by T A Williams
‘A little espresso please, but nothing else. I don’t drink the hard stuff.’
He shook his head. ‘Me neither. At least, not when I’ve got to drive back up to Montalto.’ He looked up and indicated to the waiter that they would have two small coffees. ‘So you’re coming up to the hotel tomorrow. I may well see you again then.’
‘The appointment with Massimo is at one thirty and then it’ll probably take me most of the afternoon to interview and test all the students, so as to get them grouped according to level.’ She caught his eye. ‘After that, if I’ve got time, I was thinking about trying the new swimming pool. Massimo said I should.’
‘Yes, you definitely should. It’s pretty great, especially when you swim out into the open air. I’m out and about most of the day, but I might even join you for a swim if I’m back in time. And then, afterwards, if you feel like it, I’ll introduce you to my father.’
As the waiter reappeared, Annie glanced back across the table, imagining what Alex might look like in swimming trunks. An unexpected frisson of excitement flashed through her and she realised that Paolina had been right. This really was a date, at least as far as she was concerned. After the waiter had left them to their coffees, Alex looked up. There was a glint in his eye that had Annie wondering if he had maybe been thinking about her in her bikini. She dropped her eyes and concentrated on her coffee. She heard his voice.
‘I was hoping to see you again soon. Tomorrow would be great. You know, Annie, I’ve really enjoyed being with you tonight. I hope you feel the same way.’
She looked up and smiled. She had no hesitation. ‘I really have, Alex. It’s been wonderful.’
He smiled back, drained his coffee and stood up. ‘I’m so pleased. Now, if you’d just excuse me for a moment.’ He went across to the desk in the corner to settle up. Annie watched his strong shoulders as he did so. Naughtily, she even wondered what his bottom might look like, but his suit jacket kept that concealed. Now, she thought to herself as she finished her own coffee, if we go swimming together tomorrow…. As she put the cup down, her attention still on Alex’s body, she accidentally clipped her water glass and saw it wobble first left, then right, then, mercifully, it settled down again, without tipping over and breaking. She heaved a sigh of relief and muttered to herself under her breath that she really had to make an effort to be less clumsy in future.
Alex walked her back to the school. The sky was clear and the frost had turned into ice on the flagstones. She took his arm as they walked, not only for support. It felt very good to have him at her side and she realised her feelings for him could easily develop into something more than casual friendship.
When they reached the outside door of the school building, she wondered for a moment if she should kiss him, but she decided against it. Maybe, if there was a next time. Instead, she held out her hand. ‘Thank you for a lovely night.’
In the light of the street lamp, she could see he was smiling as he shook her hand. ‘Thank you, Annie. See you tomorrow, I hope.’
Chapter 8
As Annie drove up to Montalto after lunch on Thursday, she was still thinking about Alex. Her evening with him had been enjoyable, interesting and exciting. She had really had a good time; an exceptionally good time in comparison to most of the last two years of her life. Back home, she had gone straight to bed, but had lain awake for a good while, her brain churning over and over. Thoughts of Steve were succeeded by thoughts of Alex and vice versa. Memories of the early days with Steve in Turin swept through her head. Now, today, as she drove up the winding road towards the hotel, she found she was reliving her wedding day in her mind. She saw the little church, her lovely ivory silk dress, her parents, friends and, of course, Steve, uncomfortable in a suit and tie. Alex, she thought to herself as she approached yet another hairpin bend, was naturally smarter and wouldn’t have found wearing a suit any problem at all.
The loud blast of a two-tone horn brought her back to the present with a jolt. She jammed her foot on the brake and squeezed tight against the bank of snow pushed up by the snowplough along the roadside, as a huge tipper truck appeared round the bend. As it went past, she felt quite awed. The massive vehicle’s tyres were taller than her whole car. Behind it, a queue of five or six frustrated motorists followed and she waited patiently until the road was once more clear before setting off again. At least the colossal truck had served to return her thoughts to more practical matters. She glanced across at the passenger seat and checked that her briefcase was still there. Inside it were brochures, test papers and a bathing costume.
