by Rachel Dove
‘What’s wrong with Keanu?’ She took the wine, taking a deep sip.
‘His wife died, and then someone killed his dog.’
‘So that’s why he’s mad?’
Luke thought for a moment. ‘Essentially yes. It’s awesome though, Reeves is the best.’ She looked up at him, his glasses reflecting gun fire from the screen.
‘Christopher Reeves?’ He rolled his eyes, and she turned back to the screen chuckling.
‘Ha ha, Clark Kent. Yes, yes. I’ve heard that before.’ He huffed. ‘Dean Cain ruined my sex life in high school, and then bloody Tom Welling came in with his sodding underpants over his trousers.’
‘Aww, you poor thing.’ She watched Keanu take out a room full of bad guys, making enough time to run his hand through his floppy hair. ‘I always thought Clark Kent was a bit of a cutie myself. The best part of Superman.’
She could feel him smile, and his hand started to rub her shoulder.
‘I never thought of it that way before.’ He turned to her, and she felt his breath on her cheek. ‘I’d give anything for his X-ray vision right now.’
‘Cheesy.’
‘I know, but it’s funny.’
They both put their glasses down, kissing each other slowly.
‘Perv.’
He laughed, before kissing her again, his hands moving to her sides.
She shuffled underneath him as he moved over her, their legs and arms ending up wrapped around each other as they lay down on the sofa together.
‘Ow! My hair!’ He’d pinned a chunk of her black hair to the sofa with his elbow.
‘Oops, my bad. These aren’t the new sheets, are they?’ he checked, suddenly nervous again. She took his glasses off, putting them on the coffee table and taking his face in her hands.
‘No, they’re in my bedroom, with the new bin.’
‘Ooo, someone’s in a hurry.’
She laughed, but it was a little hollow. The truth was, her bottle was going. If she didn’t do this now, she’d think about all her sca—
don’tthinkaboutitdon’tthinkaboutit—
‘No, I just wanted to show you what a urine free bedroom looks like.’
He grinned, and she pulled him to her again.
‘Stop talking, and take me to bed, Luke.’
He jumped to his feet, surprisingly nimble for him. Scooping her into his arms, he flipped her over his shoulder.
‘Grab the wine, woman.’
She did as she was told for once, grabbing the bottle and squealing as he carried her off to the bedroom, kicking the door shut behind him as he went.
Chapter 7
‘Well, that must have been some burger!’
Rebecca was dreaming of Hans. In her sleep. His annoying voice was talking away to her, and she cursed her brain for making her think of her hairy friend when she’d just spent the most interesting and exciting night of her life since the accident.
‘Shut up Hans,’ she heard a voice say, and she felt herself nodding. Good, glad someone said it.
‘Yeah! Shut up Hans,’ she shouted out groggily, her eyes still firmly shut. ‘So loud.’
Her brain finally caught up. That, and she was pretty sure that a naked man was rubbed up against her. Last night came screaming back. And the fact that Luke was still in her bed.
‘Hans! Shit!’
Rebecca sprang up then, covering her bits as she realised that Hans was there, looking like Ned Flanders in skiwear, open-mouthed and laughing at the fact that she was naked, in bed with Luke.
‘Hans!’
‘Hans!’ Rebecca and Luke spoke together again, high-pitched with indignation. They flashed each other a horrified look.
‘How the holy hell did you get in?’
‘Why are you in my room?’
Hans held up his hands.
‘Hey, I came to pick up Luke for his first lesson. The door was unlocked, I shouted to you both. I was worried you’d murdered each other.’ He smirked then, his moustache bristling with mirth. ‘Evidently, you made friends. How lovely.’
He ducked as Rebecca threw a heel at him, but he didn’t dodge the nut-crushing throw of Luke’s shoe. He crumpled like a paper bag to the floor, making the ceiling light shake as he hit the deck.
‘Bullseye,’ Luke shouted, high-fiving Rebecca as they both scrabbled to get their clothes from where they had thrown them to the floor.
‘Nice one, ten points for the crown jewels.’ Rebecca threw a sock Luke’s way. They had tiny little computers printed on them.
‘Twenty, surely?’
Pulling on his sweatpants and passing her top to her, he stood over Hans, who was still clutching his nether regions and making a high-pitched keening sound.
