What Happens in the Alps... (25 page)

Next morning dawned clear and bright, but bitterly cold. It took her half a can of spray de-icer and some energetic scraping to clear enough of the windows to be able to see into the car. Her next problem was to get into it. She had to resort to holding the key in the flame of the gas cooker for some seconds to warm it sufficiently to melt the ice that had formed in the lock. When she finally got in, there was ice on the inside of the windscreen. Even so, her faithful little car started, albeit with a certain amount of hesitation, and she let the engine run with the heating full on until the windows cleared. When she sat down in the driving seat, even through her thick jacket it was still absolutely freezing and she was very pleased she had put on thick tights under her jeans. She drove out onto the main road and was relieved to find she was able to drive down to the school without difficulty.

Paolina was already there, wearing a fur-trimmed woollen dress that looked like something out of
Doctor Zhivago
. In fact, as it was absolutely freezing outside, it was, for once, a very sensible choice of clothing. Annie gave her a smile and headed for her office, not yet ready to be cross-examined on the previous night's events. She picked up the phone and called Alex. He answered almost immediately.

‘Hi, Alex, I hope you weren't sleeping after your broken night.'

‘Hello, Annie. No such luck. I've been up for a couple of hours trying to talk to some important agents in Korea.'

‘What's the news of your dad?'

‘It was his hip. They're going to give him a hip replacement, but the surgeon can't get here until Monday. In the meantime, he's having to stay in the hospital and, by the sound of it, he'll be in for a week or two afterwards. I'm afraid he's not very happy about the delay, but he insists on having this one particular specialist and the man's down in Sicily doing something.'

‘Oh, the poor thing. Do you think I could go in and see him?'

‘I'm sure he'd love that, Annie. Anything to cheer him up.'

‘I'll pop down this afternoon.'

‘You do that.' There was a pause. ‘Last night was wonderful. We must do it again.'

‘Preferably without a trip to the hospital.'

‘Damn right. The problem's going to be when. I've just heard that I've got to go down to Rome tomorrow and I won't be back until Monday morning.' Annie felt an acute sense of disappointment. ‘I'm really, really sorry. And next week's going to be crazy, getting everything ready for the big event. Now, I have to get back to work.' There was another pause. ‘I just can't wait to get you alone. Ciao.'

Annie put the phone down. Just for a moment she found herself wondering what it was that was drawing him to Rome for a weekend. Surely there would be very few people working on a Saturday or a Sunday. Of course, she thought to herself, the hotel trade was a 24/7 operation so presumably one day was the same as another to them. Even so, she felt a little peeved that he was dashing off yet again.

Signor Lago was lying almost flat in the bed, his face grey and weary, showing all of his years. Nevertheless, no sooner did he see Annie than his face brightened into a smile. He raised his arms towards her. ‘My dear, how lovely to see you. Thank you so very much for coming.'

Annie leant down and kissed him warmly on the cheeks and he patted the back of her neck with his hand. She pulled up a chair and sat down beside the bed. ‘How're you feeling?' It wasn't the most inspired of openings, but he didn't seem to mind.

‘Sore. And bored. They tell me I've got to stay here like this for another four days until the operation. I can't do anything for myself and I feel really fed up.' He smiled at her. ‘At least I did, until I saw you walk in the door. So, what's your news? How's everything going with you? When does your school open?'

Annie sat and chatted to him for half an hour, telling him everything that they were doing at the school, and she saw his face regain some colour and animation as she did so. She resolved to call in and see him again before his operation, although she had no doubt that the next two days would be crazy for her. Finally, at half past three, she left him and walked back down the stairs and out into the cold. She returned to the school and found Paolina smiling at her from behind her computer.

‘Ciao, Paolina. What's new?'

‘Another three enrolments yesterday evening and Paul says he's bringing two friends in tonight who're interested. If it goes on like this, we'll be full before long.'

Annie grinned at her. ‘Wishful thinking. I reckon we can cope with two hundred before we have to kick Matt out on the street.'

‘Matt's gone to Turin.'

‘Business or pleasure?'

