"Yeah. I know."
"Good."
We say goodbye. I pocket the phone and head toward the bus.
Thomas is already on board, headphones in, staring out the window. I slide into the seat across from him and lean my head back against the window.
She's not going anywhere.
Laurent said she'd come running back. But she won't.
She's waiting forme. In my flat. In my bed.
Once Saalbach goes well, everything will settle.
I'll fix the skiing. The rest will follow.
It always does.
Chapter 14
Keeping Her
Playlist:
The Killers: The Way It Was
Imagine Dragons: Bad Liar
Reiteralm, Austria, February 10
NICO
We're at the dinner table when I see it.
Not because she tells me. Because it's on my phone screen. Her Instagram story. A shot of two coffee cups at a polished wooden table, mountains in the background, the kind of artfully casual photo she's good at. The location tag reads:Schnepf'n Alm.
I look up. She's twirling pasta on her fork, focused, like nothing happened.
"You had lunch with your mom today?"
She doesn't look up. "Mm-hmm."
"At Schnepf'n Alm."
Now she looks up. "Yes."
"You didn't mention it."
She sets her fork down. "I'm mentioning it now."
