Whirling around, his head bent with the motion of pinning the phone to his ear using his bare shoulder, he saw Rebecca’s bedcover was lying half over a piece of paper. Frowning, he lifted the sheet and saw a competition form sitting there. Completed, in Rebecca’s name, for the Alpine Challenge. Wow. She was entering! The client hadn’t drawn breath yet, and he was forgetting points already. Looking away from the form, he pulled open the drawer and found a biro. He didn’t want this job to take all day. Rebecca had told him that she wanted to take him somewhere after work, and he had no ruddy intention of being plugged into the matrix all night.
‘Yes!’ he shouted, brandishing the pen in victory. The client stopped talking abruptly. ‘Sorry about that Steve, just very excited here at the prospect of these changes!’ He spied an empty white windowed envelope and wrote across the back of it. They chatted for a few minutes, and placated and happy now, Steve ended the call. Luke dropped the phone onto the bed, taking a deep breath as he waited for his heart rate to return to normal. That was not a nice, easy start to the day, and they’d both stayed up late last night. He was feeling it today. Putting the pen back in the door, he started to put the things back into the drawer, feeling bad for rummaging in Rebecca’s things. It was weird how comfortable they had gotten with each other already. He’d never felt so close to someone he was interested in, and he’d had relationships longer than a package holiday before. He knew that this was different somehow. He made sure that the drawer looked untouched, and sat down on her bed. A second later, he got back up, realising he’d just sat naked and cold on her new sheets. She would know, the woman was like a bloodhound. Smiling to himself at the thought of Rebecca, he looked back at the entry form. It was just sitting there on the bed, all filled in. Picking up his phone, he gave the form one last look, and headed for the shower.
*
When Luke got back from the competition offices later on, she was waiting for him outside Fir Tree Lodge, ready to ski. Boots on. He spotted her immediately, his face lighting up as he walked towards her. It was dusk, the slopes were quietening off, the colder air sending the families indoors for warm baths and early nights.
‘Wow,’ he said simply. ‘Is this your surprise date?’ She really is healing.
Rebecca shook off the last of her nerves.
‘Yep. You put your forms in?’
‘Eh?’ He looked behind him, as if the offices were standing right there. ‘Er yeah, all in. Shall I get changed?’
*
They headed out and Rebecca didn’t say much for a while. He followed her lead, and he could tell that she was being cautious on his behalf, taking an easy route out to where there was space to be alone. They took things really slowly, till she came to a stop at the side, pushing her skis out and sitting down on the snow. Luke followed suit. Well, he aimed himself in that general direction and she caught his legs and pulled him to safety.
‘You okay?’
‘Yeah, I’m good.’
They took their headgear off, pulling up their fur hoods around them. He shuffled across awkwardly, putting his arm around her. She settled into his side, her head on his shoulder.
‘Look at the view,’ he marvelled. It was great here. Every time he looked around him, he couldn’t believe it was real. It looked like a painting.
‘Still takes my breath away every time.’
He smiled, holding her that bit closer.
‘Back in the bubble,’ they said in unison.
‘What?’ Together again.
They both sat up, looking at the other in shock.
‘What did you say?’ they said together yet again, before laughing at each other like maniacs for a full five minutes. This let to high-fiving, more laughing, and then a fair bit of kissing. They snogged each other’s faces off till they couldn’t feel their lips anymore, and they laughed about that, making silly noises with their icy lips.
‘It is like we’re in a bubble though,’ he said eventually. ‘Whenever we’re together, I feel like we’re just on our own, and everyone else just kind of …’
‘Melts away?’ she finished for him. He kissed her again. He couldn’t bear not to. ‘I read the letter. Was it your mum?’ She’d done nothing but think about it all afternoon. She’d barely been able to put her eyeliner on without jabbing her retina before their date. Dates with goggles demanded excellent eye make-up.
He couldn’t see her face, so it made it easier to answer her. She’d surprised him. She had a habit of doing that.
‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘She was like you. Loved the snow.’
‘Is your dad in a bad way?’
He nodded, and she looked up at him when he didn’t speak.
‘I’ll help you, you know. Hans is great, but another pair of skis won’t hurt. When it’s quiet.’
Luke felt himself relax for the first time that evening. Properly relax. Having a night like this, a week like this, was amazing. He was loving every moment, but the gnawing knot in the pit of his stomach had still been there. It had been there since the moment he’d gone to change for the offices, and seen Rebecca’s entry form on the bed. The drawer was shut, it was filled in, signed. He had literally been about to walk out of the door and take his
