Page 39 of Head Over Skis

‘If you take it slow, stick to blues max, then I can’t think of a reason why not. Just…’ He pauses and addresses the rest of his sentence mostly to me. ‘Be careful, okay?’

I nod, smiling at the genuine worry in his voice. ‘I promise we’ll all arrive at tomorrow’s lesson in one perfectly functioning piece.’

Satisfied with that promise, his gaze shifts up to the clock on the wall. ‘Okay I better get going, I’ll see you all tomorrow.’

He stands and I think he’s going to head for the door, but he stops behind me before he gets there. ‘I meant to ask yesterday, but I don’t suppose you have my jacket with you? I’m going to need it for some après events later.’

‘Oh, actually yeah I do, let me grab it.’

I open up my rucksack and fish out his jacket. Now wasn’t the ideal time for this exchange, but it’s his so I want to make sure he gets it back, and sneaking off to do it furtively would only make things worse. I hold out the jacket that everyone already knew I had. Except Adam.

‘Thanks again for letting me borrow it.’

‘Anytime,’ he says, and the way he says it, almost like it’s an inevitability that I might end up wearing it again, makes me blush more than I care to admit.

He walks away, saying a quick goodbye to Penny, Bill and Stephen. But before disappearing into the snow, someone appears in the doorway and stops him in his tracks.

‘There you are, I thought you were going to bail on me.’

I recognise her red hair and realise she was the other quiz host. She throws her arms around Rory’s neck in a way that’s too comfortable for mere colleagues. When they pull apart, she playfully prods his shoulder before folding her arms across her chest. ‘Not that I should be surprised. You were over an hour late to our first date.’

Rory holds his hands up in surrender. ‘I would’ve made more of an effort to be on time if I’d known you’d hold a grudge for all these years.’

She rolls her eyes, and I hear their laughter continue once they’ve moved out of my sight. Another familiar figure strides through the door and I’m pleased when Kevin heads in the direction of our table.

‘Glad that you’ve still got all your arms and legs, Bambi.’

I hear Adam groan, muttering ‘not another one’ under his breath, but at least in this case he’s completely off the mark. Kevin’s sweet but gives off more of a big brother vibe.

‘All working perfectly, thank you,’ I reply, and I try to sound as casual as possible as I ask him the question I’m now anxious to know the answer to.

‘Hey, Kevin, you don’t happen to know where Rory is off to now, do you?’

‘Oh yeah, he’s got a private lesson with Tori. She wants to do some extra teaching qualification or something, and he aced them all when he was pre-pubescent so said he’d help her out. Why?’

‘No reason.’ I should stop there, but my curiosity gets the better of me. ‘Do they know each other well?’

Kevin bounces his head from side to side. ‘Yeah, you could say that. They used to date on and off, I think some of the staff here thought we’d be planning an alpine wedding at some point. Could you imagine, “Rory and Tori”? I’ll admit it has a funny ring to it.’

‘So, to the slopes?’ David injects, thudding the bottom of his emptied pint glass on the table.

I’m glad for the interruption, not wanting to hear more about Rory and Tori, or dare ask how recently this ‘on and off’ history stretches to. It dawns on me that they could be similar to Adam and me, and worse, that what happened between Rory and I could’ve been the equivalent in their relationship to what Adam and his co-worker did, but Tori might have no idea it happened.

‘To the slopes!’ Lucas chants back at David, and after saying a quick bye to Kevin, I follow everyone out. Adam walks at my side, not uttering a word, and I hate how I know his mind is fixated on that jacket.

At the suggestion and slight peer pressure from the more skilled skiers, we’re going down a red slope, and I’m already wishing I’d stuck to my guns about not doing anything above a blue.

‘Oh come on, it’s an easy red. You’ll love it!’ Lucas said, and so far, he’s been wrong on both counts.

All my focus is going into not wiping out, leaving no time to admire the snow-dappled trees that border the run, or the sky above us that appears like a pristine white sheet placed over the world. I’m navigating a particularly narrow corner where ice has emerged when Adam’s voice drifts by me.

‘So, you and the ski instructor? What a cliché, I didn’t have you pegged down as the type.’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘You know exactly what I mean,’ he mutters, and his voice is so close to my back it starts putting me off.

‘Can you please give me a bit more space? And if you mean he’s bought me a few drinks over the week, then you’d be correct. But did you also see Meghan and Tilly have had drinks? Did you stop to think he might have bought ones for them, too? For the whole of the class, in fact?’