‘Yes,’ said Luke. ‘That would be fun. Providing it wasn’t lederhosen.’
She laughed and nudged him. ‘No, you idiot. I was thinking moreMurder on the Orient Express.’
He laughed along with her.
‘Well, this looks like fun,’ said a cheery voice, and to Mina’s surprise, Uta appeared.
‘Hello! What are you doing here?’ she asked.
‘I had holiday time, and it sounded fun. Kristian and Bernhardt are coming too. It’s one of the things you always think about doing and never do. So here we are.’ Uta’s sunny smile encompassed the two of them, and Mina found herself smiling back, although inside she felt a tug of disappointment. She didn’t dare look at Luke. Had he felt the promise of the day shimmering in the air back on the platform?
‘Here you are.’ Bernhardt’s hearty cry rang out. ‘No sign of Kristian yet?’
Luke stood up, shook Bernhardt’s hand, and subtly changed seats to sit down next to Mina while Uta was sorting herself out, taking off her coat and unravelling a very long scarf.
Just before the train was about to depart, Kristian came charging along the train and almost walked past them without seeing them. It was only Uta calling him that made him slow his flustered, agitated pace. He collapsed in the seat on the other side of the aisle, his chest heaving.
‘Thought I wasn’t going to make it. Tight connection.’ He fanned his pink face, peeling his ski jacket off before grinning at everyone. ‘Here we all are. Isn’t this fun? My mum wanted to come. Good job she didn’t I’m not sure she’d have made that run.’
Mina couldn’t help but smile. There was something adorably dorkish about Kristian and she felt Luke nudge her knee as if in conspiratorial agreement. Bernhardt, on the other hand, rolled his eyes. Just then the train pulled out from the station and Uta clapped her hands. ‘We’re off.’
Mina laughed. ‘It feels like we’re on a school trip.’ There was a definite sense of anticipation throughout the carriage. They weren’t the only ones excited by the thought of cheese and chocolate.
‘I did go to a cheese factory on a trip once,’ volunteered Kristian. ‘It was really boring.’ Everyone looked at him, Bernhardt rolled his eyes again, and Uta shook her head. ‘I didn’t like cheese then,’ he protested, holding up his hands in surrender, realising that he’d said the wrong thing.
‘I love cheese,’ said Mina. ‘But I love chocolate more.’ They all laughed at her dreamy sigh. ‘No, seriously. Chocolate has a magic about it, don’t you think?’
Next to her, Luke tilted his head and raised an eyebrow.
‘Er, hello. Who insisted on having half my chocolate bar, the very first time I met you?’
‘I was hungry.’ He nudged her thigh with his, but left it pressed against hers, as if wanting to remind her of the intimacy of that first train journey.
She tutted. ‘How many people do you know who really don’t like chocolate?’
Uta shook her head and so did Bernhardt, while Kristian screwed up his face in thought.
‘I have a great-aunt who doesn’t like coffee-flavoured chocolate,’ he finally announced.
‘That doesn’t count,’ said Bernhardt, quick to depress his comment. ‘I think most people do like chocolate.’ He gave Mina a charming smile. ‘Does that make it magic?’
‘It’s the theobromide,’ said Luke, as if producing a rabbit from a hat.
Mina chuckled. ‘Theobromine, but nice try. Actually that’s a stimulant like caffeine, but there are a number of chemicals in chocolate, including a neurotransmitter, anandamide, which comes from the Sanskrit for joy or bliss. It stimulates the brain in a similar way to cannabis.’
‘Not just a pretty face,’ said Bernhardt, with an admiring look at her. ‘I’m very impressed.’
From the seat opposite, Uta did a very bad job of hiding her smirk at his slightly pompous words.
‘I’m a food scientist. Lots of chemicals in foods. Although to be honest, the ones in chocolate are mere traces, you’d have to eat a hell of a lot of chocolate to get high. It’s the sugar that people are really tasting. But there’s something about the smooth texture of chocolate and the smell.’
‘We get it, you’re a chocolate junkie,’ said Uta. ‘Talking of which, look what’s headed our way.’ She nodded towards the very smiley lady bringing coffee and croissants through the carriage pushing a trolley.
‘You can’t possibly eat another croissant,’ teased Mina, as Luke selected a pain au chocolat. They’d had two on the journey here from Brig, although admittedly they had left at five in the morning. Poor Johannes had been co-opted into driving them to the station.
‘Watch me. I’m a growing boy.’
‘I guess I burned a million calories yesterday,’ said Mina, selecting one for herself.
