Five Ladies Go Skiing

by Karen Aldous

  Neil and I had a wonderful romantic walk and lunch in Montreux on the shore of Lac Léman, the lake we call Lake Geneva. The sunlight broke through the soft haze swirling around the mountains and glistened on the lake as we strolled along the colourful flower-filled promenade and then sat on the restaurant terrace, enjoying a lovely meal. It was beautiful, and he promised we would return for a paddle steamer ride if I came back to Switzerland in the summer.

  As Neil drove along the valley and I looked out to the mountains, it seemed an age since I had taken in that first view. My perspective had spun on its head in just a week. No longer were these great rocks cold and hostile, huge and threatening; instead they were wonderfully warm, sunny and inviting, and open to any challenge. As we wound back up the mountain road and I gazed down, my fears had transformed to respect. Respect for their beauty, respect for their danger. But mostly, respect for how, like my Flowers, and Neil, they had lifted my spirits.

  Twelve Months Later

  New Year’s Eve

  Ginny

  I hope you enjoyed the Flowers story. Ross, Rachel, their families and I have recently gathered for Mike’s second memorial and as it has now been a year since the ski trip with my Flowers, I thought you might be interested to know how this year has panned out.

  I’ll start with Lou because there haven’t been any major changes yet with their business. I will tell you, however, that Lou has been so much happier in her own skin. She has employed someone who she hopes will take over her position. It’s allowed her to cut down on her hours and make some time for herself and Terry. I think meeting up with Jimmy finally killed her curiosity. She and Terry have been spending more time together, walking and enjoying pub lunches. They’ve even bought bikes, so they can go off to the coast and cycle.

  And Lou is keeping to her fitness training with Angie four times a week. And, three months ago, she and Terry received an offer from a potential buyer, which they are still considering. The offer is a good one, but they are struggling to let go. They’re going to make a decision early in the New Yesar. What is lovely for Lou, however, is she’s stopped fretting about the latest expensive designer handbags and even thrown away her lip gloss – she’s still beautiful without it.

  Then, Cathy and Anthony. Well, Anthony is barely recognisable now. In a good way. Soon after Cathy returned from the ski trip, they went away for a few days and had a good chat. She did, as she promised him, manage her time better, and together they compiled a list of things they felt they were passionate about. Cathy naturally wished to continue writing and has since had another three short stories published. She has also completed and sent her first novel out to agents. Two have shown interest so far, but she’s writing her second novel, deciding which of the two are her best fit, and waiting to see whether any more come to the table, so I’ll know more in the new year.

  She and Anthony have also been making time for one another and taking days out, as well as embarking on a fitness programme with Angie, Cathy is working with us for two sessions and with Anthony for another once a week.

  Anthony has been dieting and exercising for ten months now. He’s lost two stone and is working towards losing one more. Naturally he’s cut right down on the booze. He’s done very well and looks so much better. And, during this time, he’s got involved with the Prince’s Trust, two days a week mentoring young entrepreneurs who have been accepted on the scheme. He loves it and enjoys being around the youngsters, helping them adjust and set their short- and long-term business goals.

  As well as that, he’s built himself a log cabin in the garden. Yes, his own shed, he says to keep out of Cathy’s hair. But with Terry’s help, it’s turned out so amazing he’s keen to build more, and now he’s thinking of setting up a local Men’s Shed group for men in a similar position to socialise. So more to come on that, I’m sure.

  Kim and Will did finally take that huge leap across the ocean. We celebrated their homecoming and her sixtieth the weekend after they returned. They’re currently staying with me in the village and Will found a similar position in London. Naturally, Will is still settling in with his work. Kim is concerned and doing everything she can to keep any other stress off his back. They moved back in June just in time for their first grandchild.

  Avril and David had a little boy, Jules so, besides house hunting, Kim is now looking after Jules two days a week and has flown to Milan a couple of times to see Mai. It’s been great having her close again, and we’ve managed a stroll or a trip to Bluewater lunching out every week. She has also joined us with the fitness sessions. What she hasn’t concentrated on, and I’m sure it’s only a matter of time, is getting back to her garden. Once she has her own home, I’m sure she will. They’re hoping a suitable house will come onto the market in the spring when the daffodils bloom. So, whilst she’s thrilled to be home again and close to her loved ones, Kim’s situation is still a work in progress.

  Angie has kept to her plan and thrown so much of her energy into her wellbeing campaign. She has upped the ante on the blogs and regular newsletters, as well as running competitions and giveaways for free sessions. The local and national press have helped, featuring her in their Health pages as well as several glossy magazines. She is looking at franchising the business at the moment so I’m looking forward to finding out more in the New Year.

  It seems Rob has caught her contagion too. Inspired by Angie’s compassion for better education about fitness and health as well as seeing the business flourish, Rob has also got involved. He’s been working on new software for monitoring the health and fitness programmes, a new class-booking system as well as the marketing system for the business. He’s also started fitness training and keeps Anthony company twice a week. If that isn’t enough, he’s also considering getting involved in the mentoring at the Prince’s Trust. Angie couldn’t be happier – Rob’s energy is up!

