‘He’s just in a good mood because I said yes to his chocolates.’
‘What’s wrong with them? Aren’t they any good?’
‘Good? They are wonderful. Stupid man is very stubborn about letting anyone know much about them.’
‘I know,’ sighed Mina. ‘I asked him if I could see him at work.’
‘And he said no.’
‘Yes.’
‘We’ll have to see what we can do about that.’ Amelie’s eyes narrowed in quick thought. ‘I guess he’s like me, doesn’t like anyone interfering in his kitchen.’
‘You didn’t mind me helping this morning.’
‘You know what you’re doing, and you are family,’ said Amelie placidly. ‘It’s not as if I have much, at least not interesting, family. You, my dear, are always interesting. Talking of which, have you any plans for tomorrow?’
‘Not yet but I might go out and practise my cross-country skiing. I felt like I got the hang of it today. Luke was a good teacher.’
‘Excellent.’ Amelie beamed at her. ‘He’s such a lovely boy, and that was very kind of him to take you out.’
‘It was, especially when I wiped him out earlier today.’ Mina smiled, thinking of the moment they’d tumbled down together, and his easy smiles. Nothing seemed to faze him. ‘But if you’re doing something…’
‘No. No. Tomorrow is an easy day. I’ll be making bread tomorrow morning because we’re having fondue for dinner, and I’m makingzigercake. The ski bunnies will be off early to get the train back to the city. The girls come in and strip all the beds mid-morning and make up the new ones. Monday evening is very releaxed, so it’s my rest day. and tomorrow I don’t plan to do anything other than go for a nice walk, if you’d like to come with me. I can point out a few things help you get your bearings.’
Amelie looked like she needed a rest. There were dark purple smudges beneath her eyes and her shoulders sagged slightly as if they were weighed down by the enormous sacks of flour she kept in the larder.
‘That would be lovely, and I can help before we go out.’
Amelie looked as if she were about to shake her head, and Mina laid a hand on her shoulder. ‘Seriously, I don’t mind, and I love learning new recipes. Cooking is my hobby.’ It was a shame it had turned into her work as well, although that was a lot less satisfying. ‘What’s in a – what was it? – azigercake?’
‘Ziger,’ said Amelie with a laugh. ‘It’s rather like a cheesecake, using a Swiss cheese similar to ricotta, although it’s firmer and crumblier, so works really well in this recipe. It has no flour and is made with eggs, lemon, sugar, and garnished with toasted flaked almonds. And I’ll teach you how to make it. In fact, I might take shameless advantage of you, and get you to help make the cakes in advance for Tuesday.
‘That’s my very busy day. I take everything to the laundry in Brig, collect the new sheets, and go to the wholesalers for supplies. I need to get all that done before midday as I have a few people arriving, and they’re staying until Friday.’
She glanced out of the window. ‘In fact, if you help me tomorrow, we could do my favourite walk. It’s a seven-kilometre trail up the valley, and then I can get the train back. To be honest, I haven’t been out properly for a couple of weeks. Johannes keeps asking me, but there never seem to be enough hours in the day.’
‘Gosh, don’t you want to put your feet up?’
‘And miss the mountains?’ Amelie shook her head vehemently. ‘I can rest plenty when I’m dead. Monday is the only real chance I get to take a good long walk and shake the cobwebs loose. There’s no point living here if you don’t experience the snow.’
After being out today and still feeling ruddy-cheeked, Mina could appreciate that.
Chapter Ten
Mina lowered herself into the warm pine-scented water in the rather wonderful freestanding, very contemporary bath, feeling her aching muscles immediately go ‘aah’ and relax. Much as she’d enjoyed it, the skiing was now making itself felt.
She was looking forward to dinner, trying Amelie’s stew and enjoying the light-hearted camaraderie of the dining room, now that she knew a few people. There was something so welcoming about the chalet and she spent a while trying to analyse exactly how Amelie had achieved it. Good food, obviously. Amelie was a great cook, but there was more. Although there were a range of ages and people from different backgrounds, everyone seemed to get along and be happy to chat to each other. Even Johannes, who she suspected tended towards the irascible, seemed to mellow in the cosy lounge over cake. All the guests were so friendly. Surely Amelie didn’t handpick them all. Clearly a lot of them came back. Over cake she’d discovered that both Bernhardt and Kristian would be back the following weekend. She had a feeling that Amelie was like the soft delicious sponge in the Solothurner cake that held everything together. You couldn’t see it, but you quickly realised it was there when you took the first delicious bite. Amelie was what made this place, she was a unique hostess and Mina doubted her hospitality could be replicated.
In danger of falling asleep, she hauled herself out of the bath into a sumptuous soft white bath sheet and padded through to the bedroom. Night had fallen now, and through the windows the glow of the lights was reflected on the snow. She would never get tired of this view, or the way the shadows fell on the soft, plump pillows of snow piled high on the roofs, walls, and ledges.
Dressing in her favourite black trousers, she spritzed some perfume and checked herself in the mirror, conscious of the muffled noises coming from next door. Her heart did that silly expanding thing at the thought of Luke. What was she going to do about that? Clearly there was serious chemistry between them. There was no denying he was gorgeous, had a great personality, and she’d enjoyed his company enormously, but she had no business starting a relationship with anyone, certainly not now when she was supposed to be focusing on getting her priorities sorted. But it was getting harder and harder to keep him out of his head, and to stop her body responding to the mere flipping sight of him. She glared at the book lying on her bed and with a sigh snatched it up. At least reading it, she felt as if she were doingsomethingtowards ‘sorting herself out’. Ian’s words had stung more than she’d realised at the time and she kept dwelling on them, going back over them like a tongue drawn to a jagged tooth. She had half an hour before dinner was served.
Know Yourself
Before you can truly understand what it is you want, you need to be true to yourself and identify those values at your very core. What are the things that are important to you?
Think about the things that:
