Chapter Sixteen
Wednesday, 8 th November
Stacy bobbed on the balls of her feet, staring through the glass wall into the baggage reclaim area at Zurich Airport. Emily’s flight had been down for ten minutes, but there was still no sign of a shortish twenty-something with out-of-control brown curls and bags of enthusiasm. Stacy went back to pacing up and down in front of the doors leading through from customs. It felt like years since she’d seen her friend, though in reality it was only a couple of weeks.
‘Made it! And on time, too!’ Emily’s voice came from behind, and Stacy wheeled round.
‘You sneaked up on me, you bad thing! Come here!’ She hugged the other girl tightly. ‘Come on, let’s get out of this rabble. There’s a train at twenty past, though it’ll be mobbed. The rush hour’s frantic here.’
The train was packed, but the girls found seats upstairs and Emily squeezed her case up onto the rack.
‘Glad it’s not heavy,’ she said, flopping down opposite Stacy.
‘Changed days. Last time, you were so determined to persuade Alan you were the girl of his dreams, you brought almost every item of clothing you possessed, remember?’
Emily stuck out her tongue. ‘It wasn’t quite like that, as you well know. I wasn’t sure what I wanted, last time I landed in Switzerland. The lots of clothes were just, um, in case, y’know.’
Stacy laughed. How she’d missed the banter with Emily. Kim was lovely, but she didn’t joke around in the same way. Rico did occasionally, but that was complicated too.
‘Well, whatever your logic was, it worked, didn’t it?’
Emily blushed. ‘It did. I’m getting an engagement ring for Christmas, Stace, but don’t tell a soul yet. We don’t want a big party, and you know what Mum’s like.’
‘That’s brilliant. Wow, another wedding to plan!’ Stacy kept her voice light. The memory of her broken engagement still stung. What a scumbag David had turned into.
Emily knew her too well. ‘Stop thinking about David Dastardly. Tell me about the hotel.’
Stacy shoved David to the back of her mind. If Emmy could get over scumbag Sam, she could do the same with David Dastardly. Though after her outing with Kim’s boys on Monday night, it had struck her that if David hadn’t won the award for scumbag of the year, she’d more than likely have been planning her own family right now. It wasn’t a happy thought, so she pushed it away as hard as she could.
‘The hotel’s a building site. It’ll be dark by the time we get back, and there’s no electricity in the spa bit, but you’ll see it all tomorrow when it’s daylight. Rico’s cooking for us tonight, and on Friday we all head off to Lugano. We’ll come back on Sunday morning in time to get you to the airport in the afternoon. So have a think what you’d like to do tomorrow.’
‘How are you getting on with Rico? And what’s happening with Martin and his aftershave?’ Emily’s eyes were bright with mischief.
It was Stacy’s turn to put her tongue out. ‘Rico, okay. I think. He was a bit, ah, overkeen at first, but he seems to have got the message that we’re flatmates, end of. There’s a woman called Vreni who keeps texting him. She seems nice and he went out with her on Monday, but I haven’t heard how that went.’
Emily snorted. ‘I think I’d better investigate Rico’s feelings for myself. You’re your own worst enemy sometimes, Stacy Townsend. And Martin?’
Stacy ignored the worst enemy part of that. It was okay not to want another relationship yet, though it would be nice if she could think Rico at least liked her. As a friend, of course. He was being so blandly polite this week she wasn’t sure what he thought any more.
‘Martin’s away at the moment, but he messaged yesterday to ask if I’d like to go out at the weekend. We’ll be in Lugano, so I asked for a rain check. He’s just a nice guy, Emmy, that’s all.’
‘Being a nice guy’s a good start. Pity I won’t get to check him over for you. Okay. I can see you’re not happy talking about it in such a public setting.’ Emily gestured around the crowded train. ‘But we shall speak of this again, madam. I suggest reconvening this conversation at the weekend, when I’ll have had time to form my own opinion.’
Stacy rolled her eyes, but oh, how she’d missed having Emily around. This visit was going to be fun.
They changed trains at Romanshorn and crossed the platform to board the train that went up and down the lake bank. Emily peered out into the darkness, and Stacy shook her head.
‘You’ll see the lake in the morning, but be prepared. She’s not the same warm and friendly creature she was last time you were here.’ She rose to her feet as Grimsbach approached. ‘Fit for a tramp back to Lakeside?’
Emily was, and Stacy linked arms as they went. It was brilliant to see Emily stride along so confidently. Only a few short months ago she’d still been limping around – what a long time ago that seemed.
