Excite and enthuse you
Make you want to get out of bed in the morning
Are the most precious to you
Make you the person you are
Mina huffed out a sigh. Like Hannah said, stating the bleeding obvious. Pulling on her down coat, she opened the French doors and went out onto the balcony to what she now considered her thinking spot.
Food, adventure, travel, and chocolate – they all excited and enthused her. She narrowed her eyes. She really needed to butter Johannes up to see how chocolate was made. It would be crazy to come to what many people considered the home of chocolate and not learn more about it. If she couldn’t persuade Johannes, she would have to visit one of the chocolate factories that the girl in the shop mentioned. Perhaps there were some leaflets downstairs that she could investigate.
In fact, she’d go down now and take a look. Shrugging off her coat, she dumped it on the armchair and gave herself a quick once-over in the mirror. Her face, despite a liberal application of high-factor sunscreen, had taken on a golden hue which was enhanced with a quick slick of pink sparkly lipstick. OK, so she was being vain, but she was pleased with the wholesome, healthy reflection that smiled back at herself. She’d do.
She hadn’t really taken much notice of the wooden rack of leaflets since she’d arrived, but one caught her eye immediately and she grabbed it. No! There couldn’t be. A cheese and chocolate train? Cheese and chocolate, what was not to like? As she scanned the text, her excitement mounted and her tastebuds began to tingle. It sounded like her idea of heaven, especially as it took in Gruyère, one of her favourite cheeses, and then went on to one of the top chocolate factories in Switzerland, Maison Cailler. Not just that, the train was made up of vintage Pullman coaches, which looked wonderful and reminded her of pictures of the Orient Express.
‘I’ve always fancied doing that.’ She didn’t need to turn around; at the sound of his voice, her stomach had done that familiar loop-the-loop.
‘Luke.’ As usual she couldn’t help smiling back at him. ‘It looks so much fun,’ she said. ‘The scenery is supposed to be spectacular. And I bet the cheese and chocolate aren’t half bad either,’ she added. ‘I really want to know more about making chocolate. Let’s go,’ she said, impulsive as ever. She believed if you really wanted to do something you went for it. Wasn’t that what the book was telling her? Find the things she did want to do. Did this count?
There was a wonderful Mark Twain quote that said you were more likely to regret the things you didn’t do than those you did, and it was so true. She still regretted not going to see Green Day when she was offered tickets when she was eighteen. She should have fought a lot harder about not going to her cousin’s wedding. They were only invited to the evening bit anyway. It still rankled all these years on. The more she thought about it, the more she wanted to go. ‘I’m never going to get the chance to go on a cheese and chocolate train again. Or possibly travel in vintage Pullman carriages, which look lovely.’ She paused and then asked, ‘But I have no idea what they are. Is Pullman something special?’
Luke laughed. ‘They were made in the early part of the twentieth century, and at the time were very luxurious. They still are. And I would love to go, it’s one of the classic rail journeys in Switzerland. The only thing is, it would be quite complicated getting there. The train leaves Montreux at 8:44.’ He pointed to the very precise time in the leaflet.
‘And how far away is Montreux?’
‘At least three hours by train.’
Her face fell. ‘Hmm. I’ll have to have a think.’ The train trip itself was seven hours long. Even she had to accept that perhaps a thirteen-hour day wasn’t completely practical.
‘Fancy coming snowboarding on Tuesday, then? Test out your skateboarding skills. The slopes will be much quieter as the weekend crowd has left.’
Her face fell. ‘I’d love to, but I said I’d go to Brig with Amelie.’ And she really did feel that Amelie would appreciate the company as much as the help. This was quite an operation for one person.
‘If you really fancy it, I could go on Wednesday or Thursday. My work is flexible, so I can rearrange easily.’
‘I thought you said you were between posts.’
Luke frowned for a second before nodding. ‘ I am. But I also have a… a freelance job that I’m working on.’ He paused studying her face for a moment. ‘Would you like to see?’
‘See?’
The familiar grin flashed back at her. ‘See what I do. It’s a sort of hobby.’
Now she was intrigued. ‘OK.’
‘You’d have to come up to my room.’
She raised an eyebrow.
He laughed. With a nod towards the stairs, he added, ‘Come on then, we’ve just got time before dinner.’
Mina’s curiosity worked overtime as they climbed the staircase. ‘Can you give me any clues?’
‘You’ll never guess in a million years.’ His expression was ever so slightly smug, but also filled with amusement. ‘I make things.’
Never one to back down from a challenge, she narrowed her eyes. ‘You knit,’ she said remembering the chunky red scarf.
He shook his head.
