What Happens in the Alps...

Matt stopped and turned towards Annie. ‘So where are you living at the moment?’

‘I’ve been squatting in the school, but now that I’ve got builders and decorators in there, I moved out last week. Do you remember Janet? Her husband Guido used to be one of your climbing pals. I’ve been staying with them at their B&B, but with the winter sports season about to start, I’m going to need somewhere of my own as soon as possible. They’re getting busy and they need my room, so it’s find a new flat as soon as possible for me or I’ll be out on the street.’

Matt nodded. ‘Of course I know them, although I haven’t climbed with Guido for a while. I’ve got my spies out, looking for a flat to live in just like you. Finding accommodation up here is bloody difficult. Everywhere seems to be rented out on a weekly basis to skiers in winter and walkers and climbers in summer. If I hear of anywhere, I’ll let you know.’

Annie nodded. ‘And I’ll do the same. I’m looking hard.’ She stood up and shook hands with Luisa, then gave Matt a kiss on the cheek. It had been very good to see him again. ‘Drive safely and be a good boy.’

He smiled down at her. ‘You know me, Annie.’

‘I do; that’s what worries me.’

‘So what about our Matt, then, Annie? You two going into business together at the drop of a hat sounds a bit cosy.’

Annie caught the waiter’s eye and raised a finger. As he made his way over to them through the maze of tables and chairs, she glanced across at her sister. ‘A drop of fizz wouldn’t hurt us, would it?’ After asking the waiter for two glasses of Prosecco she formulated her reply. ‘Hardly going into business together. I’m just talking about renting him a room. And it’s not as if we don’t know each other well. Matt’s great. I’ve known him for the best part of ten years although we’ve rather lost contact since the funeral. He and Steve were best buddies.’ Annie paused for a moment, her eyes fixed on her empty coffee cup, determined to keep her feelings firmly under control. Now, after over two years, it was still tough, but she was managing better as time went by.

She remembered the old days, when she and Steve had first started dating. Matt and one of his many girlfriends had so often been around. Annie could remember so many times when they had been up here in the mountains together; Steve and Matt doing some terrifying climb, while she and Matt’s latest sat down below and did their best not to worry too much. Dismissing the image, she returned her attention to Karen.

‘Although he’s got this translation business, he trained as a lawyer. He might be just the person I need to help me through a sea of red tape.’ She glanced up. ‘The Romans invented bureaucracy over here and Italy’s been getting worse every year since then. It’s a total bloody nightmare.’

‘Handy sort of chap to have around.’ Karen gave her a little grin. ‘But I was wondering if there might be anything developing between you two on a more personal level. You can’t tell me you haven’t noticed how utterly gorgeous he is. And he likes you a lot; that much is clear. Might it be time for you to start thinking about finding yourself another man?’

‘Me and another man? No way, Karen. As of now I’m concentrating on the school and that’s that. Even if I wanted, which I don’t, I haven’t got time for men at the moment.’

‘Not even him?’ Karen was grinning. ‘For a moment back there I was seriously considering divorcing Chris and throwing myself into Matt’s muscular arms. He’s irresistible.’

Annie was smiling by this time. ‘Oh, he’s a handsome devil, all right, but he’s got the morals of a tom cat. At least he always used to be like that and I don’t see him ever changing. Every time I saw him he’d have some other poor girl eating out of his hand, but they would never last. Use and discard would appear to be his motto and I fear our friend Luisa will soon discover that to her cost.’ She caught her sister’s eye. ‘Matt doesn’t understand the concept of monogamy, I’m afraid. He’s certainly not the man for me, even if I was in the market, which, like I say, I’m not.’ Her voice dropped. ‘I had Steve. I lost Steve. That’s it for me.’

‘Life goes on, Annie.’

‘Of course it does.’ Annie tried to sound as positive as she could. ‘And it is. That’s why I took the plunge and decided to open my own school.’

Chapter 2

After taking Karen to the bus station next morning, Annie drove back up to Janet’s lovely old bed and breakfast. Janet was in the kitchen, preparing breakfast, so Annie dumped her coat in her room and came back down in search of a coffee. Apart from Janet, the dining room was empty

‘Coffee?’ Janet didn’t wait for a reply. She knew Annie well by now. ‘So, what’s on the cards today?’

