What Happens in the Alps... (30 page)

The sky was grey and overcast and there were snowflakes in the air. Not big, fluffy flakes, but small icy particles that swirled around in the light breeze and stung as they touched her face. It was very cold and, for the first time, her little car almost refused to start. It took several tries before the engine caught and slowly began to turn over, coughing blue smoke out of its exhaust. Annie spared a thought for the new car Massimo had promised her. It looked like it was coming along at just the right time.

She got to the hotel before seven-thirty, as dawn was still stubbornly refusing to break, and took up station in the lobby. A steady stream of guests began to appear with their bags and she did her best to say goodbye to them all. From the genuine enthusiasm of most of them, Annie definitely got the impression that the promotional event had been a great success. Gradually, as the morning progressed, more and more people came to say thank you, before leaving. From time to time, Annie spotted Alex in the distance, but he made no attempt to come and talk to her and she stayed firmly on duty with her clipboard.

Twice she was approached by tall, dark-haired men who shook her by the hand and thanked her for the hospitality they had received. She studied them both closely. One was German, the other Belgian. Both were close shaven, but of course they might have had stubble on their cheeks the night before. Neither, however, gave her any sort of vibe of familiarity and as she waved goodbye to them she was quite certain in her own mind that neither had been the man in the golden mask.

Finally, at just after half past eleven, the last guest departed and Annie headed for the coffee lounge. She ordered an espresso and collapsed onto a leather sofa by the picture window. Outside, she could see a few people skiing down the main piste, but the cloud base was still low and, in spite of the luminescent effect of the white covering on the ground, the scene was murky and unwelcoming. Annie gave a sigh of relief that conditions on the two previous days had been so perfect for the visiting agents.

‘Ciao, Annie.' She looked up. It was Massimo and he was holding something in his hand. ‘Here you go; a deal's a deal. Here are the keys to your new car. It's still insured until April so you can drive it away any time you like.' He sat down opposite her and dropped the keys on the table. ‘You can't miss it. It's white and it's the cleanest car in the downstairs car park. I'll dig out all the paperwork and drop it in to you one of these days.' He signalled with his hand and, as a waitress approached, he glanced over at Annie. ‘Another coffee?' She nodded and he ordered the same for himself. ‘Anyway, apart from the keys, I've come to say a huge thank you to you for all your efforts. You were absolutely great and the success of the event owes a lot to you. Thank you, Annie, on behalf of all of us.'

Annie smiled back at him. ‘Thank
you
, Massimo. I'm just glad it all went so well. And I'm still not sure I should accept the car.'

‘What did I say? A deal's a deal. And Alex and I are adamant. You've earned it.'

Mention of Alex reminded Annie of what had been troubling her since the previous night. As it was now clear to her that Alex was not the man in the golden mask, that irrevocably changed the nature of their relationship. Of course she still liked him; liked him a lot. But she wanted more. There was no doubt in her mind. She would have to tell him, and she was dreading doing that. He was clearly very fond of her and expecting their relationship to move on the next level. Hearing that there was somebody else would be bound to hurt him, and that was the last thing she wanted.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of her second coffee, closely followed by a cold wet nose. Leo had clearly been out in the snow and his legs were white. He came charging over and would have climbed onto her lap if she hadn't managed to keep him at bay. Instead, he collapsed onto the floor, rolled over and waved his legs in the air. She smiled and reached down to tickle his ice-covered tummy.

‘Ciao, Annie.' She looked up and saw that it was Alex. The blood rushed to her face and she knew he would notice. She cleared her throat.

‘Ciao, Alex. Glad it's over?' As Massimo was with them, she spoke to him in Italian. In fact, it made things a little easier. Somehow, speaking to him in Italian kept things a bit more formal. Then it suddenly occurred to her that her question to him might be open to a different, more personal, interpretation, and she avoided looking at him by focusing her attention on the dog, whose back leg was now running in mid-air as she scratched him.

Unaware of any possible double meaning, Massimo looked across at Alex and smiled. ‘Ciao, Alessandro. I was just telling Annie how grateful we are to her for everything she's done.'

