‘What, none of it?’
‘Not a thing. We’re driving straight on to the villa. We live right in the middle of London, so we don’t need to see another city.’
‘But the museums, and the Vatican! Not to mention shopping.’
James reached for her arm. ‘All right, steady on. Let the nice people do what they want on their holiday.’
Harriet felt herself blushing. ‘Yes, of course, it’s just a long drive from Rome, that’s all.’ Over three hours, depending on whether they stayed on the motorway or took the scenic route. ‘Couldn’t you get a closer airport? I always like to minimise the travel part as much as possible.’
James made that noise in his throat that she hated. Somewhere between laughing and clearing his post-nasal drip. ‘Except last night when we stayed in London instead of coming straight here this morning.’
One extra night away from home. One! And James wasn’t going to let her forget it.
She took a breath before answering. ‘It was my friend Julia’s fiftieth,’ she explained to Sophie, ‘so we came into town yesterday for the party.’
‘Rome was the only airport where we could get the frequent flyer flights on the dates we wanted,’ Dan said. ‘We’ve done it all on air miles. This way we can really splash out on the holiday, and Sophie gets her pampering.’
Sophie grasped his hand.
The last time Harriet grasped James’s hand was probably when she’d stumbled over the pouffe in the living room.
Billie looked up from her phone as the tide of conversation around them began to swell.
‘Mum.’ She stared at the Departures board on the restaurant wall.
Their flight was cancelled.
James made that noise again. ‘I guess that means the Vatican’s out.’
‘You don’t have to sound so pleased about it, James. The whole trip is probably out. Who knows when we’ll get another flight?’
‘I am sorry, Harriet.’ Then he did reach for her hand. No stumbling necessary. ‘I know you were dead keen to go.’
Chapter 2
Thursday
Sophie’s tears threatened to ruin the first mascara she’d put on in weeks. And she’d had to redo it twice, too, before Dan thought it looked okay. Quick, think of something happy. Puppies. Lottery winnings. Fields of wild flowers. Puppies winning the lottery in fields of wild flowers.
Dan was waving for the waitress. ‘We need the bill, now please.’
‘But our food’s not even here yet,’ she said. That was all she needed: to blub over not getting her egg muffin, too. Puppies, wild flowers, puppies, wild flowers, puppiespuppiespuppies.
‘Sweetheart, think. We can’t risk being at the back of the queue when the airline is sorting out alternatives. You stay and eat your food, though. I’ll deal with the tickets.’
‘Thanks, I am starving.’ She’d skipped breakfast, but at least everyone got out of the house on time.
She wasn’t hangry, just hupset.
As she puckered up for Dan’s kiss, one of the many carry-ons slipped from his shoulder. He shoved it back into place. ‘Should I see if they can box up your food?’ she asked. ‘It might still be warm if we get on another flight soon.’ Please, please, please, she prayed to the rebooking gods, let them get on another flight soon.
But then Dan started shaking his head. ‘Christ, you can’t stay here.’ He said it like it was her idea. ‘If we can get another flight right away, then you’ll need to be there with the passports to check in. You’ll have to come with me.’
The nice woman next to them, Harriet, was on her feet too. ‘Let’s go, family.’ She yanked the luggage out from under their table.
Sophie caught the sharp look Dan gave Harriet. She must have seen it too, because she turned to him. ‘Don’t worry,’ she said, ‘we’ll get behind you in the queue.’
Fat chance anyway of Harriet running ahead of them with all that luggage. She looked like she was moving to Rome. ‘Do you want a hand with your bags?’ Sophie asked as they hurried together towards Customer Services. ‘Dan’s got ours. Let me take one, at least.’
‘It’s fine,’ Harriet said. ‘I’m evenly balanced this way. If you took one then I’d only keel to one side.’ She had the long strap of one bag slung across her body, with another one on each shoulder. They were all full duffel bags, too.
Harriet called back to her daughter. ‘Billie, can you please get sandwiches in Pret for everyone? It’s right there and you can meet us at Customer Services. Here’s money.’
‘What kind?’ Billie asked, catching up to take the notes from her mother.
