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Chapter 14

Ruben

After the strange evening when I cooked for Shane, we hardly saw each other for the rest of the week. We had to change the kitchen schedule and reorganize it because two colleagues had caught the flu. This meant that we couldn’t take the half days off we could normally afford with the existing staff.

Sunday evening was the first shift I wasn’t scheduled for, and I couldn’t wait to fall into bed.

After I had scrubbed my place in the kitchen clean after lunch service, Madeleine, who had been working the same shifts as me for the past few days, came up to me.

“Are you going to the party at Hayton’s tonight?” she asked.

“What party? I haven’t heard about any party!”

Madeleine’s eyes widened. “It’s the pre-holiday party. Our last chance to have some fun before the Thanksgiving-Christmas madness kicks in. It takes place every year on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. The first thing I do every year is arrange a babysitter for Mathilda that evening, that nothing gets in my way. How can you not have heard about it?”

“No idea.” I laughed at her horrified face. “Maybe because I had more important things to do?” I winked at her and she rolled her eyes.

“Sometimes you’re an old man. Live a little. Don’t take everything too seriously. Not everything is black and white, Ruben! Smile!”

She grabbed my cheeks and pulled them apart to my ears. I must have resembled a silly clown. Or the Joker.

“Yes, I want to have fun. I want to party. I want to go out with dear Madeleine, who works all year round and is there for her dear daughter. Thank you very much, dear Madeleine, for this invitation.”

She moved my face as if I were a hand puppet that she was making talk. I burst out laughing and she wiped her nose. Oops. It was her own fault that some drool escaped.

“Sorry,” I mumbled as she continued to work on one of my cheeks with one hand.

I wriggled out of her tight grip. “I’ll think about it. Okay?”

“Oh, come on, you killjoy!” She pouted, making me laugh again.

“Let me take a shower and get changed, and then . . . ”

“Then I’ll pick you up,” she offered. “Chloe’s driving. She can give us a ride.”

“You or us?” I asked as I packed my belongings.

“Us.” Madeleine was hunched over her phone, typing away. “Yes us.”

“You know what?” I tapped her on the shoulder. “Once you’re sure what the plan is, let me know.”

Absentmindedly, she waved her fingers in my direction. “Yeah, yeah. Get ready. I don’t want to leave late. How it goes depends on Mathilda’s mood. And I have to be out of the house for at least three hours today.” She thoughtfully rubbed the bridge of her nose and finally looked at me. “Thirteen would be better. But you take what you can get.”

Her broad grin accompanied me in my thoughts on the way to my cabin.

A party wasn’t a bad idea. The next month was going to be hectic, and a little distraction certainly wouldn’t hurt. Partying with friends outside my own kitchen, with champagne from someone else’s fridge, sounded pretty damn good. Maybe I could even get Shane excited about the getaway.

From the outside, our accommodation was dark. No light shone through the windows.

When I entered, my suspicion was confirmed. Shane wasn’t there. And it seemed he hadn’t come back yet. His tracksuit jacket wasn’t there. Everything else was the same as it had at noon when I had stopped by briefly.

At that moment, my phone vibrated.

Forty minutes before the main entrance, Madeleine wrote.

It was probably better to go partying without Shane, anyway. The last party with him was still fresh in my mind.

Exactly forty-one minutes later, after showering and getting ready, I turned the corner to the main entrance to find Chloe, Madeleine, and two ski instructors whose names I had forgotten waiting for me in the car.