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‘Christina is an angel. She is the most supportive, kind, lovely, generous…’
‘Alright, alright,’ I laughed.
‘I wouldn’t be where I am today without her. She took it all on her shoulders and stepped in as head chef to keep things going while I paid off the loan and got myself together.’
Xavier stared quietly into his Ovaltine before taking a long drink. He seemed lost in thought so I followed suit to cover the silence. It was delicious. Part Ovaltine, part hot chocolate with a cream lid and a dash of cinnamon. The perfect cure for insomnia.
‘Luca must really like you to help you out like that?’
‘Luca likes to play the hero when he can. Don’t get me wrong: if Luca hadn’t stepped in, I’d have had to sell the restaurant and start again, but I’ve known him long enough to know any act of kindness always has a price. There’s always something in it for Luca too. He has been expanding his restaurant portfolio for some time now. So I got an affordable loan and he got the hottest chef in Paris to impress his clients and help build his network.’
Xavier pulled a chair out and sat down, yawning into his fist. He looked exhausted.
‘I suppose he has so much money that it’s easy for him to be generous,’ I said.
‘Luca knows a good investment when he sees one,’ Xavier replied. ‘I’ve paid him every penny back with interest, but he likes to refer to himself as a co-owner, which was never the deal. I’ll be glad to have the business back in my name. He’s made his money and had me as his personal chef for the past three years. It’s time to let me move on.’
Fifteen
14th December
‘Luca was so excited for Xtreme that he’s already gone, so I have officially finished work for the day,’ Liv said with a smile, sprinkling chia seeds on her porridge.
‘Is he entering as well?’ Xavier said, with a smirk, pulling a tray of warm croissants out of the oven and piling them onto a plate. The smell was divine.
‘Of course he is,’ Liv said, ‘you know he can’t resist an opportunity to prove himself.’
‘To show the world he’s a winner,’ Xavier said, rolling his eyes.
‘Are you entering too, Xavier?’ I was already impressed.
‘Yep,’ Liv interjected, ‘and me.’
‘Really? You’re all competing? What do you have to do?’
Xavier ripped open a croissant and dolloped on a teaspoon of raspberry jam.
‘You have to jump,’ he said, ‘the higher the better.’
‘They’ve been building the kicker all week,’ Liv said, ‘it’s a huge lump of snow and you’ve gotta try and get over it. Come up and watch; we could do with a cheerleader. Unless you want to enter too?’ She nudged me and we laughed.
‘Yeah right. If I can toe it down as a leaf.’ Eddie the Eagle Edwards I was not.
We finished breakfast and got ready to go up the mountain.
‘You can’t keep wearing those God-awful pants,’ Liv said, pointing at my salopettes, ‘they’re fine occasionally as an ironic nod to the past, but not every day, mate. You can borrow these until you get your own.’
She threw me over a pair of her boarding pants, and I had to admit she had a point. I stroked the silky material of my froggy trousers one last time, then folded them into a big marshmallow and shoved them under the bed. Liv’s white boarding pants were much cooler and MUCH warmer. Almost as if they weren’t full of holes. I layered myself up with thermals, a purple fleece and a waterproof zip-up, split my hair into tiny bunches and mascara-ed my invisible lashes. I was starting to look the part.
‘There ya go, mate. Looking like a boss,’ Liv said, impressed. ‘Just gotta get you linking up those turns and we’ll make a snowboarder of you yet.’
I didn’t want to be a snowboarder. I wanted to sack off this nightmare endurance training and sunbathe in the Champagne bar with a drink in my hand. And I wasn’t the only one – a lot of people were doing this, day after day. ‘Going skiing’ seemed to be code for ‘day drinking’. Which I could absolutely get on board with. I just needed to find my people.
Xavier appraised me from the doorway with a smile. He was dressed in black with a pair of red goggles loose around his neck.
‘Getting there,’ he said, thoughtfully. ‘What’s that saying of Rachael’s again, Liv?’
‘Looking hot to trot?’ I offered, putting my hands on my hips. ‘Too cool for school?’
