‘It’s a fantastic opportunity for us. Are there many British people working at the company?’ Lily asked, settling down now Garrick had moved off to talk to Carola and Neil.
Stephen nodded. ‘There are lots of British in Zug but French, Dutch, Italian and German too. Los is a good businessman. He headhunts the right people of any nationality.’
‘That’s brilliant,’ said Lily, thinking of Max and Garrick moving their households to Switzerland as a result of getting opportunities with British Country Foods. They moved on to talking about Lily’s accident and Lily introduced Isaac so Kirstin, like Max, could thank him for saving the project.
As the evening progressed and conversation eddied Lily edged her way to the teen corner where Emily was animated and smiling despite the crusty graze beneath her eye, possibly because she was sharing a little sofa with Warwick.
Heart lurching, Lily introduced herself to Myla and Xander. Xander grinned and bobbed his head shyly and turned straight back to talking to Charlotte but Myla was chattier. She sounded completely American and was full of when she would begin her university education. ‘It’s just so cool being here in Europe,’ she kept saying. ‘There’s like so much choice if you enjoy working with languages. I’m so going to do that, when I’ve travelled.’
‘I lived in Spain for a couple of years.’ Lily explained about Sergio and his family.
Myla’s eyes lit up. ‘Maybe you could get me a job there? It would be cool.’
Instantly, Lily found herself feeling protective of this girl who didn’t know she was Lily’s niece and maybe never would. ‘Not at Bar Barcelona,’ she said firmly. ‘It’s a zoo.’
‘Sounds like my kind of bar.’ Myla laughed, then turned to talk to Eddie and Alfie, both of whom were drinking beer, getting pink in the face and gazing at Myla.
Tanja and a young woman began setting out a buffet on a large table against the far wall. Bread and bagels, quiche-like tarts called Käseküchlein, small glasses of cold carrot and coriander soup, cheeses set out on cutting boards, sausages in coils of pastry, thinly sliced beef rolled up around cream cheese, salmon rolled with radish, chicken wings, slaw, houmous, slices of pizza, mango rolled in sesame seeds, little cups made of pastry or tortilla with their fillings spilling out, breadsticks and things on skewers … it was a colourful feast.
Beside her, Isaac said, ‘I didn’t realise how hungry I was until I saw that lot.’
Lily agreed. ‘It smells gorgeous too.’
‘Come on,’ he said. ‘I’ll hold both plates then you can use your good hand to fill them.’
The teenagers had already fallen on the food. Carola went a bit pink and suggested that they might like to let their hosts go first but Los laughed good-naturedly. ‘The guests must enjoy themselves! Let the young people eat.’
Tanja laughed too. ‘We have a little more in the kitchen.’
When Lily had filled plates for herself and Isaac they found a place to sit down to eat. The teens had claimed bar stools at the bar between kitchen and lounge, which left plenty of chairs and sofas for everyone else.
Lily’s hand was beginning to throb and she laid it in her lap, grimacing. ‘What I hadn’t really appreciated is that when you wear a sling people tend to give you a wide berth. You don’t realise how many brush against you usually until it hurts every time they do.’
Isaac put down his plate. ‘I’ll fetch it.’
Though touched, Lily shook her head. ‘I’m not going to stay late anyway. I have a busy day tomorrow. I need to go to Zürich first thing to see the stand and check everything’s working, then join you guys for lunch and a trip around the locality before we go to the Christmas market in the evening – our first singing event!’
He nodded. ‘Max has been chatting to me about what I’m going to do.’
Alarm wriggled through her. ‘Are we imposing too much? I suppose the schedule was set when I was the driver so naturally I’d be available all the time.’
He looked surprised. ‘And so will I be, but I told Max about my instructor plans and he says he’ll ask one of his neighbours to tell me about the outdoorsy mountain stuff in summer. Lots of hiking, clambering about in canyons, rope parks and water sports apparently.’ A light of excitement glowed in his eyes.
‘Great,’ she said enthusiastically, through a sinking realisation that the clock was ticking on their affair before it had properly begun.
Around them cutlery clinked and voices chattered. Isaac dipped his head close to hers. ‘How did you get on with Garrick?’
