A Winter Affair (6 page)

She heard footsteps clumping down the passage into the kitchen and she tensed herself for the fight. Even if Aurelia came with him she would say her piece. Her job was difficult enough without this though.

Lawrence entered alone, carrying the pink cardboard box she'd seen in Aurelia's hands. He put it down on the table.
Tempting Delights by Aurelia
, it proclaimed in black scrawly writing on the lid.

‘Hello, Eloise,' he smiled, ‘hope you slept well. I left you lying in this morning as the real work starts today.'

She waited for him to tell her that he'd decided that Aurelia would prepare most of the meals, but he seemed cheerful, asking if she had everything she wanted. Instead of making her feel at home this unnerved her, wondering why he had ordered a cake from Aurelia having left a message with Vera to ask her to make one too.

As he said nothing about it, she said firmly, ‘I'll be up early tomorrow. Tell me what time the guests want breakfast and it will be all ready for them.'

‘Good, we'll ask them when they arrive.' He eyed the lemon drizzle cake cooling on the rack. ‘Mmm you've been baking.'

‘Yes, Vera told me you wanted me to make a cake for the guests this afternoon,' she said, Aurelia's sarcastic remark of it being a ‘nursery cake' still rankling.

‘I did, and Aurelia sent a cake too,' he gestured towards the box, ‘in case you didn't have time to bake one before everyone arrived.'

‘I know, I've just seen her. Is she going to appear at every meal with some dish she has cooked and bill you for it?' Her voice sounded sharper than she meant it too.

He looked horrified, ‘No, why ever would you think that? She just thought you might find it difficult on your first day to get everything done – she did it to be kind.' He regarded her with disapproval as if
she
was the one in the wrong, misinterpreting a good deed for a bad one.

He left the room before she could explain that Aurelia had told her that
he
had ordered it. Was that true and was Lawrence trying to avoid telling her that he had Aurelia on back-up? Or had Aurelia lied about Lawrence ordering the cake, and if so why? What was she trying to achieve?

Eloise opened the box containing Aurelia's creation and inside was a beautifully iced chocolate cake with
Welcome to Verbier
written in white icing, making her lemon drizzle cake look decidedly underdressed.

Who was the welcome to Verbier for? She didn't feel it was for her. It was more like a warning from Aurelia to keep off her turf.

She struggled with a sudden wave of homesickness but, what was worse, Aurelia had succeeded in making Lawrence think she was a bitch to undermine her generous gesture when in fact Aurelia was throwing down a challenge.

It looked as if she had a fight on her hands and she must do all that she could to win it.

It was bitterly cold but the sheer beauty of the sun touching the tops of the mountains and the crisp snow beneath his skis filled him with exhilaration. Lawrence pushed off down the slope, it was still icy so he must take care, by the time it had softened up he'd be back in the chalet seeing to the guests. He needed this hour to himself, just him and the mountains – though he wasn't the only skier here, but these first few were the fanatics, the real lovers of the sport and the majesty of nature. Very soon the slopes would be jostling with all the holidaymakers, swarming over the snow like multicoloured ants.

Here in his own space, the white peaks reaching on into infinity, he felt calmer, more able to assess his thoughts. The guests had arrived last night, quite late as their flight had been delayed. Eloise had made a delicious cake, and the home-made shortbread biscuits were perfect, so different to the bought variety. She'd laid them out on the dining table in the living room, alongside a rather sickly-looking cake Aurelia had given him for the guests' tea, only they hadn't arrived in time to eat them, so Eloise had put them away to bring out again today.

He had been surprised at Eloise's reaction to Aurelia's gift. He hadn't thought she'd take offence. Perhaps she felt intimidated by her, she was after all still settling in, but she should have taken Aurelia's gesture in good grace. Aurelia meant well, in fact she was a great support to him and the running of Jacaranda.

It was a difficult job being the host to strangers in his own home, for he saw Jacaranda as his home and business now. Having worked in hospitality in a well-known vineyard in France it had been good training, though nothing like what he experienced day to day at Jacaranda.

