by Dawne Belloise
If you like Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain, If you’re not into yoga,
if you have half a brain, If you’d like making love at midnight in the dunes on the Cape
Then I’m the love that you’ve looked for write to me and escape” — Rupert Holmes
Up here at the end of the road in the mountains, relationships and affairs of the heart can get as sticky as a box of half-bitten Valentine chocolates. The incestuous nature of small town romances can liken local dating to sinking your teeth into every piece of confection in the box just to find out what’s inside the yummy coating. Historically, ski town populations are generally male-dominated — despite that it’s an over-used cliche, the fact remains — although the odds are good for the women, the goods are odd. Nevertheless, men find themselves in the love shuffle, and as one friend recited the mountain man mantra perched from his hunting site atop a bar stool while nursing his recent breakup, “You don’t lose your girl, you just lose your turn.”