Harriet turned to Sophie with the question. ‘Me? Oh, that’s so kind, but you really don’t have to.’
‘We’re getting them anyway,’ Harriet said. ‘And none of us has eaten. Any preference? Not a vegetarian?’
‘No, no, we like anything. Thank you. Thanks very much,’ she called to the teenager.
‘Then get seven, please, Billie, one for everyone, and be quick. Customer Services is just ahead, okay? Ring me if you have trouble.’
Crikey, Sophie couldn’t imagine having that kind of authority! She wouldn’t mind those perfect blonde highlights or Harriet’s big grey eyes, either, if the Universe was taking requests.
Up ahead of them, the Customer Services desk was already mobbed.
‘I guess other people didn’t have to wait to pay restaurant bills first,’ Dan said.
‘Sorry,’ said Sophie, catching his eye. Only a miracle would get them another flight now.
‘This feels pretty hopeless,’ she murmured to Harriet as they inched forward in the scrum.
‘Probably, but we should see it out.’
And just like that, pop! went Sophie’s holiday dreams. Nobody ever said ‘see it out’ about something they had any real hope for. Seeing it out was for bad ideas and troubled relationships. They munched their ham and cheese sandwiches, shuffling politely towards the desk, while flight after flight was cancelled.
But they didn’t make it to the front. One of the frazzled airline reps shouted the bad news to everyone: the authorities had just closed UK airspace, and they expected most of Europe to follow soon.
The status of all the flights on the Departures board changed to Cancelled.
‘Bloody ash cloud!’ Harriet and Sophie said together.
‘I’m so sorry,’ Sophie added as she failed to fight back her tears. ‘I know it’s silly to cry over a missed holiday when there are worse things in the world.’
Dan pulled her into the crook of his arm. She leaned against him.
Harriet fished around in one of her carry-ons. ‘With balm or without?’ She held out both tissue packets. ‘This is just ridiculous. I’d still fly. Have you read the analysis? The particulate count isn’t even close to the limit yet. It’s still safe.’
‘This is one thing you haven’t got control over, darling,’ Harriet’s husband said.
‘Too bad, because we’d all be on our way to Italy if I did.’
Wowzers, thought Sophie. If only she had a tenth of Harriet’s confidence.
Dan would know what to do. ‘Will we at least get our money back for the villa?’
‘Don’t worry, if there’s a way, I’ll find it.’ He gave her another squeeze. ‘I am a solicitor.’
Dan could do anything, Sophie thought. Well, except open international airspace.
‘That’s right, I remember now,’ Harriet answered Dan. ‘Me too, though I don’t usually deal with insurance claims. Our policy has an exclusion for natural disasters, although the airlines might still give refunds. I’m sure they did when this happened in 2010. I’ll need to check the cancellation policies of our hotels … and all the tour companies. I guess I’ll have plenty of time away from the office now to look into it.’ She pulled a notebook from her bag. Sophie noticed the neatly lettered coloured tabs that stuck out from its pages. ‘I’ll start cancelling,’ Harriet said.
‘Why are you so sad, Mummy?’ Oliver ask
ed when Sophie blew her nose again. His large, serious eyes peered into hers. So like Dan’s: deep blue and fringed with dark lashes. She’d fallen in love with those eyes the second the midwife had put him on her chest. He’d got his dad’s dark hair, too, thick and wavy, along with his athletic frame.
‘Oh, I’m being silly. I really wanted to have a holiday with you and Katie and your dad, that’s all. But don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll find something fun to do together anyway.’
‘And, we’ll reduce our carbon footprint,’ said Katie. ‘That’s one good thing.’
Even the ash cloud had a silver lining, Sophie supposed. Or at least an environmentally friendly one. Leave it to Katie to find it. She only wished that her thirteen year old didn’t have to fret about things like climate change and polluted oceans.
She glanced at Dan. ‘You will still take the time off?’
He was already scrolling through something on his phone. ‘It would be stupid to use up the days if I don’t need to. What happens when we want to go away later in the year? I wouldn’t be able to.’
Later in the year?! ‘But what if we could find another place to go instead? Here, I mean.’ The disappointment burned in her again. ‘Couldn’t we look for a country villa that we can get to by train?’
