T Williams - What Happens in the Alps...

‘I should’ve called.’ She saw that he, too, stopped to catch his breath before continuing. ‘So, where are you these days? Still in Turin?’

Annie shook her head. ‘No, I’m up here now.’ She saw a flicker of interest in his eyes. For Luisa’s sake she switched to Italian. Karen knew the story well by now. They had been talking about little else all weekend. ‘I decided the time had come to make a change; a big change. After years of working for other people, I’m opening my own English-language school up here in Santorso.’ The blonde girl looked interested.

‘What a good idea. Whereabouts? In Santorso itself?’

Annie nodded. ‘Yes, I’ve leased a big apartment bang in the centre for the school.’ She and Matt exchanged glances. ‘It was time for a change. Get on with my life again.’

Matt nodded, but, mercifully, didn’t pursue the subject. The last two bleak years of her life were a subject Annie preferred to avoid. Instead, he expressed interest. ‘I’m looking for an office as well; at least, somewhere much smaller would do for that. I’m fed up of working from home. I need to separate business from pleasure. To be honest, just one decent-sized room with space for me, a computer, and a few bookshelves. So far all I’ve found are big places.’

Annie had a sudden idea. ‘You know, Matt, I might just have a solution for you. The flat I’ve taken for the school is pretty big; too big for me, really, at least for a while until the numbers build up. I reckon I could easily do without one of the rooms if you want to rent it off me as your office. Would that help?’

Matt beamed. ‘That would be amazing. Are you sure?’

Annie thought about it and the more she did, the more sensible it appeared. And some extra cash coming in would be a big help at this uncertain time. Of course Steve hadn’t had any life insurance so she was using all her savings plus an expensive bank loan to set up the school, and the finances were tight. And, although she hadn’t seen Matt for ages, she knew she could trust him and she had always liked him. She looked up and gave him a smile. ‘I’m absolutely sure. Are you around for a few days? Why don’t you call in and take a look.’

‘That’s great, Annie. I should be able to make it tomorrow. When’s the school opening?’

‘I’ve just had the brochures printed. The Santorso English Academy opens its doors to the public on the fifteenth of January. I just hope I get lots of students.’

Karen knew her sister well enough to see the conflict in her head. ‘It’ll be great, Annie. Just you wait and see. You’ll be fighting them off in a few weeks’ time. Everywhere you look around here there are hotels, restaurants, ski lifts and tourists, so English has got to be pretty well essential for anybody in that business. And Paolina says the same.’

Luisa glanced at her watch and held out her wrist towards Matt. He nodded. She stood up and excused herself, heading inside to the ladies’. Matt waited until she was out of earshot before asking, ‘Who’s Paolina?’

‘She’s my newly appointed school secretary/receptionist. In fact, if you decide to take a room off me we could share her if you like. As soon as the publicity starts I’m hoping she’s going to be busy talking to potential clients and convincing them to part with their money.’

Karen smiled across the table at them. ‘I like Paolina. And she’s very pretty. I imagine that helps attract the male students in a place like Italy.’ Karen had been introduced to Paolina the previous day.

‘That helps attract males in any country.’ An expression of heightened interest spread across Matt’s face. Before he could comment further, Annie leapt in to lay down the ground rules.

‘But if you do join us, it’s hands off Paolina, Matt. Got it? If she turns out to be as good as I think, I don’t want you doing your usual act and then dumping her.’ He raised his hand as if to protest, but she hadn’t finished. ‘Promise me you won’t lay a finger on her, or I won’t rent you that room after all.’

Matt raised both hands in surrender. ‘All right, all right, I promise. Paolina is off limits. Message understood. So, tell me, is your phone number still the same? I’ll give you a call tomorrow and hopefully we can meet up.’

Annie nodded. ‘Yes, still the same. Fine. So what’s on your programme for tonight? Are you and Luisa staying up here or is there some other girl waiting for you in Turin?’

‘We’re going to the casino down the valley at San Daniele. There’s a big show going on and we’re booked into the hotel there for the night.’

Annie was impressed. The Grand Hotel was very, very expensive. ‘Just come into an inheritance, have you?’

He shook his head with an expression that could almost have been one of embarrassment. ‘Erm, I’m not paying. She gets the room free because she’s performing there tonight.’

Annie shot him a look. ‘Performing? Are we talking performing as in singing, dancing, or something more exotic?’ Annie was grinning at him.

‘She’s presenting it. You know, introducing the acts and so on. She’s a bit nervous about it and she wanted me to come along to hold her hand.’

Annie had little doubt that the girl’s hand was not going to be the only part of her body to be held by Matt at the Grand Hotel that night. By the dreamy expression on Karen’s face, she was also imagining the scene to come. Annie caught his eye.

‘So is it serious this time, Matt? Am I going to be hearing more about her in the future?’ It was unlikely. Matt’s list of conquests read like a phone book with the pages fanned by the wind. If he had ever started carving notches on his bed head, Annie felt pretty sure that there would be precious little left of the bed by now. He gave her a little smile.

‘I like Luisa. Did you recognise her? She reads the news on Torino Channel Seven.’

Annie didn’t watch a lot of television, but she suddenly realised that she did in fact recognise her.

‘Have you been together long?’ Karen was clearly interested. Matt’s expression returned to one of mild embarrassment.

‘Erm, no, not really. We met at a party in Turin last week and one thing led to another.’

‘Whose party was that, Matt?’ Although she and Steve had lived there for almost ten years, Annie hadn’t been back to Turin for some months now.

‘It was a company do. Her husband’s something big in the film business and I’ve been doing some work for them.’

Annie was more surprised by the fact that Matt’s translation business now had links to the Italian film industry than the fact that his latest girl was married. There was nothing unusual about that at all. Karen’s face, on the other hand, was now a picture; part disapproval, part awe. This came as a surprise to Annie. She had never thought of her big sister as being the type to be attracted to a bad boy, but then, Matt tended to have that effect upon women. She suppressed a grin as she saw the look on her sister’s face. Clearly, Karen thought Matt was rather nice. In fact, considering Karen was a happily married woman, it looked as though she was finding him rather too attractive. Annie coughed to attract her attention and grinned as Karen dropped her eyes guiltily and pretended she hadn’t been staring at him.

Luisa returned to the table and Matt stood up. ‘Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get off.’ He held out his hand to Karen. ‘Goodbye, Karen. I hope I see you again.’

Karen also jumped to her feet. She wasn’t letting him off with a handshake. Annie grinned as her sister took two steps forward, grabbed him by the biceps, and kissed him on his stubbly cheeks. ‘Bye, Matt. I’m sure I’ll see you again before too long. I can’t wait to bring the family out here once Annie’s found herself somewhere to live.’