What did he mean by that? Was the broken ski an excuse?

I’m not going to let him draw me in like this. He’s probably just trying to put Will down.

‘Yeah. It’s a shame. But it doesn’t matter, I’ll see him later. And he sent you, so …’

That came out wrong. I meant he was thinking of me, not that …

A grin spreads across his face. ‘Yes he did. And it’s been nice getting to know each other a little, hasn’t it? Shall we have another drink?’

I look out the window. It is snowing even harder now. It’s cosy and warm in here with the fire on and I can’t face going out into the cold yet.

‘One more,’ I say. ‘And then I’m going to go back to the chalet to warm up in the sauna.’

In the end, we have three more. And two coffees. It is almost half past three by the time we leave the restaurant. Adam hands me his poles and hoiks my skis onto his shoulder without a word, for which I’m grateful – even though I’ve almost got the hang of carrying the skis now, I’m going to struggle in driving snow, horrendous wind and after all those drinks.

The wind bites at my face as we trudge back along the short road to the chalet and my hands are absolutely freezing in spite of my thick gloves. I think about how much I’m looking forward to the heat of a sauna. Adam puts the skis in the lockers in the boot room and pulls off his hat.

‘Whew! Some kind of weather, hey? Hope Will and Nell are OK and don’t get stuck in the other valley or anything. They might be closing lifts soon if it goes on like this.’

‘They do that?’ I ask.

‘Yeah, sometimes. But don’t worry – you’ll have Will back this evening. Even if they do have to close lifts, they’ll lay on buses. Only time he’d get stuck is if he just misses the last lift because of his own stupid fault. So let’s hope he got his ski sorted.’

‘I’m sure he will. He’s pretty resourceful,’ I say.

Adam gives me a look. ‘If you say so,’ he says dismissively. By now we are at the doors to our rooms, which are opposite each other. I’ve a feeling their room is bigger and smarter than ours, and probably with a better view.

‘Right. I don’t know about you, but I’m absolutely freezing. I’m going to get changed and then maybe I’ll see you in the sauna?’ he says.

I blush. Would Will mind me being in the sauna with Adam? I guess not; it’s no different to being in a swimming pool with someone.

Or is it? I don’t have that much experience of saunas.