‘What about a nipple twist, whilst he’s down?’ Luke suggested.
Rebecca pretended to consider it as she smoothed her hair down.
‘Maybe next time.’ She’d seen the clock. ‘I’m late to get started with work.’ She waved her hands over Hans. ‘Can you handle this?’ Luke yanked his top on and ruffled his hair back. Leaning over his friend, he kissed her on the lips and smiled.
‘After last night, I can handle anything. Don’t watch me out there, okay? I’ll have enough people laughing at me as it is. I left something on the coffee table. Will you read it? It’s why I’m here.’ He kissed her again before she could ask him anything else. ‘Have a good day.’
Domesticated bliss. The thought popped into her head, but she brushed it away. What was in that envelope was going to test that thought.
‘You too. Don’t break anything, for God’s sake.’
He rolled his eyes, sticking his tongue out of the side of his mouth, flashing his white teeth. ‘Me, never.’ Rebecca was just leaving when she heard Hans take Luke down to the floor, and for the second time in as many days, she saw Luke in a floor scrap. This time, laughably tame. Hans had two distinct handicaps. She headed downstairs to get her day started.
*
Luke was seriously regretting his life choices right about now. At one point last night, Rebecca had flipped him off the bed, and now he had a bruise across his bottom cheeks. Not that it wasn’t worth the flip, or the bruised arse, but it did smart on his delicate peach-like skin. Which meant that every time he fell on it, it hurt like being lashed. Hans wasn’t helping either. They’d been on the nursery slopes all morning, and some of the toddlers who had started learning with their parents that morning were already better than him. The last time he’d slipped backwards, he’d skied down further still, catching himself between his tight skiwear clad legs, and two of the kids had pointed and laughed.
‘I hate kids,’ he muttered under his breath.
‘No, you don’t,’ Hans laughed, waving at two of the toddlers, who both stared up at him as though he’d just walked out of Narnia. ‘You’ll be a great uncle. Hey, I can’t wait to tell them stories of how their uncle met their Auntie Rebecca.’ Luke used the pole to pull himself up, crab walking till he felt safe enough on his feet to stand upright again. He eyed the toddlers before he tried, giving them the stink eye. They nudged each other, pretending not to look. Their adoring parents were snapping photos of the pair of them.
‘They should have devil horns,’ he shouted in their direction, placing his goggles back over his eyes again quickly and shuffling away. Hans took a snap himself, his fingers surprisingly nimble in his gloves. ‘Put that away, or I’ll shove it somewhere so hard you’ll never get it out.’
‘Wow.’ Hans put his phone away, but not before sending it to Holly and Rebecca. He captioned it to Rebecca ‘You’ve seen this naked’, laughing his head off as he looked across to the café. Rebecca was just finishing up serving a customer, and Hans could make out her reaching for her phone. He looked away quickly, and his phone pinged in his hand. She’d replied, ‘Yep, and rubbed it on every surface in YOUR lodge. Arse prints are in fashion I hear.’
He guffawed with laughter, Luke looking over his shoulder just in time to read the whole thing. H
e swatted at Hans, lunging at his throat.
‘You total arse! Why did you do that!’
Hans tucked his phone in a zip pocket and pointed up to the first slope.
‘Cos it’s funny! Come on, grab your lady balls. We’re going in the lift up to that.’
Luke paled beneath his goggles.
‘No, come on. The joke’s over.’
Hans pointed to the family who had just been mocking him, they were headed to the lifts themselves.
‘It’s still the family slope, it’s gentle. Come on, you can’t enter the competition without the basic skills. They’re not slack on safety here. They’re not just going to let you rock up on competition day and break your neck in front of the spectators. It bums people out, you know?’
Luke rolled his eyes at his gargantuan friend, knowing full well he wouldn’t be able to see it anyway.
‘Okay okay, but no laughing, and no photos. I mean it. I don’t want to scare Rebecca off. It’s complicated enough as it is.’
Hans grinned, holding his hands to his heart.
‘I knew you two would get along. Holly said that Rebecca would hate it, but I knew!’ He was waggling his finger now, like a smug dad proving to his teenager that he was still indeed down with the kids. ‘I knew you’d be able to help each other.’
