He raised a hand to his face, indicating the deep scars along his cheeks. ‘I had a bad wipeout at Pipe Masters. The undertow dragged me over the coral reef, face-first . . .’ She winced at the thought of it. ‘It was a . . . humbling experience. I was just a rag doll in a washer. I’d had heavy drops before and you always know it’s a risk, every wave you catch. But that day I knew, when I surfaced again, that I’d lost the edge I needed to compete at that level. You have to be utterly fearless out there. And after that, I wasn’t.’

She watched him, deciding not to follow up with another question but to let him talk. It was often useful switching up the flow dynamics of the conversation. Sometimes, letting the interviewee ramble could throw up interesting nuggets that might have been kept from an initial response.

A quiet interlude blossomed.

‘Kit knew it too,’ he said, obediently stepping into the silence, falling into the memory. ‘I didn’t need to say a word. He may not talk much but he’s good at reading people; and he saw it in me and understood. It was his idea for me to become his manager. He’s a loyal friend. A good friend. He knew it was a way to give me skin in the game. I couldn’t turn my back on the scene completely.’

‘And yet, you have now,’ she pointed out, indicating the alpine backdrop behind him.

He shrugged. ‘I’m not twenty-five anymore. I’m older, helluva lot stiffer . . . The world has changed. We’re neither of us the same people we were back then. Life happens. We have to know when to move on.’

She smiled. ‘Would you go back if you could?’

‘I don’t deal in hypotheticals. This is my job. Kit Foley’s a snowboarder now. He’s committed and therefore so am I.’

Clover thought for a moment. ‘What’s been the hardest thing, would you say, about the switch up?’

‘Well, getting used to wearing clothes, for a start!’ he laughed, grateful for the steady easing up of the tension. ‘I’ve never worn so many layers in my life. We antipodeans can never get used to the cold in the same way.’

‘Do you think there’s any part of Kit that misses his old life?’

‘No. I think he’s a hundred per cent focused on making the most of the opportunities that are ahead of him. That’s the guy he is. He doesn’t dwell. He’s a doer. I honestly think he’s excited about the challenges coming up.’ It was a stock PR response. He was articulate, warm. She could see his confidence growing again.

‘So you’d say he has no regrets?’

‘None,’ he said confidently.