Holding the tray against her jacket like a shield, she purposefully looked away from him towards the doorway, where Madeleine was making painstakingly slow progress in her boots, laughing about something with Rose.
The smallest of smiles mustered itself on Tania’s face, alongside a feeling of confusion whose origin she couldn’t place. She flicked a final look in Mr Explicit’s direction, killed the smile when she realised that he was looking at her, and frowned instead.
Chapter 4
It was only a small victory, Madeleine thought, as she shuffled her way around the wet patch inside the restaurant door rather than slipping over in it and headed towards Tania. But with the way her body was aching from all the falls she’d already sustained, she’d take a victory of any proportion and hold onto it with both hands.
As it was, she still ended up grabbing hold of Rose’s arm with both hands when she caught the tip of a boot against a wooden pillar. Rose called her a total clown and they both started laughing, but not before Madeleine had clocked Tania talking to a tall, dark-haired guy. A casual conversation, she assumed, until she noticed the way they both glanced at one another. And then pretended they hadn’t.
Madeleine needed to ask Rose about all things love life where Tania was concerned. She was curious to know if any of the numerous rumours were true. But for now, lunch was a much more pressing issue.
‘I’m totally rubbish at skiing,’ she announced once they were again seated at the outside table. She mixed parmesan into her bowl of spaghetti Bolognese, sniffing at the rising spirals of glorious steam as she moved her fork around. She’d lost count of the number of times she’d ended up butt-first in the snow that morning. Not that it should come as a total surprise, she supposed, sport hadn’t ever really been her thing.
‘You’re doing fine,’ Rose said, her nose wrinkling a little. They both knew she was being generous.
‘Yes, if “fine” is the definition of a skier who falls over every five minutes.’
The edges of Rose’s mouth quirked up before she squashed her lips tightly together.
‘Don’t laugh,’ Madeleine said, shuffling on the bench to move her weight away from one of the many bruises already forming. ‘I told you “Never knowingly sporty” will probably appear on my headstone.’
‘She fell over on the flattest bit of the green run which goes under the Près Hotel.’ Rose mimed flailing arms for Tania’s benefit, as if the embarrassment wasn’t already sufficient.
‘There was some loose snow,’ Madeleine replied, her eyebrows furrowing. ‘Plus, that toddler came past so fast I thought he was going to crash into me.’
Rose did little to contain a hoot of laughter.
‘I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it,’ Tania said.
Madeleine wished she knew Tania well enough to gauge the level of conviction behind the statement.
‘Anyway, I’ve decided I’m getting some lessons,’ she said, spinning spaghetti around her fork. ‘Starting tomorrow.’
‘I don’t think it’s a bad idea,’ Rose said. ‘If I’m being honest.’
‘Quickest way to learn,’ Tania said, taking a sip from her glass of hot wine. ‘No doubt.’
‘Do you think?’ Madeleine was keen to forge some kind of a connection with Tania. Rose had already advised her not to mention Tania’s father, that any kind of fangirl comments would not go down well. She supposed she understood. It must be hard to live in the shadow of an extremely successful parent. Her own parents were totally run-of-the-mill. They’d been married for twenty-five years and lived in a nice-enough semi. Her mother worked at the local school; her father ran the logistics for the town’s haulage company. Not the kind of people who went skiing in France. They were the kind of people who booked a week in a National Trust cottage in Cornwall. And they were happy being invisible. Totally opposite to the Harringtons, who lived their lives permanently in the spotlight.
Tania smiled at her. It was brief, but it was there. ‘Of course. If you learn the correct technique from the beginning, it’ll make it all so much easier.’
‘Right, that’s decided, then,’ Madeleine said. She took a mouthful of Bolognese. ‘Mmm. This is so good.’
‘Have you spoken to Clara?’ Rose asked, looking at Tania. ‘She was going to meet us for lunch, wasn’t she?’
‘Yes. I messaged her earlier. She said she might come out this afternoon. That she was grabbing something to eat at the lodge first.’
‘How is she feeling?’ Madeleine asked. The look which passed between Tania and Rose made her feel as if she’d taken a seat at the wrong table without realising and tried to join in a conversation with a group of total strangers. To be fair, Tania wasn’t much more than a stranger, but she’d known Rose for the last eight months.
Tania recovered her expression quickly. ‘She’s just hungover, that’s all.’
‘Yeah, she did drink enough to floor an elephant last night,’ Rose said, earning herself a sharp look from Tania.
She should probably quit while she was ahead, but that had never been Madeleine’s style, so she changed tack a little and ploughed on, headlong. ‘Who was the guy you were talking to in the queue?’ she asked Tania. ‘He looked nice.’
Tania laughed. ‘He might have looked nice, but I can assure you he probably isn’t.’
‘Why?’
