‘I think it would be sensible,’ Rose said. ‘In case the storm tracks in this evening. I love the bus ride back up the mountain, but not in a gale force wind.’
‘The bus probably won’t even run if the weather’s that bad,’ Tom chipped in, placing the final two plates on the table.
‘Do you mind cooking for us again?’ Clara said.
‘It’s what I’m here for,’ he replied with a grin, heading back to the kitchen area.
Madeleine took a forkful of egg, marvelling at the way it all but dissolved in her mouth. The man could cook, there was no doubt about it, and she, for one, was glad that was what he was here for. Expanding waistline or no expanding waistline. But she wondered when he got to have time off. He’d been in the kitchen all week.
Maybe it was one of thoseDownton Abbeyscenarios, where the Harringtons failed to consider such menial things. Madeleine imagined a scene, in which Tania’s stepmother– dressed in a flowing emerald-green gown for some reason, the light shining through the golden halo of her Scandi-blonde hair– asked in a bemused tone for a definition of a weekend, because every day was a party in her world. Perhaps it was in his contract that he had to work every day, come hell or high water.
Perhaps her imagination was getting the better of her. Again.
‘When does he get a day off?’ she asked Rose, quietly enough for the others not to hear.
‘I’m not sure,’ Rose said. She batted the question across to Tania. ‘Maddy wants to know when Tom gets a day off.’ She grinned in Madeleine’s direction. ‘I think she’s fed up with his cooking.’
‘No, I’m not.’ Madeleine’s cheeks coloured instantly; she could feel the prickle of heat. ‘Not in the slightest. I was just curious.’
‘In March,’ Tania said, her face ramrod straight.
Madeleine’s cheeks notched up another step on the heat-ometer. She glanced around the table, then across at Tom, who was oblivious to the conversation, earbuds plugged in and head nodding to whatever he was listening to. She looked back to Tania. ‘Are you serious?’ she said. The arch to Tania’s eyebrows looked serious, from where she was sitting.
Then, to her relief, Tania began to smile. ‘No, I’m not serious. Of course I’m not. It varies a bit depending on who will use the lodge and how long they’ll be here for, but he gets at least one full day off a week, plus he’s free to do what he likes between serving breakfast and getting the evening meal ready.’ The arch returned to her eyebrow. ‘And when my father and Brigitte are here, there will be a whole host of other staff as well. We get the basics on my week. They get the deluxe treatment.’
Madeleine wondered what else those guests could possibly need. This week was registering highly on her deluxe scale as it was.
Tania pushed back her chair and stood. ‘Right, let’s get this show on the road, shall we?’
Chapter 24
‘I think we should take the bubble to the very top,’ Rose said. She knew Madeleine wouldn’t be keen, but there was method in her madness.
True to form, Madeleine shook her head. ‘I’ll never be able to ski down from there. No way. I’ll ski off the side of the mountain or something. I know I will.’
‘But you need to see the view.’ Rose wasn’t backing down. ‘Plus, we can come back down in the bubble, if you want to.’
‘We can?’ Madeleine’s expression brightened.
‘We can.’ Rose nodded. ‘And I’ll treat you to a hot chocolate at the top, if you like.’
‘When did I ever not like the idea of a hot chocolate?’ Madeleine grinned, her features relaxing.
From the top of La Bergerie bubble it was possible to see clear across to the neighbouring resort, nestling in a completely different set of peaks. If Madeleine thought she’d already seen some amazing scenery, then she would need to hold on to her helmet this morning. And along from the bubble sat a restaurant which teetered on the edge of the world. It was named Roche Pure. Pure rock. Rather apt, but she wasn’t going to tell Madeleine about the sheer drop of the cliff face situated behind the restaurant’s decking and clear Perspex-screened seating area. The feeling that you were suspended over the edge of the very mountain top. She would wait for her to experience it for herself.
‘Or we could come down the Vizelle run,’ Tania said. ‘It’s a blue and the only steep bit is at the top.’
‘Or you and Clara could do Vizelle, Maddy and I can go down in the bubble and we’ll meet up at the mid-station,’ she said. If the storm made this their last day of skiing, Rose was determined Madeleine would enjoy as much of it as possible. The top section of Vizelle was steeper than Tania was letting on. Steep and uneven. Not a problem for a skier like Tania, but she was forgetting how little time Madeleine had spent on the slopes. She supposed it showed how well Madeleine was doing, in fact, that Tania thought she could cope with the viciousness of that top section.
Madeleine nodded. ‘I like that idea the best. Hot chocolate and less risk of death by dangerous, out-of-control skiing? Win-win, if you ask me.’
Only minutes later, Madeleine wanted to swear, very loudly. She also wanted to take a large step away from the edge, but they wouldn’t let her. Stood in a row, with Rose on one side and Clara on the other, she was perilously aware of the edge of the mountain ridge behind her. The sense of absolute nothingness, which felt no more than inches behind her.
Tania stood a little way back from them, nearer to the bubble station, her phone out as she shepherded them ever closer to the edge.
‘That’s close enough,’ Madeleine hissed, through clenched teeth. ‘For the love of God, that’s close enough.’
Rose began to laugh, and Tania snapped a few more shots before she lowered her phone and walked towards them.
