Page 107 of Counting Down To You

Chapter

33

As it turns out, the hotel knows how to do New Year’s Eve very well indeed. There are plenty of options for ways to spend the evening in Châtel, but most of the guests staying have decided to join us for a party in the restaurant, with the most exquisite canapés anyone has ever seen, courtesy of Marco, a selection of new cocktails designed by the bar staff and a live band, with an area cleared for a dance floor for later. Candlelight flickers around the corners of the rooms, where guests chat in their finery, and fairy lights hang tastefully around the low wooden beams.

I stand near the bar, sipping a champagne cocktail and helping myself to one of the sweet canapés—a mocha madeleine—which started circulating around 10:30 p.m. I’m usually skeptical about events where canapés are the only food on offer, but there have been so many, and such a variety, that I don’t feel hungry at all. I’m chatting to Ed, who has a night off driving, and I’m trying to make my cocktail last, because it’s far too drinkable.

“So what do you reckon?” Hands clap down on my shoulders, and I turn to see Lucie scanning the room critically, her dark hair twirled up into its signature chic bun. “Everyone seems to be having a good time, right?”

“Absolutely,” I agree, looking to where the band is getting ready to start a second set. I reckon people may be tempted to dance this time. “You’ve done an amazing job.” And she has, given she had barely a week to pull it all off, what with me absconding and Leo camping out in London. The hotel doesn’t seem to have suffered, though, and when I came back, side by side with Leo, the first thing Lucie said to me was, “You better not be here to take my job back.”

So I haven’t. Lucie is now officially the guest-relations manager for the rest of the season, and the recruitment process has started for a front-office manager. I’m stepping in on a temp basis to help when needed, but instead of being full time at the hotel I’ve been putting my energy into helping Stuart prepare for the New Year’s Day walk—the main reason I need to make my cocktail last. And, after that, I’ll help get the hiking business back up and running, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to love every moment of it. Yes, I’ll need to supplement my income and, yes, it’s not necessarily a long-term plan, but it’s a plan for now, and after everything I’ve been through this year, that feels like more than enough to be getting on with.

In the end, it was easy to hand my notice in. When I had the call with Farah a couple of days ago, Cal had been right: Farah said she was thrilled that I was finally taking some time to figure out what I wanted to do. And that if I ever decided that what I wanted was to go back into recruitment there would always be a place for me there.

The one thing I do need to sort is the living situation. It seemed only fair that Lucie get the cabin, given it is a perk belonging to the GRM, so I’ve been staying with Leo in his cabin, and while it’s been working, with a few benefits both of us are definitely enjoying, I’m aware that it’s way too soon to be living together. So I’m on the lookout for somewhere to stay nearby and already have a couple of options to go and look at, given how the grapevine works around here. Because one thing is for sure: I’m staying in Châtel until the end of the season, with Leo. Then we’ll see. I suppose it depends partly on what happens with Leo. He managed to get his medical pushed up by a few days. And he passed second time, yesterday. We’re saving the celebration for after New Year’s Day. So he is on track to become a rescue skier, which means his job may take him somewhere new at the end of the season. But one thing at a time, and for now I’m trying to find a balance. I’m living in the moment—but I’m feeling hopeful about the future.

Ed raises his beer to Nick, who has appeared out of the kitchen on the other side of the room, then nods to Lucie. “You’ve done a fantastic job. I’ll catch up with you both later.” And he moves across the restaurant to chat to Nick, leaving me and Lucie alone. We’ve not had much time to catch up since I’ve been back, what with the hotel being short-staffed and various Christmas and New Year requests from the guests. Regardless, this is something I should have addressed before now. But better late than never, right?

“I’ve been a shitty friend,” I blurt out.

Lucie harrumphs. “You’ve been an absent friend, more than anything.”

“I should have told you this before, but I lost someone, at the beginning of the year. My best friend. I’ll save the details for another time, but I…” I push a hand through my hair. “It’s been hard, I think, to let someone new in after that.” Lucie doesn’t say anything, but her gaze sharpens on my face. “But I want to try to make it up to you, if I can.”

Lucie nods slowly. “You sticking around?”

“I am,” I say firmly. “For the next few months, at least.”

“Good. It was going to be a pain to find a new friend, after I’d only just filled the vacancy.”

I laugh. We’ll be okay, I reckon. I didn’t ruin the friendship. I just delayed cementing it—that’s all. And there will never be another Robyn. But that doesn’t mean I can’t find space for new people in my life.

Lucie’s gaze travels to the edge of the dance floor, where Leo is in full-blown manager mode, chatting to a VIP couple—apparently the woman is CEO of some massive company in America.

“Did he fix things?” Lucie asks.

“He fixed things,” I say with a nod. “Although, I don’t think it was only for him to fix.”

“You make a good couple, you know. Maybe I was a bit harsh on him, before. Maybe he just hadn’t found his person yet, and that’s why he could never make it work.”

I sip my cocktail to hide the emotion that wants to clog my throat. Lucie doesn’t know about Leo’s heart, and it’s not my place to tell her. So she doesn’t know that it wasn’t about finding the other person. It was about figuring out himself, first.

Lucie squeezes my arm, maybe seeing some of the emotion I’m trying to hide. “If he breaks your heart, I’ll kill him.”

I laugh, just as someone new makes their way into the restaurant. An older man, walking with a slight limp. Lucie sees the direction of my gaze, squeezes my arm again, then heads off to circulate around the guests.

“You came!” I say, stopping short of a hug I know he wouldn’t appreciate.

Stuart grunts in response. “Wanted to see what all the fuss was about. And thought I’d check up on you, ahead of tomorrow.”

I raise my glass. “This is my second and last, I promise. I’m going to be on top form.”

He waves away a tray of canapés as a waitress brings them past. “I believe you.”

I hesitate. But tonight, maybe, is about making things as right as I can, about stepping into New Year with a clean slate, and endless possibilities ahead of me. “Stuart? I’m sorry I bailed on you.”

He grunts again. “You came back, didn’t you?”