Page 50 of A Season in the Snow
‘Where did you go in South America?’ Lola asked.
It was hard for Alice to think about her year travelling without thinking about Jill, but she couldn’t stay silent, and as topics went, something that happened ten years ago would be easier to talk about than something that happened three months ago. She would just keep it factual. She wouldn’t think about things like how Jill had spilled her can of cola inside her sleeping bag on the night bus right at the start of a twelve-hour journey across Peru, causing them both to erupt into tear-inducing laughter every time they nearly, finally, were drifting off to sleep. She gulped, pushing that thought and any others like it back.
‘We went from Peru, through Bolivia and into Brazil, ending in Rio. It was amazing. The whole trip was just, well, probably the best year of my life.’
In Rio, Jill had coaxed them both into joining a volleyball game on Copacabana beach, their big British bottoms bouncing happily among the toned, be-thonged Brazilian butts. She had made friends so easily.
‘It was actually my friend Jill who saw that Vanessa was about to eat breakfast alone the first morning of the tour.’ She said her name, she couldn’t help it, and although it made her heart skip and a lump form in her tummy, it wasn’t entirely awful. She tried it again. ‘Jill went straight over to her, made some joke aboutdulce de leche, and next thing we knew Vanessa was sharing our room most nights, with her single room being used as the . . . staging area when we were getting ready to go out.’ That wasn’t quite true. The single room was the room they used if any of them met a holiday romance, but that was between Vanessa, Alice and Jill, she thought with a smile that came onto her face unexpectedly.
‘We’ve known Vanessa for, what, three, four years now?’ Marco posed the question to the group. ‘As long as we’ve known her she’s lived alone here, really independent. We’re here like a pack of puppies and she’s travelling the world on her own, having adventures on her own. It’s actually really admirable, you know?’
The others agreed, and David said, ‘She’s always seemed so good at putting herself out there and going for what she wants to do. Living her life. It’s cool.’
‘You seem really like her,’ Lola said, topping up Alice’s wine.
‘Oh no, I’m not very adventurous or brave.’ Well, that wasn’t strictly true. Somewhere, sometime ago, she was pretty adventurous and open to trying new things.
Lola shrugged. ‘You came out here on your own, with a dog, to live in a new country for six months. I think that’s cool as.’
‘Vanessa should be back next weekend, just for a couple of days,’ Alice said. ‘I bet she’s looking forward to seeing you all. When do you all start work?’
Noah and Lola searched each other’s faces, as if the answers were in there somewhere. Alice thought not for the first time how connected the two of them seemed, so interwoven, the threads of their lives were tight together.
Noah answered first. ‘Probably next weekend. It sounds crazy, but there’s no official “start” day, it’s just when the tourists come. The ski lift will have been operating from today because all the instructors and the mountain rescue crews need to warm up and check on the surroundings.’
Lola nodded. ‘It’s likely our first lesson bookings will be next weekend, but we might be called upon for ad-hoc private lessons before then, if anyone arrives early. Oh, you know what we should try and do this week?’ She clapped her hands which made Bear jump to attention. Lola laughed and stroked the top of his head. ‘Let’s go to the hot springs, before all the tourists arrive.’
The others all agreed heartily, and Lola added, ‘You too, Alice.’
‘Where are the hot springs?’ she asked, saddened that her first reaction, in the privacy of her own mind, was to try and think up an excuse not to.
‘It’s a little bit of a drive, but there’s this gorgeous great big hotel with these different thermal pools dotted outside, it’s absolutely luscious. I know the owner from way back when we worked together at a hot springs joint in New Zealand, and he’ll let us in before they’re officially open, if I ask him.’
‘Alice, these pools are so warm it’s like a hug from a Bernese Mountain Dog,’ Marco enthused, his eyes sparkling. ‘Seriously, you should come along.’
It all just sounded very sociable, Alice told herself. But then, was that actually a problem, or was she just telling herself it was a problem? ‘What do you wear in a thermal pool?’ she asked, realising it was a stupid question as soon as she’d asked it, but she was buying time.
‘Just your swimmies,’ Lola answered.
Alice thought of her leg and its war wound and the questions it would raise. ‘I think I’ll have to give it a miss, I don’t know anyone else here that could look after Bear.’
‘Well, let me talk to my friend first, eh? See what day he can open up for us. It might be that one of us won’t be able to make it anyway, or maybe my mate could look after him at the hotel.’ Lola glanced at Alice while she got up to make a pot of coffee. ‘Your choice though, of course,’ she added, a gentleness in her voice. ‘Whatever you want to do.’
What she wanted to do was be brave. She wanted to force the constant voices out of her head and step back into the world, scars and all. Maybe she just needed to go for it, to dip into the water, one toe at a time.
