‘Me estás cargando!’ Cat said, delighted.
Tristan parked Emme next to the bed, and stood behind her, pushing his hair back out of his face. He smiled at Cat. Cat looked at him, pleased to see him.
‘Can I hug you?’ Emme asked.
‘No. This side is fucked,’ she said, nodding to her collarbone.
‘In which case…’ Emme gingerly stood up and kissed Cat on the forehead. Tristan held her up. She hadn’t stood for three days.
‘Let’s just say I won’t be chopping cilantro for a while.’
‘I’m so sorry.’
Tristan helped Emme back down and smoothed her hospital dressing gown.
‘Hey, it could have been a lot worse.’
Emme took Cat’s hand.
‘Lumi has been in– how nice is that?’
‘Really nice.’
‘I’ll leave you two to it,’ Tristan said. ‘Do you want anything from the vending machine?’
They both shook their heads and Tristan ambled out.
Cat barely waited until he was out the door before she brought it up.
‘You kids all good?’ There was a twinkle in her eye. Perhaps she didn’t think Emme was mad. ‘I mean, he saved your fucking life, that has to be worth a second chance, huh?’
‘We shall see…’ Emme joked, cryptically. And then she turned to the burning question. ‘What the hell happened on the mountain?’
Cat shook her head.
‘That kid– he went down a second time. On his own.’
‘Why did you go after him?’
‘His parents were on the piste– I went after him to tell him how idiotic it was to ski off-piste, in a wildlife area, in those conditions– it was perfect avalanche conditions.’
Emme looked bewildered.
‘I was trying to catch him. Give him a piece of my mind. Spook him. I was shouting at younotto follow me…’
‘I didn’t hear.’
‘I know that now!’ Cat laughed. ‘And I was giving you the signal to stop, crossing my arms above my head…’ The thought of attempting such a physical feat with a broken collarbone made Cat wince. ‘But it’s not so obvious without ski poles.’
‘God, sorry, I didn’t know.’
‘A snowboarder set it off above you. A German tourist. Apparently he still doesn’t even know! But, hey, none of
us should have been there.’
‘Shit.’
They looked at each other, scared, relieved, reunited.