‘I’ve got a visit to the accountant first thing and then it’s into the school to see how all the work’s going.’ A series of builders, decorators and other tradesmen had been transforming the first-floor apartment into a school and seriously depleting Annie’s bank balance for the last few weeks. She was just hoping that she would have enough money to pay for all the work. Yet again, she felt a shiver of apprehension. ‘Oh, yes, and I’m probably getting a visit from Matt.’

Janet glanced back over her shoulder, her hands occupied with the coffee machine. ‘Matt? You mean Matt Brown? We haven’t seen him for a while. Is he still living down south?’

‘Yes, he’s been in Florence, but he says he’s planning on moving up here.’

‘To Santorso?’ Annie nodded and Janet grinned at her. ‘It would be good to see Matt again. He was in Turin for years and then he moved away, but he still came up here to climb. At least up until a year or two ago. Is he still as gorgeous as ever?’

Annie smiled back. ‘Karen certainly thought so.’ She went on to relate their chance meeting with Matt and his girlfriend. Janet was impressed when she heard about the girl from the TV.

‘So he’s still the same old Matt. I suppose the leopard doesn’t change his spots that easily. So why’s he moving up here?’

Annie told her what he had said and explained about his maybe renting a room at the school from her. Thought of room rental reminded her of the ever-more pressing matter of finding somewhere to live. ‘I’m going to spend this week seriously looking and, if I haven’t found anywhere by the weekend, I’ll move out of here and back into the school.’

‘You could always share a flat with Matt.’ Janet’s grin was positively mischievous.

‘Yes, and be kept awake every night by the bedsprings in the room next door. I don’t think so, thank you.’

‘Well, if he’s got time, bring him up here for a coffee this afternoon. It’ll be so good to see him again.’

When Annie got to the school around mid-morning, she found that there was now a fine new sign on the wall by the front door advertising the fact that the Santorso English Academy was on the first floor of the building. Even better, upstairs on the first-floor landing, the new illuminated sign was now hanging over the door. Even if there still wasn’t any furniture in the classrooms, at least it was looking like a school from the outside. She pressed the bell and Paolina buzzed her in.

A light dusting of snow had fallen while she had been with the accountant. After shaking her jacket off, she hung it on a hook by the door and headed for the room marked Reception, the only properly decorated, furnished and finished room in the school at the moment. The heating in the reception area was full on and the place was boiling hot. This was no doubt because Paolina, oblivious to the weather outside, appeared to be wearing little more than a lacy top and a short summery skirt that day. Annie walked in and set her bag down on the front desk.

She had discovered a few weeks back that Paolina’s hobby was scavenging local junk shops for old clothing that she then transformed into outfits for herself. So far, Annie had seen her in everything from a nineteenth-century ballgown to an ancient fireman’s uniform. She was a very pretty girl, in her mid-twenties, with long dark hair, and she somehow managed to carry off all but the most outrageous outfits. Today’s blouse was charming, although the moths had clearly had a go at it and either Paolina or her mum had embroidered colourful Alpine flowers over the worst of the holes.

‘Ciao, Paolina, how’s it going?’

‘Ciao, Annie. Everything’s fine. There was a phone call from a Signor Lagrange who wants to speak to you. He’ll be here in half an hour.’

At first, the preponderance of French names everywhere had come as a surprise to Annie. Santorso was in Italy, but its roots were French, going back to the time of the Kingdom of Savoy, and many of the locals still spoke a French-based patois. Annie didn’t recognise the man’s name and she wondered what he might want.

She changed from her lovely warm, fur-lined boots into indoor shoes and returned to her office to check her messages. There was a short text from Karen telling her she was just arriving in Geneva, and an email from her mother, asking if she was coming home for Christmas. Annie glanced at the calendar and sat back in thought. Christmas was less than a month away and she knew she had to make a decision. On the one hand she knew she should make the effort to go and see her mum, but on the other there was the fear that something terrible might happen here while she was away. Still, the longer she waited to make a decision, the more expensive the flights would become.