She parked right outside the hotel in one of the bays marked Hotel Visitors Only and walked over to the main entrance. The building, although massive, had been sympathetically designed and built using traditional materials with a lot of visible stone and wood. The architect had ensured that it nestled into the hillside so as to lessen its impact on the stunning Alpine scene. The imposing revolving doors weren’t working and she looked round for another way in. Peering inside, she spotted a couple of men in reflective jackets, discussing something on a plan. She tapped on the glass and one of them came over to unlock a smaller door to one side of the main entrance.
‘Good afternoon. Can I help you?’ He sounded friendly enough. Annie explained that she had an appointment with Signor Lagrange and the man accompanied her to one of the lifts. The door opened immediately. ‘Sixth floor. You can’t miss his office.’ Annie thanked him and stepped inside. The doors hissed closed and the lift swept smoothly upwards, stopping with just the slightest jolt only a few seconds later. The man downstairs was right; a large sign on the wall directly opposite the lift was marked Direzione. Annie went across and pushed open a frosted glass door. Inside, a dark-haired girl looked up from her computer and gave her an interrogative look.
‘Signora Brewer?’ Annie nodded. ‘Good afternoon. I’m Daniela, Signor Lagrange’s personal assistant.’ The girl stood up from her desk and came over to shake Annie by the hand before leading her to a large door in the end wall. This one was halfway open, a wedge holding it in position as a man in remarkably clean white overalls painted Massimo’s name on the glass. The girl poked her head round the door. ‘Signor Lagrange. Signora Brewer is here.’
Seconds later, Massimo emerged, squeezing past the sign writer to shake Annie by the hand and lead her back into his office. It was a most impressive room, set on the corner of the building, with two huge panoramic windows affording spectacular views out over the ski slopes and onto the rugged peaks in the distance. Annie was blown away by the scene outside.
‘If I had a view like this in my office, I’d never get any work done.’
Massimo smiled and indicated she should take a seat on a smart leather sofa. ‘I felt the same way at first. Now, slowly, I’m getting used to it, but you’re right – it really is quite something. Now, can I offer you a coffee or maybe you prefer tea, seeing as you’re English? You’ve had lunch, I imagine.’
Annie’s lunch had been a couple of biscuits, but after the meal with Alex the previous evening, that was quite enough. ‘An espresso would be lovely, thank you.’ Massimo passed on the order to Daniela and came to sit down opposite Annie. He handed a file across the low coffee table to her and pointed at it with his finger.
‘So far we have eight people from management, twelve from reception and hospitality and another dozen or so from the ski school. So just over thirty potential students for you. Will you be able to cope?’
Annie nodded. ‘It all depends on levels. We’ll probably need four classes for that number. I’ll know better once I’ve had a chance to interview them all.’
They talked over the practical arrangements while they drank their coffee. At the end of conversation, Massimo gave her a smile. ‘I understand you went out for dinner last night.’
Annie felt the colour rush to her cheeks. ‘Erm, yes. Alex, Alessandro took me to the Piazza.’
Massimo’s smile broadened. ‘I rather get the impression he likes
you.’
‘Well, I rather like him as well, so that’s good.’ Annie lowered her voice. ‘Apparently I’m to meet his father this evening.’
Massimo nodded. ‘A rare honour.’ He also dropped his voice. ‘He’s a bit of a hermit these days. He rarely sees people, so you must be especially lucky.’
‘Well, hopefully Alex will be there to look after me.’
‘Of course. By the way, he told me to tell you that he hopes to be back later to go swimming with you. Did you bring your bikini?’
Annie smiled. ‘Not a bikini, just my scruffy old costume, but you did say nobody was going to be in there with me, didn’t you?’
‘Well, when you’ve finished all your interviews, give Daniela a call on the house phone and we’ll get somebody to let you into the pool.’
It took Annie three hours to process all the students in one of the conference rooms, and among them she found Paul the ski instructor and Massimo’s PA, Daniela. There were also a few other familiar faces from the ski lifts and ski school. She gave each of them a short oral test to establish the different levels. Paul was very friendly while Daniela was more reserved. Her English was already quite good and Annie wondered if she was nervous that Annie wouldn’t think it good enough. At the end of their interview she gave Daniela an encouraging smile and the news she wanted. ‘Definitely the top class for you, Daniela. Your English is very good.’ For the first time she saw a smile on the girl’s face.
