Large lockers sat on one side, with an open room for changing. There were showers to the left and a toilet cubicle.
Imogen, Robbie, and Janka were all but changed before Billy or Rosa had even started. They’d just need to swap out shoes for ski boots, pull on their safety equipment, and they would be good to go.
"Okay, we'll see you in the restaurant in a couple of hours." Imogen grinned at the adults, holding her helmet and gloves in her hands.
"Alright, have fun in the snow," Rosa said. "And be careful."
"Mum, there's so much fresh powder, it's going to be ace." And then the three of them were gone, Rosa staring after them for a moment, wondering where her own get up and go, had gotten up and gone.
When she turned back, she gasped. Her hand flew to cover her eyes, and she swivelled around again, forcing her gaze to the floor. Billy was naked. A pile of clothes lay jumbled on the floor.
Billy laughed. "I don't recall you being so prudish."
Rosa's cheeks burned. "I'm not…I just wasn't expecting…" When she glanced back, Billy had her bikini on and was just doing it up at the back. Muscles flexed prominently on her shoulders and arms as she moved.
"I'll just…" Rosa grabbed her bag and headed for the toilet cubicle.
"Maybe wehaveboth changed," Billy mused and chuckled to herself. She wrapped one of the large, soft robes they'd been given around herself and picked up her clothes, folding them neatly before she pushed it all into a locker.
Another woman entered the room and they exchanged polite acknowledgements.
When Rosa returned a few moments later, changed into the new costume, wrapped in her own robe and wearing the slippers they’d been given, Billy asked, "Sharing a locker, or do you need your own space?"
There were plenty of lockers available and no need to share. And yet, the way in which Billy had asked, recognising her need for her own autonomy, made her realise just how much she wanted to share something with someone again…maybe.
Instead, she opened the locker beside Billy's. "This will be fine." She placed her shoes in first, then her bags, and topped the stack with her clothes before locking it and attaching the key pin to her towel. "Okay, ready?"
"As I'll ever be." Billy grinned and led the way once more, holding the door open for Rosa to pass through. "I like that perfume, by the way," she said casually.
“What?” Rosa asked.
“Your perfume…it’s nice.”
Rosa brushed off the compliment. "Oh, it's nothing expensive."
"Well, it suits you," Billy tried again.
Chapter twelve
Rosa followed Billy's lead, down a corridor and through another door that opened to reveal a grey sky, snow, and mountains that overlooked everything.
"We have to go outside?" Rosa asked. Her brow furrowed at the prospect.
"Uh, yeah, it's a thermal pool," Billy answered, and glanced to her left where a large, crystal-blue pool of water steamed.
"We'll catch our death!" Rosa exclaimed.
Billy chuckled. "I think we'll be fine. People have been using them for thousands of years."
"Notthispeople." Rosa's eyes widened as the snow began to get worse. Her teeth chattered. "It's f-f-freezing."
"Not in there it isn't." Billy walked towards the pool, letting her robe loosen and fall away as she did, revealing her back and a phoenix tattoo Rosa had never seen before—wings spread wide, rendered in deep reds and golds, rising up from the base of her spine to between her shoulder blades. "Are you coming?" she asked as she dropped the robe onto a chair.
"Do I have a choice?" Rosa called out after her.
"You always have a choice, Rosa," Billy replied, laughing as she stepped into the water and slowly made her way down the slope backwards, her eyes lingering on Rosa.
"Fine, but if I get cold, I'm getting out."