  So, it’s been a very exciting year for my Flowers. And what have I been up to? Well, when I returned home I was fired up too and began planning a party for my sixtieth, sending out invitations and phoned Neil with a date. He booked his car ferry straight away and I booked him into a hotel. I also tackled the huge pile of paperwork and Mike’s belongings, which I hadn’t faced up to yet. With Lou, Angie and Cathy’s help, we spent an entire Sunday going through paperwork, most of which was binned, but the girls helped me with a filing system, and we also found a share certificate I didn’t know about. When I say didn’t know, I think Mike had mentioned it, but I hadn’t really paid attention.

  Anyway, it turned out I still owned twenty-five per cent of his business. When he sold it ‘for a song’ it had been run down because of his ailing health, so Scott paid what he could afford, but when the girls saw dividends had gone into a bank account, I contacted Mike’s old partner to find out more. Scott had taken on two new partners since he bought Mike out and he told me the business was back up and thriving. That twenty-five per cent was now worth five times the amount we took out of the business nearly three years ago. So, I thought it prudent to sell them back as they rang back and offered. It took a lot of pressure off me financially, and Scott and his guys were delighted to have the shares of the company back. Naturally, I handed in my notice at work.

  However, the following Sunday when the girls helped with Mick’s belongings, it was awful. My emotions really dipped. I set aside some things for Ross and Rachel, but it was a wrench. Watching his favourite shirts, jumpers, trousers, shoes, suits, golf clothes, aftershave, towels, hats, gloves, coats, books – all Mike’s life, reduced to black sacks. I couldn’t let the girls just take them away. I kept them for a few days and rung Ross and Rachel. They didn’t want clothes but said I should keep anything special to him that he would want them to keep. I took the clothes along to the Cancer Research shop. I kept the golf clubs, watches, cufflinks, his football trophies, even though they had tarnished in the loft. I put them in Ross’s old room and Ross took most of it when he came down a few weeks later. Leaving some for Rachel, and
me with just a wedding ring and, of course, his phone. Not a pleasant task at all. But it made me realise I wanted to make more effort to see Ross and Rachel. So, I’ve diarised dates for visits and get-togethers once a month.

  So, after that little rollercoaster, I managed to collect myself and get back to Angie’s gym. As the weeks passed, I gathered momentum and spent time with Angie doing fitness sessions and getting to know her business. In February, I took up her offer of the marketing director position and got started. Three days a week, I sat with Angie getting to know the intricacies of the direction she wanted the company to go, and we discussed immediate strategy and priorities. I then worked with Rob on the software, using what knowledge I had and tapping into some I’d read about it, then set to work.

  I’m loving it. Angie has been great to work with and I’m loving getting back to my preferred way of working. The money is great too. Plus, all the perks. Our fitness programmes are working well, and the Nordic walking has taken us up another level. And we Flowers are fundraising to walk the Great Wall of China in the autumn next year for the local hospice and cancer research.

  It’s been exciting. I have all my Flowers close and we’ve been adding meetings and events to the diary. I managed to force myself to go out with them as couples for meals, dances, quiz nights. And all the guys seem to like Neil. Neil made his visit at the end of February keeping his promise – no pressure. I was apprehensive at first. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about meeting him on my own territory, but just a few minutes after the initial date, we fell easily back into step. Then it was time for my party.

  I had told Ross and Rachel about Neil and was pleased they came along, but I felt the strain. It was difficult for them. The celebration went as well as it could, but I had to give them time. They admitted they liked him and enjoyed his company, so it was a good start. After the party Neil and I spent several days together, walking, talking, having lunch, meeting the guys in the pub in the village two evenings.

  Then, one night we went to eat at a hotel. A cosy old inn I chose for its Dickensian feel and connection. We ate a light meal, as I ate very little with my training anyway, but with it, we shared a beautiful French wine and held hands, our chemistry building – the moment felt right. Just as it had in Ma Maison before I had checked my phone.

  Neil ordered another bottle to take up to his room and we sealed our bond. It was wonderful to feel loved again. Neil made me feel so comfortable, so special. And after that night, I knew we both wanted more.

  He returned at the end of April staying again at the same hotel. I stayed with him for three nights and our time together just got better. We spent time with our friends, Neil gaining friendship and respect from the guys. He fitted in with the group very well. Then I got a call from Rachel inviting us to hers. Neil was due to return home to Surrey, but he was accommodating and extended his stay. Ross came too and helped Rachel’s husband with the barbecue as the sun was kind.

  We had a lovely afternoon and both my children and their families made a great effort to be accepting. My confidence was growing and as Neil was back in the UK, I saw him every other weekend, in Surrey or I booked the hotel close to the village. In June, Neil invited the children to his home in Surrey. It was a small cottage, but the garden was spacious, in a beautiful setting overlooking hills and paddocks. Ross helped Neil with the barbecue and it was heartening to see them gelling; beers and banter rocked back and forth with Rachel’s husband joining them when he wasn’t entertaining the kids. That was when I found the new Ginny Watts. When I told my friends, we had a girly night to celebrate. Angie insisted I take August off to spend with Neil.