As she finally closed her file after the thirty-second interviewee left the room, she sat back and glanced at her watch. It was almost half past five. She ran her hands through her hair. The idea of a swim was very appealing after a long afternoon glued to a chair. The knowledge that she might be accompanied by Alex gave her a shiver of excitement. She picked up the phone on the desk in front of her and dialled Daniela’s number.
She was ushered into the empty changing rooms by Daniela herself who pointed out a huge pile of towels. ‘Just help yourself and, when you’ve finished, drop the towels in the basket.’ She returned to the door and pointed at the lock. ‘I’ll leave the door locked so nobody else can get in. When you want to leave, just press down on the handle.’
Feeling rather self-conscious in the large room, even if there was nobody about, Annie changed into her trusty old one-piece costume and pinned her hair up. She left her clothes on top of her briefcase and picked up a large, fluffy, white towel, embroidered with Hotel Montalto in dark blue. She wrapped it round herself and went out through the door to the pool. It was blissfully warm in there and the water itself, as she slipped off the towel and climbed down the ladder, was like a warm bath. She swam around lazily, enjoying the peace and quiet. All along one side of the room, a whole wall of glass looked out over the piste, casting a yellow glow across the snow. Although there was nobody out there, she felt quite conspicuous. Luckily, she thought to herself, nobody’s going to be out there in the dark.
Almost nobody.
She heard tapping and glanced up. Standing outside, nose pressed up against the triple glazing, was Alex. He waved and she waved back. He mimed getting changed and swimming and she smiled and beckoned him in. As he disappeared from view, she felt that same sense of excitement she had felt the previous night. She did her best to concentrate on doing a few lengths of the pool to occupy her while she waited for him to appear. As it was, she wasn’t aware of his arrival until she heard a splash and water sprayed across the pool. A neat white circle showed where he had dived in. Seconds later he surfaced in front of her and shook the hair out of his eyes.
‘Sorry if I splashed you. There’s a sign there saying NO DIVING, but as it’s just us, I thought, what the hell!’
‘Hi, Alex.’ She gave him a grin. ‘Nice of you to drop in.’ Although all she could see of him was his head and shoulders, along with occasional glimpses of a hairy chest, the knowledge that he was less than a metre away from her and nearly naked was very stimulating. She shook her head, partly to rid herself of the drops of water, but mainly to try to establish some order in there. Once again, Alex had her mind in a spin. If he noticed her confusion, he didn’t show it.
‘Coming out in the open?’ Alex didn’t give her time to reply before turning and guiding her to the far corner of the pool where a narrow channel led towards the windows. A series of rubber flaps formed a thermal barrier between them and the outside. Annie pushed through them and came out into a totally different world. The warm water billowed clouds of steam into the sky as it came into contact with the near freezing air and it was almost like being in the middle of a Turkish bath, except that the skin of her face tingled in the cold air. Floodlights, both underwater and outside, illuminated the scene. It was amazing. This, more than anything else, served to settle her spinning thoughts. She followed Alex across to the far side of the pool where underwater steps formed a perfect bench seat where they could wallow, with just their heads out of the water. She settled down beside him, leaning her head back against the pool surround, and relaxed.
‘It’s pretty special, isn’t it?’ She looked up at the sound of his voice and followed his eyes. All around them, the ground was covered by a thick layer of virgin snow. A rustic stone wall, topped with a foot of snow, encircled the pool area and, beyond that, Annie knew that the piste began. Alex turned towards her. ‘You know who would love to be here with us now?’
Annie shook her head. Just the two of them felt fine to her. Alex grinned. ‘Leo. He’s absolutely crazy about water. He’d love it. But the problem with Labs is hair. Apart from any health and safety considerations, we’ve been told in no uncertain terms that dog hair can block the very expensive filtration plant in no time at all. So, poor old Leo’s left at home.’
‘And home is?’
