Love on the Lifts Read Free Page B

She has dark green eyes like mine, and in her youth, her hair had been the same shade of red as mine. She still had freckles. Unfortunately, so did I.
    While working in the store, she dressed in flowing clothes so the exact shape of her body seemed a mystery. That was how I always thought of her—as a mystery.
    She lived in Snow Angel Valley during the winter months when business was brisk. But in summer when there weren’t many tourists, she closed down everything and traveled the world, going to…well, going to novel places.
    I hadn’t been sure if she’d named her shop A Novel Place because it was a place where novels were kept or if the name referred to theplaces she’d visited and the photos she’d hung on the walls. There were framed pictures of herself with Sherpas at the bottom of Mount Everest, penguins in Antarctica, kangaroos in Australia—too many photos to list them all. My aunt had set foot on all seven continents and swam in all the oceans. She wanted to travel on the space shuttle someday.
    She was an adventurer and I loved her dearly. When I’d once asked her what the name of the shop applied to—the books or the places she’d been—she’d said, “A Novel Place means many things on different levels. It’s a state of mind.”
    Thoughts too heavy for me to figure out. But I loved her anyway. Even though I was presently majorly ticked off at her.
    â€œWhat’s wrong, Katie?” she asked. “You’re not upset because your brother is here. There’s more to it than sharing space with Sam, since you’ve done that most of your life. So let’s get to the root of the problem so we can address it and you can have a good time while you’re here.”
    She knew me too well, and I knew I could trust her with anything.
    â€œIt’s Brad,” I admitted reluctantly.
    â€œSam’s roommate?”
    Scrunching up my face, my nose no longer numb thanks to the hot mist of chocolate tickling it while I drank, I nodded dejectedly.
    â€œWhat’s wrong with him?” she asked.
    â€œThat’s the problem. There’s nothing wrong with him.”
    â€œI see,” she said, drawing out the last word like she wanted to savor it. “He is a cutie.”
    I’ve never known Aunt Sue to think any guy wasn’t a cutie. Not even the ancient hunched-over village mailman who looked like he’d been born around the time the mountains were carved by glaciers.
    â€œHe’s such a cutie,” she’d say after handing him complimentary hot chocolate to-go when he stopped by to deliver her mail twice a day. On really cold days, he delivered mail to her three or four times. Always junk mail that I thought he held in reserve for emergency deliveries, but she’d act like she was thrilled to get it as she handed him his hot chocolate to-go.
    â€œWhen did you see Brad?” I asked, turning my thoughts back to my immediate concernand impending nightmare.
    â€œSam and his friends stopped by to pick up a key to the condo. I thought Joe was cute, too.”
    â€œJoe?”
    â€œHis other friend?”
    Oh, yeah. The sandy blond–haired guy who had also been standing on the balcony smiling. Was he cute? I couldn’t really draw an impression of him from my memory except for the smile. It was pretty dazzling as I recalled, but nothing at all like Brad’s. Brad was the hottie of the group, hands down. No competition there whatsoever. And like I said, Aunt Sue thought every guy was cute, so I’d really have to take another gander at Joe to properly assess his cuteness factor.
    â€œOh, yeah, right,” I mumbled. “Joe.”
    â€œSo Brad is the one for you, huh?”
    I nodded again.
    â€œWell, then. This is the perfect opportunity for him to get to know you better.”
    â€œBut if Sam notices that I’m crushing on his roommate, he will tease me unmercifully—and