‘Bullseye,’ Luke shouted, high-fiving Rebecca as they both scrabbled to get their clothes from where they had thrown them to the floor.
‘Nice one, ten points for the crown jewels.’ Rebecca threw a sock Luke’s way. They had tiny little computers printed on them.
‘Twenty, surely?’
Pulling on his sweatpants and passing her top to her, he stood over Hans, who was still clutching his nether regions and making a high-pitched keening sound.
‘What about a nipple twist, whilst he’s down?’ Luke suggested.
Rebecca pretended to consider it as she smoothed her hair down.
‘Maybe next time.’ She’d seen the clock. ‘I’m late to get started with work.’ She waved her hands over Hans. ‘Can you handle this?’ Luke yanked his top on and ruffled his hair back. Leaning over his friend, he kissed her on the lips and smiled.
‘After last night, I can handle anything. Don’t watch me out there, okay? I’ll have enough people laughing at me as it is. I left something on the coffee table. Will you read it? It’s why I’m here.’ He kissed her again before she could ask him anything else. ‘Have a good day.’
Domesticated bliss. The thought popped into her head, but she brushed it away. What was in that envelope was going to test that thought.
‘You too. Don’t break anything, for God’s sake.’
He rolled his eyes, sticking his tongue out of the side of his mouth, flashing his white teeth. ‘Me, never.’ Rebecca was just leaving when she heard Hans take Luke down to the floor, and for the second time in as many days, she saw Luke in a floor scrap. This time, laughably tame. Hans had two distinct handicaps. She headed downstairs to get her day started.
*
Luke was seriously regretting his life choices right about now. At one point last night, Rebecca had flipped him off the bed, and now he had a bruise across his bottom cheeks. Not that it wasn’t worth the flip, or the bruised arse, but it did smart on his delicate peach-like skin. Which meant that every time he fell on it, it hurt like being lashed. Hans wasn’t helping either. They’d been on the nursery slopes all morning, and some of the toddlers who had started learning with their parents that morning were already better than him. The last time he’d slipped backwards, he’d skied down further still, catching himself between his tight skiwear clad legs, and two of the kids had pointed and laughed.
‘I hate kids,’ he muttered under his breath.
‘No, you don’t,’ Hans laughed, waving at two of the toddlers, who both stared up at him as though he’d just walked out of Narnia. ‘You’ll be a great uncle. Hey, I can’t wait to tell them stories of how their uncle met their Auntie Rebecca.’ Luke used the pole to pull himself up, crab walking till he felt safe enough on his feet to stand upright again. He eyed the toddlers before he tried, giving them the stink eye. They nudged each other, pretending not to look. Their adoring parents were snapping photos of the pair of them.
‘They should have devil horns,’ he shouted in their direction, placing his goggles back over his eyes again quickly and shuffling away. Hans took a snap himself, his fingers surprisingly nimble in his gloves. ‘Put that away, or I’ll shove it somewhere so hard you’ll never get it out.’
‘Wow.’ Hans put his phone away, but not before sending it to Holly and Rebecca. He captioned it to Rebecca ‘You’ve seen this naked’, laughing his head off as he looked across to the café. Rebecca was just finishing up serving a customer, and Hans could make out her reaching for her phone. He looked away quickly, and his phone pinged in his hand. She’d replied, ‘Yep, and rubbed it on every surface in YOUR lodge. Arse prints are in fashion I hear.’
He guffawed with laughter, Luke looking over his shoulder just in time to read the whole thing. He swatted at Hans, lunging at his throat.
‘You total arse! Why did you do that!’
Hans tucked his phone in a zip pocket and pointed up to the first slope.
‘Cos it’s funny! Come on, grab your lady balls. We’re going in the lift up to that.’
Luke paled beneath his goggles.
‘No, come on. The joke’s over.’
Hans pointed to the family who had just been mocking him, they were headed to the lifts themselves.
‘It’s still the family slope, it’s gentle. Come on, you can’t enter the competition without the basic skills. They’re not slack on safety here. They’re not just going to let you rock up on competition day and break your neck in front of the spectators. It bums people out, you know?’
Luke rolled his eyes at his gargantuan friend, knowing full well he wouldn’t be able to see it anyway.
‘Okay okay, but no laughing, and no photos. I mean it. I don’t want to scare Rebecca off. It’s complicated enough as it is.’
Hans grinned, holding his hands to his heart.
‘I knew you two would get along. Holly said that Rebecca would hate it, but I knew!’ He was waggling his finger now, like a smug dad proving to his teenager that he was still indeed down with the kids. ‘I knew you’d be able to help each other.’
‘You did not. And she did hate me. I made a total arse of myself, annoyed the hell out of her and then …’ Luke smiled, Hans looking at him like a proud parent. ‘Well, she’s just amazing, isn’t she?’ His smile faltered then. ‘I left her the list. Asked her to read it. I don’t want her to realise I’m just a nerd, but I wanted her to know. You know? Even if it doesn’t last.’ He looked down at the snow. ‘Nothing lasts, that’s the point. I’m sick of doing the same thing, day after day. Look at Dad! It nearly killed him! I don’t want that for him,