‘Home for me is here. I’ve got rooms in the hotel. I’ve got the easiest commute of anybody. Leo lives with my dad in a chalet on the other side of the hotel. You’ll see it when we finish here. He’s expecting a visit from us.’ He pulled himself up onto the next step up and Annie found herself looking straight at his muscular and hairy chest. It was a fascinating, if disconcerting, view. She hastily pulled herself up onto the same level, feeling the cold air on her own chest as she did so. At least now she was level with his shoulders once more.
‘If you can come swimming here every day, you’ll be very fit.’ She managed to bring herself to meet his eye. ‘Although you look very fit as it is.’ Luckily the combination of the warm water, the steam, and the freezing air meant that her cheeks were already burning, so any embarrassment wouldn’t show. Or so she hoped.
‘I was just thinking the same about you, Annie.’
He stretched out his arm and encircled her, pulling her gently towards him, his eyes firmly fixed on hers, his lips reaching for hers. She came very close to kissing him but, at the last minute, something stopped her. She pulled back and gave the slightest shake of the head. Immediately, he released her.
‘I’m sorry, Annie.’
‘No, I’m sorry, Alex, It’s not that I don’t like you; I like you a lot. It’s just that the last couple of years haven’t been easy.’
‘Had a hard time?’ His voice was kind. ‘Want to talk about it?’
To her surprise, Annie found that she did. She settled back in the water, her shoulder just touching his from time to time, and told him about Steve’s accident and the bitter sense of loss she had been feeling ever since. She told him about the decision she had made that summer to get away from her old job, her old life, her old flat. She managed to tell him all this without even once stumbling over her words or breaking down and, by the end, she felt better for having told him. As she finished, she felt him move. His arm reached out and encircled her shoulder again, pulling her towards him in a hug. She didn’t resist.
‘That’s tough, Annie, very tough. For what it’s worth, I’m sure you’re doing the right thing in making a complete change. If there’s anything I can do to help, just say the word.’
Annie was still formul
ating a reply when an explosion shocked them both. Annie stifled a scream as a plume of water shot into the air and a wave of spray swamped them. She looked up, close to panic, and then relaxed as she saw the cause of the disturbance and heard Alex’s voice.
‘Leo, you little bugger. Who let you in?’ The Labrador emerged from underwater and came swimming up to them, nose low in the water and tail trailing behind, for all the world like a hairy submarine or a bedraggled black crocodile. Annie found herself giggling like a schoolgirl. As the dog reached the steps, he leapt up and out of the water. As he reached dry land, he stopped and Alex just had time to shout, ‘Look out,’ before the dog shook himself violently. Any last hopes Annie might have had of keeping her hair dry disappeared under a torrent of Labrador-scented water. Even so, she couldn’t stop laughing.
‘Oh, Leo, for God’s sake…’ Alex followed Leo out of the pool and Annie’s eyes followed Alex’s taut body. By this time the dog was rolling luxuriously in the snow, making wild dog grunting noises as he did so. From behind him, another figure loomed up through the steam. It was Massimo and he looked apologetic.
‘Sorry, Alessandro. Leo was wandering round the lobby looking for you and when I opened the door to come and see how Annie was getting on in the pool, he pushed past me.’ While Alex stepped gingerly into the snow to grab the steaming dog by his collar, Massimo squatted down and gave Annie a smile. ‘So, what do you think of our new pool?’
‘It’s amazing.’ Annie had managed to stop laughing by this time, but she was still feeling very cheerful; remarkably and unusually cheerful. ‘You’ll have to get a restraining order to keep me out.’
‘Annie,’ Massimo was grinning, ‘The presence of a beautiful woman in the pool can only be good for the hotel, so I’ll see that you get free access any time.’
Annie rather liked the sound of the word beautiful, and was thankful once more for the fact that her cheeks were already red. Pulling herself up onto her knees, she looked across at Alex and the dog. Leo was wagging his tail furiously as Alex turned back towards Annie, his hand firmly gripping Leo’s collar. ‘I’m afraid I’d better go and deal with this bad boy. You can find your way back inside, can’t you, Annie? I’ll be waiting for you in the reception hall when you’re ready.’
