by Julie Caplin
‘Want a cake-maker?’ asked a cheerful voice.
She could have kissed Dave as well. His timing was impeccable. Everything was possible. She needed to utilise all the help she could get. How on earth had Amelie done all this on her own? No wonder she’d had a heart attack.
‘Dave, just the man. How do you fancy making a zuger kirschtorte?’ She pointed to the recipe on the wall.
Dave pulled a doubtful face. ‘Not sure about that. Never made one of those before.’ He made no move to read the laminated sheet of paper. Mina brightened her smile, hiding an inward sigh. How difficult was following a recipe? It took her a second to curb her instinct to chivvy him along and tell him it would be easy. Poor Dave was standing there full of indecision and uncertainty when she really needed him just to crack on. Mina chewed at her lip. What would Amelie do?
She thought of the conversations she’d shared with her godmother. Amelie wouldn’t push him; she was trying to build his confidence. Mina’s personal view was that if he made it and it was a success, it would be a triumph; if it wasn’t, it wasn’t the end of the world. And that was the difference between her and Dave. She was a risk-taker while he was not. He preferred to follow rather than lead. She needed to keep things within his comfort zone. Not everyone wanted to experiment all the time. Some people liked to stick with the tried and tested, like her adopted parents. Guilt pinched at her. Sometimes she wasn’t as patient as she could be with people, didn’t always accept their differences. She’d been quite impatient with Simon sometimes. He took forever to make a decision, and if she were honest, she’d quite often made them for him.
And today she needed some certainty. She couldn’t afford to have to find an alternative cake if this one didn’t bake to plan.
‘OK, plan B. How do you fancy making a Victoria sponge?’
His lugubrious heavy set face lifted immediately. ‘My nan loved a Victoria sponge. Swore by a recipe in her old Be-Ro book. I tell you, that thing was falling apart.’
‘Excellent.’ Mina smiled. Now to push him a little – she couldn’t quite help herself. ‘And what about doing it with a bit of a Swiss twist?’ She deliberately nodded her head in encouragement, which she seemed to remember was a psychological trick to get people to agree to do things.
‘What do you mean?’ His words radiated suspicion which made her laugh out loud.
‘Nothing too wild, I promise. But I’d quite like to keep things a little bit Swiss for Amelie’s sake. I was thinking of a filling made with cream and cherries. What do you think? There are loads of frozen cherries in the freezer.’
The careful ruminations of his mind were reflected in the movement and twitches of his mouth. Dave would never make a poker player.
‘Hmm, I suppose I could make a sort of cherry jam. Nan was a great jam-maker too.’
‘Perfect.’ She gave Dave her best encouraging we’ve-got-this smile.
Now all she had to do was sort out dinner. She glanced outside at the snow. It was still falling. Would they get to the hospital today? And if they did, she needed to get a message to Amelie before then to let her know that everything was under control and that Mina wasn’t leaving any time soon. Which reminded her she needed to make a few personal calls of her own.
Hannah answered almost immediately, and before Mina could say a word, said, ‘I’ve done it, Mina. I’ve done it.’
‘Done what?’
‘Booked my trip to Ireland. I’m going in September.’
‘Wow, and what about work?’
‘I’m taking a sabbatical. I wasn’t quite brave enough to jack it all in. That’s the sort of thing you’d do.’
‘Ha! Funny you should say that. I might be just about to commit career suicide.’
‘Why? What have you done?’ Why was it that everyone always assumed it was Mina that had done something?
‘I haven’t done anything. Not yet anyway but…’ She paused, trying to find the right words so as not to alarm Hannah unduly. ‘Amelie’s had a health scare. She’s in hospital. But she’s going to be OK.’ Mina crossed her fingers on both hands so as not to tempt providence. ‘She’s had a heart attack, but the doctor said she should make a full recovery. She’s just going to need to rest and recuperate for a while.’
‘Oh no, poor Amelie. Is she OK? Have you seen her?’
‘I think so. And I haven’t seen her today. The nearest hospital is half an hour away, and it’s chucking down with snow, I’ve never seen anything like it.’