‘He seems just as lovely as I’d dared hope,’ Lily murmured back. ‘I sound like a love-sick teenager talking about her latest crush but it’s an astonishing, amazing thing to meet him. If we’d all been brought up together it would be different but …’ She had to blink back a tear. ‘Eleanor seems very nice too. I wasn’t able to exchange more than a couple of words with my nephew, Xander, but Myla’s great. Meeting them all was awesome,’ she ended inadequately.
The warmth of Isaac’s smile suggested he was enjoying her magical moments. ‘I’m glad.’ His breath was warm on her neck. ‘All we need is a little alone time for you and me and then everything will be perfect.’
Heat swept up Lily’s body. She began to say, ‘I’m not sure how we’re going to find alone time—’ when she was interrupted by clinking of forks on glasses and a portly man in his forties clearing his throat portentously.
‘Excuse me interrupting your meal, but I have discovered that one of our new friends, though she lives in England now, is from my own country of Poland!’ He paused while people exclaimed. ‘She has kindly agreed to sing a Polish carol for me, Anioł Pasterzom Mówił, which means “The Angel Told the Shepherds”.’
A smattering of applause greeted Franciszka as she stepped forward, blushing. ‘We have no instruments this evening but perhaps the rest of the Middletones can help a little?’ She looked at Lily.
Under cover of putting down her plate, Lily muttered under her breath, ‘Great. We were all crap at this when we tried it before,’ but pasted on a smile and threaded her way towards Franciszka. Wearing apprehensive expressions the other Middletones grouped behind them.
Carola took charge. ‘We’ll just back you with oohs and ahs and leave the Polish to you.’
Nodding agreement, Franciszka started them off by ascending the scale. ‘Ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-haha.’
The tune coming back to them, the others drew breath and followed her lead. ‘Ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-haha …’ Franciszka began to sing, her eyes half-closing as her voice rose, simple and sweet, though the words, apart from obvious ones such as ‘Bethlehem’, were a mystery to Lily.
Humming and ahh-ing, the Middletones backed Franciszka quietly. They very much winged it but the effect was charming and was met with smiles around the room. Lily relaxed and let her voice soar. To sing, as they were in the country to do, was strangely reassuring.
Carola must have felt the same as when Franciszka had gravely accepted a round of applause she said, ‘Shall we do another?’ and counted them in for ‘Let it Snow’, which, it seemed, Swiss people were au fait with, joining in the chorus until the room was filled with the sound of friendship and joy. Lily was sure that her heart had never felt quite so swollen. It felt like a reward for all the work she’d put into this trip during the year, a trip that so nearly didn’t happen, and an echo of her joy in meeting more members of her family.
And liking them.
That was a special, warm, private joy.
Chapter Fifteen
Though she’d all but collapsed into bed the evening before, Lily was up bright and early on Wednesday. It gave her first turn in the bathroom and also time to phone her parents. That she’d heard nothing from Roma or Patsie since Saturday had begun to bother her. She carried her phone out to the living area so as not to wake the others. Both her parents were early birds so she didn’t think calling them now would be an issue.
She tried Roma first.
‘Hello, gorge
ous,’ said her mother’s well-loved voice. ‘Have you arrived? Do you have snow?’
‘Yes, and yes.’ Lily chatted about the journey and the welcome they’d received last night.
Roma hesitated. ‘Did you meet …?’
‘Yes.’ Lily wished she didn’t have to feel awkward about it. It wasn’t as if she was in a relationship and confessing to an affair. ‘We got on well. How are you doing?’
Roma accepted the change of subject. ‘Patsie’s still doing her own thing,’ she said drearily. ‘We’re thinking about things and I suppose she’s seeing her new lady.’
Lily’s heart ached. ‘I just don’t know what to say.’
‘Nothing to say.’ Roma’s breath caught. ‘I’m going to Scotland today so I’ll at least have work to take my mind off things. Look, darling, don’t worry about us. We’re big enough girls to sort out our own mess. You enjoy your trip and tell us – me – about it when you get home.’
Not feeling any better at the dismal way Roma had corrected ‘us’ to ‘me’, after Lily had ended the call she dialled Patsie.
Patsie answered almost straight away. She sounded cautious. ‘Lily, this is a nice surprise.’
