"Hmm."
She goes back to scrolling. I watch her for a second, then, without really thinking about it, say, "You should come."
She looks up, surprised. "To Saalbach?"
"Yeah. It's close. You can hop on a train, or drive, and stay the weekend. I'd love having you there."
Her face lights up. Actuallylights up, the way it used to in Hinterstoder, in Wengen, before everything got complicated.
"Really?"
"Yeah. I mean, I'll be busy with training and media, but... yeah. Come."
She's already pulling up train schedules before I finish the sentence. "Okay. Let me see what's available."
I grin despite myself, turning back to my phone. This is good. This feels right. Her at my race, in the crowd, waiting for me in the finish. The way it's supposed to be.
Ten minutes later, her smile is gone.
"What's wrong?" I ask.
"Hotels." She's frowning at her screen. "Everything near the race venue is either booked or... expensive."
"How expensive?"
She tilts the laptop toward me. The cheapest option is 280 euros a night. For a room the size of a closet.
I blink. "Foronenight?"
"It's World Cup weekend. Everything's inflated."
I do the math in my head. Two nights, maybe three if she stays through Sunday. That's close to 900 euros. Just for the room.
"I can cover it," she says quickly, reading my face. "It's fine. I want to come."
"You shouldn't have to pay that much to watch me ski for two minutes."
"It's not just about the race. It's about being there. With you."
Something warm flickers in my chest, but it's drowned out by the cold calculation already running in the back of my mind. 900 euros. Plus her train ticket. Plus food, because she's not eating stadium pretzels for three days.
"Let me at least cover the hotel," I say.
"Nico..."
"I'm not letting my girlfriend sleep in a hostel while I'm in a snobbish race hotel."
She hesitates, then nods. "Okay. Thank you."
I open my banking app. Scroll to the balance. It's fine. I won enough prize money this season to book a holiday in the hotel. I can cover this.
"Actually," she says, still scrolling. "There's a cheaper option in the next valley over. Zell am See. About forty minutes by car."
"Forty minutes?"
"It's not that bad."
"You'd have to take a bus every time you wanted to come to the venue, or drive every day."
