Falling Snow Read Free Page B

off, but she knew what she was getting into when she married him two years earlier. They met on a southern California beach where he met her to do a story for the magazine after she won her Olympic gold medal. After an entire summer of courtship he asked her to marry him. They had so much fun together surfing and walking the beach, until the cold weather rolled around. When the snow started falling she barely saw him. He’d been to her townhouse enough times to count on one hand. He had a huge house in L.A. and traveled around as a writer for ESPN Magazine.
    She flipped the channel on the TV. “The X Games are in three weeks. Are you coming up here?”
    “Not sure babe. It depends on what’s on the schedule. I’m going to try though. I’ve already missed both of your Tour events.” He said. She knew he meant well, he wasn’t a bad guy. She did love him, she just wished they shared more interests.
    “I busted my ass in Snowmass Village today.” She said.
    “Oh really. How did that happen?”
    She told him the story of running late and plowing down a pedestrian. He asked if they were both okay and then laughed hysterically. “I wish I could’ve seen that. You probably scared the hell out of that woman.”
    “Yeah no kidding, I really hope she’s okay.” She thought about the incident again. Cason. She hoped Cason was okay.
    “I should probably go I need to be at the Staples Center a few hours early for tonight’s game to do some pre-game interviews for my article. I’ll call you soon. Love you.” He hung up before she could say anything back.
     
     

 
     
     
    Five
     
     
     
     
     
    Cason had just settled in for the night in the cozy little condo that the doctors used while on rotation. It was only one bedroom, but spacious enough and it was walking distance to a ski lift so she could sit and watch all the skiers coming down the mountain. She had been in town a week and so far the hospital had been fairly quiet. The pace was much slower than DMC, but she kept her twenty-four and forty-eight schedule. Although, she was still on call twenty-four-seven until she was relieved by the next rotation, it was nothing like ‘hell week’ where you literally worked a week with only a couple hours of sleep when you could squeeze it in.
    As soon as she took a bite of the wrap she picked up from the deli down the street from the hospital her cell phone rang. “Damn.” She said out loud as she put the wrap down and answered.
    “Dr. Macauley this is Marge at Aspen General, we have an MVA coming in with severe trauma. The fire department is still trying to get the car cut open for extraction. I’m not even sure if they won’t be DOA, but Dr. Henry asked me to go ahead and call you in.”
    “It’s fine Marge. I’m on the way. Call me with an update if they come in before I get there.” She ended the call and grabbed her snow boots next to the couch. She quickly laced them up and snatched her jacket from the coat rack and her keys. She turned around at the last minute to get her hat and gloves. She left her sneakers and a pile of clean scrubs in her locker at the hospital so she didn’t bust her ass or freeze to death going back and forth.
     
    ***
     
    Adler packed her SUV with both of her snowboards and boots, plus two sets of ski clothes and a little suitcase. She trusted her neighbor to watch her cat for a couple of days as was the usual plan when she traveled. She looked around for anything she was missing and grabbed an extra ski cap just for the hell of it. She was headed over to Breckenridge to practice in their Super Pipe for the X Games. She was going to go to Park City, Utah but a few of her friends were going to Breck so she decided to meet up with them instead. She programmed her I-Pod for the three hour drive. She planned to get in before dark and get a goodnight’s sleep before hitting the pipe early in the morning.
    As soon as she got on the road she hit the speed dial button and waited. She