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‘Do we need to visit it so soon?’ I said slowly, to buy myself some thinking time.
‘Carpe diem.Seize the day. The skiing route is straightforward, and I can give you some pointers if you get stuck.’
I’d need a lot more than pointers, having never put a pair of skis onin my life. How to start, how to stop and how not to fall off the edge would all be very welcome information to start with. My mountain prowess was pretty much zero. I was the seasonaire equivalent of a child clinging to the edge of the swimming pool while the rest of the class learnt butterfly.
‘I really want to help and it’s so kind of you to offer on the skiing tips, but I’ve actually got an appointment tomorrow lunchtime that I can’t miss…’ I said, flailing desperately, in a bid to put him off.
‘At the weekend then?’ Luca said, throwing his skis down and clicking his boots in. ‘It’s no problem.’
No problem for him. I needed to get on YouTube and watch some tuition videos ASAP.
‘Right. Well, I suppose that could work,’ I said, feeling queasy. That would give me three days to prepare and have severalappointments. AKA beginner’s ski lessons. I couldn’t throw myself down the mountain on skis without an ounce of experience.
‘Good. Let’s meet at the top of the lift on Sunday at 2 p.m.,’ Luca said, giving me a double kiss, before turning to the others. ‘I am going down to the village; I have a few things to do,’ he said. ‘Congratulations again, Xavier. Send me the videos, Liv; I’d like to see how I can improve.’
He gave us all a final nod before skiing off. He’d left his North Face vouchers on the table, under his empty glass. 300 Swiss francs was two months’ wages out here. It was criminal to discard them like rubbish.
‘Shall I take them back to him?’ I said, wiping away the ring of condensation Luca’s beer glass had left.
‘He doesn’t want a reminder of second place,’ Xavier said with a smile. ‘Take them for your shopping trip, Holly.’
‘I can’t, I feel too cheeky,’ I said.
Liv laughed. ‘Why? He said you could have them – money means nothing to him.’
‘Keep them with yours for now,’ I said, pressing them into Xavier’s hand. His touch was warm and soft as he wrapped his fingers around mine and smiled.
‘Fine, I’ll take them, so they don’t go to waste, but they’re not for me to spend.’
Sixteen
15th December
Oh God. Today was going to be the day I died. And my friends would not sayat least she died doing what she loved– they would all be aghast at the idea I’d died careering off a mountain, having barely skied before, trying to impress a boy.What was she thinking?they’d say.She didn’t even have a freezer, they’d say. Oh God, oh God. I’d booked myself a beginner’s ski lesson as soon as the phone lines had opened and now three of us were stood with an instructor on the green run, eager to learn. Me, a grown woman of twenty-seven, in my bodged-together ski gear, and twin teenagers in matching mint outfits, whose alpha parents had dropped them off with big smiles and waves, before whizzing off towards the grown-up runs.
‘Good morning class, my name is Alice and I’ll be teaching our beginner’s ski class today. Have any of you done any skiing or snowboarding before?’ Alice was tall, with cropped, white-blonde hair, brown eyes, and an accent I couldn’t place. She was wearing a nice pair of green salopettes, which put me instantly at ease. Unless she was doing it ironically.
I tentatively put up my hand. ‘I’ve done some snowboarding, but I’m in no way an expert,’ I said, faux-modestly.
‘Excellent. And you girls?’
The twins shook their heads in unison.
‘This is the first time…’
‘…we’ve ever been skiing.’
They shared the sentence, then giggled.
‘OK, so we might have a difference in capability, but let’s see how we get on,’ Alice smiled. I very much doubted there would be any difference in capability and silently kicked myself for suggesting I had experience. I would no doubt be worse than hopeless.
‘The first step is to get you all up the mountain, so follow me,’ Alice said.
She used her poles as leverage to get her skis moving forward and the three of us copied her exactly, like ducklings behind a mother duck. The sliding along bit was surprisingly easy; maybe it wouldn’t be that bad after all.
And then we reached the button lift. A terrifying machine propelling metal seats on thin wires up and down the mountain at speed. The seats whirred aggressively around as innocent skiers and boarders attempted to grab one and jump on, taking their lives in their hands. The button slowed for no one. It was like entering the Labyrinth through a monster’s chomping mouth. You had to choose your moment.
‘OK girls, you will go first, and I will follow.’ Alice walked us to the front of the queue, and I ignored the dirty looks as the man in charge unclipped the rope and let us through. The man gestured at twin one to stand on a cross on the floor as the first button hurtled towards us. He wrestled it into order and simultaneously placed her hands on the wire, and the button between her legs, allowing her to elegantly sit down as the lift slowly dragged her up the mountain. Twin two did the same thing, making it look entirely effortless.
