by Holly Ford
Maybe … Cally stared across the lake to the cloud-covered alps. Maybe she could get a job at another station. One with an owner who had no sons. Or maybe she could just … get over Ash, somehow. If she applied a little self-discipline, she could live under the same roof as him, couldn’t she? She could start using the downstairs bathroom, for a start. And no more riding lessons. Or feeding out.
Luke swore under his breath. ‘Did you catch what that sign said? About the pass?’
She shook her head. Not really. It had gone by pretty fast. Something starting with ‘C’? ‘Caution required?’ Cally guessed.
Luke glanced at the clock. ‘We’re not far away now. We should be through there before this weather gets much worse.’
Cally looked out at the fading sky. It was, she realised, really starting to snow now. Judging by the horizontal drift of the flakes and the way the road markers were fluttering, the wind had got up, too. The Aston’s windscreen wipers picked up their pace. The oncoming traffic — of which there seemed, suddenly, to be quite a lot — all had headlights blazing.
‘Well, those guys are getting through,’ said Luke. ‘The pass can’t be closed.’
‘Yes,’ she agreed, as cheerfully as she could. Unless, of course …
‘Unless they’ve been turned back,’ he added wryly.
Entering Omarama, they slowed. The tiny town was heaving. Luke swore again as a decrepit farm truck meandered out of a side road in front of them.
‘At least he thinks the pass is open,’ Cally said, as they followed the truck out of town and into the hills. As if on cue, they saw flashing lights ahead.
‘Fuck,’ said Luke, more loudly, as a cold-looking guy in a high-vis parka flagged them down. Luke opened the window, letting in a blast of freezing air.
‘Sorry, mate,’ the guy said, leaning in, ‘we’ve just closed the pass for the night. Should reopen about midday tomorrow.’
Up ahead, his colleague stood away from the farm truck. Cally watched its tail lights disappear into the snow as it chugged on towards the pass.
‘Come on.’ Luke’s voice was at its most charming. ‘There’s nobody behind us. You can let one more through, can’t you?’
The guy looked at the Aston dubiously. ‘You carrying chains?’
‘Sure,’ said Luke.
Really? Cally tried not to look disbelieving. The roadworker was no more convinced. ‘I’ll have to see you put them on, mate.’
Luke sighed.
‘Look, why don’t you head back to Omarama, eh?’ the guy suggested, not unkindly. ‘Tuck yourselves up, have a beer. The road’ll be open in the morning.’
‘That sounds like good advice,’ Luke conceded. ‘Thanks.’
‘Have one for me, mate, while you’re at it.’
Luke turned the car around. Back in town, Cally’s heart sank as he pulled into the most expensive-looking hotel on the highway. A place like that was going to make a huge hole in her savings. She couldn’t help feeling relieved when Luke walked out of the reception area a few minutes later shaking his head.
‘Somebody just took the last room,’ he confirmed, sliding back into the car with a shiver. As they pulled out into the road, Cally could make out the neon No Vacancy sign flickering on through the snow behind them.
Twenty minutes of no-vacancy signs later, she was feeling somewhat less relieved.
‘That’s everywhere,’ Luke said. ‘I guess we’ll have to head back up the road a bit. See if we can find something further north.’
As another gust of wind shook the car, Cally followed Luke’s gaze through the windscreen. In the beams of the headlights, the snow was driving towards them thick and fast. Beyond the meagre orange light of the last streetlamp in town, the night was utterly black. It didn’t look inviting.
‘The pub,’ she remembered suddenly, ‘does rooms.’
‘The one we drove past?’ Luke sounded dubious. ‘They didn’t have a sign out.’
‘No, there’s another pub.’ Cally racked her brain for the street address. ‘It’s somewhere off the main road. I read about it in Lonely Planet.’
Luckily there weren’t many streets to choose from. Five minutes later, they pulled into the pub’s car park. Rather a lot of other people seemed to have found it as well — the car park was all but full.
‘Come on,’ Luke said. ‘We can get a coffee or something, anyway.’ He peered out at the pub’s dated signage. ‘Maybe.’
The publican looked over at them as they walked into the bar. ‘What can I get you?’ he asked, busy filling a jug.
