‘So how would you adapt the recipe?’ asked Amelie as they set off.
An hour later they were travelling back to the chalet on the train having talked non-stop during their walk about cakes, ingredients, and flavours. Mina’s brain buzzed with ideas and her hands were jiggling up and down on her knee with that burning desire to get into the kitchen.
Amelie began to laugh. ‘Why don’t we buy you some ingredients tomorrow when we go to Brig and you can work in the kitchen?’
‘Would you mind?’ asked Mina, conscious that the kitchen was very much Amelie’s domain. ‘I’m dying to experiment. I feel really inspired by all your recipes. They’re so different but there’s so much scope to adapt them and I’m itching to have a go.’
Amelie laid a hand over Mina’s knee. ‘I can tell.’ She laughed. ‘You brim with enthusiasm and it’s so invigorating to be around. You’re making me think about my cooking. I’m looking forward to what you come up with. While I love baking, what motivates me is knowing that my guests will enjoy the results. I follow recipes that I know people will like. I’m not sure that I have the same passion for food and cooking that you do. Mine is more about pleasing people. Making them happy and comfortable.’
‘I want to please people, and for them to enjoy my food, but I guess that I also want to challenge them, encourage them to try new foods and to fall in love with food.’ Mina grinned at her. ‘That doesn’t necessarily make them comfortable, does it?’
Amelie laughed. ‘Sometimes you have to push people. Like Kristian. A sweet boy but hopelessly clumsy, especially with women, and has a terrible tendency to say silly things. If he had his way, he’d hide in the corner all the time with Bernhardt and his other friends. Bernhardt is far too sure of himself. There’s nothing I can do there, but he has a good heart. I’m trying to bring Kristian out of his shell and give him a bit more confidence in himself. He does get in a fluster and then he just talks.’ She raised her eyes heavenward before adding with a touch of indulgent exasperation, ‘Without thinking.’
‘Ah, I did wonder.’
Amelie beamed at her. ‘That’s why it’s lovely my guests keep coming back. He’s much better than he used to be. I have a couple arriving tomorrow…’ Her face clouded and her lips crimped together before she said, ‘Well, I won’t say anything until you’ve seen them in action. I’d be interested to see what you think. They’re English. Both work in Geneva. They’ve been a couple of times before and this time are staying until Friday.’ She paused. ‘I did wonder about letting them book, especially as they want to come again for a couple of weekends. I’ve not confirmed those yet.’
Mina turned to her. ‘Do you really choose who comes to stay?’
Amelie let out a light laugh. ‘Not terribly good business practice, is it? Dieter would have been horrified.’ She smiled although there was a wistful look in her eye. Amelie didn’t talk much about her husband, Dieter, who had been dead for two years. Mina could barely remember him. He’d never accompanied Amelie on her trips to the UK, and on the few visits to her apartment in Basel, he’d been a shy figure who kept himself to himself in the book-lined study. ‘Dieter would have been interested in the practical elements, how to manage the energy, portion control, and the bottom line. Whereas I want my guests to be comfortable, and if other guests spoil that enjoyment for others, they’re not welcome back.’
‘And do you tell them that?’ Mina asked, slightly curious.
‘Goodness, no. I might just tell them I’m fully booked, like I did with Frau Müller.’
‘What did she do wrong?’
Rolling her eyes, Amelie leaned forward. ‘She’s very negative. It’s a drain on the other guests. Everything in life is wrong. She wasn’t miserable, but she just didn’t want to enjoy life. I suppose she enjoyed moaning more. But that sort of thing is wearing for the other guests. I don’t want my guests to be wary, peering about like little bears when they come into the lounge, worrying about who they might have to sit next to at dinner. In a big hotel it doesn’t matter so much, you can hide from people.’
‘I get that. One year at our campsite, there was an awful couple who pitched their super deluxe ten-man tent with wine fridge, camp beds, and a Weber gas barbecue next to ours, and they had to tell us all the time how much bigger and better their equipment was.’ Mina grinned at the memory. ‘Derek was hilarious. For every boast they made, he deliberately downplayed things. Told them that our tent was from a skip, our barbecue came from a charity shop, and that he made me and my sister run down to the stream to collect the beer he’d left chilling in the water. On a campsite we could get away from them quite easily. They became the butt of our jokes. But I can see how people like that in close proximity could ruin your weekend.’
‘Exactly. I shall have to see how Mr and Mrs Barnes behave this visit. Last time they were here, I nearly didn’t let them book again.’
‘What did they do wrong?’
Amelie considered the question with a frown before replying. ‘I think I’ll leave you to make up your own mind. You can tell me what you think.’
‘That’s not fair.’
‘Mina my darling, always so impatient. But I would like your opinion.’
Mina was intrigued to meet the couple and wondered what Amelie meant.
‘So, are you going to tell me what sent you hotfooting to Switzerland?’
Amelie’s question took her by surprise, and when she didn’t say anything, more out of shock than not wanting to confide, Amelie added, ‘Of course, you don’t have to tell me. I’m just wondering how I might be able to help you.’
‘Fix me, you mean?’ asked Mina with a sudden grin, realising that was what Amelie did with her guests. Her godmother’s guileless smile or insouciant shrug didn’t fool her for one minute. ‘That’s what you do for your guests, isn’t it?’
‘I’m not sure that I fix people, but I certainly do my best to make them happier.’
‘I’m quite happy, really. I just took a wrong turn and it gave me a nasty wake up call.’ In a light-hearted jokey way she told Amelie about Simon, the proposal, the public humiliation of discovering he was having an affair, and Smurfgate. Now with a bit of distance she was able to camp up the story and pretend that it was really quite funny even though Simon’s words had stung.
Hiding her laughter behind a hand, Amelie shook her head, but tears were streaming down her face. ‘That is… I shouldn’t say it, but it’s very funny, and what he and this Belinda girl deserved. Andï’ her eyes narrowed with that no-one-hurts-mine gleam of loyalty ‘—they have both behaved very badly. I’m sorry, liebling.’ She reached out and laid a hand on Mina’s. ‘He didn’t deserve you, and he has lost something that he is too stupid to prize.’
And that was why Amelie was so special. She was always in Mina’s corner, a hundred per cent. There was a special understanding there, and always had been, even when Mina was a little girl. Ameliegother.
Mina smiled sadly at her. ‘You’re right. His loss.’ Amelie squeezed her hand again just as the train pulled into their station.