She hardly dared to breathe.
‘Villas are abroad, Soph,’ he chided. ‘Do you mean a plain old house? I can look, although with it being the summer holidays, there might not be many options.’
Sophie clung for dear life to that tiny soap bubble of hope. There had to be somewhere they could go. Maybe in the Yorkshire Dales or down on the coast. The weekend supplements were always full of hotels. There must be vacancies somewhere.
But they wouldn’t be free, and they’d already spent so much on the villa. ‘I guess we could put it on the credit cards until we get our refund.’
She pretended not to notice the way Dan’s jaw set. ‘Well, I can’t spend any more now. I might not even get the money back from the villa. I’m not made of cash, am I?’
‘You said we’d probably get it back.’
He smirked at her. ‘I could always shake the magic money tree and see if a few thousand more falls off.’
Of course. She was being selfish. It wasn’t even her money. Dan was the one who worked and there she was, talking about running up their credit cards. ‘No, I’m sorry,’ she said.
‘Maybe this is a stupid idea,’ Harriet said, as she ended one of her calls. ‘But if it’s a country retreat you want, then why don’t you spend your holiday at our cottage?’
Sophie hadn’t even realised she’d been listening, let alone thinking about a solution for them.
‘It wouldn’t cost you anything,’ she continued. ‘That would be all right, wouldn’t it, James?’
He took so long to answer that Sophie felt the need to apologise again. They shouldn’t have to sort out her problems, though she could kiss Harriet for wanting to save their trip.
‘No, no,’ James said, ‘I’m just thinking about it. If you’re after a rural setting then our village is as beautiful as it gets.’ He paused again, inspecting his shoes. ‘I’m from there, so I’m biased,’ he eventually went on, ‘but I think it’s got everything you could want. There are walking paths starting from the property itself. We’ve got some bikes, too. And goats. Do you like goats?’
Sophie didn’t know if she had any opinion on goats.
‘The village pub has good food,’ he added. ‘And ales, if you’re an ale man, Dan?’
Dan wasn’t an ale man.
‘There are plenty of spare bedrooms.’
Then Sophie caught the look on Harriet’s face. She knew a second thought when she saw one. ‘You’re being too generous,’ Sophie said, feeling foolish for getting her hopes up. ‘Thanks ever so much, but we couldn’t stay with you.’ She wished her voice wasn’t wobbling. ‘You don’t even know us.’
But Harriet laughed. ‘You’ve shared your tanning secrets, Sophie, and I’m assuming you wouldn’t steal from us. If you did, I could always report Dan to the SRA. Only kidding! Besides, I’m not suggesting you stay with us. What if you stayed at the cottage instead of us … and we stayed in your house?’
‘You mean, we could stay in London?’ Billie asked. ‘Yeah, that would be wicked! We can, can’t we, Dad?’
James looked like he was facing a firing squad. ‘London?’
‘Yes, James, instead of Rome,’ Harriet said.
‘Why don’t we just go home?’
‘We can’t!’ Harriet said. ‘I mean, we’re already here and packed and everything. I can make London as good as Rome. We’ll treat it just like a holiday. It does have loads of history, and restaurants, music and theatre, museums, walks, architecture. We could even do a Big Bus tour.’
‘I’m tired just listening to you,’ James said.
Harriet frowned. ‘Come on, don’t be a stick-in-the-mud. If you say no then none of us gets a holiday.’
James’s kind eyes met Sophie’s. Then he shrugged. ‘I don’t want to disappoint anyone.’
‘I’m sure you haven’t got the right insurance to cover something like this,’ Dan pointed out. That torpedoed Sophie’s heart.
But Harriet nodded. ‘We have. With James having school groups at the farm, we need full coverage for visitors. Have you got insurance to cover us?’
Dan stiffened. ‘Yes, as a matter of fact, we do,’ he said. ‘We’re fully covered as well. What about rental agreements? I suppose you’ve thought of those, too.’