She stared out of the window. The school occupied the first floor of a fairly modern building and she had chosen the location because of the large, free car park right outside. It was still snowing, but not very hard, but with the overcast sky it looked, and was, cold out there. Trees, pavements and flower beds were dusted with white, while the roads were a mucky brown mess of salt, grit and ice. As she watched, the unmistakable noise of the snowplough scraping along the tarmac reminded her she needed to get the antifreeze level checked in her car. Although they were only at just over a thousand metres here in Santorso, she knew it could get very, very cold.

She had only had that one cup of coffee for breakfast, and she realised she was hungry and thirsty. A glance at the clock on the wall told her she just about had time for something before the arrival of this Signor Lagrange.

The bar was directly opposite the school, right alongside its sister establishment, the pizzeria. Crossing the slushy road without soaking her feet wasn’t easy, but Annie managed. At the bar she ordered a cappuccino and picked up a croissant filled with apricot jam. As she consumed her belated breakfast, she chatted to Signora Toniolo who owned and ran the place together with her husband, Beppe. Although Annie had only been in Santorso for a few months, she knew them both very well by now and liked them a lot.

She glanced around the room. Although it was the ground floor of a modern block, the walls had been lined with rough logs to give an Alpine chalet effect, and huge cow bells hung above the bar. Only a few of the tables were occupied this morning, but Annie knew this was only a temporary seasonal lull. As soon as the ski lifts opened and the winter sports season started in earnest, this bar and all the other town-centre bars would be packed with tourists from all over Europe and even as far afield as Russia and China. Brits made up a high proportion of the numbers and were responsible for an even higher proportion of the alcohol consumed. But, in spite of the recent snow, only the highest ski lifts were open at the moment and the season proper wouldn’t start until they had a real good dump of fresh snow.

Her phone started ringing. It was Matt.

‘Hi, Matt, how was the Grand Hotel and the show?’

‘Hi, Annie, the show was awful, but I was expecting that. I’ve never been a fan of Italian music, at least not since Puccini. As for the hotel, it was… you know me. I’ve never been one for these flashy places. All just a bit too glitzy, really.’

‘And the company?’

‘Nice.’

Annie thought she knew him well enough to recognise his choice of vocabulary for what it was. ‘Just nice? Nothing a bit special? Beautiful girl, luxurious surroundings, snowflakes fluttering down from a starry sky?’ Just for a moment she found herself wondering how it would feel to be with Matt underneath a starry sky. There had been a time, if she were totally honest with herself, way back when she first met Steve, that she had rather liked the look of Matt. He was tall, he was undeniably handsome and he had always been so very friendly to her. But she had chosen Steve and had no regrets. That was unless you counted Steve’s fatal obsession with danger.

‘You don’t get snowflakes and starry skies together. And, yes, it was a good night.’

‘So when are you seeing her again?’

There was the slightest pause. ‘Probably sometime soon, I expect.’ Matt didn’t let her press him any further. ‘So, how about I buy you lunch today?’

They arranged to meet at one o’clock. Annie put her phone away, very pleased that he might take one of the rooms for his translation business. However questionable his private life, she knew she could trust him and rely on his advice, and with all the responsibilities she was now carrying, that felt good. She glanced at her watch, swallowed the last of her coffee and headed back across the road.

Back at the school, she had only just started writing a reply to her mum’s email when Paolina appeared to tell her Signor Lagrange had arrived. Annie went out to meet him. He was a slim, balding man, maybe in his mid or late fifties, with a friendly, suntanned face.

‘Signor Lagrange? My name’s Annie Brewer. What can I do for you?’

He shook her hand. ‘Good morning. I’ve been advised to come and see you by a good friend of mine. You know Matthew Brown, I believe?’

Annie smiled back at him. ‘Yes, indeed. Would you like to come through to my office?’ Together they walked back along the corridor and into her little office. Annie apologised for the rather Spartan surroundings. ‘I’m afraid I’m waiting for the new furniture to arrive.’ He took a seat opposite her. ‘So how come you know Matt?’

‘We share a love of the mountains. He and I often go climbing together.

‘So you’re a member of the Santorso Climbing Club?’ Annie kept her voice expressionless.

Signor Lagrange nodded. ‘Yes, for many years.’ His face became more serious. ‘I was fortunate to know your late husband very well. We were all devastated by his death.’