‘You are in the Alps,’ Hannah pointed out with dry amusement.
‘Yeah, even so, it’s really coming down. It would bring Manchester to a grinding halt, I can tell you.’
‘You might have to wait until tomorrow,’ mused Hannah.
Mina realised that her sister hadn’t yet picked up on the most salient point. ‘I’m going to have to stay out here for a bit longer. There’s no one to look after the chalet.’
‘But doesn’t Amelie have any staff?’
Mina explained the situation, and by the end of the lengthy call, Hannah had offered to come out and help as well. ‘I’ll call in the cavalry, if I need to,’ Mina promised before saying goodbye. Right now she needed to get to grips with running the place, having a non-cook to train would complicate matters.
While Dave made the Victoria sponge, she gathered together the ingredients to make a hearty soup and studied Amelie’s recipes. Spaghetti di Ascona. Now that sounded the perfect comfort dish: chicken, prosciutto, mushrooms, and garlic, which were combined to make a rich tomato sauce poured over spaghetti. Mina read the notes. Apparently Ascona was on the shores of the Swiss side of Lake Maggiore. More importantly, it was quick and easy, which would leave her time to do everything else – although she had yet to figure out quite what everything else was.
As she chopped the chicken, Luke returned looking ruddy but smiling. ‘All done.’ He grinned and looked out of the window. ‘For the time being. Have you seen the barn underneath here? It’s huge.’
‘No, but I guess it would have to be big for the cows. Johannes has converted his into the…’ She suddenly remembered what Johannes had been saying before they’d found Amelie lying on the floor. With an inward shudder she tried to shake the awful image of her prone body from her head.
Luke carried on talking but she was still thinking about what might have happened if she and Johannes hadn’t come back when they did. It didn’t bear thinking about; instead she needed to focus on making sure Amelie’s hotel ran smoothly.
‘It’s wasted space. Honestly you should see it. I’m surprised Amelie hasn’t turned it into a games room or something. Or more bedrooms.’
‘Maybe she just hasn’t had time,’ said Mina a touch distractedly, thinking of what she needed to do next. ‘And sorry, I should have said, thank you.’
‘No problem.’
‘Have many people gone out this morning? I haven’t even looked in the lounge.’
‘A few have braved the elements, and there are a couple of people sitting reading. The German family are playing cards, and Sarah and her friends are chatting.’
‘Do you think I ought to offer them coffee?’ asked Mina worriedly. What would Amelie do on a day like this? Would she serve cake at eleven?
‘I think Amelie normally leaves out a couple of those big flasks so that people can help themselves.’
‘That’s a good idea.’ Another job. She hadn’t even seen any flasks. Maybe they were in the pantry. ‘I’ll put those out at ten-thirty.’
‘Good shout. Right, what do you want me to do?’
She got him set up with a pile of carrots, having decided to offer a warming carrot and ginger soup for lunch. With Luke peeling, Dave beating butter and sugar together, the spaghetti sauce almost made, and the Kitchen Aid kneading dough for bread, she felt a little more on top of things. Reassured by the familiar sounds, she put the coffee machine on and found the flasks in the pantry, which were as per Amelie’s usual efficiency easy enough to find. Unfortunate
ly they were next to a large tin of cocoa which managed to lose its lid and fall off the shelf, spilling it’s load down her front as she pulled them down.
Dark brown powder engulfed her leaving her blinking and gasping. She emerged from the pantry feeling a complete fool and when both men burst into laughter, she burst into tears. It was all too much.
‘Hey,’ said Luke, ignoring the cocoa powder and drawing her into his arms. ‘It’s OK. Sorry, we shouldn’t have laughed.’
With a sniff and a gulp she said, ‘I–It’s OK.’
‘No, it isn’t. You need to take five. Come on. Let’s sort you out.’
For once she let someone else take charge and allowed Luke to lead her upstairs. It was only when she saw the rumpled bed that she realised what everything else entailed. She had bedrooms and bathrooms to set to rights.
Her face began to crumple again.
‘What?’
‘I’ve got all the rooms to clean.’
‘Don’t worry. We’ll sort it. Between us.’
