My Italian Heart

Chapter Twenty Five

We arrived a little over two hours later and I was glad we had made an early start. I could understand why he normally stayed for the weekend. It was a little too far for a day trip under normal circumstances. I had been wishing we could stay overnight before we even pulled up. Hauling up there over Christmas and leaving all our worries behind.

The cabin was probably a little too large for such a label. I couldn't help but think Adam had been downplaying his father's empire. His parents owned the lodge but they rarely used it, which left it free for Adam whenever he wanted. It seemed to say even more about their wealth that they had somewhere so lovely, and I imagined it was expensive, but never used it.

Adam led me through the bright red door, set right in the centre of the cabin's frontage. I tried to think of another word for the building but I came up short. It was made out of wood, but it wasn't the log kind and it's smooth surface had been painted cream. The only colour was the same red as the door on all the window frames and the deeper red of the roof, which was tiled. It appeared by the number of windows to have three floors, but some of the windows seemed almost to be between floors. The whole thing didn't seem to make sense to me, like it was part house, part cabin. It might have been confusing but it had a kind of rustic charm about it.

Once we were inside, we found ourselves in a long corridor, almost the identical cream colour as the outside of the building. Except it had richly varnished pine everywhere. There was a beam of it running along the wall at hip height and beneath that was cladding of the same shade. As Adam walked me down the room that was a little too wide to be a corridor really, we passed little benches, dotted with plush red cushions. Next to each was a baby bookcase complete with leather bound books. I wondered how many people walked down the corridor and had to actually stop for a break.

Adam pulled me through a doorframe with no door and I was greeted by a sprawling pine kitchen with black worktops. It seemed to have every gadget you could imagine on the side, including a very expensive looking stainless steel coffee machine, which had either never been used or someone had taken a great deal of care to polish it.

Adam didn't let go of my hand until I was pushed up against the worktop. The edge of it was digging into my ass cheeks as he leant himself against me. I was sure I felt my cheeks flush. Almost as soon as he had leant against me, he eased off. Lifting me by my hips without warning and depositing me easily onto the counter. I wondered how I compared to the heavy solid wooden doors he was used to lugging around. He certainly made both look equally easy.

"Care to tell me what I'm doing up here?" I asked him, trying to sound more annoyed than I actually was.

"I need to put some finishing touches to some things. It's a better place to watch me from." And watch him I did. It was clear he was more at home in the kitchen than I was. It was almost like he was dancing away to music that only he could hear. I had no idea what he was cooking, being nothing like Mamma or Luca, but it smelt amazing.

"What are you making and why does it contain so much cheese?" He laughed to himself, as though there was a joke going on that I wasn't in on.

"Dauphinois potato gratin with cardoons and German sausages. The potatoes are popular in the French Alps. I spent a lot of time there as a child, not sure why I added the sausages though."

"Luca does that too. Adds ingredients out of instinct without knowing why he's actually done it. According to Rylie, it's what makes him a good chef."

He looked back at me over his shoulder, "I'm no chef, so don't set your standards that high or you'll be disappointed. Right come on, it's ready." I slid myself off the worktop and followed him, expecting us to be going to the dining table, but instead he led me out of the door back into that hallway, again. All the while, he carried the food with him on a tray. It was clear someone must have prepped and started cooking the food for him, but I had no idea who or where they had scurried off to.

He climbed up the stairs, although bouncing up them would be a more accurate description. I had no idea where he got all his energy from but it was enough to make me jealous.

When he started up the second flight of stairs, I groaned inwardly. I already knew Adam was the kind of guy that did sports for the sake of it. I didn't know how, but I just knew. I was certainly not that kind of girl though.

He led me into a soft-petal-pink bedroom. It was bigger than my own and had two great big pine wardrobes, a dresser and the bed was covered in the most whimsical rose coloured bedspread with an intricate pattern on it. I was about to protest when he slid open a door on the far side of the room and stepped through. Following suit, I found a balcony on the other side.

It was more than a balcony, just like the rest of the house. It was the size of a small courtyard, perched up there. Looking out over the slopes. I moved to the edge, all thoughts of Adam disappearing from my mind and I could concentrate on nothing more than the little brightly coloured dots snaking their way down the white powdered-sugar hills.

"It's breathtaking, isn't it?"

"It really is. I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't that. Do you ski?" It seemed like such a stupid question but it was too late to stop it from escaping my mouth.

"I don't actually. I never learnt. When I was young, I started snowboarding and couldn't think of a better way of exploring the slopes. It seemed so wrong to switch my board for skis, so I didn't."

"How often do you come up here to snow board then?"

"Every weekend if I can."

"I knew it." I couldn't help but be pleased with my sleuthing skills. Adam just raised a questioning eyebrow at me as he handed me a fork. I took a huge mouthful of potatoes instantly and didn't regret the burning lava heat of them for a second.

"These are delicious." I scooped up another fork full as we ate from the same dish they had been cooked in. "I guessed you were the sporty kind. The sort that likes to do activity when he's not at work."

"And what do you do when your not working?" I squirmed a bit on the little bench we were seated on, knowing he probably wouldn't approve of the answer. He was so different to me.

"I don't take a lot of time off. I can't just walk away for the day, you know?" Although, I already knew he didn't. I had seen him switch off his work phone when we got in the van, which was something I could never do. "When I do manage to step away, I pretty much just lounge by the pool with a bottle of wine." Thoughts of David swam in my mind. The last time I had been in the pool, I certainly wasn't swimming." Sometimes I go out with Em and Rylie." Adding it on almost like a security blanket.

He nodded, but it was clear my face, especially my cheeks, had given away my flustered nature. It was the last thing I wanted to be discussing at all, let alone with Adam. Then, out of nowhere, he turned his attention back to the food and dropped the whole conversation. Just like that, I was saved from having to get into it all.

I didn't know if it was just him trying to be a gentleman, but he definitely was. When he had opened the van door for me, it made me wonder when was the last time a man had done it. The truth was I didn't think any man had done it for me, well aside from Pops, who used to always do it for me when I was little. Adam reminded me of him a little. The over-exaggerating and play acting was just how it used to be with Pops when I was young. Every time Adam acted like that, it made me just as happy. Spreading a warm glow through me as though the sun had finally come out after a long cold winter.

It felt like he had wiggled his way into my life just when I needed him. The only time I seemed to smile was when I was with Adam and I was eager for it to continue.