Chapter Ten
Four days to Christmas
Mel sits cross-legged on the bed, having told Finn to get out and go get dressed somewhere else. She holds her phone out in front of her as her parents’ faces fill the screen.
“Hello, darling!” Her mum’s brow puckers. “Where are you?”
She should have known her mum would notice she wasn’t at home—her mum knows the exact shade of each room in Mel’s flat.
“Priya and I staying in an Airbnb for a couple of days, you know, to catch up properly.” Does it make her a bad person that she can lie to her parents this easily?
“How lovely. Whereabouts is that?”
She says the first place that comes to mind. “Er, Oxford.”
Because, obviously, she can’t tell them what she’s actually doing.
Her mum had liked Finn, but when Mel had told her about the breakup she’d come down hard—no one treated her only daughter like that, she deserved better than that, she had half a mind to march on around there and tell him what’s what. That kind of thing.
Her dad, more sunburned than when she’d last seen him, leans into the camera. “I hope this means you’re taking some time off, Melly?”
Her mum waves him away. “Stop that. We’ve got a business-minded daughter and she likes to work.
She’s putting the time in now to secure her future, aren’t you, Mel?
And we’re proud of you for it,” she continues, without letting Mel answer.
“You’ve already accomplished so much more than I ever did.
I knew you were destined for big things—didn’t I always say that? ”
“You did,” Mel agrees. Had, in fact, reiterated it multiple times when Mel had been working at the clothes shop in London. “And you’ve accomplished plenty, Mum.”
“Hear, hear,” pipes up her dad.
“I could have done more,” her mum insists.
“I could have been more ambitious.” Instead, her mum had always been there for Mel—driven her to various clubs, been there at school pickup, asked about Mel’s day—and never complained.
Mel hadn’t realized how lucky she was on that front until she’d gotten older.
They’d wanted another child, Mel had found out in her teen years.
But Mel never felt her mum’s sadness that a second child wasn’t to be—only her desire to help Mel succeed.
And only when her business was up and running did Mel feel like she’d made her mum proud.
She’s now a businesswoman, running her own company, a master of her own fate—or so her mum says when she’s boasting about Mel to friends.
“In fact,” her mum continues, raising her voice as excitement creeps in, “I was going to wait to tell you this, but we’re not going to see each other until after Christmas and that’s too long…” She gives an expectant pause, then beams into the camera. “I’ve signed up for a business course!”
“What? Really?” She glances at her dad for affirmation, who nods in a bemused sort of way.
“Yes! It’s just at the local college, but it’s got great reviews, and I can do it part time. It’ll give me something to focus on—and, you never know, maybe I’ll be where you are in a couple of years!”
“That’s…” Mel doesn’t know why she’s so surprised—only that her mum has never expressed any interest in business before now, and does, in fact, tend to glaze over whenever Mel talks about anything other than the general.
But, still, that doesn’t explain the sinking feeling.
Maybe I’ll be where you are in a couple of years.
It’s a compliment—she’s being ridiculous.
She works up a smile. “That’s great, Mum. ”
“Well, you inspired me. Of course, I have no idea what the business might be, but this is the first step, isn’t it? And you can help me, can’t you?”
“Of course I can.”
Her dad swings an arm around her mum. “My two girls, taking the world by storm.”
The bedroom door opens a crack, and Mel sees Finn peeking inside. She frowns, gesturing that he should absolutely not come in, and he backs away.
“Someone there, love?” her mum asks.
“Ah, just the B and B owner,” she says, inventing wildly. “Coming to clean the room, no doubt. They can come back. Anyway,” she says, perhaps more loudly than is strictly necessary, “how is it there?”
“Oh, it’s marvelous. You know, I’m not sure why we never traveled before.”
“Might be something to do with that pesky mortgage,” her dad says, though he looks more relaxed than she’s seen him in a while.
“Oh, shhh. You know what I mean. Mel, we met the most delightful couple on the beach yesterday, a few years younger than us, only just married. We’re meeting them for dinner tonight in this place that’s supposed to do the most delightful seafood…
” Mel lets her mum talk, content to listen and nod along, happy to hear that her mum is happy—and happy that she isn’t having to answer any difficult questions about what, exactly, she and Priya are doing for the holidays.
Which reminds her—she needs to schedule in a call with Priya, if she can.
Although she sounds like she’s having a good time, it can’t be easy, spending Christmas so far away from everyone she knows best.
