“Getting there, thanks to you.” He pushed the pizza across the greeting desk. “I didn’t bring the beer to go with it since you’re working.”
Mateo picked up the box. “I don’t need the thanks. But I definitely need the pizza.” He looked at Levi. “Is this a do-over pizza?”
“Yes. Is it working?”
“Possibly.” Mateo started to walk away, but stopped to say, “Keep them coming.”
Levi left the hospital and drove up to the North Diamond Resort. He parked and stared out his windshield at the imposing snow-covered mountain in front of him.
The sun was out, making the snow sparkle like diamonds—hence the resort’s name. At 7,500 feet, the air was crisp but somehow also warm at the same time, and the sky was so clear and sharp blue it looked photoshopped. Feeling an odd and uncomfortable sense of déjà vu, he got out and breathed in the harsh, cold, crisp air of winter, welcoming the freezing freshness of it. He turned his face up to the sun, but the air was too cold, too all-encompassing, to warm him. He didn’t mind. Winter worked for him. Winter invigorated him.
Even if it’d almost killed him.
The parking lot was full, the lifts were running, and given all the skiers and snowboarders on the ski runs, business was booming in spite of what had happened with the gondola only a week ago.
The investigation had yielded a decision that it’d all been a freak accident. Earlier on the day of the storm, there’d been some construction work done and somehow a piece of debris had been left behind. A small chunk of wood. The vicious wind had knocked it onto the track.
The odds against such a thing were astronomical.
But Levi still didn’t get onto the gondola.
Instead, he found a friend who happened to be on ski patrol and hitched a ride on his snowmobile up to the urgent care clinic at mid-mountain. He entered the clinic and asked if Jane was working. He’d called earlier. He’d called all the clinics. He couldn’t get anyone to tell him who was on duty. So here he was . . .
“She’s not on our schedule today,” the nurse at the front desk told him.
He drove to High Alpine Resort next. No luck there either.
Two hours later, Levi walked into the last urgent care clinic in the area. This one was in Sunrise Cove, right next to the hospital.
There was no one behind the front desk, but he didn’t need help because Jane was standing in the middle of the room wearing scrubs and a familiar attitude, staring up at the only other person in the room—a huge guy, at least six-five, and clearly a fan of daily lifting at the gym.
His expression was dialed to royally pissed off, his entire body taut with tension. “Hell, no,” he growled at Jane. “Not happening.”
Jane, maybe five-four, and that was including the pile of wild dark red hair knotted on top of her head, was hands on hips, head tilted back to see the guy’s face, clearly not at all impressed by the macho display. “We’ve been through this before, Nick,” she said calmly. “And we both know who won. So you can either walk to the back of your own free will”—she gestured toward the door behind her, which presumably led to the patient rooms—“or I can call your wife again.”
The guy seemed to shrink. “Ah, man, why do you gotta be so mean? I’ll come back tomorrow.”
“No. You need a Tdap shot today.”
“I don’t need whatever that is.”
“It’s a tetanus shot, and yes you do. You stabbed your thumb on a rusty nail. But I promise, it’s just a little prick.”
“You’re a little prick,” he muttered, then swiped his hand down his face. “Shit, I’m sorry. That was automatic.”