‘You did not. And she did hate me. I made a total arse of myself, annoyed the hell out of her and then …’ Luke smiled, Hans looking at him like a proud parent. ‘Well, she’s just amazing, isn’t she?’ His smile faltered then. ‘I left her the list. Asked her to read it. I don’t want her to realise I’m just a nerd, but I wanted her to know. You know? Even if it doesn’t last.’ He looked down at the snow. ‘Nothing lasts, that’s the point. I’m sick of doing the same thing, day after day. Look at Dad! It nearly killed him! I don’t want that for him, or for me. I really like her Hans, and I really think I’m going to mess it up. I’ve no life experience. What have I got to offer a woman like that?’
Hans looked thoughtful for a moment, and patted his friend on the arm, as gently as he could. Over his shoulder, he could see that Rebecca was pretending to work, but her eyes kept flicking to them. She dropped the tea towel she was holding, picking it up and headbutting the counter in the process. A second later, he could see her head bob up, looking at them again.
‘I think that you and Becks have a lot more in common than you think. You forget, we’ve been friends for such a long time now, and the same for me and Becks. I can see it, Luke, even if you can’t. All I’m saying is, you’re here now. You’re doing it. This is not the dress rehearsal my friend. This is it. Your old life ended when you boarded that plane. One event changed the course of everything you knew. Rebecca forgot that too, for a long time. Since the minute you landed, I see a lot more of the old Becks coming through. That’s a lot in a few days, especially for a nerd who’s supposed to be scared of his own shadow. Your dad protected you all your life, a bit too much maybe, but he loves you. You love him, it’s why you’re here. Love finds a way, Luke. Just let it.’
Luke bear hugged his friend, who picked him up like he was a toddler.
‘I love you man.’
‘Love you too,’ Hans said, wiping a tear away from his goggles. ‘Now get off me, people are staring.’
The two of them pulled away, grunting and patting each other on the back in a manly way.
‘One of us should fart or something. Break the moment.’ Hans went cross-eyed for a moment, but nothing came out. ‘Damn it.’
Luke laughed, heading towards the ski lift.
‘If I fart, I’d go up like a balloon in this get up. I’ve been eating a lot of cake lately.’ He blushed under his goggles at the memory of him eating a slice of cake in Rebecca’s bed, feeding her little spoonfuls in between kisses. If they kept it up like last night, he’d be able to roll down the hill and win the comp as a snowball. Something told him it would be worth it. ‘Come on, we came to ski. Let’s get on with it.’
Luke watched his friend grin and walk to catch him up. Looking back at the café, Rebecca was standing at the window now. He waved, and she waved back. He put his fingers to his lips, touched them to his heart, and then blew it to her. For a second, she stared back at him, and his stomach flipped. Oh God, why did I do that?
Lifting her hand again, she made a catching motion with her hand, pressed her closed fist to her heart, and turned back to the café. Luke watched her work, taking in the moment when he blew a kiss to a girl in a French mountain café, a girl he liked too much already. The moment when he finally started living, and she liked him right back. It was time to call Dad. He wanted to tell him so much, and this time, he was going to bloody well listen.
*
Rebecca turned away from the window and looked down at her still closed fist. She felt like she didn’t want to open her hand, to let his little token out into the atmosphere, but she had customers. And an envelope that was burning a hole in her apron pocket. She’d been desperate to read it, but Alpe d’Huez was getting busy now. Everyone was starting to gear up for the competition season, and the tourists were here in droves. She didn’t even have enough waiting staff to cover everything till next week. They employed seasonal servers, but the rush had hit them a little early. Blindsided. She could relate. This week, she had been through so much, and felt like she was hanging off the back of a carousel horse. Normally, she’d have been screaming for the ride to stop, but now, she wanted to go faster. She wanted to see this out. So he was leaving! They had the time when he was here, and that would be enough. She’d been flip-flopping like this all morning. They were so natural together, even in their collective awkwardness, and she really liked him. Especially now, after that window moment. Last night had been like that too. It had never been like that with Robbie, not that she had compared it in detail. The differences were like night and day between the two, and how they made her feel. Maybe Luke would come and visit Hans again. If the letter wasn’t something too earth-shattering. She’d thought of everything, from him being from another planet, to him being a secret journalist wanting to do a scoop on failure and what it looked like.
