Love on the Lifts Read Online Free PDF Page A

time.
    â€œYou guys are the absolute best.”
    â€œOf course we are,” Leah said. “So what are we gonna cook for supper tonight?”
    I groaned. “Right. I know Aunt Sue loaded the fridge and pantry for us, so there is boundto be something we can whip together. There’s also a crock pot. We could fill it with something before we leave for the slopes in the morning. Let it simmer all day so it’s ready when we get home.”
    â€œYou mean like a stew?” Allie asked.
    â€œYeah. Or chili. We don’t have to get fancy. Just so there’s plenty of it and it’s hot.”
    My cell phone began to chirp. I hopped off the bed, grabbed the backpack I’d left by the dresser earlier after I’d settled in, dug out my cell phone, and immediately recognized the number.
    â€œHey, Aunt Sue. Were you calling to make sure we still had survivors over here?”
    She laughed. “This could be a reality show. A brother and sister snowed in together. How long can they survive?”
    â€œNo, thanks.”
    â€œBut you did get everything worked out?”
    â€œPretty much, yeah.”
    â€œGood. Since you’re all still alive and friends—”
    â€œI wouldn’t go that far.”
    She laughed again. My aunt had a really funlaugh. Boisterous, like she enjoyed life. Which she did.
    â€œHow about we all get together for dinner tonight? My treat,” she said.
    Saved from cooking! “That would be great. Where did you have in mind?”

Chapter 4
    P ile It On Pizza was where we all ended up. Like every other restaurant and shop in Snow Angel Valley, it was quaint with its own unique atmosphere. Very rustic, it looked like the inside of a log cabin. We picked the size crust that we wanted, then we walked down the long length of the counter pointing to the ingredients we wanted piled on.
    We ended up ordering two pizzas because the guys made a big production of groaning when Allie pointed to the green olives. My brother had always been a meat-and-potatoes-only kind of guy. I guess the others were as well.
    They went with pepperoni, sausage, hamburger, and Canadian bacon. Aunt Sue, Allie, Leah, and I chose mushrooms, green olives,black olives, and more mushrooms. Pile It On honored its name. The guy at the counter piled it on until we told him to stop. Then into the oven they went.
    We took two pitchers of root beer to a long wooden table. Allie, Leah, and even Aunt Sue, jockeyed for chairs at the table until miraculously, somehow, Brad ended up sitting beside me. Aunt Sue was at the head of the table, with Joe beside her, then Leah and Sam. Allie sat across from Sam, Brad was between Allie and me, and I was beside Aunt Sue. It couldn’t have worked out better, except of course, for poor Allie who was stuck at the far end of the table across from my brother. I was afraid if she spent too much time with him she might re-evaluate her friendship with me. Was it worth putting up with Sam?
    I glanced down there and saw that Sam was actually being polite, smiling, and talking with her. That was something that I didn’t see very often—Sam being pleasant. Of course, I also didn’t see him with my friends too often. He tended to avoid us like the plague.
    â€œIt’s supposed to snow again tonight,” AuntSue said. “Fresh powder will make your ski experience so much better.”
    â€œDo you ski?” Joe asked.
    Aunt Sue smiled. “Not as much as I used to. I fancy ski boarding these days and snowmobiling.”
    â€œA lot of people think snowmobiles are bad for the environment,” I said. “The exhaust pollutes the wilderness and the noise disturbs the wildlife.”
    â€œThat’s true,” Aunt Sue said. “But how else can one appreciate the undisturbed wilderness except by disturbing it a little bit? And once you get deep into the woods, away from town, turn off the engines…it is so