‘I’d like that a lot!’ Alice said. Vanessa was heading off at the crack of dawn, and deciding how she was going to put her life back together could wait another day. ‘Did you have something in mind, or are we brainstorming?’
‘Is there anything touristy you’d like me to take you to do?’
Alice thought for a moment before an obvious thought struck her in the head. ‘Ooh, have you been up to Piz Gloria, at the top of the Schilthorn?’
‘Sure, many of the ski runs go from there or from Birg, the cable car stop between Mürren and the Schilthorn. You know what I’ve never done, though? All of the James Bond things.’
Alice was ecstatic. ‘So you’ve never done the James Bond brunch?’
Marco laughed. ‘Nope.’
She changed tack. ‘Do you want to watch a movie this evening?’ As if she hadn’t watched enough today.
‘Okay . . . ’
‘Have you ever seenOn Her Majesty’s Secret Service?’
Marco had seen that particular Bond before (she was pretty sure it was the most frowned-upon thing to admit you hadn’t done if you were a Mürren resident) but that was lucky, because he was fast asleep a third of the way in. He was shattered, and she couldn’t blame him. But while he napped on her sofa in front of the wood burner, Bear stretched out beside him, and Alice sat on the floor resting against Marco’s legs, she was enthralled. This was the Best Film she had Ever Seen. It had glorious 1960s fembots with big hair and winged eyeliner, cutting one-liners and extravagant, death-defying chase scenes. And it was set right here! There was the Mürren ski lift! There was the top of the mountain ranges she now knew so well! She couldn’t wait to get up to Piz Gloria in the morning and see it in all its 007 glory.
After a particularly dramatic scene where a scantily clad Bond girl was being brainwashed about her chicken allergy in her sleep (seriously), Alice turned her head and grinned at her two snoozing boys through a mouthful of popcorn.
Jill would have loved this movie just as much as she did.I think she would have liked you, too, Alice thought, peeping at Marco’s peaceful, handsome face.
