‘And here…’ He pulled out an attractive orange box decorated with maple leaves and handed her a cellophane bag. ‘An American company wanted some high-end chocolate for Halloween. Crazy, but that’s a big sale time for them.’ He ripped open another bag and thrust it at her. ‘Smell this. Flavoured with gingerbread spices. And now taste.’
At the first bite, the hint of ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon immediately reminded her of autumn evenings kicking through russet leaves, the bright orange of pumpkins, and the sweet, dark intensity of home-baked parkin. ‘Oh that’s wonderful. If I were cooking with it, it would make a lovely sauce on ginger ice cream.’
‘Hmph,’ muttered Johannes as if insulted that she would use it for cooking.
As Mina moved around the cramped room, she couldn’t help feeling dismayed that the wonderful selection of chocolate, flavoured with everything from roasted coconut, candied rose petals, and cranberries through to chillies and passion fruit hadn’t been given the chance to shine.
‘I had no idea of the scale of this. It’s amazing. You must be really proud.’ It really was quite some achievement, and it sounded as if he was far more successful than he was taking credit for, but she felt he could do so much more.
Johannes shrugged modestly. ‘It’s taken a while to get this point. And I do have some help. I send the finished items to two women in Brig who I employ, and they do all the packaging, hand-tie the bows, and put on the flowers and stickers. They pretty it up. Then there it goes to the distributor. I’m expanding quickly. Like I said I need a retail outlet. I’m going to have find premises and get an apprentice. Staff.’ His lip curled at the very idea.
Mina whirled around. ‘Would you employ me?’
Johannes looked taken aback at first and then a slow, cunning smile lit up his face. ‘Now that would create a lot of solutions, wouldn’t it?’ He nodded before looking out of the window over her shoulder at the ski chalet. ‘And I think I know just the place. Let’s go and discuss it over a coffee with Amelie.’
They walked across the crisp expanse of snow over to Amelie’s house, their breath rising in plumes of steam in the cold, sharp air, both of them lost in thought. Palpable excitement hummed between them. All of her ideas from the previous day coalesced in Mina’s head. She could already envisage the perfect tasting room and if, as she got the impression, Johannes had a local site in mind, she might be able to run a coffee and cake shop, operating at lunchtimes. During all her walks and trips throughout the valley, she’d realised that there was nowhere to go for a quick coffee or a snack and that Amelie had to provide packed lunches for walkers, hikers, and skiers.
‘Have you seen the barn downstairs?’ asked Johannes as they skirted the big wooden chalet, and he pointed to the ground floor with its heavily shuttered windows.
‘No,’ replied Mina.
‘Hmm,’ said Johannes thougtfully as he led the way up the steps to the back door into the kitchen, pushing at the handle as he turned back to Mina. ‘I hope there’s fresh coffee.’
Mina looked at her watch. ‘We might even scrounge some baguettes and cheese from the fridge. I had no idea it was so late.’ Right on cue, her stomach rumbled, reiterating that it was twenty-to-three.
Johannes pushed at the door but it didn’t open. Instead it stopped, blocked by something just in front of the door.
‘Amelie?’ he called and pushed harder. The door moved another inch to reveal a bolster of bright blue blocking the doorway. It took both of them a moment to recognise the pretty fabric of Amelie’s dress.
‘Amelie!’ Johannes tried to insert himself into the gap but her body was a dead weight against the door.
‘Don’t, you might hurt her.’ Mina was already backing down the steps. ‘I’ll go round to the front.’ Slipping and sliding on the frozen surface of the snow, she floundered around the building, realising that Johannes followed right behind. Despite the difficult conditions, she didn’t think she’d ever run so fast or been so scared in her life.
They thundered up the front steps, almost ploughing Dave down as they burst through the door.
‘Hey guys,’ he said, backing up.
Johannes pushed past, almost barging the other man into the cloakroom pegs.
‘How long ago did you see Amelie?’ panted Mina, slowing briefly.
‘I left her in the kitchen ten minutes ago.’
‘Thanks,’ she gasped and shot after him.
‘What’s going on?’ Dave called after her, but she was too anxious to get to the kitchen to reply.
‘Amelie. Amelie.’ Johannes clumsily crashed into one of the kitchen chairs as he skirted the table to fall on his knees by her side. She lay limp and pale on the floor in front of the back door, surrounded by spilled peas.
Mina dropped to her knees beside him as he patted her face, calling her name. She reached for her godmother’s wrist to try and find a pulse. ‘Is she breathing?’ Years of being designated first-aider finally paid off, but no one had warned her that her own heart rate would skyrocket so high that she thought her pulse might explode out of her ears.
‘I can’t tell.’
‘Hold a hand in front of her nose and mouth.’
She was still trying to find a pulse and was starting to panic. Amelie’s skin was clammy and her slack face looked grey.
‘We need to call an ambulance!’ Johannes turned to face her, looking vague. Did they even have ambulances out here? Where was the nearest hospital? ‘Johannes. Now!’ Her sharp snap penetrated and he jumped to his feet, crossing to the telephone handset on the counter.
