Page 3 of It’s Me, but Different
“It's one of my family's hotels,” I admit in a whisper.
“Yeah, right. I should have figured. An offer too good to refuse. You've sunk pretty low this time, Sloane. You must be very proud of taking advantage of my financial needs to bring me here with a special offer. Insisting on activities for the kids was too cruel a blow. You knew that after everything they've been through with their father, I couldn't deny them a few days of vacation, right? I expected anything from you, but I never thought you could go this far,” she spits, giving me a look full of hate.
“I swear I had nothing to do with that,” I confess, lowering my voice when I see her anger.
“Now you're a liar too? We're leaving, kids. We're going home,” she orders, and my heart breaks when I see the little ones' faces when they hear her words.
Chapter 2
Sloane
“Please, Esme. I promise you won't run into me while you're here. Don't do this to the kids,” I plead, making a subtle gesture toward the little ones.
Luckily, the girl insists that she promised them it would be an unforgettable vacation. Even so, she stays next to her mother and looks at me threateningly with crossed arms, as if she hates me too.
Esme seems to reconsider for a few moments, and with her children's insistence, she thinks better of it.
“You give today's lesson, and I don't want to see you again in these two weeks, understood? I'm doing this for them; they've had a really hard time, and they need this vacation. If it were up to me, I'd leave right now,” she clarifies, raising her eyebrows.
“Are you good at teaching? I don't want to fall,” her daughter interrupts, who seems to have a very strong personality despite her age.
A smile escapes me.
“I've taught plenty of people, and I'll try to keep you from falling, but falling is part of the learning process,” I explain.
“Mom said I wouldn't fall,” she complains, frowning.
Esme puts a hand to her forehead.
“I might have exaggerated a little so they wouldn't refuse to try,” she admits.
“Are you okay, champ?” I ask the boy, who's still a little scared. “Why don't we start by getting to know each other?”
The girl, who seems much more outgoing, takes a step forward.
“I'm Ana Sofia, and he's Theo. We're eight years old.”
“Nice to meet you. I'm Sloane,” I greet, noticing how Esme's hands tremble slightly when she straightens Theo's hat. “Welcome to Silver Peaks, kids.”
I teach them the basic fundamentals of skiing, and when we're reaching the first hour of class, I notice they're already very tired, especially Theo, so I decide to stop.
Esme has spent the entire lesson leaning against a tree, as if fearing that something serious could happen to her children at any moment. When I approach with the kids, I mentally go over the words I want to say to her to say goodbye forever. Still, before I can do so, River and Anika suddenly appear and head toward where we are, all smiles.
“Hi,” my sister greets. “How are you doing, kids? Did you enjoy your first day skiing?”
Ana Sofia looks up with a serious expression.
“Good,” she admits, looking suspicious.
“I fell sideways, and Miss Merriweather helped me get up,” Theo announces while Esme wraps her arm around his shoulders and pulls him against her body.
I can see that her treatment of Anika is cold, even though they were very good friends in college. She blames her for what happened too.
“How about I invite the kids for hot chocolate while you and Sloane talk about lesson schedules and that kind of thing?” River suggests.
Esme starts to say something about this being the last lesson they'll take with me, but she stops herself at her children's insistence, who must be hungry after the ski lesson. Before leaving, my sister gives me a look that says, “Don't screw this up again,” without needing words.
For our part, Esme and I stay quiet for a good while, both not really knowing what to say while she nervously rubs her gloved hands.