‘Yes, definitely. Annie, you were wonderful.' Annie had to look up now and she caught his eye, unable to miss the expression of bewilderment still there from the previous night. The waitress appeared a few seconds later with coffee and he took a seat on the sofa alongside her. ‘And you've more than earned your Panda.'

Annie made a few protests but he waved them away. After taking a mouthful of coffee, he turned and gave her a closer inspection. ‘You look tired. In fact, you must be tired, after getting so little sleep last night.' Presumably because of Massimo's presence, he kept his comments opaque and his tone even. ‘You were quite right to get off to bed straight away last night. We all need our sleep.'

Massimo nodded. ‘We're all tired, but the main thing is that it went so well. In fact, I don't think it could have gone any better.'

Annie met Alex's eyes for a moment and then looked back down at the dog again. ‘You're right. It couldn't have gone any better.' Regaining her courage, she glanced back at the two men again. ‘In fact, unless I'm needed for anything else, I think I'm going to go home and sleep for a few hours.'

Massimo nodded. ‘Me, too. I've just had a double espresso, but I've no doubt at all that I'll be asleep as soon as my head touches the pillow.'

Alex nodded. ‘The same with me. Annie, I was wondering you if you felt like coming round to my place for dinner tonight.' He sounded unusually hesitant. ‘Would you like that?'

Annie realised she was in a tricky situation. With Massimo there, she didn't want to attempt to start explaining what had happened the previous night so she took refuge in a little white lie and prevarication. ‘That sounds lovely. I've just got to check on some stuff at home first. I'll give you a call this afternoon, if that's all right.'

Before she got up to leave, she dropped down on her knees and made a real fuss of the dog. She scratched him, rubbed him, tickled him and hugged him. As she did so, she realised that the change in the status of her relationship with Alex might mean she would see much less of her favourite Labrador. In its own way, this was as sad as the knowledge that her relationship with Alex had irrevocably changed. Finally, she bent down and kissed his hairy head before standing up and heading for the garage.

Annie drove home in her new car. Massimo had been true to his word and it was in immaculate condition, even smelling like a new car. Although she felt rather sorry as she left her old Panda in the hotel garage until she could dispose of it, she quickly realised just how nice it was to drive a practically new car. It felt familiar, but different. As she drove down the road to her chalet, she couldn't miss the parallel with the mysterious man in the gold mask; familiar but different, and oh so appealing.

She was back home in her bed just after noon and she went out like a light, only awakening over three hours later. As she lay cosy and warm under the duvet, she looked out through the window at the grey, cold remains of the afternoon outside. Part of her just wanted to lie there and relax, but there were things she definitely had to do. And the first of them was to carry out her promise to go and visit old Signor Lago in hospital. The other thing was more complicated. She had to tell Alex she liked him, liked him a lot, but could no longer see the relationship developing. Ever since the appearance of the man in the golden mask, everything had changed for Annie and she was dreading trying to explain this to Alex, not least as she didn't really understand it herself. First things first; she had to see the old man. She threw back the covers, stretched and got up.

After getting dressed again she made herself a cup of tea and some toast and phoned Janet.

‘Hi, Annie. How did the masked ball go? I'm dying to hear.'

Annie told her all about it, right up to the interlude with the two masked men. Janet was clearly intrigued.

‘So you're saying that the man in the golden mask wasn't Alex?'

‘Definitely.' Annie really was sure of that, even if nothing else made sense.

‘And you really have no idea who it might have been? Erm, Annie, have you considered Matt?'

Annie hesitated. ‘Yes, I have. But I can't see how it could be him. All right, so he and Alex look fairly similar, but Matt's not interested in me in that way.' She paused for thought, uncertain and unsettled. ‘At least I didn't used to think he was.'

‘And now you're coming round to thinking he might be?'

‘Oh, God, Jan, I don't know. I've spent years thinking of Matt like a brother. It's hard to see him in any other light.'

‘And so you're saying he thinks of you like a sister?'