‘Business, I think. He said something about a film studio.'

Annie remembered that his blonde friend from the TV was married to somebody in the film industry. Maybe the trip to Turin wasn't business after all. No sooner had she thought it than she dismissed it. What Matt did was his own business. She looked across at Paolina. ‘So, how are you getting on with Matt? Is he giving you much work to do?'

Paolina shook her head. ‘Hardly any, and I'm getting on really well with him. I thought you said he was after anything in a skirt, but he's been as good as gold with me and Rita.' She lowered her voice, although they were the only ones there. ‘Much to Rita's disappointment, I would add.'

‘And yours, maybe?'

Paolina shook her head. ‘Not now, Annie. I've got Paul, and things are going really well with him.'

Annie was delighted to hear it. ‘I'm just going across the street for a coffee. Can I bring you something?' Just then the phone rang. It was Massimo from the Hotel Montalto.

‘Hello, Annie?' He sounded flustered. Annie wondered if something had happened. It had. ‘We have a grave and terrible problem. No, not just Signor Lago's fall. It's happened again. This morning Daniela – you know, my personal assistant – was skiing when she had an accident; a serious accident. She was airlifted to hospital and I've just heard that she has a bad break to both the tibia and the fibula of her right leg. That's both the main bones in her lower leg. She'll have to be kept in hospital in traction for up to three weeks and then she'll be bolted into some sort of metal cage contraption for God knows how long. She may even end up lame and she'll be off work for months.'

‘Oh, Massimo, that's awful.' Annie was appalled. All right, Daniela had been pretty hostile to her the other day, but this was simply terrible. But, the bad news didn't stop there. Massimo went on, his voice positively sepulchral.

‘In ten days' time we've got the big promotional weekend coming up and Daniela was going to be in charge of the whole thing, checking to see that it all goes smoothly. Now that she's out of the equation we're…' He searched for a more polite word, but nothing could do justice to their predicament. ‘We're screwed, Annie. Sorry for my language, but we're totally screwed.'

‘But what about Alex… Alessandro? Surely he could run things.'

‘He's already fully committed. He's responsible for all the public relations stuff as well as the outdoor activity programme. No, it can't be done.'

‘And there's nobody else?' Annie was thinking hard.

‘Nobody… well, almost nobody.' There was a pause during which Annie began to guess where he might be going with this conversation. ‘Erm, there's you, Annie.'

‘Me? But I don't know anything about the hotel.'

‘That's unimportant. We can make sure you know all you need to know in a matter of days. What we need is somebody personable, friendly, very organised, who's fluent in Italian and English and, if possible, French as well. Do you speak French?'

‘Yes, I did French at university, but how on earth can you expect me to step into her shoes at the last minute like this?'

Massimo snorted dismissively. ‘You'll be just fine. Don't worry. You and I can go through everything well in advance so you know exactly what needs to happen when. But, can you spare the time? Your school opens next week, doesn't it?'

‘On Monday, yes. When would you want me?'

‘For as many hours as you can give us starting next Tuesday until the following Sunday. The important days are Friday and Saturday. If you could arrange to be here most of the time on those two days that would be great.'

Annie mentally ticked off the things that needed to be done. She knew she would have to be at the school every day for an hour or two, to keep an eye on things. And then she was supposed to be teaching up at Montalto on Tuesday and Friday afternoons and doing the conversation classes some mornings. However, with a bit of juggling, she should be able to manage to give him what he wanted. Apart from the fact that she liked Massimo and wanted to help him, and apart from wanting very much to help Alex, she owed Massimo a debt for having given her the big teaching contract. There was no other way. She said yes.

‘Of course I'll do it, Massimo, and I promise I'll do my very best to be with you most afternoons, maybe an occasional morning. I can still teach the class on Tuesday afternoon, but we'd better reschedule the Friday one.'

She heard an audible sigh of relief from the other end of the phone. ‘Annie, that's magnificent. As for the classes up here, we'll just cancel them for next week. That way you can come up here to help out, starting on Tuesday afternoon. All right?'