Her mum is still talking—now on to the pros and cons of eating on the beach, cons including sand, wind, and direct sunlight—and Mel is nodding automatically, though downstairs she can hear Susan calling up, rallying the troops.
They are heading to the supermarket as a group to buy ingredients for the three-course meal that Susan is getting them to prepare.
They’re going to be split into teams, Come Dine with Me style.
All the courses have to be Christmas-themed, and of course Susan has divided them into couples.
Not only that, but she and Finn are saddled with the main course—which will take actual preparation and time and can’t be cinnamon ice cream with a sparkler.
She thinks she hears Kristen’s voice, rising from below. “I’m just saying, Mark, if you’re staying anyway then you could tidy up a little while we’re out.”
“Mel?” her mum says, frowning into the screen. “Are you listening? Gavin, has the Wi-Fi gone again?”
“Sorry, Mum, I’m here. But I’ve got to go. I’m sorry—Priya and I are heading out.”
“That’s nice. No problem, love. We should probably have a little nap before dinner. We’ll call you soon, okay?”
“Absolutely. Bye!” She waves at them both, making her voice loud enough to cover the noise of Hattie playing with Freya downstairs.
She sits where she is for a moment, pulling her laptop toward her to bring up her email automatically. Finn had insisted she stay here and work while he headed with the rest of the family to the supermarket—and although he’s told them all that, it’s hard not to feel like she’s hiding away in here.
There’s a knock at the door and Mel looks over.
“Is it safe to come in?” Finn asks. She hesitates, then nods and he pushes the door open the rest of the way. “How are your parents?”
“Good. Loving Zanzibar.”
“Have to admit, I’m struggling to picture Gavin in Zanzibar.”
She smiles, thinking of how happy her parents look. “Do you know what, it kind of suits them. I think they might have the traveling bug after this.”
There’s a moment of quiet between them, and Mel realizes they’ve actually come close to having a civil conversation. She glances at her screen, rather than risk continuing it.
“I just came to tell you we’re off,” Finn says, raking a hand through his hair. The jumper he’s wearing rises, showing off a sliver of skin at the top of his jeans. She looks back at her laptop—though for once there are no urgent emails to distract her. Time of year, she supposes.
“Okay. Thanks.” He’s almost backed out of the bedroom when she changes her mind. “Finn?” He looks back at her. “Can I go instead? To the supermarket?”
He raises his eyebrows. “You want to go?”
She shrugs. “Yeah. If that’s okay.” She hates that she is asking permission—but they are his family, after all, not hers.
“Of course it is. If you’re sure.”
“I’m sure,” she says determinedly, shutting her laptop and getting to her feet.
Because, do you know what, she doesn’t want to be here alone, stuck in a bedroom working while most people are off.
She has plenty of things she could do, and she definitely needs to prepare for the call with Lillian Hart, but she decides, then and there, that those things can wait.
It ends up being a girls’ trip, seeing as Mark basically refuses to join, Finn and Mel are trying to limit their time together, and Hattie is still waiting for Dylan to arrive.
Mel finds herself sandwiched in the back between Hattie and Freya’s car seat, and has a moment where the whole thing feels ludicrous, like she’s an impostor gate-crashing a perfectly happy family.
A spy, sent to destroy them from the inside out.
Stop it, Melanie.
But she can’t quite quell the guilt.
They have to drive for what feels like actual hours to make it to the nearest big supermarket, and when they arrive Freya is desperate for a wee.
Kristen takes her hand and they head off to try to find a toilet, while Hattie grabs a trolley.
The supermarket is playing tinny Christmas tunes, an array of discounted Christmas decorations on sale right by the entrance.
Hattie throws a couple of “reduced to clear” advent calendars into her trolley, then grins at Mel. “Let’s supermarket sweep this.”
With that, she’s off, leaving Mel and Susan together, walking up the crowded aisle. Mel scans the list she made on her phone, holding a basket in her other hand.
“I’m glad I’ve got you alone, Mel,” Susan says.
Mel looks up, immediately tense. Does Susan know?
Is she going to call Mel out on it? “I wanted to say I’m so glad you and Finn worked things out.
” Mel’s stomach clenches. “I could never understand it, what happened at Hattie’s party.
I hoped Finn would come to his senses, talk to you.
When two people love each other like you do, you should be together. ”