“Damn, when did you get to be so smart?” I laughed.
“Man, I’ll tell you what, love has changed me. I can’t imagine living without this girl. I’m going to marry her. I already know it. I would be a stupid fool to let her go.”
“Good for you, man!” I said as we climbed out of his car and walked into the house.
I could tell they were meant to be together the second I saw Heath standing next to his girlfriend, Kelly. She loved him. There was no doubt in my mind, and he obviously loved her. It was a perfect moment, and I was grateful to have him back in my life.
“Dad, Erik’s just going to visit for a minute. There’s a girl in Aspen he needs to go see.”
“A girl,” my father said. “I like the sounds of this. Both my boys are going to finally settle down and be happy. You know, your mother always wanted to be a grandmother. I’ll have to be a kickass grandpa to make up for her being gone.”
We all laughed, and I stayed and visited for a little bit before heading to Aspen. I didn’t know what I was going to say or what I was going to do when I got there. All I knew was that I had feelings for Cassidy and she needed to hear it from me.
If she denied me, at least I would know that I put everything I had into it. I had messed up with her and I knew it. But I hoped that she was the kind of girl who could forget about my shortcomings and still accept me when I came to her.
I didn’t need her to commit to a happily-ever-after ending – all I needed was Cassidy to give me a chance. I needed her to give us a chance and see if what we had while I was at Paradise Peak would translate into the real world. It was entirely possible it wouldn’t be the same between us, but I really thought it would. Maybe things would even be better than either of us could have imagined.
“Mr. Conrad, please,” I said as I dialed the main number to the resort.
“Who may I ask is calling?” the young man asked.
“Mr. Levy.”
The young man took forever to get Bob onto the phone, and when he finally did, I went over my tentative plan for surprising Cassidy. Quite honestly, I wasn’t sure he was going to like the idea, but I hoped he would at least allow me to give it a go.
My nerves were getting the best of me. I even considered forgetting about it all. But one thing I had learned in my treatment was that I had to finish. I would never get the results I wanted in my life if I didn’t follow through. So, this was me, following through.
“Erik?” Bob said as he came on the phone.
“Yes, sir. I’m glad I got a hold of you. I’ve had a change of plans and I’m flying your way right now. Do you think you’ll have room for me at your party?”
“Damn straight, we will have room. I’ll tell Cassidy you’re coming; she’ll be so excited.”
I loved how excited her father was to help me. It eased my nerves a little bit, and I was able to focus better on what I needed to do. But I didn’t want him to tell Cassidy anything. I wanted to surprise her and that meant that Bob couldn’t go talking about my plans with her. He had to stay quiet, and I wasn’t sure he could do that.
“Actually, I was thinking of surprising her. Do you think you could help me with that?”
“She’s not a big fan of surprises, but I think since it’s you she’ll be all right. What do you need me to do?”
I went over the details of my plan. He even threw in some of his own ideas to make sure I had the perfect opportunity to surprise Cassidy. I really liked Cassidy’s dad; he was a nice man who genuinely seemed to care about his daughter and her happiness.
When I arrived in Aspen, I had a car waiting for me and I drove to Bob and Katherine’s resort. Bob had given me directions on how to get to the where the fireworks were going to be shot up, but in order to get there without being seen, I had to hike up the mountain.
It seemed pretty fitting that in order to surprise Cassidy I had to hike up the same mountain she and I had before. As I started my trek, it was much easier than I remembered it being. Maybe all my working out had paid off, or maybe it was because the weather was nice and there wasn’t any snow on the ground. But for whatever reason, I crushed it up the mountain and was waiting in the lodge a good twenty minutes before everyone else was set to arrive.
Bob was going to send Cassidy up on one of the chair lifts and tell her she needed to make sure everything was ready for the big night of events. So, I just waited. The anticipation was difficult for me, and I even started to have a panic attack as I thought about what might happen if Cassidy said no to me.
She might not want to see me, at all. There was a real possibility that Cassidy had moved on from what we had together and wouldn’t be interested in seeing me and really wouldn’t be interested in coming out to Los Angeles with me. But I used my coping skills and pushed my anxiety away as I tried to regain my composure for when Cassidy arrived.
It didn’t matter if she said yes or no. I was there to show her how I felt and tell her in person. She deserved that much, at the very least. Sure, it was entirely possible I was going to get my heart trampled on, but I just had to be all right with that.
Nothing big ever came to a person who wasn’t willing to risk something. I was risking it all as I waited there for her. It was either going to be a yes and Cassidy and I could start our relationship out in Los Angeles, or it was going to be a no and I would go home alone and have to figure out a way to move forward.
I stood looking out over the mountain like I had done months before on that first day I had arrived at Paradise Peak. It was even prettier there in the summertime. My nerves were going wild as I heard footsteps by the front of the building and it took everything in my power not to turn around yet.
I had come so far in the last year of my life. Nothing had turned out at all like I had planned, yet my life was better than I could have imagined.
In that moment as I waited for Cassidy, what I was sure of was that I wasn’t going to just quit. I had climbed the mountain and I was going to climb the last few proverbial feet so I could see the view of the rest of my life ahead of me.