Page 43 of The Only Way Is Up

Daisy tipped the sledge over the ledge with her feet; it eased forward slowly at first, then picked up pace as the metal rails found their groove in the freshly groomed snow. A few seconds later they were rocketing down a long, wide piste at what felt like a hundred miles an hour and Melanie’s nervous laugh had turned into a full-blown whoop of excitement and terror. Daisy glanced back and checked Ruby was just behind them, then enjoyed the thrill of the ride until she saw the dark strip of river approaching and yelled, ‘Lean right!’ Melanie shifted her weight sideways as the sledge turned seamlessly into the bend. They slowed a little as the gradient of the piste became less steep, and Daisy felt Melanie relax her vice-like grip around her waist. Snow-laden pine trees flew by as the sledge sailed along the edge of the burbling river for a minute or so, until it finally came to a gentle stop right outside the entrance to the cable car, next to a bar where a party was in full swing. The windows were vibrating in time to the music – some kind of techno-yodel – and a group of men in ski-instructor jackets were smoking furiously outside.

Daisy’s heart was pounding with exhilaration as Ruby and Will’s sledge slid to a stop beside them, all of them breathless and crying with laughter as they scrambled to their feet. Then Will froze, putting his hand on Ruby’s shoulder as something moved in the doorway to the cable car station.

‘What’s that?’ he whispered, as Daisy, Melanie and Ruby turned their heads to look.

It took a few seconds to realise what they were all seeing – the naked, bobbing backside of a man in a black jacket with the bare legs of a woman wrapped around his waist, both of them wedged into a shadowy corner by the glass door. The woman screamed, ‘YES, NOW!’ as the man picked up pace, her fur-lined snow boots flapping in time to his pounding rhythm and his lust-fuelled grunts.

‘Oh God,’ gasped Daisy in horror, as she and Melanie hustled Ruby and Will across the road towards their chalet. They howled with mortified laughter all the way home, even though Daisy couldn’t shift the notion that, even in the shadows, the man’s backside had looked startlingly like Christian’s.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Guten morgen! Dx

Hey! Good morning to you too. Did you have fun last night?

Yes. Too much champagne and pizza, skiing is going to hurt today.

I had a foul pork stew with J & M, then walked Henry in the pouring rain. Our evenings were identical, really.

Sounds fun. Have a lovely day.

I will now. Tx

Daisy put her phone on the counter and made breakfast for everyone, a warm, purring feeling in her chest. When the dishes were cleared away, everyone gathered their ski gear from the boot room and did final checks for lift passes, Euros and sun cream, before trudging off to the cable car in the shadow of the mountains, which were backed by promisingly clear skies. They stopped at the hire shop for Melanie to be fitted for some boots and skis, while Ruby and Will retrieved their snowboarding gear from the locker room. The four of them met up again in the queue for a cable car, their equipment and boots clattering as they slowly trudged forward. Each little bubble held six people, so they put their kit into the racks on the outside and squeezed in with an older couple who were immediately and openly mesmerised by Daisy.

‘You are Daisy Crawford, yes?’ gasped the woman before they had even made it out of the bottom station. She had a North European accent – Dutch, Daisy guessed. Or maybe German.

Daisy nodded and flashed her media smile. This happened all the time, although much less often in Vergallen. Silently, she prayed they weren’t going to be awful because there was absolutely no escape for the next ten minutes. She noticed Ruby and Will were looking out of the window, but Melanie seemed fascinated.

‘We are from the Netherlands, we watch BBC on cable,’ continued the woman. ‘We are big fans of Spotlight.’ Her husband nodded, grinning excitedly.

‘Thank you.’ Daisy gave them a warm smile, relieved she didn’t have to listen to an extended lecture on how she could be better at her job. ‘Just having a little holiday right now.’ This was very polite code for ‘please leave me alone’, and the woman took the hint.

Daisy pointed out the weaving paths of black runs and the smoking chimneys of mountain huts to Melanie and Will, as Ruby sent pouting selfies to her friends. As the top station came into view the Dutch woman’s self-control imploded and she asked for a photograph, so Daisy leaned in and smiled so the husband could take a few pictures on his phone. Daisy noticed Ruby rolling her eyes at Will: this was old news as far as she was concerned.

At the top, they all trudged out of the station into the bright sunshine and a breathtaking view across the mountains. This prompted a sigh of happiness from Melanie and a barrage of photos and videos from Will before he and Ruby headed off to the flag marked for the adult beginners’ snowboarding class. Melanie looked around for the beginners’ ski class flag, then took a deep breath.

‘Wish me luck.’ Her voice was wobbly with nerves and excitement.

‘You’ll be fine,’ Daisy assured her gaily. ‘See you later!’

Daisy finished her coffee, relishing the simple pleasure of twenty minutes alone with the morning sun on her face. Streams of skiers poured out of the cable car station, but nobody gave Daisy a second glance. She was entirely anonymous in her fleece headband and huge sunglasses. Anyway, the stunning vista of mountains and huge skies was all anybody wanted to look at.

She pulled out her phone and re-read the messages from Tom last night, not for the first time this morning. She liked how tentative his flirting was; nothing like the absolute filth Christian used to send her. Although she’d enjoyed that too, sometimes. If anyone ever stole her phone they’d find some eyebrow-raising videos of Christian raising his man-flag. She took a picture of the view and sent it to Tom.

It’s a beautiful day in the mountains.

Wow, that looks amazing. Who are you skiing with today?

Just on my own. I’ll meet the others later.

Stay safe. Don’t make me come over there.

Daisy smiled, wondering whether to reply. She wanted to say Don’t think I haven’t thought about it but that seemed like taking their gentle flirting to the next level. And she really wasn’t supposed to be encouraging him, tempting and fun as it was.

She zipped her phone into her jacket and made her way over to the ski rack, strapping her helmet under her chin and pulling on her gloves, then lifting her skis out of the rack and letting them fall onto the snow so she could snap her boots into the bindings. As she looped the straps of her ski poles over her wrists, she sensed the shift in air of someone standing beside her. With some trepidation, she turned. Christian stood looking at her, his hands wedged firmly into the pockets of his black jacket.

‘Hey,’ he said quietly.