He took her into the bathroom, stripped off her cocoa dusted clothes and then settled her on the edge of the bath. They’d both agreed that getting it wet would probably make even more mess.
‘You’re just going to smell delicious all day,’ he teased gently cleaning down her face, neck and arms with a bath towel. He then spent the most blissful five minutes rubbing his hand through her scalp before brushing the powder out of her hair with firm, gentle strokes. All the while he watched her in the mirror and she felt a well of tenderness rise up and bloom in her chest, warming her whole body. Tears pricked at her eyes again but they were tears of gratitude and joy.
‘Right, you’ll do.’
She rose, unselfconscious in her bra and knickers, and pulled on fresh clothes, ready to go back to the kitchen, but Luke stopped her outside the door.
‘Come into my room for a minute. I want you to see something.’
He led her to the table. ‘Sit.’ He opened the suitcase. The model was now finished. ‘Just sit and watch the train, and take five.’
She looked up at him in puzzlement. He gave her a mock stern frown. ‘Five minutes.’
With a grumbly sigh, she decided to humour him. even though she had a million things to do.
He switched on the little train and she studied the new additions to the scene. There were now tiny ducks on the pond, a smattering of confetti around the bride and groom, and flowers trailing up the sides of the cottages. The train circled the route, its familiar whirring noise bringing back happy memories of her uncle. Smiling, she sat and watched, feeling herself relax. He stood behind, both hands on her shoulders, gently kneading at the knots there.
‘This is what I did when I was convalescing. When everyone else was out at the skatepark being cool.’ His mouth twisted. ‘In some ways it saved my life. Not literally, but my mental health. It helped me cope with what was going on. Having to pay attention to the minutest details takes your mind off other things. Doing this helped me to learn to be patient. Not something that, at that age, came naturally. Now when I get wound up, I find modelling or watching the train takes my mind off things.’
She leaned back into his gentle hands. No one had ever looked after her quite this well, taking the trouble to force her to just sit for five minutes. With a self-deprecating laugh, she realised that no one had ever been quite her match before.
‘What?’ asked Luke. ‘Not feeling it?’ She stood up and turned around, sliding her arms around his neck, smiling up at him.
‘Luke, no one has soothed, seduced, and cared for me with a model train before. It’s ridiculously sexy and attractive, and I have no idea why.’ But she did. There was nothing quite so attractive as man who was prepared to share how much something meant to him.
Chapter Nineteen
By lunchtime, Mina wished she’d brought her fitbit. Running up and down the stairs, she’d probably racked up at least ten thousand steps. Thank goodness the chalet was only half-full at the moment.
At ten-past-twelve, she served the soup and bread – thank you Luke, he’d been an exceptional chopper of vegetables. By twelve-thirty, there was nothing left but crumbs and empty bowls. Mina smiled to herself as she collected up the empty bowls. Of course the speed with which it was despatched had everything to do with the fact that the snow had stopped, and miraculously the sun had appeared. Everyone was keen to get out. ‘Powder hounds,’ Luke explained as they all dashed off as soon as they’d laid down their soup spoons. ‘Perfect ski conditions. But there’s more snow forecast, so it’s a small window.’
‘Do you want to go?’
‘No, I’m…’ He pulled his phone out of his pocket, ‘I’m waiting for an urgent call.’ Tiny lines appeared around his mouth.
‘Is everything alright?’
‘Yeah, sure. Fine.’ His quick smile didn’t convince her. ‘What can I do to help? I’m really good at cleaning bathrooms.’
She shot him a sceptical glance, but was grateful that he was so willing to do anything to help. She gave a quick glance around the kitchen. There were a good couple of hours before round two, and at the moment the road through the valley was closed. Johannes was on fire duty and kept popping in to check the fire was banked properly, for which she was grateful (it seemed that fire management required particular man skills).
‘Show me the storeroom below. I’m running low on cleaning supplies and I remember Amelie bought a case of toilet cleaner when we went to the wholesalers, and I can’t find it anywhere.’
‘You’ll need a coat. Unless there’s a secret passage down there, we have to go round to the side to get in.’