Annie nodded, but made no response apart from murmuring, ‘Thank you.’

He leant forward. ‘Anyway, I’ve come to see you in your professional capacity as the director of this new school of English. I have a problem and Matt tells me you’re the person to solve it for me.’

‘Anything I can do to help.’

‘Are you, by any chance, familiar with the new Montalto Hotel?’ Annie certainly was. The ski resort of Montalto was situated directly above the town; a fifteen-minute drive up a series of tight hairpin bends that climbed hundreds of metres in a short distance. In fact, one of the places she was planning to visit in her search for an apartment was Montalto. The new hotel was being heralded as the valley’s latest five-star hotel, offering luxurious accommodation to visitors, as well as employment to a good number of local people.

‘I certainly am. It must be nearly finished by now.’

Signor Lagrange nodded. ‘Yes, indeed. Anyway, I’m the general manager of the hotel. As part of my duties, I have to ensure that our staff all have a satisfactory command of English.’ Annie leant forward in her turn. This was sounding promising. ‘This is where you come in.’

Annie resisted the temptation to get up and hug Signor Lagrange, but it took willpower. Here she was, the school not yet open, being presented with the sort of contract she could only dream of. ‘I’d be delighted to help.’

Together, they discussed the details and Annie soon realised that there was going to be enough work in this one contract alone to keep a teacher fully occupied for months and months. She spared a thought for the two new teachers she had engaged to start in January. It looked as if she was going to need them both. She and Signor Lagrange discussed everything and she arranged to come up to the hotel the following week to meet the staff and do a preliminary assessment of their levels. Finally, they shook hands on it and she promised to email him everything that afternoon. He looked relieved.

‘That’s excellent. The hotel opens to the public in March, so if lessons can begin early in the New Year, so much the better.’

Annie thanked him and stood up. But, before leaving, Signor Lagrange had one more surprise for her. He dropped an envelope on her desk. ‘It’s very important you get to know the hotel and the ski resort as well as possible. That’ll help a lot when you’re teaching my staff. I thought you might like one of these.’

Intrigued, Annie opened the envelope and pulled out what looked like a big credit card attached to a blue ribbon. It took her a moment to work out what it was. As she realised, her breath whistled out. ‘A season ticket?’ She looked up at him in wonder. ‘You’re giving me a season ticket to the ski lifts?’

He was smiling more broadly. ‘It’s a full season lift pass. Matt tells me you’re a very keen skier and I thought you might like one. I’ve got half a dozen to give to VIPs. You’re the first.’

Annie very nearly kissed him. She had been skiing for as long as she could remember and she always bought a season ticket. A split-second calculation told her this little piece of plastic was worth hundreds and hundreds of euros. She felt quite overwhelmed.

‘But… really, this is too much.’

He waved away her protestations and then caught her eye. ‘Your husband and I were good friends. It’s the least I can do.’

This time Annie did hug him. ‘Thank you so very much, Signor Lagrange.’

‘Massimo. Please call me Massimo.’

‘Thank you, Massimo. And I’m Annie.’

He saw the expression on her face and smiled at her. ‘I’m very pleased to meet you, Annie.’

Matt arrived, as arranged, just after one o’clock and Annie’s first act was to hug him as well. When she released him he took a step back and smiled at her. ‘And I’m pleased to see you, too.’

She smiled back and told him about her visit from Massimo Lagrange and the amazing business opportunity he had offered. ‘So, lunch is on me, Matt.’

She showed him round the school, giving him his pick of rooms for his translation business. He chose the first room on the left, opposite the reception area. This was a medium-sized room looking out over the car park and it had its own little bathroom. Annie apologised for the garish colours on the walls, but he declared himself perfectly happy to redecorate if he felt it necessary. She saw him looking hopefully towards the reception desk and she explained that he would have to wait to meet Paolina until another time as her lunch break started at twelve-thirty. She gave him a serious look. ‘But, remember what you promised. All right?’

‘Yes, ma’am.’ He affected a totally unconvincing air of servility.

They went across the road to the pizzeria. She ordered a mixed salad while he chose a bistecca alla valdostana, and they nibbled olives and bread sticks while they waited for the food to arrive. Annie decided to steer clear of the subject of blonde Luisa and, instead, she told him all about her plans for the future. She avoided talking about Steve and told him how she had reached the decision to go it alone.

