Page 54 of Snowed In with You

‘Good,’ said Willem, clapping his hands to break the tension. ‘I’m glad we’ve got that cleared up. Monica, what can we do today, while we wait for rescue to arrive?’

‘It is nearly eleven, so I will make brunch now,’ said Monica. ‘While I do that, maybe you could all help us clean this place up. Bag up all the spoiled food, bring in more logs, make it our home again. So we are ready for guests tomorrow.’ She turned and glared at Gunther. ‘Ulrich is bringing a new generator, so we will have power again.’

‘We’d be delighted,’ said Lucy, looking at Alex. ‘Wouldn’t we?’

‘I am humble and grateful,’ said Alex, pushing his phone across the table to Willem. ‘Make sure you video me cleaning up.’

Nate cornered Lucy a few hours later, as she was sitting at the bar drawing a flyer for Chantal to hand out to customers with the usual lunch menu. Words were Lucy’s forte, but she could also draw some nice pictures if required, which Jonno sometimes requested as he realised that Lucy could scamp up some visual ideas in less time than it would take him to brief a designer. She’d also learned calligraphy as part of her post-Leo art therapy, so she could do fancy lettering. Proper pens would be nice, but coloured Sharpies would do.

‘What’s this for?’ asked Nate, taking in the headline that said AvaLUNCH special – any pizza and 0.5L beer only €10. Underneath, Lucy had drawn one of the Guntherhütte booths laden with pizzas and tall glasses of beer, with snow-capped mountains and trees visible through the window behind.

‘I’ve convinced Gunther and Monica that they should capitalise on their fifteen minutes of fame,’ said Lucy. ‘Apparently Alex gave the name of the bar on the TikTok post he uploaded this morning, so they’re bound to be famous by now. Monica has a photocopier out the back, so I only need to do this once.’

‘Wow,’ said Nate, inspecting Lucy’s artwork. ‘This is really good. Look, can we talk?’

‘Sure,’ said Lucy, putting the cap back on her black pen and trying to quell the butterflies in her stomach. She hated confrontation and avoided big, emotional conversations at all costs. But this one clearly needed to be had.

‘Can we go upstairs? Just for a minute?’

It definitely didn’t sound like much of an invitation, but Lucy nodded and followed Nate through the door and up the stairs to their attic. The air mattresses and bedding were all gone, and the only sign of their occupation was a dark patch on the wood floor where Lucy had left the pile of wet clothes overnight. Monica had re-washed them and hung them by the fire earlier, brushing off Lucy’s apologies for damaging the floor. Monica had pointed out that caring about the floor in the attic would be a whole other level of Swiss.

‘What are your plans?’ said Nate, turning to face her. ‘When we get back?’ He looked pale and nervous, much like he had when they’d met in the airport three days ago. How was it possible that it was only three days? It felt like they’d travelled a lifetime since then.

‘What, to the village?’ replied Lucy. ‘We’ll be too late for our booked flight, so I guess I’ll sort out another one for later tonight. Or tomorrow.’

‘No, I meant when we get back to Bristol. Can we hang out? Grab dinner or something?’

Lucy laughed, trying to buy herself time while she worked out a way to navigate through this conversation. ‘Aren’t you sick of me? Don’t you have family you need to spend time with?’ Like Sasha, for example?

‘No, Lucy,’ said Nate, his expression a little lost, but determined to have his say. ‘I’m not sick of you at all. Last night was . . . I mean, it wasn’t just me who thought that was incredible, right?’

‘No,’ said Lucy with a soft smile. ‘It wasn’t just you.’

‘Right. So . . . what happens now?’

Lucy gave him a penetrating look, wondering exactly what he was asking, but knowing that the answer was simple.

‘Nothing happens now,’ she said, trying to keep her voice steady. ‘You go back to your life, I go back to mine. We both go back to working together, and nobody needs to know what happened here.’

‘OK,’ said Nate, rubbing has hand across his face. ‘I’m glad we’ve got that cleared up.’

Lucy swallowed hard, wanting to tell him that last night had felt special; that Nate was the first man she’d actually woken up next to in over a decade, that he’d made her feel something beyond desire for the first time pretty much ever. But the implications of those feelings were too foreign and terrifying to think about, let alone say out loud. This was how it had to be.

‘It’s been an amazing escapist mountain encounter,’ she said, trying to sound casual even though the words felt like sand in her mouth. ‘But nothing more than that.’

‘Right,’ said Nate. ‘You can chalk me up as one of your – what do you call them? Booty calls? Fuck buddies?’

There was an unmistakeable edge to his voice, and Lucy immediately bridled. ‘That’s how I do things,’ she said. ‘You always knew that, and I’m not going to apologise to you or anyone else.’

Nate’s shoulders slumped, his sails all out of wind. ‘I’m sorry. I’m not judging you,’ he said quietly. ‘It just seems a waste, that’s all.’

Lucy shook her head, wondering how the energy between them could have shifted so quickly. ‘With respect, how is it any of your business?’

‘It’s not,’ said Nate quickly. ‘Obviously I’m not pitching to be your boyfriend or anything.’

Obviously, thought Lucy. You’ve already filled that role with someone else. If there were any more elephants in this room it would be a circus. But she also rationalised that they’d been through a lot together over the past two days, and she probably owed it to him to at least try to explain.

‘Look, I’m honestly happier on my own,’ she said. ‘I don’t need someone to validate me, or, or . . . to make me feel good about myself. Invariably men just leave in the end, anyway.’