Chapter Seven #2
The sound of laughter brought her back to reality and she twisted round to glare at a group of skiers walking along the road behind her, trudging in heavy boots and helmets, skis over their shoulders.
Skiing looked sexy, but also a lot of hard work, and she wasn’t sure she could be bothered with all that equipment.
Across to the left, at the bottom of the piste, a vehicle pulled to a stop.
It looked like a minibus, but with tank tracks instead of wheels – this must be the piste bus that Kristoff had mentioned last night.
The driver climbed out, then slid back a side door for three passengers.
He nodded to them all as they disembarked, then lit a cigarette, his first exhalation creating a huge cloud in the cold, still air.
What would Leo do, right now? thought Lucy. Today, I need to be more Leo. She stood up decisively and tottered across the road, almost tanking it on a patch of black ice, until the man noticed her and watched her approach with amused interest.
‘Are you the bus that goes up to the mountain bar?’ she asked, hoping he spoke English, then remembered she was in Switzerland and everyone spoke English.
The man nodded. ‘Half past eleven,’ he said, checking his watch. ‘I go in ten minutes.’
‘Is it a decent place for lunch?’
The man nodded. ‘Of course. I am Ulrich, my brother Gunther owns it. There will be live music later, lots of dancing.’
‘Right,’ said Lucy. ‘And if I can’t ski, how do I get back?’
‘Is no problem,’ shrugged Ulrich. ‘Six euros to go up, ten euros if you also want to come back. Cash only. Last bus back is ten o’clock. After that you will probably have to sleep with Gunther.’ He grinned, like this was a joke. Or maybe it wasn’t.
‘Hmm,’ said Lucy, nodding thoughtfully. ‘Look, I need to go back to the hotel first, grab some cash. Can you wait for me?’
Ulrich shrugged. ‘You have ten minutes, then I have to go. But I will be here again in an hour.’
‘Don’t leave. I’ll be back,’ said Lucy, hurrying across the road. In her haste she’d forgotten about the patch of black ice and skated across it, her legs veering off in different directions and prompting a comedy whirling of limbs and squealing until she regained her balance.
‘You need ice grips,’ shouted Ulrich. Lucy muttered a torrent of swear words under her breath and made her way tentatively back to the hotel. She ran up to her room and grabbed twenty euros, then hurtled back downstairs to find Nate waiting at the bottom of the stairs.
‘Are you OK?’ he asked, taking in her pink cheeks and mad hair. She quickly pulled the bobble hat back on and took some calming breaths.
‘I’m fine,’ she said, wondering how she could get past him without sounding rude, then wondering why she cared when rudeness didn’t seem to bother Nate one bit.
‘I was thinking of finding somewhere for lunch later,’ he said. ‘Do you want to come with me?’
‘Oh,’ said Lucy, wishing he would stop blindsiding her like this.
Either be a decent human being, or be consistently shitty – at least she’d know where she stood.
‘I was actually just about to go up the mountain,’ she said, patting her pockets to make sure she had everything.
A phone, some euros, her Metro bank card and a Charlotte Tilbury lip balm. That would have to do.
‘What’s up the mountain?’ asked Nate.
‘A bar that Kristoff told me about,’ said Lucy. ‘There’s a piste bus.’
Nate was silent, and the unasked question loomed between them. Lucy sighed inwardly and forced a smile. ‘Would you like to come?’
Nate looked up at her from under those ridiculous eyelashes, and forcing herself into Sasha’s Louboutins for a moment, Lucy could definitely see the appeal.
If you could get past the rudeness, there was a quiet intensity to him.
A certain charisma, like he’d perfected the art of separating himself from all the noise.
Lucy had thought she’d have lunch alone, but actually maybe some company would be nice, even though Nate wasn’t exactly her first choice.
It was possible to spend too much time with your own thoughts, especially today.
‘A bus?’ he asked, looking unsure.
Lucy nodded. ‘Yeah, it’s perfectly safe.’ She wasn’t entirely sure of that, but they needed to get moving. ‘I’ve just been talking to Ulrich the driver and it leaves in –’ she checked her watch, ‘– four minutes.’
Nate pressed his lips together and briefly closed his eyes, like he was trying to make some kind of life-changing decision. ‘OK,’ he said decisively, standing up and dropping his book onto the table. ‘I’ll grab my coat and boots.’
‘Do you have ice grips?’ said Lucy. ‘It’s like Bambi on ice out there.’
‘Of course,’ said Nate, his brows furrowed in confusion. ‘It’s January in the Alps. You’d be crazy not to have ice grips.’
‘Fucksake,’ muttered Lucy as Nate disappeared up the stairs. She hovered in the doorway, glancing at the clock on her phone and hoping Ulrich’s timekeeping wasn’t up to Swiss watch standards. Nate was back in less than a minute, and quickly followed her out into the snow.
‘We need to hurry,’ said Lucy, picking her way along the edge of the road.
‘Where’s the bus?’ asked Nate.
‘At the end of this road,’ said Lucy, squealing as she lost her footing and skittered backwards, her arms windmilling. ‘Christ, these boots are rubbish.’
‘Come on, get on my back,’ laughed Nate.
‘Your back?’
‘I’ll piggyback you, or we’ll never make it,’ he said, turning away from her and holding out his arms. She hesitated for a second, then yanked her coat up around her waist and jumped onto his back, wrapping her arms around his neck as he hooked his hands under her thighs.
‘Let’s go,’ said Nate, starting to run along the edge of the road through the village, the metal studs on his boots digging hard into the packed snow.
Lucy let out a nervous shriek as he jogged faster, dodging around piles of snow and bollards and lamp posts and tourists.
People grinned at them as they bobbed past, and Nate’s breath created plumes in the air as he kept going, holding her legs firmly around his waist so she didn’t jiggle up and down too much.
She gripped tighter around his neck, trying not to strangle him as she started to giggle at the juvenile stupidity of it.
It was the kind of thing Leo would have done, and today was all about being more Leo.
‘There’s the bus!’ shouted Lucy, as they reached the end of the road and crossed over to the bottom of the piste. Several people were still boarding, so Nate slowed down and gently lowered Lucy to the ground.
He turned to look at her, his cheeks pink and his expression triumphant. ‘We made it.’
‘Yes, we did,’ said Lucy, her feeling of childlike euphoria now battling her need for a wee after all that jigging about.
Who was this complex, unfathomable man, who was afraid of the mountains and yet had the balls to risk a relationship with senior management?
Who was moody and rude and left the party early, but clearly still had a playful side?
If there was one thing Lucy was determined to get out of this unexpected lunch, it was to find out more about what made Nate Lambert tick.