‘Come into my room for a minute. I want you to see something.’
He led her to the table. ‘Sit.’ He opened the suitcase. The model was now finished. ‘Just sit and watch the train, and take five.’
She looked up at him in puzzlement. He gave her a mock stern frown. ‘Five minutes.’
With a grumbly sigh, she decided to humour him. even though she had a million things to do.
He switched on the little train and she studied the new additions to the scene. There were now tiny ducks on the pond, a smattering of confetti around the bride and groom, and flowers trailing up the sides of the cottages. The train circled the route, its familiar whirring noise bringing back happy memories of her uncle. Smiling, she sat and watched, feeling herself relax. He stood behind, both hands on her shoulders, gently kneading at the knots there.
‘This is what I did when I was convalescing. When everyone else was out at the skatepark being cool.’ His mouth twisted. ‘In some ways it saved my life. Not literally, but my mental health. It helped me cope with what was going on. Having to pay attention to the minutest details takes your mind off other things. Doing this helped me to learn to be patient. Not something that, at that age, came naturally. Now when I get wound up, I find modelling or watching the train takes my mind off things.’
She leaned back into his gentle hands. No one had ever looked after her quite this well, taking the trouble to force her to just sit for five minutes. With a self-deprecating laugh, she realised that no one had ever been quite her match before.
‘What?’ asked Luke. ‘Not feeling it?’ She stood up and turned around, sliding her arms around his neck, smiling up at him.
‘Luke, no one has soothed, seduced, and cared for me with a model train before. It’s ridiculously sexy and attractive, and I have no idea why.’ But she did. There was nothing quite so attractive as man who was prepared to share how much something meant to him.
Chapter Nineteen
By lunchtime, Mina wished she’d brought her fitbit. Running up and down the stairs, she’d probably racked up at least ten thousand steps. Thank goodness the chalet was only half-full at the moment.
At ten-past-twelve, she served the soup and bread – thank you Luke, he’d been an exceptional chopper of vegetables. By twelve-thirty, there was nothing left but crumbs and empty bowls. Mina smiled to herself as she collected up the empty bowls. Of course the speed with which it was despatched had everything to do with the fact that the snow had stopped, and miraculously the sun had appeared. Everyone was keen to get out. ‘Powder hounds,’ Luke explained as they all dashed off as soon as they’d laid down their soup spoons. ‘Perfect ski conditions. But there’s more snow forecast, so it’s a small window.’
‘Do you want to go?’
‘No, I’m…’ He pulled his phone out of his pocket, ‘I’m waiting for an urgent call.’ Tiny lines appeared around his mouth.
‘Is everything alright?’
‘Yeah, sure. Fine.’ His quick smile didn’t convince her. ‘What can I do to help? I’m really good at cleaning bathrooms.’
She shot him a sceptical glance, but was grateful that he was so willing to do anything to help. She gave a quick glance around the kitchen. There were a good couple of hours before round two, and at the moment the road through the valley was closed. Johannes was on fire duty and kept popping in to check the fire was banked properly, for which she was grateful (it seemed that fire management required particular man skills).
‘Show me the storeroom below. I’m running low on cleaning supplies and I remember Amelie bought a case of toilet cleaner when we went to the wholesalers, and I can’t find it anywhere.’
‘You’ll need a coat. Unless there’s a secret passage down there, we have to go round to the side to get in.’
Being out in the fresh air boosted Mina’s senses as she breathed in the crisp, cold air. It also cleared her head, which had become a bit foggy trying to juggle so many things this morning. The new snow was soft and powdery, and had that delicious squeaky crunch as she left footprints on the surface. Underneath the house, which she realised was built on giant stilts resting on stone pedestals, there was a whole floor, just like Johannes’s place. This was a little more basic, and there was a small storeroom just off to the right as they went in. Intrigued by the open space, she ignored the storeroom and went straight in to explore.
‘Wow, this is great,’ said Mina. ‘Bigger than I expected.’ In the gloomy light she could just make out that work had been started. Two of the walls had been plasterboarded and she could see bales of insulation on the floor.
‘Looks like someone had plans for in here,’ said Luke, nodding towards the building supplies, but Mina was already making a thoughtful circuit of the barn space.
This was it. This was what Johannes had been going to show her. She could see it so clearly.
A table here, a kitchen there.
‘Mina?’
‘Mm,’ she said vaguely, now studying the large solid wooden doors that once must have opened to let the cattle in and out. On either side, were two large windows shielded by wooden shutters to keep the weather out. They would let lots of light in. And the view.
It was perfect. She could invest her own money to make the necessary alterations. Rent the spare apartment from Amelie.
‘Mina? Are you listening?’
‘Sorry, what did you say?’
‘Do you want to check the storeroom?’
