I’d brought a wheelie bag with an extendable handle that is convenient in airports but not so much on mountainsides, which I managed to move in a bunny-hop, lift-and-drop movement, as well as a sports bag, which I hung over my shoulder. Though it was only mid-afternoon, the mountain was starting to darken as the peak blocked the sun, and, despite the warmth of a few beers in me, I could feel the immediate change. It was like what I’d heard happens on Mars; it snap-freezes come dark. Andy thought he’d go check out the jacuzzi after our drinks and I hoped he’d changed his mind, otherwise they’d have to chisel him out of it.

Despite the temperature, by the time I’d struggled my bags to my half-buried chalet, I’d worked up quite a sweat. The snow was hip high but the staff had shovelled a canyon to my door, which my bag pinballed off as I dragged it. The windowed face of the hut had a protruding awning, so the views remained unimpeded by snow drifts.

As I fumbled with the keys, I spied a torn piece of paper staked with a twig into a mound of snow by the door. I picked it up. Someone had written a message in thick black texta, and the words had started to bleed as the paper got soggy, so it had a creepy feel.

It read: The fridge sucks. Dig.

There was a large S on the bottom right: Sofia. I leaned over and dusted the mound with my hand, revealing the silver tops of the six cans of beer she’d buried for me. Since Michael’s trial, Sofia had been the only one who kept in touch. I’d known my banishment was severe when even Lucy didn’t email me anymore to invite me to her Free Seminars. But Sofia had reached out. Perhaps because she was, like me, an outsider. She’d been inserted into a new family, in a new country, by her father. I say ‘inserted’, but no one climbs the ladder of corporate law by paying enough attention to their children, doting as Marcelo was when he was around, so I really mean ‘dumped’. And while she could never argue that she was unwelcome in our home, I think she could always feel our invisible bubble. After the trial levelled the field, we’d turned from cordial step-siblings into genuine friends. It was why she’d invited me, and me alone, into her bingo game.