Page 41 of Head Over Skis

She glares over at David, who waves at her with a cocky grin.

‘Not likely,’ she mutters, ‘but fine. I’ll submit myself to several hours of torture if that’s what you want.’

I laugh, certain she’s being even more dramatic than usual, and thankfully the movement doesn’t make me feel any worse.

‘I’ll stay with you both,’ Meghan says, her hand resting on Lucas’s arm as they both nod.

After that, I manage to push myself up off my side so I’m sitting sideways on the slope, my legs straight out in front of me. I’m surrounded by a circle of my friends forming a barrier from the other skiers who are zipping past us. Adam stands off to the side, holding my skis in one hand while the other fiddles with the zip of his jacket.

‘We’ll take care of him,’ David says, and Tilly nods. Both agreeing on something for once.

‘We’ll catch up with you later, don’t eat all the chocolate biscuits while I’m gone!’ Tilly shouts as she starts to move away.

I watch as they set off, David saying something that causes Tilly to swing her pole towards him and nearly knocks herself off balance. Adam lingers behind, his face contorted as he guiltily stares at the snow. He mutters an apology again that I can barely hear, before disappearing after them, still too embarrassed to look at me.

‘Let’s get you home,’ Lucas says, reaching down and hooking his arms under my shoulders to lift me up.

‘Can you put any weight on it?’ Meghan asks, coming to my other side, and I take a tentative step.

It’s weak, like it’s one wobble away from buckling, but thankfully I can just about walk on it with help.

‘Usain Bolt in the flesh! You’ll be back at the chalet in no time,’ Lucas jeers, but sadly he’s wrong.

We’re farther up the mountain than we’d realised, and I resort to bum-shuffling down the side of the run until we reach the bottom and it connects with a path into town. We get back to the chalet two hours later, and safe to say I feel sorry enough for myself that there are no biscuits left by the time the others get home.

14

‘I still can’t believe you finished my chocolate Hobnobs,’ Tilly says, staring wistfully into her morning coffee.

‘I said I’d go out and get you more! It’s not like you were going to have them for breakfast and there’ll be a new packet waiting on your bed by the time you get back.’

She takes a sip whilst resting her hip against the kitchen cupboard, giving me a death stare over the rim of the mug. ‘Fine, but make it two packets.’

I agree and she perks up, weaving her way through the coats and ski boots that lie scattered on the floor as she comes over to join me on the sofa.

‘Hey, you never told me how your afternoon went yesterday?’ I ask once she’s settled in beside me.

‘Oh, it was fine,’ she says, lifting her mug and taking a long sip.

‘Fine? Is that it? No explosive arguments with David or things you’d like to complain about?’

She shrugs, one finger tapping against the side of her mug. I change course.

‘Or maybe you can finally give me more details on your night with Jason?’

After Meghan interrupted us in town the other day, I haven’t found the time again to circle back and finally draw some more details out from her.

‘Jason?’ She echoes his name back to me like she’s never heard it before, and all my suspicions resurface.

I don’t want to listen to the nagging voice in my head that thinks she’s lying, because that’s not something we do. If she was, I can’t figure out why she’d do it, and a sinking part of me wonders if I’ve done something to upset her. It’s the only reason I can think of, but surely if that was it she’d tell me so we could work through it.

‘Good morning, ladies!’

David saunters into the kitchen, already dressed in his salopettes and a tight-fitting thermal top.

‘Morning,’ Tilly says back.

That’s it? Morning?