‘We were wondering if you had any rooms left for tonight?’ Luke said.
‘It’s your lucky day.’ He passed the jug across the bar to a red-cheeked guy in a well-seasoned bush shirt. ‘I’ve got one double left. Ensuite,’ he added proudly.
Luke and Cally looked at each other. ‘You don’t have anything else?’ Luke asked.
‘That’s it, mate.’
‘Maybe,’ Luke suggested to Cally, ‘we should try Twizel.’
‘It’s up to you, mate,’ the publican said, starting work on another jug, ‘but I don’t know that you’ll do any better there. They’ve got four coachloads in for the winter festival.’
Cally felt a gust of icy air on her back. She glanced over her shoulder as a middle-aged couple closed the door behind them and advanced on the bar.
‘Do you have a room for tonight?’ the woman asked, brushing the snow from her hair and rubbing her hands together.
The publican looked at Luke. ‘Do I?’ he asked.
Luke raised his eyebrows at Cally. ‘No,’ she said quickly. ‘We’ll take it.’
‘Sorry, love,’ the publican told the woman. ‘We’re all booked up.’ Producing a key from under the counter, he gave it to Luke. ‘Here you go, mate. Just let me finish this jug and I’ll show you across.’
‘Jesus.’ A few minutes later, Luke looked around the tiny room with an expression of disbelief. ‘This place is so out it’s back in again.’
Through the glass door, Cally watched the publican disappear back into the snow. The room did look as though it had been decorated by the same designer her grandmother had used. She eyed the ferociously uncomfortable-looking wooden-armed settee.
‘I’ll take the sofa,’ Luke said firmly.
‘You won’t fit.’ Neither of them would. The thing was barely a two-seater. Cally looked at the bed. ‘Why don’t we just share?’ It was big enough.
‘You sure?’ He looked a bit torn.
‘Yeah,’ she shrugged. What could be the harm?
‘I could sleep on the floor.’ Luke frowned down at the slightly sticky carpet.
‘That’s silly.’ Opening the single wardrobe, Cally checked the top shelf. ‘Besides, we’ve only got one duvet. One of us will freeze to death otherwise.’
Luke was silent.
‘Look,’ she assured him, ‘it’s okay. I don’t have anything contagious, I swear.’
He gave her a dazzling smile in return. ‘Which side would you like?’
‘I don’t mind.’
He shook his head. ‘You can’t make me be a total cad. It’s bad for my self-image.’
‘Left, then,’ Cally admitted, feeling suddenly awkward. Which side of the bed they preferred didn’t seem like something they should know about each other.
‘Are you getting any signal on your phone?’ he asked, looking down at his.
She pulled it out. ‘No.’
‘Perfect,’ Luke sighed.
They both looked around the room. It was phoneless.
‘I’ll go see if there’s a payphone in the bar,’ Luke said. ‘We’d better get hold of Lizzie and Carr before they muster Mountain Rescue.’
As Luke, too, vanished into the night, Cally pulled the curtains and turned the fan heater up. Was it really that much warmer in there than it was outside?
Yes it was, she decided fifteen minutes later, when Luke shouldered his way back in with their bags. She hurried to close the
door behind him.
‘Did you find a phone?’
‘Yeah. The payphone was out of order, but Gordon let me use the one behind the bar.’
‘So you spoke to Carr?’
There was a slight pause. ‘I spoke to Ash, actually.’
‘Oh,’ she managed. Great. She couldn’t even hear his name without getting upset. That certainly boded well for the future. Her mind suddenly full of a vision of Ash standing there in Glencairn’s kitchen, Cally told herself she had no wish to hear what he’d said.
There was a knock on the glass. Luke opened the door.
‘Here you go.’ A woman in a snowy parka — Mrs Gordon, presumably — thrust a folded blanket at him. ‘It’s going to be a pretty rough night. You and your girlfriend might want this.’
‘Thanks,’ Luke said.
Cally couldn’t help feeling a tiny bit pleased that he didn’t bother to correct her. She liked that someone thought she might have an actual boyfriend. One she went places with. One who wasn’t ashamed to be seen with her. Maybe, just for one night, she could make believe that she was a girl like Ella and Valentina.
