Mina realised that her sister hadn’t yet picked up on the most salient point. ‘I’m going to have to stay out here for a bit longer. There’s no one to look after the chalet.’
‘But doesn’t Amelie have any staff?’
Mina explained the situation, and by the end of the lengthy call, Hannah had offered to come out and help as well. ‘I’ll call in the cavalry, if I need to,’ Mina promised before saying goodbye. Right now she needed to get to grips with running the place, having a non-cook to train would complicate matters.
While Dave made the Victoria sponge, she gathered together the ingredients to make a hearty soup and studied Amelie’s recipes. Spaghetti di Ascona. Now that sounded the perfect comfort dish: chicken, prosciutto, mushrooms, and garlic, which were combined to make a rich tomato sauce poured over spaghetti. Mina read the notes. Apparently Ascona was on the shores of the Swiss side of Lake Maggiore. More importantly, it was quick and easy, which would leave her time to do everything else – although she had yet to figure out quite what everything else was.
As she chopped the chicken, Luke returned looking ruddy but smiling. ‘All done.’ He grinned and looked out of the window. ‘For the time being. Have you seen the barn underneath here? It’s huge.’
‘No, but I guess it would have to be big for the cows. Johannes has converted his into the…’ She suddenly remembered what Johannes had been saying before they’d found Amelie lying on the floor. With an inward shudder she tried to shake the awful image of her prone body from her head.
Luke carried on talking but she was still thinking about what might have happened if she and Johannes hadn’t come back when they did. It didn’t bear thinking about; instead she needed to focus on making sure Amelie’s hotel ran smoothly.
‘It’s wasted space. Honestly you should see it. I’m surprised Amelie hasn’t turned it into a games room or something. Or more bedrooms.’
‘Maybe she just hasn’t had time,’ said Mina a touch distractedly, thinking of what she needed to do next. ‘And sorry, I should have said, thank you.’
‘No problem.’
‘Have many people gone out this morning? I haven’t even looked in the lounge.’
‘A few have braved the elements, and there are a couple of people sitting reading. The German family are playing cards, and Sarah and her friends are chatting.’
‘Do you think I ought to offer them coffee?’ asked Mina worriedly. What would Amelie do on a day like this? Would she serve cake at eleven?
‘I think Amelie normally leaves out a couple of those big flasks so that people can help themselves.’
‘That’s a good idea.’ Another job. She hadn’t even seen any flasks. Maybe they were in the pantry. ‘I’ll put those out at ten-thirty.’
‘Good shout. Right, what do you want me to do?’
She got him set up with a pile of carrots, having decided to offer a warming carrot and ginger soup for lunch. With Luke peeling, Dave beating butter and sugar together, the spaghetti sauce almost made, and the Kitchen Aid kneading dough for bread, she felt a little more on top of things. Reassured by the familiar sounds, she put the coffee machine on and found the flasks in the pantry, which were as per Amelie’s usual efficiency easy enough to find. Unfortunately they were next to a large tin of cocoa which managed to lose its lid and fall off the shelf, spilling it’s load down her front as she pulled them down.
Dark brown powder engulfed her leaving her blinking and gasping. She emerged from the pantry feeling a complete fool and when both men burst into laughter, she burst into tears. It was all too much.
‘Hey,’ said Luke, ignoring the cocoa powder and drawing her into his arms. ‘It’s OK. Sorry, we shouldn’t have laughed.’
With a sniff and a gulp she said, ‘I–It’s OK.’
‘No, it isn’t. You need to take five. Come on. Let’s sort you out.’
For once she let someone else take charge and allowed Luke to lead her upstairs. It was only when she saw the rumpled bed that she realised what everything else entailed. She had bedrooms and bathrooms to set to rights.
Her face began to crumple again.
‘What?’
‘I’ve got all the rooms to clean.’
‘Don’t worry. We’ll sort it. Between us.’
He took her into the bathroom, stripped off her cocoa dusted clothes and then settled her on the edge of the bath. They’d both agreed that getting it wet would probably make even more mess.
‘You’re just going to smell delicious all day,’ he teased gently cleaning down her face, neck and arms with a bath towel. He then spent the most blissful five minutes rubbing his hand through her scalp before brushing the powder out of her hair with firm, gentle strokes. All the while he watched her in the mirror and she felt a well of tenderness rise up and bloom in her chest, warming her whole body. Tears pricked at her eyes again but they were tears of gratitude and joy.
‘Right, you’ll do.’
She rose, unselfconscious in her bra and knickers, and pulled on fresh clothes, ready to go back to the kitchen, but Luke stopped her outside the door.
