Chapter Twenty-Three
Friday, 30 th June
T he plane bounced twice on landing, and Emily’s breath caught in her throat. Flying wasn’t what you’d call her favourite pastime. But they were safely down, and Basle Airport was bathed in midsummer sunshine. Would Switzerland be as hot as it had been in May?
Stacy leaned across to see out. ‘We’re in France! It’s very international here, isn’t it? And nice that two countries can share an airport like this.’
Emily glanced at her phone as the plane taxied along to the gate. They were ten minutes late. Alan would be waiting… It would be odd to see him again, and awkward too, when you thought of how they’d parted last time and she hadn’t even hugged him goodbye. Mates hugged each other goodbye, so why hadn’t she? Could it be true that absence did make the heart grow fonder? All she knew was that she felt different about him. It was as if a switch in her head had flipped from ‘no more men ever, under any circumstances’ to ‘maybe someday… if you’re careful and if he’s nice’. Well, she would be careful and Alan was nice, and maybe in September it would all would work out for them. The aim of this weekend was to find out if that was what she wanted .
The Fasten Seat Belt sign flashed off. The businessman in the aisle seat moved forward and Stacy got up to open the overhead locker. She hefted down Emily’s weekend case first, making big eyes at Emily as she handed it over.
‘For heaven’s sake, Em, this weighs a ton. What on earth have you got in here? We’re staying for three nights, not three weeks!’
‘A girl has to look her best at all times,’ said Emily primly, then giggled as Stacy rolled her eyes.
They shuffled on up the aisle as passengers left the plane, Emily with her bag of duty free balanced on top of her suitcase. She’d been wanting this particular set of cologne, shower gel and body lotion forever, but for some reason, nowhere seemed to be stocking it now. The Duty-Free shop at Liverpool Airport was, though, and she’d whisked it through the cash desk at the last minute. Smelling heavenly in Switzerland was worth the hassle of checking her bag in for the flight home.
They followed the crowd through the terminal building and passport control, and emerged into the wide arrivals hall.
‘There’s Alan!’ Stacy waved frantically, while Emily’s heart leapt into her mouth.
Alan strode forward to meet them, a huge grin on his face. ‘Welcome to – well, not Switzerland yet, but you’re heading in the right direction!’ He gave first Emily a little hug – and this time she did hug back – and then Stacy. Emily dabbed her face; she must be blushing like mad, how very uncool. But he was nice – and yes, her heart was beating a little faster than usual. Or was she just embarrassed about seeing him again? No, it wasn’t that…
He took her case, leaving Emily with the bag of duty free. ‘No stick?’
‘Nope. I wasn’t a bit sorry to give it back to the physio last week!’
‘That’s brilliant. You must feel like a different person.’ Alan led them through the terminal building and out to the airport bus. ‘Okay, our journey to Lakeside is in two parts,’ he said. ‘The bus takes us to Basle Main Station, where we get the train to Zurich as planned. Then we’ll have an hour or so to have a look around there, and we can drive home with Rico after his meeting this afternoon.’
Emily got into the bus, and sat down beside Stacy with Alan across the aisle. Stacy leaned forward to speak to him.
‘Any word about what’s happening with the hotel?’
Alan shrugged. ‘It’s all a big mystery. Apparently, Ralph told Peter and Karen he was going to ask a chain called Grande Hotels if they’d be interested in buying Lakeside, but that’s the last anyone’s heard. Ralph’s almost permanently in Lugano these days and all Rico’s saying is that nothing’s settled. It feels a bit weird, to be honest.’
‘Maybe that’s what Rico’s meeting’s about?’ Emily frowned. Why would Ralph leave Rico to do the business alone, though?
The bus jerked, then accelerated away from the airport. The countryside was flatter here than in the east of Switzerland; they were driving across a rather industrial-looking stretch of land between the airport and the start of Switzerland. Alan kept up a stream of chat, and as Stacy was keeping her nose glued to the window, no doubt set on not playing gooseberry, it was up to Emily to answer. And now that she was with him again, she couldn’t remember why she’d thought it was a bad idea, starting something with him while he was still working abroad. Look at the way his eyes were shining at her. She’d need to have another serious think about this .
