Page 79 of Head Over Skis

I head back to the room to say my goodbyes to Penny.

She smiles as I enter the room but doesn’t let me go until one final matter is resolved. ‘Now that that’s out of the way, for the love of god go and tell that lovelorn boy how you really feel.’

I never even got to the stage of telling her about the situation with Rory, but I have no doubt she’s worked it all out for herself.

‘I think I really messed it up with him,’ I admit, replaying in my head the way our conversation this morning ended.

She bats her hand through the air like whatever has happened is nothing. ‘Take it from a wise old woman, it’s rarely too late when we think it is. Oh, and if you’re unsure what to do next, a grand gesture goes a long way.’

I tuck those words away, the seed of a plan already forming for what I’ll say or do when I next get to speak to Rory.

‘Thank you,’ I say, delicately wrapping my arms around her uninjured side. ‘And you’re not that old.’

She laughs at that, gesturing again to her shoulder and knee as if they suggest otherwise, before I leave her be as Bill starts to stir.

We pile into David and Adam’s cars, exhausted from the roller coaster that the day has been. When we pull up outside the chalet I feel like a different person from the one I was when I was last here, the quick stop-off this afternoon aside. But I know I can’t sleep yet.

Whilst Tilly and David partner up to cook dinner, with a glaring lack of the shrieked curses I’ve come to expect between them, I arrange my paints. I haven’t forgotten Penny’s words of wisdom, so I lay out everything I need on the balcony and begin.

25

Seeing as I can still barely ski, I have no idea why I thought skiing whilst carrying a canvas wrapped in a bedsheet was a good idea.

I spent all night working on it, staring out at the view from my balcony and digging into my memory to create the perfect piece to give to Rory. Maybe it’s stupid, but I know what I said yesterday hurt him and I need to make it up to him somehow. Everything he said was true.

Yes, suggesting I stay here with him and leave everything else behind was madness, but I can’t deny the idea sparked something in me that had long been left in the dark. And after a night of going agonisingly back and forth on it, I want to prove to him that I’m willing to try. To spend time together over the last week of the holiday and let myself be guided by whatever my heart is telling me.

‘You’re sure I can’t keep it for myself? I know exactly where I’d hang it in the flat.’ David fixes me with his best puppy dog eyes, but I shut him down.

‘No, but I promise I’ll paint you another one.’

He pouts but follows Adam and Lucas towards the chairlift while us girls split off towards the last day of class. I dragged everyone here early so I could have a minute alone with Rory, but when I look around, I can’t find him. What I do find though is the golden labrador smile of Kevin emerging from the instructors’ hut, and I rush over to him.

‘Hey, is Rory here yet?’

‘Good morning, how are you, Kevin? I’m great thank you, how are you, Bambi?’ Kevin says, enacting a one-sided conversation while I press him to go on.

‘Sorry, it’s kind of important.’

His eyes dart down to the bundle in my arms and his eyebrow lifts curiously. ‘Fine. He’s over at his place in the hotel, but maybe you should wait for him here?’

‘Thank you!’ I shout over my shoulder, already heading towards Darlington’s Den.

I push through the front doors and wave a one-handed hello to Doris behind the desk, who smiles and rushes to help with my painting.

‘Careful, ma chère, let me help. I was hoping I would see you again, you left in such a rush yesterday, I was worried.’

I try not to think too much about that, focusing instead on the conversation that’s about to take place and make everything right again. The doors of the lift start to open and Rory steps out, head thrown back in laughter. The lines that form on his cheeks are too perfect for my brush to ever capture.

‘Rory!’ I call out as I start to move towards him, only to stop dead in my tracks when someone I recognise follows him out of the lift.

Long auburn hair in two plaits that fall to her waist. The way she glides as she steps out through the doors and bats Rory on the shoulder with a perfectly manicured hand. A hand he then holds in his, and starts lifting to his face like he’s about to—

I look away then. I’m not sure he’s heard me call out to him, and for a moment I’m glad I can make a quick, unnoticed escape. But before I start to run, his head turns and his eyes find mine without effort, a question hanging in them as he takes in the image of me standing in his hotel lobby.

I don’t hang around to find out what happens next. I leave Doris standing there alone as I spin around and run. Run away from Rory and his ex-girlfriend who’s maybe not so ‘ex’. The girl I’d thought nothing was happening with any more only for me to discover them leaving his apartment together a mere twenty-four hours after our night there.

‘Lottie!’