‘Perfect. I've got a class here until noon on Tuesday and then I'll come straight up to Montalto.'

‘Thank you so very much, Annie. You can't imagine what a relief that is for me. But we haven't even talked about money yet. I spoke to Alex and he said to pay you whatever you wanted.'

‘I don't want money. I'm just happy to help out. That's what friends are for.'

‘We rather thought you might say that, so I have a counter proposal for you. Instead of money, how about a car?'

‘A car?'

‘Hang on; I'm not talking about Alex's Ferrari. You drive an old Panda, don't you?'

‘Yes… I love my old Panda.'

‘Well, how about a newer Panda?' Before she could answer, Massimo explained. ‘When all the construction work was going on, we needed a runabout for the site manager and for running any odd errands. We bought a Fiat Panda at Easter. It's only done a couple of thousand kilometres and it's like new. Or at least it will be once I've had it professionally valeted. How about a nice little white Panda to replace your rusty old one?'

Annie was speechless. ‘I couldn't possibly accept that. No, you keep the car. I'm happy to do it for nothing.'

‘Sorry, Annie, that's the deal. Take it or leave it.'

She took a deep breath, trying to argue her way out of it a few more times before eventually accepting the offer. As she set the phone back down again, she was still in shock. A new car?

Paolina was staring at her. ‘What's happened?'

‘Another accident at Montalto.' She went on to recount what Massimo had told her. Paolina was very sympathetic towards Daniela.

‘Skiing accidents can be awful. A friend of mine at school was killed, you know.' She changed to a more cheerful subject. ‘At least neither of the accidents happened to your boyfriend at Montalto.'

‘He's not my boyfriend.' It was an instinctive response but, in fact, as Annie paused for thought, she had to admit to herself that it maybe wasn't so far from the truth now. Anyway, she sincerely hoped that he would soon earn the title of
lover
. The
boyfriend
appellation could come later. ‘But, yes, thank goodness he's fine.' She glanced at her watch. ‘Right, I need a coffee. Want anything?' Paolina shook her head.

When she got back to the school, she found Paolina bubbling with excitement. No sooner had Annie come in than Paolina handed her a letter. ‘A messenger brought it just after you went out. Look, it's from the fire brigade.'

Annie tore the envelope open and beamed with joy. The letter was the confirmation that no fewer than nineteen firefighters required English-language tuition. Even better, they intended to join the other adult courses on weekday evenings. Without counting the hotel employees up at Montalto, the school now had over a hundred and fifty enrolments. Annie looked across at Paolina with a beaming smile. ‘Prosecco?'

‘What else?'

Annie was just on her way to the fridge to get the bottle when the doorbell rang. It was Janet. Annie gave her a smile. ‘Hi, Jan. Want a glass of Prosecco? I'll be back in a flash.'

‘Never say no to a glass of fizz.' Janet hung up her coat while Annie went to get the wine. After Annie had poured and distributed the glasses, Janet looked across at Annie. ‘So, what are you girls celebrating?'

‘Students. We've got loads of enrolments.'

They clinked their glasses together and then sat around chatting about the events of the past few days. It was only when Annie told her about Daniela's accident and Massimo's plea for help that Janet galvanised Annie's attention. ‘It's just as well I dropped in. I was wondering if you wanted help in choosing your dress for the big ball, Cinderella.'

Annie sat bolt upright. ‘You're right, Jan. I'd forgotten all about it.' She glanced at her watch. It was almost six, but all the shops would still be open for at least another hour. Her eyes fell on the fire brigade letter once more and she smiled. At least she should be able to afford a nice dress and maybe some shoes, and some new underwear…

Chapter 21

More snow fell over the next three days, but Annie didn't have time to go skiing. She spent all day at the school and in the evening she took the new teachers and Paolina out for dinner. By the end, she was really pleased at how well they appeared to be knitting together into a coherent team. At ten o'clock, after they had split up for the night, she walked back to her car. Seeing lights on in the school, she went up to investigate. She found Matt in there, still hard at work at his computer. She offered to make him a cup of coffee and then she sat with him as he drank it.