Some of the guests were lovely and had become friends, but he was dreading the people coming for Christmas who were mega-rich, and most likely spoilt, and were very disappointed that they had not been able to stay in one of the new, eye-wateringly expensive chalets down in the village, as they'd been booked up for months in advance, so they must ‘make do' with Jacaranda. He suspected they would be very challenging.

Amongst the Christmas guests was a mother-in-law in her early sixties who didn't ski, which meant she would probably stay in for much of the time and expect lunch, which would add extra work for Eloise. He'd confided his fear to Aurelia, who said she'd be more than happy to provide lunch, but that would be an added expense and he needed to conserve his money to pay for the intensive repairs Jacaranda urgently needed.

Jacaranda needed to be rewired and to have new plumbing, he could not put it off any longer. These old chalets needed to be able to work with modern devices and he would like to put in another shower room and revamp one or two of the other bathrooms. All this had to be done well and not spoil the overall look of Jacaranda – and all of it needed money. He might have to close the chalet during the summer season while the refurbishments were being done, which would mean losing vital income. There was a lot to consider.

He did not want to burden his father with his worries, he knew how much he loved Jacaranda, it held so many of his precious memories of his beloved partner, Maddy. Desmond had tried to stay on here without her after she'd died, but it had been too hard and he had moved to Antigua to escape the constant reminders of her loss. He understood, and one of the many reasons he was determined to keep Jacaranda going was because it had been Maddy's idea to open the chalet for holiday guests to help pay for its upkeep, so Desmond and Lawrence could keep it. He remembered her enthusiasm and how planning the business had lifted her up through her months of illness. Her courage kept him focused on making a success of it in her memory. One day he hoped his father would come back and see just how Maddy's dream had been realized. But he would not push him; he must come when he felt ready.

His face was tingling with cold now as he increased his speed, his body agile, taking quick turns, slicing down the mountain, and when he reached the end of the slope, he was surging with life and energy. There were only gentle slopes now down to the gondola, and sadly there was no time for him to go up again. He'd ski down to the chalet through the trees and get back to work. There were a few maintenance jobs to be done, and he must get in the drinks and ensure that the tree and a wreath for the front door were in place in time to greet the guests who would be arriving at Jacaranda for Christmas next week.

He went slower now, eking out the time before he had to go back. He was still annoyed with Denise – the chef he'd employed for the whole season – flying off with that paunchy grey-haired banker in his private helicopter, leaving him in the lurch. She was a brilliant chef, she'd worked for him before and he'd paid over the odds for her. He hadn't been impressed when he'd discovered she'd just upped and gone, leaving only a scrappy note in her room by way of explanation, ‘
Sorry gone with Mike,
' and he'd had to ask Aurelia to produce some of her wildly expensive meals, which had been a help, but he couldn't afford to splash out so much for long, and though she talked about ‘mates rates' for things she wanted, she wasn't prepared to offer them to her ‘mates' herself. The last two chefs he'd hired were worse than useless, aged chalet girls who thought producing something hot with plenty of ketchup for dinner and bought ice cream with melted chocolate as a pudding was all they needed to do to please the guests, leaving them plenty of time to hit the slopes and the bars.

Faced with having to shell out for yet more of Aurelia's ‘Tempting Delights' (and she put her prices up for Christmas fare), he had taken his father's advice to contact Eloise, his father's goddaughter, who he couldn't remember meeting. She was – according to Desmond – a cordon bleu chef, though in fact she wasn't, but he didn't hold his exaggeration of her skills against his father, he always saw the best in people.

Eloise was doing her best, both dinners she'd produced so far had been good but not spectacular, and he now worried that her best might not be enough, or she'd panic and not be able to cope with the Christmas guests coming next week. He knew this was unfair, she had been honest about her cooking qualifications and his father had no idea of the quality needed today and had recommended her in good faith, but what made it worse was that he was banking on these Christmas guests to bring him continued success. They were his first clients from one of the top letting agencies, where he'd only recently been accepted. If their visit were a success the agency would send other rich clients his way, which would solve the problem of keeping Jacaranda safe.