  My yearning to see Neil grew but I managed to pace myself. We drove down to Switzerland and spent most of August in Europe visiting Lake Geneva again, then up to the village and Verbier to celebrate Swiss National day. It was all so empty without the snow, but the mountain and forest walks were beautiful. Neil then drove us to the Italian lakes, taking in the sights and boat rides of Lake Como and Lake Garda before a train ride to Venice.

  I couldn’t believe I could be so happy again. The months have passed so quickly with Neil, my love for him grows daily and my friends and family have grown to love him too. In fact, they are all here in Switzerland with us, to ski. We’ve just arrived to celebrate the New Year and a quieter week on the slopes. My Flowers can’t wait to show their guys how it’s done – not Angie of course, but I can’t wait to show my children and grandchildren my skills. One thing’s for sure, Christoff has plenty of booking for his lessons. And, all importantly, I have so much to thank my beautiful friends for.

  Acknowledgements

  As always, my love and thanks to my husband Glyn for his constant love and support, and for the hours he spends each night creating delicious dishes for my hearty appetite. I’m resigned to the fact that I’ll never be slim again – ever!

  Huge appreciation is also overdue to our friends, Lynette and Stephen. This novel would have been impossible to write without the huge inspiration I drew from their passion. Not only did they introduce me and my family to skiing, but have for years so generously accommodated Glyn and I at their bolthole in Switzerland as well as extended that same generosity with their efforts and patience with our skiing. Our lives have been so enriched by those fantastic weeks we have spent with them skiing, along with the warm and wonderful people of La Tzoumaz who served to add to that enjoyment.

  And my gratitude extends further to friends, Christine and Nigel, Sally and Pete. Again, their love and support through the years, the skiing and my writing journey have brought an abundance of fun, laughter and tears which has provided much inspiration for this book. Rest assured, my characters and their situations are purely fictional and in no way portray their real lives, but what the novel does reflect is those wonderful aspects that deep, long-lasting friendships can bring.

  I also owe a special thank you to my children and grandchildren. Unwittingly, their love and support provide every grain of motivation and every ounce of perspiration I need to complete each book. Huge thanks also to all my readers and the book bloggers who make it their mission to make time to share their passion and introduce other readers to my and other authors novels. Their dedication and energy amaze me.

  And, finally, I’m forever grateful to my lovely editor, Nia Beynon and all the team at HQ Digital/HarperCollins. For Nia, for believing in this story and for all the wonderful support in the editorial process. It’s been an absolute pleasure working with her. And the team, thank you for all your hard work making it all possible and for my beautiful cover.

  Turn the page for an extract from Karen Aldous’s

  brilliantly uplifting read Under a Tuscan Sky …

  Chapter 1

  It was so much more than an image. Olivia Montague’s finger stroked the ageing photograph of the elderly couple gazing, not at the camera, but intensely at one another even after all those years. And even in sepia tones, glints of love and passion sparkled in their eyes. Olivia’s skin prickled looking at them standing huddled among the vines, their chemistry radiating from the now dulled, once glossy paper almost as if it were present in her Bermondsey sitting room.

  More significantly for Olivia, her Italian grandparents represented family – solid, the roots of her being, an impenetrable foundation. Nonna Elena and Nonno Angelo had such adoration for each other, just like her mother and father in those brief years before her father’s death.

  She picked up the other photograph her mum had given her just before Nonna’s funeral. The one in colour, two sunburned hippies blazoning sun-bleached hair against a lapis blue sky and pink sand, eyes lost in one another. So much longing and love dazzling between them. Sadness gripped Olivia’s throat. Was it real or was she imagining it? Was it an Italian gene that had by-passed her? Why couldn’t she have that love? She and Will Parks had never looked at one another like that.

  Lowering the image, she glanced up, her eyes seemingly fixed on wooden shutters encasing the bay
window, but they stared vacantly, imagining the inscription on her headstone.

  ‘Sadly, she was never loved, nor could ever love.’

  In her mind a sinkhole appeared, a huge void spreading fifty feet or more on a wild meadow splashed with blue crocuses and daisies. Sliding into it was Nonna, Nonno, her mum and dad, her gran, grandad, Will. Then her. She lurched violently forward then quickly grabbed a long twine, then clutching tufts of long grass and a thread of tangleweed, she scrambled on her knees to save herself.

  On her knees on the bank, she twisted herself reaching out in the hope one of them would be close enough to pull her to safety. Instead she watched each slowly sink into the blackness, tumbling in different directions, not one of them reaching for her. It was a nightmare imitating life, reinforcing the abandonment she constantly felt: that hollow space she’d locked inside her that no one could or would want to fill. Even Will.

  The image played repeatedly during the night and the following morning whilst she was on her run. As she was drinking cold water and black coffee in Starbucks afterwards, her phone pinged. A message from Will saying he would be back from football about seven. A sigh escaped her as she slid the screen back and stuffed the phone back in her pocket. At the tables surrounding her, young couples and family groups seemed to be looking on with pity.

  ‘Of course I have a life,’ she screeched under her breath, pulling out her phone again and willing it to ring and hitting Chiara’s number when it didn’t. It went straight to voicemail.