Page 101 of A Season in the Snow
Chapter 43
The morning after, Alice took Bear downstairs early, trying to be super quiet and not wake the others. Kemi and Theresa had slept in Vanessa’s room (with her permission of course), and Bahira in with Alice.
She saddled Bear up to take him for a morning walk. ‘You’re eight months old tomorrow, Bear,’ she whispered. ‘Can you believe it? You must weigh a good forty kilos now, I reckon. You’ve grown into such a huge, handsome boy, and I’m so proud of you.’
Stepping out into the new day, Alice made next door her first stop.
‘Good morning, did I wake you?’ she said to a sleepy Marco.
He stood in loose burgundy checked pyjama bottoms, his chest bare and toned, his hair crumpled and his face stubbly. He rubbed his eye with one arm and with the other reached out and scooped her in through the door. ‘That’s okay, let’s go back to bed, come on.’
She laughed at Bear’s reaction, who jumped up, his paws flailing against Marco.What’s this? Physical contact? Involve me!
‘This puppy is nearly as tall as me now,’ said Marco.
‘Sorry to have got you up.’ Alice eyeballed Marco’s chest. ‘Notthatsorry. What time are you working today?’
‘Not until lunchtime. How are your friends?’
‘Really good. You want to come over and see for yourself? Come and have brunch with us this morning.’
‘Brunch, huh?’ He yawned again. ‘That sounds great; can I bring anything?’
‘Bring the others, unless you want to be cross-examined.’ She headed back for the door after a quick kiss. ‘See you in a while.’
Brunch was a hit, with the neighbours bringing not only themselves, but juice, bratwurst, eggs and pancakes to add to their already full table of grilled tomatoes, toast, cereals and coffee.
The group intertwined easily, and Alice stepped back at one point, not because she felt overwhelmed, but because she couldn’t believe her luck. Bear walked over to her because she was still his favourite person there, and he sat next to her as if he too was surveying the group.
‘She does not! Ali, you snowboard now?’ Theresa called, after talking with Lola.
‘She really does, and she’s good at it.’
Alice laughed. ‘You sound shocked.’
‘Not shocked,’ Theresa corrected. ‘Impressed. I want to go out on the slopes.’
‘I can teach you,’ Lola said.
‘She’s a very good teacher,’ said Alice, wandering back over to the table and munching on a leftover half of pancake.
Kemi piped up. ‘I want to learn too, but we leave tomorrow.’
‘Oh no, I’m all booked today. I could call in a favour at the ski school and see if any of my colleagues could take you?’
‘Actually, I had a thought about this afternoon,’ Alice piped up. ‘Does anyone want to go sledding?’
Alice hadn’t been on a sled since she was a little girl, when she and Jill and Jill’s toddler brother had been taken by their mums to a nearby stretch of hill in the Surrey countryside after an unusually large winter snowfall. She remembered laughing with Jill all day, going up and down, up and down the hill until Jill had been sick and Alice had fallen off enough times that her mother thought it would be wise to stop.
Theresa had never been on a sled, had never before been on a winter holiday, but was decked out like a pro snow bunny today, snapping selfies in the sun in her pristine matching ski wear, her sled propped up beside her.
Bahira had taken her family on a ski trip a couple of years back and they’d all tried it then (‘I remember thinking I didn’t have the patience for it on the flat bits,’ she commented). And Kemi knew she’d slid down a hill on something that might have been a dustbin lid one drunken evening at university, but couldn’t recall if it happened on winter snow or summer mud.
‘Are you ready?’ Alice asked the three of them. They stood at the bottom of the funicular railway, each clutching a traditional, metre-long wooden sled, ready to head up to the top of the Allmendhubel slope where the bob run began.
‘Hell, yes,’ answered Theresa, putting her phone away.
They climbed on board the train and oohed and ahhed their way up the mountain, Alice feeling pride for the place she currently called home.
