Page 9 of Snowed In with You

Lucy watched the suburbs of south Bristol fly by, glad that she hadn’t accepted Olly’s offer of a taxi, which came with the risk of having to make small talk with a chatty driver. The Airport Flyer stopped just down the road from her house, and only took fifteen minutes. ‘What about Fran?’

‘That’s why I’m ringing. She’s not coming.’

‘Whaaaaat?’ screeched Lucy, prompting everyone else on the bus to turn and look at her in alarm.

‘I shit you not. She’s torn her Achilles tendon.’

‘Ouch,’ winced Lucy. ‘How did she do that?’

‘Not sure, some kind of incident at spin class, apparently. Got her foot caught in the pedal, fell off the bike, ping.’

‘Holy shit,’ gasped Lucy, swallowing down a dry heave at the thought of how much that must have hurt. ‘Is she OK?’

‘Apparently she’s been to hospital and she’s got crutches and one of those plastic boot things for now. They might need to operate.’

‘Wow, that’s bad.’

‘It’s the gym I feel sorry for. Imagine the chaos Fran’s going to unleash once she’s off the painkillers and fully lawyered up. Still, great news for the rest of us.’

‘What’s happening to her space on the trip?’

‘No idea. Sasha was sorting it out last night.’

‘Maybe it’ll be Derek. He deserves it.’

‘Nope. He’s got a thing, remember? With a bunch of delinquent teenagers. Anyway, I need to chase up this cab, it should be here by now. See you in a bit.’

Lucy suppressed a squeak of excitement. ‘Can’t wait!’ She ended the call and sat back in her seat, her mind racing as she tried to process this unexpected turn of events. Fran not coming was definitely good news, unless of course you were Fran. Then again, if Fran’s space wasn’t taken by somebody else, Sasha would almost certainly latch on to her and Jonno, given that Maya and Olly were their own special kind of mayhem. So maybe it wasn’t such good news, after all.

Her phone vibrated in her hand with a message from her mum, checking if she’d left the country yet. She took a deep breath and tapped out a reply.

I’m on a bus to the airport. I’ll message when I get there.

The reply came through instantly. Please don’t forget. And give me your flight number, so I can get your dad to check when it’s landed.

Lucy took a screengrab of her boarding pass and sent it to her. Sometimes it was hard not to feel suffocated by her mum’s need to be in control, but given everything they’d been through as a family, it was understandable. It came from a place of worry and fear, which Lucy supposed was a kind of love, in its own way.

She put her phone in her pocket and relaxed into her seat, already anticipating swapping the grey, drizzly skies of Bristol for the fresh, crisp chill of the mountains. It would be good for her to get out of this city for a few days, even if the idea of it made her feel nervous and jittery. She’d moved here to be closer to Leo, but she could take him with her to Switzerland. Like emotional carry-on baggage, but since she was only taking a cabin bag, she was limiting her memories to the good ones.

Lucy was lost in her thoughts when the bus pulled up outside the terminal, the air brakes hissing as they came to a stop. She grabbed her wheely bag and hurried through the revolving doors into the warmth, heading straight to the spot where she’d agreed to meet the others. But the only person there was . . . Nate.

She came to a halt by a pillar ten metres away and watched him for a moment, not yet ready to get caught up in the awkwardness of stilted conversation. He had one hand buried deep in the pocket of his dark grey ski jacket, the other scrolling through his phone. A set of headphones were pulled down around his neck, half-covered by his curly hair. He had the same twitching, nervous energy she’d seen outside the pub, like he’d downed one too many espressos and couldn’t keep his hands or feet still. Presumably being dragged into this had been pretty last minute, so perhaps he’d had a sleepless night hunting down appropriate clothing while Fran tried to make her accident all his fault. It seemed obvious now that he would be her replacement, but somehow she hadn’t expected him to make the cut. Without the pressure of having to pick someone who actually deserved it, Lucy had expected Sasha to choose someone a little more client-friendly.

You can’t stand here staring at him all day, thought Lucy. Go and say hello. The idea of being alone in his company made her inexplicably nervous, but what did she have to fear from Nate Lambert? And anyway, Jonno would be here soon.

‘Hey,’ she said, giving him a warm smile as he looked up curiously. ‘I take it you’re standing in for Fran this weekend?’

Nate nodded, his blank expression suggesting he’d rather be anywhere else. Lucy felt a surge of annoyance that he was taking up a space when everyone on the team apart from Derek would have happily taken Fran’s place. ‘Did you hear what happened to her?’ he asked.

‘Yeah,’ said Lucy. ‘Jonno called me earlier. I hope she’s OK.’ Nate’s eyebrow-raise was almost imperceptible, but clearly communicated ‘I know you’re lying’, so Lucy quickly changed the subject. ‘Are the others here yet?’

‘No,’ said Nate. ‘I had a call from Sasha ten minutes ago. Apparently there was a problem with the taxis.’

Lucy blinked, wondering why Sasha had called Nate and not her. Perhaps she’d tried, but Lucy’s bus was hurtling through a signal blackspot. She quickly glanced at her phone for missed calls, but there was nothing. ‘What kind of problem?’

Nate shrugged. ‘I think Olly was supposed to book them, but it seems like he got over-excited about the trip and forgot to send a confirmation.’

‘Oops,’ said Lucy with a grin. ‘Are they all sorted now?’ Jonno and Sasha both lived in tiny villages over towards Bath, and getting a taxi during peak school-run time had probably caused a few headaches. Likewise Olly lived somewhere up near Filton, but presumably he could get a train or a bus. Lucy had no idea where Maya lived.