‘I just wanted to touch base,’ Lily explained, taken by surprise by Patsie’s tentative tone. Surely there wasn’t going to be a divide between them because other things had changed? ‘I’m sorry I haven’t been in touch since I got the news,’ she went on, though feeling Patsie could just as easily have contacted Lily, ‘but you probably know I had a mishap on Saturday and had to rearrange a lot of stuff so the trip to Switzerland could go ahead—’
‘Mishap? No, I didn’t know.’ Patsie sounded puzzled.
Lily halted. She’d assumed either Zinnia or Roma would have filled Patsie in … but maybe that was how things used to be. ‘Just a bruised hand,’ she said lightly. ‘Anyway, are you OK? I couldn’t believe it when Zinnia told me about you and Mum.’
Patsie sounded awkward. ‘I’m sorry, darling, I can’t really chat right now. I have to be in court this morning so I need to get myself in gear. Have a wonderful time and we’ll talk when you get home. Bye!’ Then she was gone.
Lily put her phone down, thinking how distant Patsie had been, flustered even. It was uncomfortable to realise that Patsie’s ‘new lady’ might have been listening. Even worse if she wasn’t, because Patsie really hadn’t seemed to want to talk to Lily.
For the first time Lily was aware of one of her parents not being related to her by blood. It wasn’t a nice feeling.
Max was to pick Lily up at eight fifteen. She threaded herself into her coat and sling, Doggo trailing behind her with a slowly waving tail. ‘Sorry,’ she whispered to the big Dalmatian. ‘I can’t take you with me.’ She went to wait outside the front of the house.
People were out along the street with snow blowers and snow scoops, heaping up last night’s snowfall to access drives and garages. The icy air pinched Lily’s cheeks and earlobes and she was thankful for her thermal base layer and boots. The sky was achingly blue, making her glad of her sunglasses in the glare of sun on snow.
Max arrived promptly, cheeks pink. ‘Los is going to meet us there. He’s taking a great personal interest in your project.’
‘How far is it?’ Lily struggled to manage her seatbelt one-handed.
‘About an hour. The exhibition hall’s out towards the airport.’ He helped her with the belt and twinkled engagingly. ‘Can’t wait to see our stand. It’s going to be head and shoulders above the rest.’
‘Of course,’ Lily said hollowly, realising that her butterflies hadn’t all been used up on Isaac or Garrick because a whole squadron seemed to have taken off in her belly. It was ages since she’d been involved with a project as intimately as this one.
The amount of snow on the ground decreased as they travelled, Zürich lying six hundred metres lower than Schützenberg. Max had passes to get them through the exhibitors’ entrance and Lily found herself crossing the acres of cheap but new carpet peculiar to trade shows with rising excitement. The set-up crew had been and gone and she could pick out the British Country Foods stand – stand E11-07 – from thirty yards away. ‘Looking OK,’ she said, breathing a sigh of relief. ‘The colours on the clings have come out pretty true.’ Then she was stepping up onto the stand decorated red, white and blue and gazing around at the physical manifestation of her hard work.
Kirstin, Felix and Stephen, smart in their business suits, were preparing for the start of the show the next day, lining up brochures, stowing cool boxes ready for product samples and making up displays of non-perishables according to the schematics Lily had designed in faraway Middledip.
As she usually worked remotely Lily rarely experienced the buzz of seeing her ideas come to life and the morning passed in a blur as she checked displays and video loops. As the stand stood on a corner she’d designed a fold-out backdrop against which the Middletones would sing.
Los showed up for half an hour, studying the stand from all angles with a nod and a smile. ‘This is very good, Lily. Very striking,’ before he vanished off back to his office in Schützenberg.
Finally, Max put his hand on Lily’s shoulder, interrupting her conversation with Felix about social media. ‘Let’s take your photo with the stand and then I have to deliver you for lunch. Your friends will be wondering what’s happened to you.’
Lily left almost reluctantly after the photo, walking backwards up the aisle to take her last look at the stand. ‘It’s surpassed my expectations. And Los seemed to like it. Did you think he did?’
