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“Alright, we’ll call a truce,” I said. “It’s about time for lunch anyway.”
“Did someone say lunch?” Kat asked, sitting up and reaching out a hand for Aiden to help her up.
I offered my hand to Harper. She stood up and dusted off the snow.
“I am definitely down for lunch. Should we start heading back toward home?”
“I was thinking we’d indulge in someapres-skifondue,” Jackson said. Aiden and I shared a look and I rolled my eyes at Jackson acting all pretentious as usual, going the extra length of faking a terrible French accent.
Harper raised her eyebrows. “I wouldn’t say no to that.”
“Good, I know just the place,” Jackson replied.
We returned our skis and headed into town. Harper had asked if we could walk, and she took in the scenery around her like a little girl in Disneyworld for the first time. It helped me to see the French Alps in a new light, a sight I had taken for granted since we came here every single year when I was a child. I had never understood how privileged and spoiled I was.
“You know, you always see these videos on TikTok with mountain towns, where this massive mountain is right there, on the edge of the town and the scale is unbelievable. I always thought they had to be fake… but here I am, looking at it right now and I still can’t believe it.”
I almost told Harper in that moment that she was adorable, but I kept my mouth shut. Still, while she was eying the world around us, I was stealing glances at her, admiring how happy she looked.
“Here we are,” Jackson said. “They usually only open for dinner, but I know the owner and sent him a message and asked if we could come by.”
“The place is closed though?” Harper asked.
“Yeah, for everyone but us.”
Harper, with her jaw on the ground, looked over at Kat. “I guess it pays to be rich, huh?”
The door opened.
“Bonjour mes amis,” the man said warmly. I had to wonder how much Jackson was slipping the guy under the table for him to open the place up just for us in the middle of the day. “Come in, have a seat anywhere you like. The place is yours.”
There was a large dining room with floor-to-ceiling windows all around it and a view of Mont Blanc. He seated us at clearly the best seat in the house, with a full-on view for all of us to enjoy.
“My name is Jean-Luc, I am the owner and chef of the restaurant, and I will be personally serving you this afternoon, with the help of Charlotte, who is assisting me today.”
A young woman stepped beside Jean-Luc and offered a polite, “Bonjour,” and we returned the phrase.
Yeah, Jackson dropped a lot of dough on this.
Jean-Luc and Charlotte stepped away to grab our food, already ordered in advance by Jackson. We didn’t have to worry about a menu or anything.
“Ooh what is all this?” Harper asked. “I’ve never had fondue before.”
Jackson, of course, took over for Jean-Luc in explaining everything as it was presented. “This isFondue Savoyarde,featuring Alsace white wine, and a mixture of cheese—Beaumont, Comte and a little Swiss cheese.”
Aiden added his own little bit. “It’s cheese, you put it on things, potatoes, bread, whatever you want”
The fondue was served on a little stove on our table, keeping it warm and toasty. We each had tiny forks plus bread and little potatoes to dip into the cheese.
“Also,salade verte–” Jackson continued.
“You mean a green salad,” Aiden said dryly.
Jackson ignored him. “And a charcuterie spread featuringprosciutto,saucisson sec,jambon–”
“Cured meats,” Aiden interrupted him. “Can we eat, please?”
“Sure,” Jackson said, pursing his lips together as he picked up his fork. “So how you do this—”
