Page 37 of I’ll Be Home for Christmas

Jonathan prised open the tin of paint he’d chosen with Sarah’s help for the hallway. He’d sugar-soaped the entire wall and all the way up the stairs and would make a start on the landing while she got going here. She’d suggested an earthy colour palette to complement the chalet’s interior, which was a mixture of exposed timber and other more modernised features such as the new open-plan kitchen and the recently installed log burner. The spruce staircase with a rail was his most recent work, and the blond colour made for a light, airy and stunning feel as soon as you walked through the front door.

‘You’re quiet today.’ Jonathan hovered, bucket in one hand, cloths in the other.

‘It’s early.’

‘And you’re usually chirpy early,’ he replied with an air of suspicion. ‘Annoyingly so in my experience, if your instigation of the snowball fight is anything to go by.’

As she poured some of the paint into a tray Jonathan moved closer to the front door. ‘The snow is really coming down out there. I cleared the path this morning, now look at it.’

‘It’s pretty though.’

‘It is. But it can be dangerous. Ask your grandad.’

‘You mean the avalanche bulletin? He’s always checking that.’

‘That’s good. We had a serious avalanche here a few years ago.’

‘In Winterbruck?’

Jonathan nodded. ‘A group of tourists ignored the trail closures and caused the avalanche.’

‘They caused it? I never even knew that was possible.’

‘It was likely a combination of natural factors, but their weight, the movement on unstable snow, all would’ve contributed.’

‘It sounds terrifying.’

‘Listen to the warnings, stick to the trails that aren’t marked as closed, and you’ll be fine.’ He smiled across at her.

She pushed the roller into the paint and moved it back and forth, glad she was here rather than next door, relieved she had something else to focus on.

Seeing her mum climb out of the taxi yesterday had brought with it a complex mess of emotions. Her first reaction had been to race down the path to greet her. It was good to see her, especially after the way they’d left things after the dress fitting. They’d spoken briefly since then when Sarah announced she was coming here, but not since, and given her wedding was eleven days away she’d never needed her mum more than she did now.

However, her need to talk, to make some grown-up decisions, was eclipsed when she’d seen the look on her mum’s face as she spotted Meg in the background.

Her mum had called out, ‘What the hell is she doing here?’ loud enough for Meg to hear.

Sarah had thanked the driver for the luggage he’d brought from the boot to the pavement as the drama began to unfold. But Meg had already disappeared by the time they made their way down the path. Who could blame her? Talk about a frosty reception. Her mum clearly wasn’t going to make any effort to be civil, and already Sarah felt her peace and solitude here shatter.

She realised quickly that she should’ve expected the surprise visit. When had her mum ever been able to let things go? She should’ve known her mum wouldn’t let the situation between them lie, and the closer they got to the wedding the more her mum would’ve worried. Part of her was glad but the other part wasn’t, because yet again her mum wanted to step in and magically fix things – except when it came to her own problems with Meg, it seemed.

By the time Sarah and Chrissie went inside to see Grumps and Nanna, who were just as shocked at the latest arrival, Meg had gone upstairs. A short while later Sarah had heard her telling Nanna that she was going for a walk to give them all some space.

Dinner was a delicious cheese tart, one of Chrissie’s favourites as it happened, followed by poached pears drizzled in rich dark chocolate. Meg had come back to eat but the atmosphere was almost as cold as the weather outside. Chrissie and Meg sat on opposite ends of the table and avoided one another’s gaze as much as they could as Sarah told Grumps and Nanna all about what it felt like to be at the Jungfraujoch.

‘It was incredible, Mum.’ Sarah couldn’t stop smiling. ‘I got lots of pictures, I’ll show you later.’

‘That would be lovely. It’s a long time since I went myself. You were too little to take with us, so it was just me and your dad. It was romantic, doing it together.’

She liked those sorts of memories about her dad. ‘Someone to keep you warm,’ she said.

‘It feels like you’ve left the world behind up there, doesn’t it?’ said Chrissie.

‘It does. And the ice carvings were brilliant.’

‘I’ll never understand how people do those,’ Astrid said. ‘Where would you even start?’

‘I’ve not been there in so long I can’t remember what it’s like at high altitude,’ said Grumps.