The bus spat them out at the train station, where they had to rush to catch the Zurich train.
‘Hey! Your leg’s much better, isn’t it?’ Alan flopped down on the seat beside Emily, and Stacy was grinning at her too.
‘You ran, Em! Proper running! Okay, you wouldn’t win Olympic gold, but wow!’
Emily sat back, happiness surging through her. She could run. Prosecco on the terrace at Lakeside tonight was an absolute must.
***
Zurich Main Station was mobbed. Stacy breathed in deeply as Alan ushered them through throngs of hurrying people and onto the escalator going up. They’d arrived at one of the underground platforms, and help, look at those two. No matter what this mini break would do for her and her problem fiancé, it was doing its work for Emily and Alan already. The pair were definitely – well, they were acting more like a couple now, the way they were walking along side by side, shoulders almost touching, stealing little glances at each other. By the look of things, her work there was done already. It would be nice if she could say the same for her and David. Stacy swallowed a sigh.
‘We’ll leave your luggage here,’ said Alan, waving at a bank of luggage lockers. ‘You don’t want to lug cases around for the next couple of hours.’
Stacy pushed her case in beside Emily’s, and locked the door. ‘Okay. What’s on the agenda until we go to meet Rico, then?’
‘I thought we could get the Polybahn up to the university. You get brilliant views over the city from there. Then a wander round the old town? ’
Emily rolled her eyes at him. ‘Stop showing off. What’s a Polybahn, when it’s at home?’
He stuck out his tongue. ‘Funicular railway, if you’re so fussy. Why use six syllables when you can say it in two?’
Stacy hid a smile. Definitely, her job there was done. What she had to do now was leave these two alone to work things out for themselves. She dropped back as they crossed one busy road and then another to get to the Polybahn, which stood at the entrance to an intriguing narrow street of old terraced houses – the start of the old town on this side of the wide river Limmat a few yards away.
Alan went over to the ticket machine. ‘It only takes a couple of minutes. One car goes up while the other comes down, and they cross in the middle. Look, here it comes!’
They stood to the side as seven or eight people got off, then went into the front carriage and stood at the window looking upwards. The funicular was a bright red, driverless train on a steeply sloping track, and Alan was right about the views. Zurich spread out before them as they rose up, the sloping rooftops of the older buildings mingling with taller, modern blocks and a few church spires, too, while Lake Zurich glinted in the distance. All too soon they reached the top and joined the students milling around in front of university buildings that looked as if they’d been here for a hundred years at least. Alan led them to a viewing platform a few steps along the road, and Stacy immediately started taking photos, moving away from the other two as Alan started pointing out various landmarks to Emily, who was hanging on his every word. Stacy grinned. What was that about not playing gooseberry? If these two went on like this, she was going to be the biggest, spikiest green berry on the planet by the time they went home. And this might be the moment to leave them alone for a while. Stacy turned back to see the funicular gliding downhill again.
‘Alan, was that a path up I saw from the Polybahn?’
‘Yes – I think it’s mostly for the students, though. I’m not sure it’s open to the public all the way down.’
‘I think I’ll go and see if I can take some good Polybahn pics. My dad would love to see it – railways and transport museums and so on are a hobby of his.’ All absolutely true, and bless you, Dad, for the perfect excuse to leave Alan and Emily alone for a while.
Interestingly, neither of the others argued with her, and they arranged to meet at the bottom station in half an hour. Stacy accepted her ticket from Alan and left them to it.
The students rushing about between the funicular and the university buildings seemed a multi-culti lot, calling to each other in German, English and what might have been Japanese, too. Stacy went a little way along the track that wound its way downwards, taking photos of the ascending funicular as she went, then had a brainwave. She would go down in one car, stand at the front, and take pics of the other car as it came up. This worked beautifully, and she clicked away industriously as the carriage glided down. Ten Polybahn pics, that would keep Dad happy. Okay, now for a saunter into the old town until it was time to meet Emmy and Alan again.
