‘What?’ Lisa wondered how she had missed this piece of information. Her brother had never been serious enough about anyone before to meet their parents.
‘See, if you ever checked in with your brother, you’d know these things.’
Lisa felt a pang of guilt. Not only because Luke was right, she hadn’t checked in with him in any meaningful way for a long time, but also because she was pleased Selina wasn’t joining them in France. It gave her time to have her family to herself.
Once off the main road from Geneva, the journey to Samoëns was picturesque, winding increasingly upwards through mountains. It was breathtaking.The sky was clear blue and the sun glistened off the snow. It had been years since Lisa had been to the area. As children, they had often visited, staying in small rental properties. She remembered the area as pretty and fun. She had liked playing at the lake in the summer and skiing in the winter. As an adult, she could see exactly why her parents chose to spend half their year in France. Thespace and open landscape, made it somehow easier to relax and breathe. It was hard to imagine that, just hours before, she had been travelling, pushing through the traffic in London with Dom, and even harder to imagine that she used to live in the heart of London.
Lisa had seen pictures of her mum and dad’s place, she had even had the FaceTime tour, but none of it had done justice to thebeautiful, three-storey chalet they pulled their car up in front of. Set in its own land with a view of the surrounding mountains, the once-farmhouse-cum-food-store had been transformed into an impressive residence encompassing the right mix of traditional and modern in its design.
‘Wow! If I had known it was quite like this, I would have come sooner.’ Lisa’s eyes swept the area. The airfelt cold to her cheeks and began seeping through her too-thin jacket but, after the confines of the plane, it felt refreshing. Sitting above the main village of Samoëns, the view from the chalet was stunning in every direction.
‘You’ll never get rid of her now, Mum!’ Luke joked.
‘You know your sister is always welcome.’
Lisa hugged her mum as she got out of the car; perhapsit was the cold, but she wondered if she saw a tear in her eye. Her mum rarely showed emotion.
‘I’ve missed you, my darling girl.’
The words and the kiss on her head made tears well in Lisa’s eyes too.
‘Come on now, let’s get out of the cold.’ Lisa’s dad lifted her case from the car.
‘Bloody good idea.’ Luke shivered.
‘Your mum’s got Milka hot chocolateand some of that marble cake in for you.’
‘Oh my God! Did you Mum?’ The excitement Lisa felt made her feel like a little girl again. It was what they’d had as a treat whenever they had visited France when they were young: chocolate milk, cold in the summer and hot in the winter, and marble cake no matter what the occasion.
After enjoying too much hot chocolate and a large sliceof marble cake, Lisa unpacked and lay on her bed. It was warm and cosy in the room she decided to designate as her own from now on. The seasoned-pine walls perfectly framed the view of the snow-covered mountain from her window. The whole place was Christmas card perfect. As soon as she had walked into the chalet, seen the elegantly strung holly garlands on the banisters, and smelt the heady mix oforanges, cinnamon and cloves, Lisa understood why her mum had scoffed at the thought of Bing. He would never have fitted into this Christmas ideal. Lisa’s mum had hung a painting of a stag on the wall next to her bed; Lisa felt him watching her, but liked his friendly face. His slightly wonky eyes reminded her of Jack.
Lisa rolled over to the side of the bed and glanced at her phone. Nathanhadn’t called back. She decided not to call him. Pete had put his feelings to the test at Cin Cin and he had made it clear how he felt when he walked away. She couldn’t answer casual calls and casual texts, and he deserved to know why. She wanted to tell him how she felt, but would need to do that face to face. Lisa realised how wrong she had been when she had agreed to them just being friends.With Dom the thought of friendship felt exciting, fun, right; with Nathan it made her heart and body ache for more.
There was a knock at her door. Lisa sat up.
Her dad put his head round the door. ‘Dinner’s almost ready.’ Taking in the sight of Lisa he faltered. ‘You OK, love?’
‘Yes, thanks. It’s really good to be here. To see you all.’
Lisa’s dad sat on the edgeof her bed placing his hand on her leg. ‘I’m sorry we haven’t been around for you. You look… well, I can see you’ve had a difficult time.’
Lisa was grateful her dad hadn’t gone for a full on ‘you look terrible’, especially after she felt she was looking so much better lately. ‘Gee, thanks, Dad!’
‘You look pale and skinny. You know what I mean.’
‘I’ll take skinny as a compliment.’Lisa laughed.
‘You need to get some of your mum’s cooking inside you and a bit of time on the piste will get the colour back in your cheeks.’
‘Thanks, Dad.’ Lisa smiled. She hadn’t told her parents why she had split up with Ben, but the fact she had moved home meant they knew it had knocked her.
Her dad stood up and jumped at the sight of the stag. ‘Bloody Nora, I thoughtI’d seen the last of him!’
‘I quite like it. Why don’t you?’
‘He’s been staring at me for months, your mum painted it in her art class and hung it in our room.’
‘Art class? Mum?’
‘Yes, she’s quite the joiner here, you know; any excuse to test out her French.’
‘Well, I like it.’
‘Tell her that and you’ll be in her good books forever.’
