(rivals to lovers, small town, sports) (Season 2 ongoing) After a devastating Olympic loss puts her career in a downward spiral, an aging skier returns to her laid-back mountain hometown to rediscover her love of her sport and instead finds herself...
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Juniper's face felt stuck in a permanent frown by the time a swirl of snowflakes chased her through the door at Rocky's. She stomped snow off her boots onto the wet mat and shook more snow out of her unruly curls. Maybe she should have taken her Eat, Pray, Love journey somewhere the snow wouldn't have found her. Like Barbados. Or Mars. Summer Li couldn't make her feel irrelevant on Mars.
She could only blame herself for thinking Summer might choose to spend time with a has-been like her.
Voices echoed in the stairwell. She followed them down two flights into the warm little foyer where shelves behind the counter groaned under climbing shoes, chalk bags, and energy snacks. Before she could take a step in, someone flung out an arm to block her way.
"Excuse me, this event is invitation only."
Juniper looked up and then further up into twinkling green eyes surrounded by a lot of wavy brown hair. She turned her reflexive twitch of smile into a scowl. "Don't you know who I am?"
"You do look an awful lot like this girl I used to know, but that girl would've let me know that she was in town." The woman shook her head. "I guess it's true. Juniper James is too important now to even send me a text. So much for BFFs." Her stern expression cracked a little, flashing the gap between her front teeth. "At least I'm still taller than you."
A laugh trickled out and Juniper leaned into a brief hug. Wrapped up in those strong arms, she could feel the furrow in her brow melting. "It's good to see you, Carla. Are you the welcoming committee tonight?"
"Just for another half hour. You climbing?"
"Absolutely."
Carla grabbed a pair of size seven shoes and set them on the counter with a bottle of liquid chalk. "Your girlfriend got here a little while ago. Not much of a people person, is she?"
"Who?" Juniper tried to remember the last time she'd dated a Lovers Gap local. Bryn with her Québécois accent had definitely not been local, and it was almost three years since that had blown up. Nothing she'd done since could have been described using the word girlfriend. Not that there had even been much of that.
Carla leaned her elbows on the counter and nodded through the open doorway on the opposite wall. At the refreshment table, Summer Li picked at a bowl of fruit.
Of fucking course. Summer couldn't show up to a morning meditation session, but she would show up to spoil Juniper's relaxing evening.
Seeing her standing there, an intense feeling of déja vu washed over Juniper. Something to do with how Summer held herself apart from the crowd, her eyes darting from person to person, assessing the situation. Or how, when her roving eyes locked onto Juniper's, her shoulders went back and her chin lifted, pulling confidence on like a robe. That's when it clicked.
It was just like the first time they had met. Although that had been in an airport arrivals area on the way to training camp, not a too-warm basement climbing gym. And Summer had been a wide-eyed teenager who looked a little stunned to find herself on the national team, not the self-assured woman she was now. But just like tonight, she had stood to the side, alone in the crowd. She had clung to her luggage cart as though her three pairs of skis might wander off, not saying a word as the veterans picked up their conversations where they had left them at the end of the previous season.
