‘It looks like a road no one has ever used.’ The thought saddened her, but then perhaps that had a lot to do with the realisation that putting some distance between her and Luke was going to take quite a lot of effort on her part, because she genuinely liked being with him. With an internal wince, she realised he symbolised for her a road that would never be used, although it looked as if it headed to interesting places.
‘It’s the Aletsch Glacier, it’s nearly fourteen miles long.’
‘So underneath the snow it’s ice.’
‘Yes, about a kilometre deep.’
Mina’s mind did a little of boggling at that.
‘Sadly, it’s in retreat, melting due to global warming. Research scientists reckon it’s lost nearly a mile in length since 1980. Climate change. Deeply depressing, but it’s what I do or rather what I did. Researcher for the UN Environment Programme in Geneva.’ The downturn of his mouth suggested he didn’t want to say more.
They both stared down at the glacier, lost in their own thoughts. Mina always thought it was incredible that things like this had been here for thousands of years before man, and that it was a terrible shame that man’s advent on the world was causing so much destruction. It made her pesky problems seem fairly insignificant. All this would be here thousands of years after she’d gone. Life was short and she ought to make the most of it.
‘This is wonderful, thanks for coming with me. I hope I’m not spoiling your skiing time.’
‘You’re kidding. I’m just happy being out here.’
Mina smiled. His attitude contrasted with Bernhardt and Kristian’s on the ski slope, they weren’t going to let anyone hold them up or divert them from serious skiing.
‘If you’re sure.’
‘Hell, yes. Mina. Just think of all the people stuck inside in their offices at this moment, staring at a computer screen or stirring pots over a stove or whatever it is you do at work.’
Mina thought about what a normal Tuesday morning would look like. An internal staff meeting. A packaging brief. Phone calls with marketing to tell them the design agency had missed an ingredient off the list. She’d far rather be here.
‘We win. This is just stunning.’
‘Fancy some lunch?’
‘What, here?’
‘No, I know a much nicer place further down the valley. Not so crowded.’
‘Do I need to ski there?’ asked Mina.
Luke shook his head. ‘Straight down on the cable car all the way to the bottom.’
‘Sold.’ She had a feeling diehard skiers like Bernhardt and Kristian weren’t going to miss her if she didn’t make lunch. It was a fuel stop for them, whereas she fancied a leisurely lunch and then perhaps one more easy run before heading home. After all, she had two weeks to explore the slopes and give her muscles time to build up. She quite fancied the idea of still being able to walk tomorrow. It still amazed her that she was really here, out on the glorious slopes with what felt like the world at her feet, surrounded by timeless mountains. It put so much in perspective and reinforced how small and limited she’d let her life become. This was her chance to do some hard thinking and consider how she was going to broaden her horizons and make some changes in her life. She’d done the right thing telling Luke that there couldn’t be anything between them, even if annoyingly, it didn’t feel quite as right as it should have done.
Chapter Eight
‘It’s so good to have you here,’ said Amelie the following morning, reaching across the table and laying a hand on Mina’s wrist as they sat with coffee in the big kitchen tucked away behind the dining room.
It felt like the calm after the storm. Bernhardt, Kristian, and the rest of the guests had all been up early again, anxious to make the most of their last full day. Breakfast had been served and tidied away in an extremely slick operation. Everyone seemed anxious to eat and go, not that Mina blamed them. Despite the invitations to join the two men again, Mina had decided that she really ought to spend some time with her godmother, even though it was yet another glorious morning. Luke had casually invited her to go cross-country skiing later that day – and yes, she’d analysed his expression, the words, and the way he’d phrased it before coming to the conclusion that it was a purely friendly gesture and that he bore no grudge for her words the day before. She’d said she’d get back to him although she thought perhaps she should say no and avoid him.
Ignoring her aching legs, as soon as she’d woken she’d gone straight out onto the balcony where she’d had to shade her eyes against the dazzling white snow contrasting so beautifully against a pure azure sky. Even though there was a chill in the air, she’d stood in her pyjamas drinking in the view, drawing in great lungfuls of the crisp, clean air. As she looked out over the valley towards the giants towering from the horizons, it seemed that the air here had a different quality, clearer as well as cleaner. It made her feel alive and alert, and at the same time aware of how stifled she’d become at home and in her job, and how regimented life with Simon had started to feel. She and Hannah had always joked about Miriam and Derek’s habitual routines but with hindsight she realised that she’d been in danger of falling into her own restrictive patterns. Not going out on Friday nights because Simon had football on Saturday morning, not doing much on Sunday evenings because they had work the next morning. In fact, she was surprised he’d found time in his fixed schedule to have an affair with Belinda.
Now, as she recalled that delicious hit of pure, clean air, which had brought home how far she’d come in just a few short days and how open to change she felt, she said earnestly, ‘It’s good to be here, it’s so beautiful.’
‘Yes. I’d been looking forward to coming back for a long time. My grandparents lived here when I was a little girl. This was their house. Oh, the fuss some of the villagers made when I came back and said I wanted to turn it into a guest house. You’d have thought I was opening a brothel.’
Mina laughed. ‘I spoke to Johannes. He said he’d come round.’
‘The power of cake,’ said Amelie with a sultry grin.
‘Oh, the cake yesterday! Delicious. What were the bits in it, apart from the cherries and the crispy base?’ It was a good stodgy cake with a crumbly texture and nothing like she’d tasted before.
‘You line the bottom of the cake tin with crushed cookies which give it that crisp base and soak pieces of old bread in vanilla milk, before you add them and ground almonds to the batter. It creates this wonderful rustic cake with lots of different flavours. It’s one of my favourites, from an old recipe from Basel where they grow the best cherries. The literal translation is cherry bread cake.’
