Deliberately turning away, she reached out and touched the tiny glossy fire engine. ‘So what happens to it when it’s finished? Do you sell it?’
‘This one has been specially commissioned as a retirement present for someone. I work with a lady in the UK, a friend of my parents, she sources the vintage cases and the commissions, and I come up with the design and make the models.
‘She set up a couple of years ago and it’s growing slowly and surely. This one has to be finished by the end of this week. I’ll take it into Brig and get it shipped. Then I have another one to start, this time they want the Scottish Highlands.’ He pointed to another brown leather case under the table.
‘I can’t wait to tell Uncle Derek. Do you mind if I take some photos?’
‘Er, would you mind waiting? The new owner hasn’t even seen it yet; it seems a bit unfair on them if someone else gets to see it before them.’
‘Oh, yes. Of course. That makes sense. Maybe I should buy one for him.’ She’d already resolved to speak to Hannah. She could get her to take pictures of the family home before Derek and Miriam moved out and they could include a model of the house and give it to Derek as a retirement present or a moving house present. They could even have tiny figures of the four of them in the garden waving at the train. As always, her mind was leaping forward with seven-league boots.
Luke laughed. ‘I can almost hear your brain racing, but I’m thrilled that you love the Suitcase Train as much as I do.’
‘I do. No wonder you’re such a patient teacher. You must have lots, to do this kind of painstaking, detailed work.’
‘I had to learn it,’ said Luke, just a touch enigmatically but she was still thinking of Derek’s would-be reaction and didn’t think about his odd response until much later.
A few minutes later, they followed their noses into the dining room, which was almost full. On the sideboard were three enormous, old-fashioned, steaming tureens filling the air with the scent of leeks and mince. Next to them were two breadboards with several French sticks.
‘Ah, Mina, Luke. Just in time. Mina, would you like to sit between Claudia and Kristian and on the other side of Kristian?’
Mina nodded, pleased with her seating allocation; she’d really enjoyed talking to Claudia the previous night. She was amused to see that Luke looked a little mutinous as he made his way to the seat next-door-but-one to hers, with Kristian separating them.
As she sat down, she turned to Kristian and said good evening.
‘You have lipstick on. It looks nice.’
‘Thank you,’ she said, trying to keep her amusement at the clumsy compliment.
‘Yes. A nice colour. It makes your lips look…’ He winced as he ran out of steam. ‘Like lips.’ There was a panicked expression in his eyes as he turned as red as a beetroot to the very tips of his ears.
She patted them. ‘That’s good then. That’s what I was hoping for. I like this colour. Thank you.’
Kristian looked at her uncertainly, but seemed reassured by her straight face.
‘Guten Abend,’ he muttered, staring down at his place setting.
‘Good evening, Mina.’ Claudia greeted her with friendly charm and proceeded to ask her all about her virgin cross-country ski experience.
Once everyone was seated according to Amelie’s directions, the two teenage servers started filling bowls with hearty portions of thebenediktiner eintopfand she put baskets of the sliced baguettes in the middle of the table. There was very little conversation at first as everyone tucked in; everyone’s earlier hunger, briefly quashed by cake, was well and truly back with a vengeance.
Amelie had a gift, thought Mina as she looked around the table. She was the fairy godmother of hostessing. With a simple wave of her wooden spoon, she’d managed to match each person up so that everyone had someone to talk to that they were comfortable with. Even Kristian next to her had gradually lost his nervousness and been able to address a couple of innocuous remarks to her without putting his foot in it or turning bright red again. Opposite her a young teenage girl was happily chatting away to Frank and just beyond her Luke and Bernhardt were indulging in playful banter, laughing and teasing each other with the familiarity of old friends. It was a convivial party, decided Mina, and even after coffee had been served and finished – Johannes’s chocolates were amazing – everyone stayed at the table talking for another hour. Eventually people began to drift away in readiness for another early start in the morning.
‘Look forward to seeing you later in the week, Mina,’ said Bernhardt in a low voice, as he paused by her chair, putting what she suddenly realised was a proprietary hand on the back of the chair. ‘And then we’ll be back on Friday.’ There was unexpected warmth in his dark eyes as he smiled down at her.
‘Er… yes,’ she said, having absolutely no idea what he meant. She knew he, Uta and Kristian were leaving the following morning but would be back at the weekend. It seemed a long way to come back for one night. Maybe she’d misheard. And maybe she’d misread the sudden interest he was showing. Where had that come from?
Chapter Eleven
‘This is heaven,’ said Mina as she surveyed the view. Little clumps of dark green fir dotted the landscape between the wooden chalets scattered across the slope dominated by a big two-storey white church with a black slate roof and domed clocked tower.
‘And I thank God every day that I came back here,’ said Amelie, leaning on one of her walking poles. They were both slightly out of breath and their pants came out in little puffs of steam in the crisp air. ‘I love living in the mountains. And thank you for helping this morning. I feel like I’ve really got ahead of myself, especially with the cakes already made for tomorrow.’
‘It’s my pleasure. It’s so interesting trying these recipes, they’re very different to English cakes. Especially the way you separate out the egg whites and whip them up and fold them in at the end. It’s inspiring me so much. What do you think of this? A fruity twist on the Solothurner cake. How about a cherry or raspberry version?’
‘Hmm, I’m a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to recipes, but I could be persuaded. Sounds interesting.’ Amelie tilted her head and broke off to point ahead with her walking pole. ‘We’re headed up there. Ready to go?’
Mina looked up at the slope towards a line of trees and nodded.