Emily turned in at the hotel gates and stood still. ‘Golly – you were right about the building site!’
Stacy zigzagged round the puddles as they went up the driveway. The two builders’ skips were in front of the chalet, and the area to the side which would lead out from the spa later was a dark muddy hole for the moment. She opened the front door and switched the provisional floodlight on.
‘Mind the cables. The electricity comes from the restaurant, but we have plenty of floodlights, and the lift’s working again.’ She gave it a black look, and Emily giggled.
***
Rico poked around in his chili mixture in the pan, then set it to the side. That was rather good, even if he said so himself, and he would serve it with tortillas and a few salad bits.
He glanced at the microwave clock. It was after five, so the girls would be back on the next train or the one after, depending on how quickly Emily had got through customs. He was pinning his hopes on her presence making it easier for him to chat to Stacy and be more himself with her, but then, Emily was going to be firmly on Stacy’s side, wasn’t she? What wouldn’t he give to know what Stacy had told her about the lift incident, and about living in the hotel with him in general.
Ten minutes later, his heart rate went up several notches at the sound of the lift doors opening on the landing. The flat door banged open, and he went out into the hall.
‘Rico! Fab to see you again! I’m missing the red carpet, though!’
Emily looked the same as ever. Rico went to hug her, grinning at Stacy over Emily’s head.
‘You’ll get the full red-carpet treatment for your first visit to the Lakeside Hotel and Spa next year, don’t worry.’
Stacy had gone into the kitchen. ‘Smells good! When are we eating?’
‘I’ll need about ten minutes for the final touches, then it’s good to go. Why don’t we have a glass of wine to toast Emily’s arrival, and we can take it from there?’
‘Cool. Come and see your room, Emmy.’
The girls vanished into the spare room, and Rico went to chop his salad. So far, so good. Emily was her usual bubbly self, and Stacy was looking pretty relaxed, too. He opened a bottle of Shiraz, and set it on the coffee table as the girls came back in.
They were about to clink glasses when Rico’s phone pinged in his back pocket. He ignored it, but then a second ping came, and a third.
Stacy lowered her glass. ‘Maybe you’d better check that?’
‘It can wait two minutes. We’ll toast our visit to Lugano first, huh? Dad’s dying to show you his old home town.’
This was true; Ralph loved having visitors. They clinked and sipped, then Rico took his phone to the hall to check his messages.
And hell on earth, they were all from Vreni.
Had a fab time on Sunday – let’s do it again soon! was followed by: Sorry, that should have been Monday!!! The third was: How about Friday night? I know a good Chinese in Austria. xxx
Right. At least he could deal with it quickly.
Am away at weekend, will call you when home.
Was that enough? He didn’t want to be too abrupt. He added:
See you soon!
then deleted soon and added a smiley before tapping send. Hm.
‘Problem?’ Emily was sitting on the sofa with her legs tucked under her.
‘Nothing I can’t put off until next week.’ Rico dropped into the armchair. ‘How’s Alan enjoying his course?’
Pride and happiness shone from her eyes as she replied, and Rico felt whipped. You could see how Emily loved talking about Alan; correction, you could see how Emily loved Alan. Would he ever put the same expression on Stacy’s face? It didn’t seem likely, and oh, what was he going to do about her? His retreat to the kitchen to finish the food preparation a few minutes later was a relief.
He was slicing cucumber when his phone pinged again. Bloody hell, if that was Vreni…
It was, but only a thumbs-up this time. Rico took his phone through to his room and abandoned it there. He was not going to respond to messages every five minutes all evening.
His face burned as the memory of that truly awful date with Vreni surged through his head. She’d called him on Monday evening, and somehow, he’d found himself agreeing to her suggestion of a pizza at Amore, Grimsbach’s Italian restaurant. It had turned into the most awkward evening of his life as he faced the eyelashes fluttering away as she chatted, and trying to avoid her attempts at playing footsie under the table had him jerking around like a puppet controlled by an inept puppeteer. She even reached across the table to tap his hand a couple of times. It went beyond mere flirting, and in the end, Rico had seen her to her car then made the excuse of having to call Ralph about the build and fled the scene. It hadn’t been his finest hour, and why Vreni wasn’t getting the message he had no idea.
He stirred his chili, then opened the oven to check the tortillas. ‘Come and get it!’
The girls came in, and Rico served up, pushing the thought of Vreni away. It was a problem for another week.