Chapter 24
Two mornings later, Alice was leaving the chalet to take Bear for his morning walk. She was chattering away to him like she usually did, unaware that Mürren was coming to life in front of her. It was only when somebody whooshed past her on a pair of skis, wearing a hot-pink onesie ski suit, that she looked up.
The vista was like the opening shot of an old Hollywood movie – big wide mountain landscapes and vibrant techni-coloured people gliding and whizzing and laughing as they sprinkled themselves against the white snow. The ski lift was flowing up and down the mountain, relaxed in the morning sun, and the doors of the shops and restaurants in the village were open wide.
‘Alice,’ Marco called, leaning out of his house wearing just salopettes and a T-shirt.
Bear turned and saw him, dragging Alice with him to his door.
‘Where did all these people come from?’ she asked, noticing his toned arms and wondering how they weren’t more goosepimpled.
‘This is nothing, all these people are just resort staff and some early birds. Wait until the weekend!’
‘Marco,huustür!’ a voice shouted from within.
‘Oops.’ Marco chuckled and stepped out into the snow, shutting the door behind him. He was wearing boots at least, but Alice couldn’t stop thinking about how cold those bare arms must be. ‘That was my brother. I always leave doors open and let the cold in.’
‘Are you not cold now? Not very very freezing? Because we’re on a mountain at the moment, you know.’
‘No, I’m fine, I just wanted to catch you quickly. And if I get cold –’ he turned to Bear, ‘– I’ll catchyou.’ Marco reached his arms down and wrapped them around Bear’s warm body. Bear responded by tilting his head back and trying to lick up Marco’s nose.
Alice caught herself smiling at Marco. Their new friend.
‘Anyway,’ Marco said, standing and wiping his face. Bear settled down, sitting his bottom on Marco’s feet. ‘What are you doing today?’
‘Oh, well . . . ’ She wasn’t sure ‘finishing my racy novel’ was going to cut it.
‘Because Lola managed to get the thermal springs guy to open up for us, we can go this morning.’
‘Right, wow, but I have Bear to look after.’
‘Well, David can’t come today, he has a private lesson booked at eleven o’clock. It is just a one-hour taster lesson, but it’s a client who is very rich and David is hoping it’ll lead to more! So he says he’ll look after Bear for you, just drop him over at ours when you’re ready. He’ll be okay for an hour while David is out, right?’
‘Um . . . ’ She didn’t know. She didn’t know if Bear would be okay in a different house, with a new person. She didn’t know if he’d miss her or whine for her. She didn’t know if David would dog-nap him and she’d never see these big brown eyes again. ‘Um . . . ’
Marco’s excited voice softened. ‘Hey, I promise he’s in good hands with David. I promise.’
She believed him. But she still didn’t know if she was ready to be in her swimmies in front of these virtual strangers.
‘I shouldn’t be putting you on the spot,’ he said. ‘My bad! Why don’t you have a think about this, and if you want to, come by with Bear a little before ten. Okay?’
‘Okay,’ she replied.
Marco opened the door to duck back inside, but leaned back out at the last minute and poked at her arm through the fabric of her snow coat. ‘Lovely warm water giving you a hug,’ he persuaded in his sing-song voice. ‘Hot chocolate in the pool . . . ’
Alice laughed, and from inside the house Noah shouted, ‘Huustür!’
Alice continued down the slope, her mind arguing with itself.I know I don’t have to go. I don’t have to do anything.
Bear paused to make some yellow snow and Alice looked at the snowshoe train that threaded off into the trees to her left. She should do that at some point.Shouldn’t I go for it, if even the smallest part of me wants to?
They turned right instead and walked the long way around the lower part of the village, the mountain range across the valley on one side of her and Mürren sweeping upwards on the other. Her footsteps made creaking, squeaking sounds in the snow, that were drowned out momentarily when a small golf-cart thing, the only vehicle she’d seen in the village, zoomed by, the name of one of the hotels stencilled on the side. Inside the cart were two men clutching skis and laughing their heads off.
What’s my problem? This is a fun thing to do with nice people, and if they stare at my scar that says more about them than it does about me.
As the walk drew to a close and Alice was walking back up the last stretch to her chalet, she couldn’t shake the desire to build on this new friendship. She was lonely, and that part of her was winning over the fearful part. She looked at the chalet beyond hers and it was clear how much she needed this.
Back inside she stamped the snow off the soles of her boots and rubbed Bear’s legs with a towel and said to him: ‘I want to go today, Bear. But what about you? We’ve only been here a week. No, I shouldn’t leave you with a stranger. I can’t explain to you that I’ll be back soon and that it’s all going to be okay; you won’t know that I haven’t gone for ever. I should stay.’