Being out in the fresh air boosted Mina’s senses as she breathed in the crisp, cold air. It also cleared her head, which had become a bit foggy trying to juggle so many things this morning. The new snow was soft and powdery, and had that delicious squeaky crunch as she left footprints on the surface. Underneath the house, which she realised was built on giant stilts resting on stone pedestals, there was a whole floor, just like Johannes’s place. This was a little more basic, and there was a small storeroom just off to the right as they went in. Intrigued by the open space, she ignored the storeroom and went straight in to explore.
‘Wow, this is great,’ said Mina. ‘Bigger than I expected.’ In the gloomy light she could just make out that work had been started. Two of the walls had been plasterboarded and she could see bales of insulation on the floor.
‘Looks like someone had plans for in here,’ said Luke, nodding towards the building supplies, but Mina was already making a thoughtful circuit of the barn space.
This was it. This was what Johannes had been going to show her. She could see it so clearly.
A table here, a kitchen there.
‘Mina?’
‘Mm,’ she said vaguely, now studying the large solid wooden doors that once must have opened to let the cattle in and out. On either side, were two large windows shielded by wooden shutters to keep the weather out. They would let lots of light in. And the view.
It was perfect. She could invest her own money to make the necessary alterations. Rent the spare apartment from Amelie.
‘Mina? Are you listening?’
‘Sorry, what did you say?’
‘Do you want to check the storeroom?’
‘In a minute.’ She waved an abstracted hand, utterly absorbed in thought. She prowled around the room.
‘Look: stairs.’ There was a small wooden staircase leading up to a trapdoor in the roof. ‘This must lead up into the kitchen somewhere. Hmm.’ She could hardly quell her rising excitement. There was space for a tasting room, an area for tables and chairs. She walked over to shuttered windows and peered through the gaps.
‘Wow.’ For a second she fiddled with the catches, opened the window, and pushed open the shutters to reveal the full extent of the view of the snow-clad village, the layers of snow like puff pastry on the nearby roofs, and the towering mountains opposite. Leaving the shutters open, she c
losed the window and turned around. The light flooding in brightened the room, and as she surveyed the floor space, synapses suddenly started firing in her brain. Everything fell into place. She whirled and clapped her hands. ‘It’s perfect. I can’t believe it.’ Suddenly she had all the answers and knew exactly what she wanted to do. She’d stay in Switzerland, work for Johannes, set up his retail outlet, and serve snacks and cakes here.
‘Perfect for what?’
Luke’s forehead wrinkled for a second but he followed her excited gaze.
‘For my chocolate shop,’ she replied. ‘And a café serving cake and coffee, and perhaps lunch.’ She spun around, fizzing with enthusiasm, and pointed to the front of the building. ‘Look, you could have the tables here, looking out at that fabulous view. There might be even be room for a little terrace in the summer.’ With another turn, she pointed to the back of the room. ‘There’s access to the kitchen upstairs, but you could put a small kitchen area in over there. It would be perfect. And we’re right in the middle of all the trails. There’s nowhere for lunch locally. This would be a perfect halfway point and stopping-off place for a lot of the trails.’ The more she thought about it, the more perfect it was. ‘Amelie says people often want lunch but she can’t cater for them because she doesn’t have time. Johannes needs a bigger space to sell and sample chocolate. I could make a big thing of it being locally made and sell it to the tourists. There’d be room for a tasting area.’ Her brain raced with ideas, she could picture it so clearly.
Luke stood and watched, his lopsided smile turning into a laugh.
‘What?’
‘You. Your enthusiasm. You’ve lit up inside.’
‘But can’t you see it?’ Mina waved an expansive hand, her breath coming out in tiny white puffs. ‘Wooden tables, little tub chairs. Cakes on pretty china cake stands. A shiny espresso machine. A wood-burning stove in the winter, the doors open in the summer.’ She paused and did a quick twirl throwing her arms out. ‘I’d source old-fashioned china tea cups and plates, or rather, get Hannah to send mine over.’ She’d amassed quite a collection and often lent them out to friends for vintage events. ‘And it’s ripe for some bunting.’