Luke put the blanket down on the bed. On top of it, Cally saw, were a torch and a box of supermarket candles. He looked at his watch.
‘You want to grab some dinner? We could see if they’ve got a table back at the hotel.’
Dinner? Her little fantasy was progressing nicely. ‘The restaurant,’ she pointed out, ‘is probably going to be full as well.’ Not to mention pricey. ‘We could just eat here at the pub. That way we don’t have to go anywhere.’ She shivered as a wave of hail hit the glass. ‘It’s not much of a night to be out on the road.’
‘Well, in that case,’ he said, glancing down at his pinstriped trousers, ‘I think I’m a tad overdressed. Do you mind if I get changed first?’
Turning his back on her, Luke crossed to the sofa and rummaged in his bag. Cally averted her eyes as he began to strip off his business shirt.
‘Won’t be a second,’ he said briskly.
Involuntarily, she turned her head towards the sound of his voice. Well. That looked every bit as good as she’d always suspected it would. She looked away again quickly as Luke’s spectacularly shirtless back headed for the bathroom.
‘Sorry,’ he said, a minute later, causing her to catch a glimpse of the equally impressive front view as he re-emerged, in jeans this time, a sweater clutched in his hand. ‘I forgot to take a T-shirt.’
Oh, fuck it, you only lived once. Cally stole another glance as he pulled the T-shirt over his head. Halfway through putting his sweater on, Luke turned. She pretended, rapidly, to be engrossed with her phone.
‘Still no service?’ he asked.
She shook her head, hoping her hair would hide her blush. ‘Not a bar.’
‘Right, then.’ Unearthing a luscious-looking wool scarf from his bag, he started to wrap it around his neck. ‘Shall we?’ He stopped, looking Cally over with a critical eye. ‘Are you going to be warm enough?’
She nodded, unbuttoning the hood of her oilskin. Leaving her warmest clothes at Glencairn was looking like it had been a mistake. ‘I’ll be fine.’
‘Here.’ Luke handed her the scarf. ‘You take this.’
‘No,’ she protested. ‘It’s yours.’
‘Please. I insist. I don’t want you passing out from exposure between here and the bar.’ He grinned. ‘Anyway, I’m less likely to get a schooner thrown at me without it.’
Despite his efforts, Luke didn’t exactly blend in with the rest of the diners in the pub, Cally thought, as a gobsmacked teenager who didn’t look old enough to be in a bar managed to wipe off a table for them in the corner. Mind you, a guy with his looks would stand out in a crowd whatever he was wearing. Quite a few women, she noticed, were staring at him. One of them, caught out by Cally in the process, dropped her gaze guiltily. Cally unwrapped Luke’s scarf from her neck, trying not to notice how good it smelled, and stowed it out of harm’s way in her jacket pocket.
‘Do you know what you’d like?’ he asked her. ‘I think we have to go up and order.’
Having selected the cheapest thing on the menu board, Cally watched heads turn as Luke made his way back to the bar. Oh God — of course, he was going to have to pay as well. Snatching her jacket off the back of the chair, she hurried after him.
‘Here,’ she said quickly, fumbling her card out of her wallet.
Luke looked amused. ‘No, this is on me.’
Cally stared up at him.
‘It’s the least I can do,’ he said. ‘If we’d left when I said we were going to, you wouldn’t be stuck here.’
‘I don’t mind.’ Cally felt herself blushing again as Luke’s beautiful green eyes softened. Jesus, she was just as bad as the girl who’d wiped the table.
‘Let me get this,’ he said gently. ‘You can get the next one, okay?’
She hesitated. How likely was it there’d be a next one?
Luke nodded over her shoulder. ‘Go save our table before it disappears.’
Cally gave in. A few minutes later, Luke rejoined her, two glasses of wine in his hands. ‘I was going to get a bottle,’ he said wryly, ‘but there wasn’t much of a list. I took a punt and went for the white and dry.’
In dazzlingly short order, given the crowd, the waitress brought their food. ‘Here you go,’ the girl said, batting her eyelashes at Luke as she placed two enormous oval plates down on the table. ‘Bon appétit.’