Switzerland was expensive, and now there were so many chalets and hotels to stay in and in cheaper resorts in France and Italy, it was getting increasingly difficult to keep the place filled with the sort of clientele he wanted… he needed well-paid adults who loved skiing and were out on the mountains most of the day, expecting only breakfast and dinner and sometimes a cake for tea.

He didn't encourage families with young children, he had nothing against small children, but there were too many hazards around the chalet, and if they were not kept a strict eye on they could wander out on the road, which seemed to have more cars each year, or through the trees and even down to the stream. There were always stories, mostly true, of adults as well as children wandering off in the dusk and getting lost; some were not found before it was too late.

‘Lawrence, you're out early,' Aurelia called to him, disturbing his thoughts. She was standing by the entrance to the gondola. One came up from Medran and stopped here. There was another one that took skiers higher up to the top of the mountain. Aurelia was dressed in baby blue with a pink, no doubt cashmere hat pulled over her ears.

He was about to answer when an Adonis of a ski guide carrying her skis joined her.

‘How's your little cook?' she asked.

‘Fine thank you,' he said, wanting to be on his way as he had things to do before Theo brought this week's guests back to Jacaranda.

‘Well you know where to come if she can't cope, let me know if you want anything she can't manage.' There was a touch of mockery in her smile.

‘I'm sure we'll be fine, Eloise knows what's she's doing,' he said, surprising himself by feeling protective towards her. ‘Have a good day.' He turned and left.

He made his way through the other skiers, some having just come up from the village, hanging around waiting for friends, others coming out of the restaurant, or about to go up again, and a few, like him, skiing down to the bottom. It amused him that Aurelia who could ski far better than most people usually skied with a private guide. They were always good-looking men, and he wondered what else she expected from them.

Aurelia was a complicated woman, a beautiful one, but now he thought of it she reminded him of a spoilt little rich girl. She never seemed satisfied with anything or anyone, a misfortune he guessed that came from a deep insecurity. She'd come out here a year ago with Malcolm, an older man, who, rumour had it, was a rich lover helping her start up her business, providing sophisticated takeaways. These were aimed at people who didn't do their own cooking or were giving parties or just staying in and wanting to enjoy a delicious supper they hadn't had to cook themselves. They could pick up a meal from her shop, or if they ordered a meal in advance it would be delivered to their chalet. It was expensive but she used the best ingredients and all they needed to do was to put in the oven. There was no mess and preparing to do, but still, he thought, she charged too much, but then if people were prepared to pay for it, bully for her.

Malcolm was not here that often, though she often spoke of him, and although she showed an interest in Lawrence and especially Jacaranda, he had steered clear of any romantic entanglements since a relationship he'd had with a French woman had drifted to a close last year.

Lawrence skied through the dark trees with quick, tight turns. High above him glided the gondoliers. There was no one else about now as he was off-piste and he felt the joy of skiing, the silence in this part of the mountain away from the main runs and above the bustle of the village. He wished he could spend the day outside, go up higher and do one of the longer routes up to Mort Fort or down Tortin, but if he was to keep Jacaranda as his home he had to give the business his time and attention and just snatch days off when it was empty. Theo did a lot, but he needed to be around himself when they had guests, in case there was a drama: a plane ticket lost, a complaint, or an accident. There'd been quite a few of those over the years, and it wasn't the highlight of the job, trying to deal with fractious guests, often fuelled by tiredness or alcohol.

He'd reached the bottom of the run now; it opened out to an easier slope used by the ski school for beginners. As he traversed across the well-used snow, the ridges from previous skiers softening in the sun, he thought fondly of his father. Now some time had passed, he might feel comforted to be back where he and Maddy had been so happy. He remembered his father explaining to him after his parents' divorce how he'd met the love of his life, though he added quickly that he had loved Agnes, his mother, but it had been a young love, full of passion and torment, and they were really so unsuited to settling down, and though they both loved him, they couldn't stay together without one of them destroying the other.