Amelie sighed and handed a steaming mug of coffee to him. Mina noticed she’d already put two sugars in it without asking. ‘Johannes, where’s the poetry in your soul?’
‘I don’t need poetry, or fanciful women.’ He smelled his coffee and a very faint smile lifted his face. ‘Thank you.’
Mina wondered if they realised they were like an old married couple who’d settled into a groove of familiarity. She suspected that Johannes burrowed into that very spot most mornings when he’d delivered his logs, and that Amelie stirred in his sugar without even thinking about it.
‘I thought I could give you some help straight after breakfast, and then maybe go over to Johannes about eleven.’ Hopefully that would give her a couple of hours before she met up with Luke to go skiing. Who knew that her timetable would end up being so full?
‘That’s very kind of you, but Dave is going to help again this morning. Yesterday I discovered the man has the lightest touch with pastry, and tonight I’m makingchäschüechli, individual cheese tarts. I shall put him to work, and then I shall ask him to make some apple strudel that I can freeze.’
Mina raised an eyebrow. For a woman who didn’t like people in her kitchen, she suddenly seemed rather accommodating. ‘Sounds like you have a full itinerary planned for him.’
Amelie’s eyes twinkled. ‘I do. His wife can’t decide whether she’s irritated that he’s not going skiing with their group, or proud that he’s so useful. I intend to take advantage of him without shame.’
‘And will that include lots of praise and encouragement?’ asked Mina, suddenly understanding the other woman’s strategy.
‘He just needs to remember that he has qualities, and get some of his self-esteem back. His wife is very quick to point out his flaws, and he is very quick to bend like a branch under the weight of them.’ Amelie suddenly took a few paces imitating Dave’s shambling gate, her shoulders bowed and her demeanour defeated before straightening with a fox-like sharpness to her face. ‘I think there’s hope there.’
‘And I think you shouldn’t meddle,’ said Johannes, his mouth pursing.
Amelie simply peered at him as if she were looking over a pair of glasses, and sniffed before turning back to the large piece of cheese she was chopping. Mina looked at it again.
‘That’s the longest piece of cheese I’ve ever seen.’
‘A quarter of a metre long,’ said Amelie. ‘I bought it from a local dairy where they make half-metre rounds of cheese. Here, try some,’ She handed over a chunk from the pile she was cutting. ‘Emmental is a metre long, that’s why you always buy it in squares, a slice would be half a metre long.’
Mina munched thoughtfully on the cheese. It looked as if Amelie had everything under control for the day. She agreed with Johannes that she would come straight over after breakfast had been tidied away and she’d had coffee with Amelie, which would give her time in the afternoon to go for a cross-country ski with Luke for an hour or two. It looked like her day was panning out perfectly.
Breakfast, unlike the other leisurely meals in the chalet, reminded Mina of being at a petrol station. Sitting at a table by the window, she watched with amusement. People basically served themselves as quickly as possible, ate, and left. As people reached across each other for another croissant, a slice of rustic bread, or a seeded roll, there were a few exchanges about the weather forecast – excellent today and for the following day – and an occasional nod and acknowledgement of where people were headed, as they helped themselves to coffee, with the occasional reference to the previous evening’s discussions about the best cross-country trails, which had been discussed exhaustively over dinner.
Mina watched Sarah bustling about in an all-in-one pink ski-suit, amused to see that she was just as bossy with her two friends as she was with Dave. They were part of a group of seven, who were very keen cross-country skiers; thankfully the other three were staying elsewhere as Mina had decided they were rather boring about it. They held court over their breakfast in loud voices, declaring with overbearing certainty and a certain amount of dogmatic confidence which were the best trails.
‘Morning,’ murmured Luke in a husky voice that immediately brought her nerve endings to attention as he slid into the chair next to her with a plate piled with bread, ham, cheese, and a couple of croissants.
In a black roll-neck and black ski pants, he once again looked like a broad-shouldered, slim-hipped action hero, ready to ski off into the breach, and for a minute she wished she was going out with him right now.
‘Morning.’ She smiled back at him, and for a minute just drank in his handsome loveliness in a soppy, star-struck sort of way before she pulled herself together. It was considerable consolation that he looked just as dazed. ‘I’ve sorted everything out, so if you’re still available this afternoon we can go out then. Amelie’s drafted Dave in for the morning, so I’m going to Johannes on a chocolate mission.’ She sat back feeling rather pleased with herself.
‘You have been busy.’
‘The early bird catches the worm and all that. I didn’t like to disturb you.’ Although she had heard him moving about next door.
‘I was up early, but I did some work on my new commission, made a start anyway. Like you, I didn’t want to waste a minute, and it’s such a gorgeous morning I can’t bear to be inside. I’m going to ski over to Oberwald with Claudia and Frank. I’ll be back about one-thirty, and I’ll just need to check in with work, and then we can go out this afternoon when you’re done with Johannes, if that’s still OK with you.’
‘Perfect.’ She rubbed her hands together. ‘I do like it when a plan comes together.’
As Luke ploughed through his huge breakfast they were joined by Claudia and Frank, and Mina was happy to leave Luke as they began to discuss this morning’s trip.
They were very impressed that Johannes was prepared to show her his chocolate production.
‘You’re very honoured,’ said Claudia, her mouth turning down with mock disappointment. ‘I’ve asked him many times.’
‘I’m worried he’ll change his mind.’
‘He’s not going to change his mind,’ said Luke. ‘Now he’s said, “yes” you have the golden ticket to Willy Wonka’s chocolate palace.’
Mina grinned. ‘I don’t think by any stretch of the imagination you could compare Johannes with Willy Wonka. If the Grinch made chocolate however…’
Johannes was surprisingly businesslike when she turned up at his house at eleven o’clock later that day, and insisted on giving her a hairnet, a white coat, blue plastic overshoes, and an apron to match his own, before leading her down into his basement. She realised within a matter of minutes that he took his chocolate business very seriously.
