Dreaming of Christmas by T. A. Williams

Author:T. A. Williams [Williams, T. A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781788630955
Publisher: Canelo Books
Published: 2018-07-24T00:00:00+00:00

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After a lovely buffet lunch in their private dining room, at the end of which Zoë had been unable to resist the temptation to have a large helping of Salzburger Nockerl with plum sauce, she retired to the lounge and watched Casablanca with Juliet and Lorna. At the end of the movie, wiping the tears from her eyes as Ingrid Bergman flew away from Humphrey Bogart forever, she got up and looked out of the window. It was still snowing heavily and the branches of the trees along the drive were bowed down under the weight. It definitely wasn’t the afternoon for doing her Christmas shopping, so she made a quick decision.

‘I fancy a swim. Anybody interested?’

The other two shook their heads, pleading laziness, so Zoë went back to her room, collected her costume, pinned her hair up and set off on her own. She took the lift down to the lower ground floor and, as the doors opened, she could immediately smell the thermal spring water. There was just a whiff of sulphur in it – not enough to be repellent, but definitely enough to put her off the idea of drinking it. She found Georg – the staff member who had welcomed them upon their arrival at the hotel – on duty. He gave her a welcoming smile and addressed her in German.

‘Good afternoon, Fräulein Lumsley. My colleague Marcel tells me you speak good German.’

Zoë blushed. ‘Good afternoon, Georg. Only schoolgirl German, but it’s nice to get a bit of practice. So, tell me how this all works.’

He issued her with a big fluffy towel with Grand Hotel Schlossberg emblazoned upon it, and showed her the way through to the luxurious changing rooms. She changed into her costume, folded her clothes away into a locker and slipped the key on its rubber bracelet around her wrist. Then she went through into the pool, hoping it wouldn’t be too busy. Predictably, as most outdoor activities were off the agenda because of the snow, there were quite a few people – mainly kids – in there, but it was a surprisingly big pool and she found she could swim a good few lengths without too much disturbance, doing her best to keep her hair dry as she did so.

She was on her seventh length when she felt a touch on her bare shoulder. She turned to find Grant bobbing up and down behind her.

‘Hello, Grant. Recovered from your ordeal?’

He nodded, obviously glad she was speaking to him.

‘It wasn’t a big deal, really. I think Erika panicked a bit. We weren’t in any serious danger. Listen, is this a good time for us to talk?’

‘Treading water in the middle of a sulphurous pool, surrounded by screaming kids? Why, I can’t think of anywhere better. Besides, what have we got to talk about? I sent you your half of the deposit on the flat months ago, and you collected all your bits and pieces while I was down at my mum’s last winter.

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