Chapter 33 #2
She cut him off. ‘No. Honestly. There might have been a tiny bit of that, at first, because isn’t everybody looking for belonging, for home?
But I’m here because I want to be, and because I love it, and this ski centre can really get back on its feet and compete, in its own way, with the bigger places.
I truly believe it! I just need to get other people to believe it. ’
Maxim took a drink and studied her face. ‘You know they wanted to build apartments here?’
‘I know.’
‘And you know when local government get an idea, they see it through, even with opposition, even with passion like yours.’
‘I know. Mr Banks will be back in twelve months. And this time they won’t bother with auditors or consultancy, they’ll just shut the place down.’
Maxim looked hard at her. ‘You’re a very clever woman,’ he said. ‘You see things as they are, like your mother.’
‘Thank you.’
‘But you’re going to need help, and investment, if you want to keep this place open for another fifty, sixty years. That ski lift? You know how expensive that will be to fix? And that slope needs replacing with a new surface.’
‘I know.’
‘Your whole vintage old-school toboggan run revival is good, I admit it. Selling snacks and cocktails, it’s cute, but you need real investment. You need to impress Banks and his cronies.’
Florrie’s heart was sinking because she knew her father was right.
‘In fact,’ Maxim rummaged for his phone in his jacket pocket, and he dialled a number, watching Florrie as it rang, inspiration behind his eyes like she’d never seen before.
‘Mr Banks? Max Norheim. I hate to disturb your Christmas Eve celebrations, but I have an investment proposal for you to grow the ski centre business. This is in addition to my… colleague Florrie’s changes.
I can assure you it will spell big money for you, Banks.
More than any apartment building could. Will you meet me, Florrie and Mr Skelton and…
’ He paused and looked to Florrie with anticipation.
‘Kenneth,’ she mouthed.
‘Kenneth,’ Maxim relayed. ‘On the twenty-sixth at nine AM? Good. Until then. Merry Christmas.’
When he hung up, he was smiling, and not like a wolf licking his chops after a chase, but like a man recently reminded of his younger self with all his ambition and spirit, back before he made many good decisions and quite a few bad ones.
This was his chance to do something very right and to fix a few things.
‘I’m going to help you out a little,’ he said.
‘I’ll donate some rescue money myself. That, alongside your own projected profits from your new toboggan venture, will allow us to make a serious case for continued support from the local government guys.
But, this isn’t a freebie. You, Kenneth and Hamish will have to lead the whole project.
It’s going to take years of hard work on your parts, and you’ll be paid for your work, of course, we’ll make sure of that.
I’ll be here to consult with you all on your plans, and to offer some steer, and to help you find the best contractors, and so on. What do you say?’
Florrie was wary. ‘We’ll do it our way? The community-focused way? With Rhona making her stovies, and all the locals having a hand in keeping their memories of the place alive, all while making new memories? This isn’t Glenfoss, or Snowmass, or any other ski resort. This is Cairn Dhu.’
He looked once more at the picture of Hamish years ago, the one that had reminded him of his beginnings in the business, back when community and home had meant everything to him.
Important things he’d let himself forget.
‘Whatever you’ve started here is clearly working. I won’t interfere with your methods.’
Florrie had to hug her dad right away.
‘Ah, don’t spill wine on my su… never mind.’ He hugged her back. ‘Thank you,’ he said quietly into the top of her head. ‘I’m not messing things up this time.’
That evening, before the club was set to open for the biggest party night of the year, the family sat on the floor and filled the sofas in front of the fake flames of Hamish’s electric fire, and Florrie passed around the shortbread biscuits and Oskar convinced the boys to find ‘Tre N?tter til Askepott’ on YouTube, and Maxim pretended to complain about the dreadful film and asked, ‘Aren’t you sick of it?
’ and Florrie, her mother, and Oskar played along and told him, ‘No, it’s tradition!
’ and they’d all had to explain what was going on for Hamish who hadn’t a clue, but he was happy that Florrie was getting a taste of her childhood Christmas Eves at last. And on the tree hung her omma’s decoration, different after its long journey but still beautiful and holding happy memories (as well as absorbing new ones).
‘Shouldn’t we turn the ski slope floodlights off now?’ asked Florrie.
Hamish raised himself up enough to catch a glimpse of the two figures still out there playing in the snow. ‘No, let them have their fun.’
Outside, under the Christmas stars, Rhona and Eric, laughing like time and age were no match for lifelong love, held one another tightly, gripping the gleaming red toboggan’s reins in their mittened hands astride their original Cairn Dhu Flyer, and they took yet another giddy ride down the snowy hillside together.
That Christmas Eve in Cairn Dhu was a briefly perfect, fleeting moment, like an image revealed upon prising open an advent calendar’s paper door, and with all of the excitement of Christmas Day, and the promise of a great many more happy times ahead, still to come.