Or maybe he was actually married, with a whole brood of bespectacled children with washboard abs and an ability to hack into NASA in their nap times. Or fresh out of prison for killing his father, or all his family, down to the pet parrot.
She kept herself busy, her eyes flicking from her work to the windows, trying to keep an eye on them both. She’d not seen any commotion, so he was still in one piece it seemed. He’d looked cute in his skiwear too. The more she looked at him the more she noticed, and the more she fancied him. Noticed little things that someone who was attached might miss when they were no longer present.
Last night, wrapped around each other, they had just lain there, talking, kissing and gazing at each other. It sounded cringe now, and she knew Holly would take the piss, but when he fell asleep, she’d watched him still. Just the sound of him breathing, in her space, felt so unreal. Her mother had always told her that no woman was an island, that she needed people, but till now, she’d always disagreed. She’d fallen asleep that way, lulled by the feel of him there. She’d told him about herself, about Robbie, the whole mess, and he’d not even flinched. The way he’d looked at Robbie, she knew that he hated him for his part. His lashing out at her. Which was what had made her think twice about why she’d never questioned it. Not once. She’d taken the blame really, slunk off. He’d not got his way, but he’d moved on from it. He’d stepped back into his life, and she’d shut herself away. It had taken a man that had never got on a plane before to remind her that she wasn’t living life, or moving on. She was stuck. Not making any choices was the same as not trying, letting things pass her by. The envelope in her apron was just as bad as the competition forms in her bedside drawer. They were instruments of bloody torture. Grabbing her phone, she dialled Eloise.
‘Hi Eloise, it’s Rebecca, from Alpine Bites. Yeah honey, we are busy early. I wondered …’<
br />
Eloise lived nearby, and currently had a husband who was working from home after an op on his knee. She’d said yes and put her bag on her arm before Rebecca even finished the sentence.
‘That’s great, you are amazing. Ha ha, yes, still illegal to murder him though. Tell him to ring his mother if he can’t work out the washing machine. Don’t try to batter him with it! See you soon, give him my love. Au revoir, ma cherie.’
She normally put most of the extra staff off as long as she could, her usual Grinch-like tendencies spreading to work colleagues too after a while, but she wanted to read what Luke had to say, and she wanted to ring her mother too. It was time.
Chapter 8
Friday was relatively uneventful in the café. They’d had an injury or two limp in for a shot of sugar and caffeine, to nurse their wounds. A lot of families were on the resort, and the café had been busy with the chatter of kids laughing, falling out over who had the biggest slice of cake, and who was the ‘sickest’ and ‘peng’ on a pair of skis. Rebecca laughed as she saw one of the fathers roll his eyes when his seven-year-old called him ‘Bro’.
‘I swear, when I was a kid I would have been just like them.’ Eloise looked to where Rebecca had nodded, laughing herself when she saw the father of the boy take a huge gulp of coffee and roll his eyes at the laughing mother. She patted the kid on the top of his head, ruffling his hair. The boy smiled, hot chocolate and cream all around his beaming mouth. Rebecca remembered the letter, and asked Eloise if she could nip off. Luke had not long ago gone to practise skiing, so the lodge was empty upstairs. Eloise waved her off, holding out a steaming hot mug of coffee as she passed, her apron still on. Rebecca smiled gratefully at her friend and employee, and headed upstairs, closing the door behind her. She headed to her room, just in case Luke nipped back home and saw her in the lounge, and took out the envelope Luke had given her. Taking a deep breath, she pushed her index finger under the flap, and ripped open the paper. Inside, was a photo and a collection of clippings from magazines. She looked closer, and saw the Alps in one. She read the writing and smiled. It was a plan, it seemed, a road map for family life. Luke’s family. She frowned, knowing it couldn’t quite have gone like that. She turned the page over, and it was empty. The remaining two pages were different to each other. Both were handwritten, but their age difference was evident. One page was crisp, white and covered in Luke’s handwriting. Her name was at the top. The other was more delicate, yellowed and the texture of a moth’s wing. The writing was different, more sweeping. Feminine.
