Tainted Mountain by Shannon Baker Page B

Ski, dwindled to a few bottles and the speeches gave way to anecdotes.
    At least Abigail wasn’t here to hate this casual funeral, or whatever they were calling it. Nora wanted to honor Scott and give his friends a chance to say goodbye. Now, at the end of her ability to maintain control, she simply wished it would end.
    Nora leaned against Charlie, glad for his loyal, if a little beer-bleary, support. Abbey lay at her feet, content to snooze in the dappled shade of the pines.
    Charlie put his arm around her shoulder and squeezed. “Mighty fine sendoff. Scott had a boatload of friends, both here and from other places.”
    People flocked to Scott. He knew how to have fun. It always amazed her that someone so full of life and mischief would hook up with someone serious like her. At first she hadn’t trusted it, hadn’t trusted him. But he charmed her and won her over so completely that after seven years she didn’t know where he started and she ended. So many women wanted to be with Scott, but he’d chosen Nora to be his wife.
    One of Scott’s buddies finished his story. “Scott pointed his skis down, took that jump, and landed like a giant snowball. He rolled down the mountain. We thought he broke at least twenty bones. But when we got there he was brushing snow off, like, ‘Dudes, what took you so long?’ ” The friend raised his bottle. “You got there first again, man. Guess you couldn’t wait.”
    A few people murmured, most raised their bottles at the simple hat-sized pine box Nora had picked out for Scott’s ashes.
    After a moment of silence, Nora sucked in a breath. She planned to dump his ashes over the side of the mountain and leave him in a place he loved.
    Charlie’s watery eyes filled with compassion.
    How could she let him go? She could scatter Scott’s ashes anytime. It didn’t have to be now. Nora stepped from under Charlie’s arm and turned to the knot of people. Since trekking up the mountain, Nora had drawn in her body tight so she wouldn’t fly apart. She knew his friends had gathered by the sounds of shuffling feet and murmurs. She hadn’t been able to turn and see them all.
    She inhaled deeply and swallowed. “Thank you for coming. This is the way Scott would have chosen that we celebrate his life.” Celebrate his life. Who comes up with this crap?
    Abbey stood and stretched. He settled his silky head under Nora’s dangling fingers.
    They stepped forward, hugged her, kissed her, said variations of, “if there’s anything I can do.” She smiled and accepted that they loved Scott and cared for her. But she wanted to be alone.
    Charlie and Nora stood by the box as everyone else wandered away. God, when would this end? A mass of blonde drew Nora’s attention to the edge of the clearing, where people were starting to make their way down the trail.
    A big-ass ugly mule kicked Nora’s belly, followed by instant nausea. That face always caused the same reaction.
    Charlie followed Nora’s line of vision. “You got something against that girl?”
    The blonde threw her arms around one of Scott’s cycling buddies. She sobbed into his chest, and he patted her back.
    Already tender, Nora’s emotions shredded into piles of gore. “I can’t believe her nerve.”
    Charlie took a step down the trail. “If you don’t want her here, I’ll send her on her way.”
    Nora didn’t want to remember that face. Two years ago, the night she’d driven to town for a beer. Alone because Scott was supposedly competing in a bike race in Utah, she stepped into the bar. She expected happy greetings from friends, but their faces froze. It took about two seconds to see Scott cozied up to that athletic blonde at a back table.
    Just seeing that bleached head of spun shit brought back the pain, humiliation, and betrayal. Nora wanted to honor Scott today, not relive that