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Chapter 13

Shane

After our conversation on the way around the resort lake, I hadn’t seen Ruben for the rest of the weekend. While I was still in the staff kitchen getting tea, Ruben had long since fallen asleep when I returned.

Since then, he had been working non-stop. When I got up in the morning, he was already gone. When I came back in the evening, he wasn’t there yet. Only at night, when I opened my eyes in my half-sleep, did I see his outline under the blanket, which rose and fell gently with each breath. Then I took the opportunity to examine the gentle curve of Ruben’s neck over his shoulder. Or his mouth slightly opened and those soft lips.

In the summer, I had never taken the time to watch Ruben sleep. I hadn’t had the chance. After days in the sun, we had attacked each other like sex-starved animals and had fallen asleep satisfied as soon as we came.

Since I didn’t see him during the day, I took every opportunity to watch him relax.

If I hadn’t had these moments, I would have been convinced that Ruben had moved out.

We hadn’t discussed changing accommodations since my arrival. This circumstance made me extremely happy.

I needed it, too, as we had reached our capacity limit for the first time this season.

There had been an exciting tension hanging over the resort all weekend. It wasn’t just Ruben and the chefs who had their hands full. Our lesson bookings had also skyrocketed. The guests who were here for the weekend to eat also enjoyed a bit of exercise in between meals.

They were certainly not the easiest guests. Their idea of what constituted a good lesson did not necessarily coincide with my own.

A customer who had booked another lesson for Monday morning had already skied with me over the weekend. Why she hadn’t canceled her additional lesson was a mystery to me, because we didn’t get along at all. In addition to being a know-it-all, the lady unfortunately suffered from overconfidence when it came to her own abilities on the mountain.

Sighing, I dragged myself out of bed and got ready. I couldn’t explain why Ruben wasn’t here. I thought he would sleep in after his busy weekend. I didn’t believe he had to work again. At least he had told me that other employees were on duty.

I couldn’t dwell on it for too long because I had to get to my appointment.

In front of the hut, I glanced at the path ahead of me. Our footprints from three days ago were still frozen in the snow. Neither Ruben nor I had cleared the path to the main trail of snow.

As if we had agreed on it, we had left the footprints untouched and trampled the snow on the edge.

On the beach, the footprints would have long since been erased by wind and water.

I liked the idea that Ruben would be reminded of our conversation when he saw this sight. At least until the next time it thawed or more snow fell.

I carefully walked past it sideways so as not to destroy it and hurried to the staff kitchen.

The room was already bustling with my colleagues, who were wolfing down their breakfast.

But before I could sit down, I stopped abruptly. Ruben was standing at the small stove, frying eggs.

With the pan in his hand, he turned around and our eyes met.

A smile spread across his face and I couldn’t help but smile back. His eyes looked tired, but overall he had lost all the tension he had shown three days ago. His laugh lines made him even more seductive.

He nodded slightly to me and distributed the contents of his pan onto the plates held out to him.

Finally, he put down his empty kitchen utensil and came back with a huge bowl, which he placed in the middle of the table.

“This is fresh granola to top your yogurt or add to your cereal.”

With these words, he sat next to me.

“Hey. How are you?” I eagerly searched his face for signs of how his weekend had gone.

Ruben grinned even wider than I had ever seen him before. “It was great. That’s why I wanted to thank you. The conversation and the walk tired me out that I immediately fell asleep. And after every day at work, exhaustion made me collapse on my bed.”

“I noticed that,” I interjected. “I didn’t hear a peep from you for two days. Except that you were lying blissfully asleep under your blanket. Were you on your feet the whole time?”