His tone was snappy, but that didn’t sound like an outright no to Sophie. It might not be Tuscany, but they could have their holiday without running up more credit card bills. Plus, it was a proper away-holiday that Dan could justify taking time off for. If he’d go for it … ‘Could we really do it?’ She was nearly whispering. She didn’t want to spook the idea and send it scampering off, never to be seen again.
‘James is right, it is very nice,’ Harriet added. She tapped on her phone. ‘Here, see for yourself. I took these a month ago for the Scouts.’
But it was Dan who accepted her phone. ‘That is something,’ he said, scrolling through Harriet’s gallery.
When Sophie leaned over for a look, Dan playfully held the phone away. ‘Not so fast, sweetheart. I think you deserve a surprise. You really want this holiday, eh?’
‘I do, Dan, really.’
He handed the phone back to Harriet before scooping Sophie up for a hug. ‘Well then, if we can make the details work … How long were you thinking of doing the swap for?’ he asked Harriet. When she told him two weeks, he said, ‘Ah, I’ve only got next week booked off.’
‘But you could extend it, couldn’t you?’ Sophie asked. ‘Please?’ She was too close to give up now. ‘You must have the days. It’s been so long since we’ve all been away together.’
‘The alternative is for everyone to go home disappointed,’ Harriet added. ‘This way we can at least follow through on our plans and do something with our days off. You’ll miss out on the great Italian food, but there’s a woman in the village who cooks for us when I’m doing crazy hours at work. She’s very good, and I’m sure she could cook for you while you’re there. And there’s even a spa in the village. We’re in the arse end of nowhere but we’ve got a spa.’
Sophie couldn’t wait to be in the arse end of nowhere. Imagine! Being massaged into a permanent state of drooling bliss and not even having to cook.
‘Well, our house is in the middle of everything,’ Sophie said, praying that Dan would see sense on this. ‘There’s lots of room and it’s close to the Tube. Plus all the restaurants, of course, and the culture. Though we never seem to get organised to book tickets for anything.’
‘Don’t worry about us,’ said Harriet. ‘We’re very organised.’
Harriet’s husband made a strange noise in his throat.
‘Couldn’t we please do two weeks, too?’ Sophie asked Dan.
‘Soph, it’s not that easy for me. Not
all of us get to laze around every day. I’ve got work commitments.’
‘But didn’t Jeremy want you to take two weeks off? I’m sure he’d be happy for you to, and think how much fun the children would have.’
Katie and Oliver took their cue, adding their pleas to hers. She could see Dan wavering. He didn’t like being the bad guy in front of other people.
Finally, he said, ‘If it’s what you really want, Soph, then I’ll make the sacrifice.’
Sophie’s mood soared as they swapped details about their homes. They were really doing this! Two whole weeks. More, actually, because today was only Thursday. Dan had been so stressed with work lately that this might actually turn out to be a blessing in disguise.
The next thing Sophie knew, they’d signed electronic lettings agreements and exchanged keys. Dan and Harriet made it all seem so easy. Bish, bash, bosh: new holidays for everyone.
Sophie couldn’t keep the smug smile from her face. All the other passengers might be going home to put their clean clothes back in drawers and check the small print on their travel insurance, but they were getting their holiday after all, thanks to this angel in Terminal 5.
Harriet seemed able to make everything possible. Who was this woman who’d swooped in to save their holiday? Sophie didn’t know yet, but she couldn’t wait to spend the next two weeks in her house finding out. ‘I just can’t thank you enough for this, Harriet. And James! You’re lifesavers.’ Her heart flipped as she said this. They didn’t know how true it was.
Then Dan hugged her. ‘You are absolutely adorable when you’re like this,’ he murmured into her ear.
Sophie bit her bottom lip through her smile. ‘Like what?’
‘I don’t know. Happy. Excited. Grateful, you know, pleased with me, like I’m the best thing since sliced bread.’
‘You’re better than sliced bread,’ she said. ‘You’re calorie-free.’
‘I’ve got an idea for when we get to the cottage,’ he whispered. The way he held her left no doubt about what he meant by that. But they had to get there first.
‘I guess we’ll take the train, then?’ Her eyes searched his.
The Staycation: This summer's hilarious tale of heartwarming friendship, fraught families and happy ever afters Page 2