find a nice dress for tonight's dinner with Eddie. Connie smiles, just thinking of having dinner with Eddie—holding hands across a privately spaced candlelit table, gazing into one another's eyes, sharing their inner most thoughts with each other, and perhaps a sweetly tender kiss on each others' cheeks at the end of their evening, nothing more, yet.

They will take their time getting to know each other again slowly—in the hope of building a more permanent relationship between them this time. Connie might talk a good game of self empowered flirtation, but with Eddie she has an ease and friendliness with him borne of their long ago teenage sweethearts relationship. And perhaps she and Eddie can be much much more.

However, Connie's musings are cut short as she hears one of the tour group's guy members in front of her fall with a hard thud and then he emits painful groans. Everyone stops to see what happened and who is hurt. It turns out that a forty something guy named Pete Teller's ski tripped over a really big pine cone, him losing his balance and falling upon his arm, breaking it in two places. Eddie instantly goes to Pete's side to assess the injury. It looks bad from the angle of Pete's arm. Eddie pulls out his tour map to see where they are. And Connie helps in that regard.

Connie: "Oh Eddie! We're just about 100 yards away from our family's former home that the resort bought from us a few years ago. We can at least take shelter there to wait while the Ski Resort sends a van to pick us up, once we contact them." Since Pete isn't cross country skiing another inch with his broken arm causing him searing pain, and him not able to use the stabilizing ski poles.

***