‘I’d been working in the same place in Turin for seven years and I’d just had enough of it. The trouble with teaching is that it’s so cyclical. You’re there at the beginning of term, you teach the class until the end of term and then they leave and move on, but you stay put. And, to be honest, I was pretty much running the school, but getting paid peanuts. It was getting me down.’

He nodded, sipping his water. ‘I can imagine. My life in Florence has been getting me down, too. The trouble with working from home is that you never get out. Nobody cares whether you’ve shaved that morning or whether you’re even wearing clothes.’ Annie’s eyes flicked over his stubbly face and he grinned. ‘All right, that was a bad analogy. I don’t shave every day anyway, but you know what I mean. That’s why I specifically want my office to be separate this time. This way I live in one place and I work in another, almost like a normal person.’

‘Nobody could accuse you of being a normal person, Matt.’ She was remembering just what easy company he was. After he left Turin years ago, Steve had missed him a lot; and so had she. In fact she had missed him more than she had ever admitted, even to herself. She looked up at him, a smile on her face. Over the past few years, she reflected, smiles had been in very short supply.

After lunch, Annie insisted upon driving him out of town to say hello to Janet at their new B&B. As she turned into the narrow road leading up to the old house, she looked across at him. ‘I’d love to find somewhere like this for myself. Can you imagine?’

Matt shook his head ruefully. ‘Some hopes. I’ve started asking around, but I’ll probably just have to take what’s going. There’s so little on the market up here and I’m so tight for time at the moment. And I’ve just heard that I’ve to get back to Florence today. So I’ve got a four-hour drive back down there when we get out of here, but I’m planning to come back at the weekend for a few days to see if I can find an apartment to rent.’

When Janet saw Matt, she rushed across and threw her arms around his neck. ‘Matt, you don’t look a day older.’

‘And you, Janet, look as gorgeous as ever.’ Matt turned to Annie with a smile. ‘It must be the mountain air. You both look fantastic. I can barely keep my hands off the two of you.’

The girls exchanged glances. No, Matt hadn’t changed.

‘Matt! Ciao, caro.’ Guido emerged from the corridor and came over to give him a hug. ‘How long’s it been? A year, two years?’

‘At least two, Guido.’ Matt shot a glance across at Annie. ‘The last time you and I climbed together was with Steve.’ Annie did her best to remain impassive.

‘You must come and see us more often, Matt.’ Janet caught his eye. ‘Annie’s told us you’re coming to live up here. It’ll be just like old times.’

Again, Matt glanced at Annie. ‘Not quite like old times.’ His voice was low. Annie took a deep breath and managed to make an effort to reply.

‘Not like old times, but time goes on. It’s the future that’s important now.’ The more she said it, the more she found she was starting to believe it.

After coffee and biscuits with Guido and Janet, Annie drove Matt back to where he had parked his car. This turned out to be a rugged-looking pickup truck. She looked across at him with a grin. ‘So what happened to your old Land Rover?’

He shrugged. ‘When it finally packed up on me, I sold it to a chap in Lucca for spares. But I managed to get this thing cheap. One of my jobs this year was down in Cinecittà in Rome. They’d acquired two or three of these for some movie and they were selling them off at the end of production for a fraction of list price. It’s got a few dents and scratches.’ He caught her eye. ‘There’s a mark on the dashboard that they told me is Johnny Depp’s blood.’ Annie wasn’t sure if he was joking or not. ‘Anyway, if the predicted heavy snow really does arrive tonight, I’ll need the four-wheel drive.’ He leant over and kissed her on the cheek. ‘Thanks for lunch and thanks for renting me the room for my office.’ He opened the door of her little Panda and hauled himself out into the cold. ‘I guess we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other from now on. You know, Annie, I’m glad; really glad.’

‘Me, too, Matt.’ And she meant it. It was a wonderful coincidence that they had both chosen this time to relocate to the mountains. The past two years had been so terribly lonely for Annie. It was going to be so very good to have an old friend at her side. And a very handsome old friend at that. Which reminded her. ‘Just remember you promised you’d keep your hands off Paolina.’