‘I always used to think so, yes. But now I'm not so sure.' Memories of things he had said and done over the past few weeks came back to her; his dumping his girlfriend, his telling her he would happily give up climbing for her, his kindness and genuine affection towards her.

‘I'm not so sure, either.' Janet hesitated. ‘I really think you should ask him.'

‘What? Ask him if he was the man who kissed me so tenderly that my legs went bandy and I almost fell over? He'd laugh himself silly.'

‘But then, at least, you'd know.'

It was a busy Sunday afternoon in the centre of Santorso so Annie parked the car in the big car park near the school and walked along to the hospital. She found Signor Lago dozing and decided to visit Daniela first, to tell her how everything had gone with the tour operators. It turned out her visit was unnecessary. Daniela already knew.

‘Ciao, Annie. Congratulations. I heard that it all went perfectly.' She even held out her arms and Annie bent down to kiss her cheeks. In spite of her decision to break the news to Alex that she no longer wanted their relationship to develop further, she felt a brief stab of jealousy as Daniela went on to tell her how she had heard the news.

‘Alex came to see me an hour ago and told me all about it. Look.' She waved proudly towards the bedside table. ‘He brought me these.' A gorgeous bunch of dark red roses in a white china vase looked very fine indeed. Why, Annie found herself wondering, did they have to be roses? Daisies or chrysanthemums would have been much less suggestive. She shook her head and told herself sternly that Alex's choice of flowers was of no interest to her now that things had changed so radically between them.

She stayed with Daniela for ten minutes before going back to Signor Lago, her jacket under her arm as it was so very warm in there. She found him awake this time and looking quite content. As he spotted her he held out his hands and she went across to kiss him on the cheeks. She sat down beside his bed and told him all about the ball; everything, that was, apart from the masked man whose identity was giving her so much food for thought. He smiled broadly. ‘Alex tells me he's already heard from a Russian operator that they're booking a whole load of beds. It looks like it was a great success.'

He lay back against the pillow, a happy smile still on his face. Annie wondered how happy he would feel when he heard that she and Alex were going to just be good friends, rather than anything more profound. But, at least, for now, she was happy to see him smiling and she told him so. He nodded.

‘Of course I'm happy. Any minute now I'm going to see my daughter. Teresa phoned a moment ago to say she's just arrived in Santorso and she's in a taxi on her way here right now.'

‘Oh, well, then I'll get off and leave you two together.'

Signor Lago wouldn't hear of it. ‘No, please don't go. I'd very much like you to meet Teresa and I know she'll enjoy meeting you.'

No sooner were the words out of his mouth than the door behind Annie opened and she heard a girl's voice, speaking in Italian. ‘
Ciao, papá
.'

Signor Lago's smile broadened and he held up his arms. ‘
Teresina, carissima!
You're here.'

Annie got to her feet and turned to greet her. She heard Signor Lago's voice introducing her to Teresa, but it barely registered. Her eyes were fixed on the girl on the other side of his bed. As Teresa straightened up after kissing her father and turned towards Annie, two things became immediately apparent. This girl was tall, taller than Annie, and had the same dark hair as her brother, Alex. In consequence, unless Signor Lago had two daughters, the little blonde girl kissing and cuddling with Alex at Turin airport before Christmas hadn't been his sister after all.

Unaware of Annie's surprise, Teresa came over and shook hands with her. Behind her, Annie heard Signor Lago explaining that Annie had been helping with the promotional event. Annie shook her head in an attempt to restore some order to her thoughts and managed a reply.

‘Hi, I'm Annie. It's very good to meet you, Teresa.' She spoke in Italian in deference to Signor Lago although by now she had worked out that he spoke pretty good English. But as he and his daughter were speaking Italian it seemed logical. ‘Have you just flown over from London?'

They both sat down and chatted for a few minutes before Annie felt she should leave them to it. One thing she did manage to ascertain in the course of the conversation was that Teresa was indeed Signor Lago's only daughter. As she stood up, another thought occurred to her. As casually as possible, she enquired about the Caribbean holiday Alex and Teresa had had. Teresa smiled back at her.