Max patted her shoulder. ‘We’d have heard all about it if he didn’t.’ He listened good-naturedly as she chattered about the show opening tomorrow and the Middletones singing while he drove her to Restaurant Raten, its car park cleared of snow, the surrounding slopes blinding white with snow and edged with stands of pines. The majestic mountain-scape of Central Switzerland rose up in the distance, the snow-capped peaks of the St Gallen Alps under a silver swathe of cloud.
As she got out of the car Lily gazed at wooden poles with cables between. ‘What’s all this?’
‘The drag lift. Skiing season is just beginning.’ Max zipped his coat then pointed at a big geometric dome. ‘That’s the ski bar, where you can get refreshment without taking off your ski boots. If this weather keeps up the slopes will open at the weekend. Oh look, the minibus is here already.’
They found the others gathered around a long table inside, frowning over menus written in Swiss-Deutsche. Christmas decorations in turquoise and white glittered from every wall and Christmas trees were positively weighed down by baubles and lace. Isaac looked up and smiled as she and Max approached. ‘How’d it go?’
Lily pulled out her phone and her pictures were passed around amidst a hail of exclamations.
‘It’s going to be great to be singing there tomorrow,’ she bubbled. ‘We’re on late morning and mid-afternoon, and someone’s going to take us for lunch in between.’
With Max’s assistance they ordered bowls of thick broth with crusty bread and a round of drinks. Lily looked around. ‘So what did you guys do this morning?’
Warwick gave a ‘what else?’ shrug. ‘Snowball fight.’ Emily, Charlotte, Eddie and Alfie all beamed and nodded.
‘I got so soaked I had to change my jeans,’ Emily chimed in.
‘We walked in the snow, no changes of jeans required,’ Neil said, with a gesture in the direction of Franciszka and Carola.
Isaac grinned. ‘Max’s neighbour talked to me about outdoor pursuits. I think I need to learn to climb in snow.’
Max smiled as the waitress approached with the first steaming bowls of broth. ‘I thought we’d go for a hike up the nature trail after lunch. It’ll be beautiful.’
So after the delicious concoction of barley, vegetables and bacon they bundled up in coats, hats and gloves and released Doggo from his cave in the back of the minibus. He bounced out stiff-legged, tail thrashing with the joy of being with his pack again. �
�Hnuh, hnuh, WOAH!’ he barked, nudging Isaac’s legs as if to say, ‘Let’s GO!’
‘Oh,’ Lily said, looking down at her injured hand in dismay. ‘My left glove won’t fit. I didn’t think of that.’
Isaac passed Doggo’s lead to Alfie. ‘I’ve got a spare pair of ski mittens.’ He pulled his backpack from the minibus and produced what looked like mini boxing gloves. He examined Lily’s hand. ‘Going impressively purple.’
‘Not as stiff and swollen now though.’ She eased her sore fingers in through the opening of the mitten he held out, elastic stretched, and flexed experimentally. ‘Thanks, that’s brilliant. I won’t get frostbite now.’
They set off up a steep snowy path towards a wooded area in Max’s wake, the snow crunching and squeaking beneath their feet, Doggo taking advantage of his extending lead to trip up as many people as possible as he trotted back and forth, nose down. The path rose and rose and they were soon all puffing, even Isaac.
‘It’s the altitude. We’re just about an entire atmosphere higher here than in Middledip,’ he observed, pausing to catch his breath, shading his eyes to look back over the snow plain punctuated with lines of dark jagged conifers, snowy peaks rising up behind. They were so clear that Lily felt as if she could reach out and touch them. Apart from the restaurant, there wasn’t a building to be seen.
‘Look at the lovely woodcarvings.’ Carola pointed up the path to where a snail and a bear were carved from tree stumps still rooted in the ground. The trunks of the pine trees edging their way looked almost yellow in the daylight. As they climbed on, slipping and sliding as the trail grew steeper but no less snowy, they came across boards giving nature information and even cow bells that could be played with a stick. Finally the trees thinned and they came to St Jost, a clearing containing a tiny café, presently closed, and a church. The café’s pitched roof was thick with snow and the white-walled church had an unusual, bell-shaped tower and narrow gothic arched windows. The clearing was edged with more conifers in deepest green and the Eiger and Jungfrau mountains ranged the horizon like giants who’d paused to rest.
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