Chapter 7: Tobias Tears the Offer

I dressed in the kitchen while Tobias waited in the doorway.

He did not turn his back, and I did not ask him to.

Stefan handed me my sweater without a word and Jonas wiped the table with a dish towel, scarlet to the ears.

Then I followed Tobias down the corridor to the office.

It had been my brother's office once.

His skis still hung on the wall, and his coffee mug still sat on the shelf with a chip in the rim.

Tobias shut the door and leaned against it.

I stood in the middle of the carpet with my arms folded and waited for the shouting.

It did not come.

He crossed to the desk and took a folded sheet from the top drawer, and I saw the figure and the pencil line on it.

It was the offer.

He tore it in half, and then in half again, and dropped the pieces in the bin.

"There is no deadline," he said. "There never was."

"The bank."

"The bank calls me, not you. I told Felix to say noon."

"Why?"

"Because I wanted you out before the road opened."

"Out of the lodge?"

"Out of the valley."

I stared at him.

"Tobias, you watched me last night."

"I did."

"You stopped Felix when he told you I was awake."

"I did that, too."

"Why?"

He looked at his hands.

"Not now," he said.

"That is not an answer."

"It's the only one I have this morning."

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