‘Thanks,’ Luke grinned.
Cally watched the waitress float off, nearly tripping over a young family’s nappy bag as she headed back to the serving hatch.
‘Well,’ Luke said, pushing his knife and fork together some time later, ‘I can honestly say that’s the best ham steak I’ve had in many a year. If not ever.’
‘You haven’t eaten your cherry,’ she teased him.
He raised his eyebrows at her. ‘You want it?’
Swallowing her last chicken nugget, Cally shook her head.
‘So.’ Luke looked around the pub. ‘Now what? Shall we have another drink?’
‘Sure.’
‘Another glass of wine?’ he asked.
They looked at each other.
‘Yeah, okay, maybe not.’ He looked around again. Across the bar, a pokie player hit jackpot. ‘You know,’ Luke said, ‘I’ve got a pretty decent bottle of scotch in the car. How about we get out of here and crack it open?’
Despite the onslaught of freezing air, Cally breathed a sigh of relief as the pub’s door swung shut behind them. God, it was nice when all that noise stopped. Wrapping Luke’s scarf around her again, she peered out into the fast-swirling dark. It was still snowing, and the wind, if anything, had increased.
Luke put a hand to her elbow. ‘Come on.’ Together, they made a dash for the distant lights of the motel units’ verandah, the blizzard driving hard into their faces.
‘Watch out.’ Luke caught her as she almost stumbled over one of the rocks that had once marked the path, but were now half-buried in snow. His hand remained in the small of her back, steadying her against the wind as they made it out of the darkness and into the relative shelter of the units.
‘Bloody hell,’ he laughed, brushing snow from his exquisite coat. ‘I think we should have called for a sled and some huskies.’
Inside, the heater was still working overtime, and the unit was now something resembling warm. Opening the door again briefly, Cally gave her jacket a quick shake and went to hang it up in the bathroom.
‘You want to watch some TV?’ Luke asked, as she came out. He cast a dubious eye over the geriatric set in the corner. ‘If that thing still works.’
‘Okay.’
He picked up the remote. Before he could work out which button to push, the unit was plunged into darkness.
‘Right.’ Luke’s face, lit by his phone screen, appeared out of the blackness. ‘I’d say that calls for a drink, wouldn’t you? I’ll go and find that bottle.’
As he
moved towards the door, his phone beeped. ‘Well, I guess you win some, you lose some,’ he said. ‘Looks like we’ve got cell service back.’
The power surged on again in time for Cally to see his expression harden as he read the screen.
‘Is everything okay?’ She made a dive for the torch on the bed as the lights flickered again.
‘Fine,’ Luke said brusquely. ‘It’s a message from Ella. She’s not going to make it tomorrow night.’
Oh … Cally was still trying to think of the right response when the power went out again. She waited hopefully for it to come back on. It didn’t. A beam of light traversed the floor as Luke, using his phone as a torch, navigated the darkness to the door. Hurriedly, she switched on the torch in her hand.
Luke shaded his eyes against it. ‘I’ll be back in a minute,’ he said, his voice flat and his mind clearly elsewhere. Shrugging his coat back on, he disappeared out into the storm.
In his absence, Cally searched the unit for candlesticks. Or something to use as candlesticks. Who gave you candles with nothing to put them in? She was just about to give up and use the pair of chipped eggcups she’d found in the kitchenette cupboard when it occurred to her, more out of desperation than hope, to check the bedside cabinets. Ah! There was one. And yes, on the other side of the bed, its mate, still bearing the stubs of their last use. Thankfully, there was a box of matches in there, too. Setting a candle on top of each cabinet, Cally lit the stubs and stood back to judge the effect. They looked very pretty. But rather like she was trying to seduce someone. The coffee table, perhaps, might be a better idea. Although the sofa was too small to share, so one of them would have to sit on the bed in the dark …
Before she had settled on an alternative arrangement, Luke walked back in, a bottle in his hand and another under his arm. Unfazed, seemingly, by Cally’s seduction scene, he set one bottle down in the candlelight on his side of the bed and held the other towards her.
‘I found this,’ he said, turning the label of the champagne bottle to the beam of her torch. ‘I figured we might as well drink it. It’s cold.’