Tourists were buzzing around everywhere as she meandered along the old street, which had cafés and bistros in amongst shops selling everything from designer clothes to posh coffee to souvenirs and – yes, there was a stationery shop. Stacy took a photo of that for Mum and Dad too, and went in for a browse. You could see it was much more successful than Pen ’n’ Paper, but then you couldn’t really compare a small-town shop with one in the heart of the tourist-filled old town in Zurich.
When the half-hour was up, she returned to the funicular base station. The train was on the way down, good. Stacy waited expectantly as it glided in to rest, and a mixture of students and tourists got out. No Emily and Alan, though. Oh, well… next time. She crossed the road to look at the river flowing swiftly past, then went back for the next funicular landing. But again, no Emily and Alan appeared. Wow. Forgetting the time was a real sign of being rather involved with each other, wasn’t it? Stacy pulled out her phone and whacked off a quick
Is there anybody there???
to Emily, then went back to her place by the river as the funicular set off uphill again.
But the message went unanswered, and while the next funicular to arrive was full of people, none of them were Emily or Alan. Stacy stood still, gaping at her phone, then tapped to connect to Emily. No answer. Heck. What was she supposed to do now?
***
Emily wandered along beside Alan, her eyes on the view to her right and her thoughts in a perfect storm in her head. She’d been wrong on their first holiday by Lake Constance, and she’d been wrong when Alan visited Elton Abbey. He was thrilled to see her; she could almost feel the waves of ‘I’m here with the girl that I love’ he was sending out every time he looked at her. Which was all the time. It was all too clear now that he wasn’t the type to flirt with every girl who came to stay at the hotel, and that seeing her had been a huge part of his trip to the UK, every bit as much as his mum and dad’s anniversary had been. Why hadn’t she known all this before? What an idiot she’d been. And it might be uncool, but she was going to get this sorted before she was three minutes older.
She turned to face him. ‘I’m sorry I was such a bum when you came to visit.’ There. She’d said it.
He stopped, and stroked her cheek with one finger. ‘You were a scared bum. I saw that. It’s going to be all right, Emmy.’
She nodded dumbly, and his hand slid from her cheek to the back of her head while he leaned in for a kiss. It was a mere brush of the lips, but it was their first kiss, and fortunately he was holding her up because even her good knee had gone all wobbly on her. Emily breathed in deeply. How things changed. And now that she’d found him, the prospect of parting was scaring her already.
‘We only have three days.’
He winked at her. ‘Positive thinking – we have three whole days, and this is just the start!’
He held out a hand and she took it, and oh, this was right, it was, it was. They walked on, and now she was blind to the view.
Alan squeezed her hand. ‘We’ll make every moment count, and I’ll try to come back for another visit, too. It’ll be September in ten weeks, Em.’
Ten weeks wasn’t long when you said it quickly. On they went, passing the university buildings and the Zoological Museum, but Emily didn’t care where she was walking because Alan was beside her and she was falling in love. And so was he, and life had just got–
A church clock chimed somewhere, and Alan jerked to a halt. ‘Jeez! We’re supposed to meet Stacy in–’ He peered at his watch – ‘Right now!’
‘Oh no!’ Emily opened her handbag. This was what happened when you realised you’d found the love of your life. ‘I’ll call her.’
She rummaged. Where on earth was her phone? Not here, anyway. Not in the main compartment, not in the little one where she usually kept it and not in the zippy bit at the back, either. Realisation struck, and she gaped at Alan.
‘Oh, no. I think my phone must still be in my bag of duty free we left at the station. I don’t suppose you have Stacy’s number?’
‘No. But I guess the hotel will. I’ll give them a call and get it.’ He pulled out his phone and flipped it open. ‘Oh. I’ve run out of battery. Shit.’
Emily stared back the way they’d come. It was a long way, and there was the funicular ride back down, too. Poor Stace would be wondering what had happened.
Alan pulled her on. ‘We’ll keep going. This road loops back down to the main road where the funicular base station is. We must be more than halfway there now… I think.’