No One Cancels Christmas. Zara Stoneley

out there, then there’s no going back. ‘Aunt Lynn has sprung a surprise. She’s got to go to Australia to see her old mate Ralph.’

      ‘But . . .’

      ‘He’s dying. Might not last until the new year.’

      ‘Oh.’

      We both take a moment, and another Jaffa cake.

      ‘So why aren’t you going to Australia? I mean, Australia’s nice. You could have Christmas on the beach!’

      ‘I don’t want to be a gooseberry, or kiwi, and she needs to be on her own with him. So, I said I was going to see Mr Brain-freeze Will Armstrong. I kind of jumped in without thinking about it, so she wouldn’t feel bad.’

      ‘Aw, that’s so nice.’

      ‘Look out world, Saint Sarah is coming.’

      ‘Well,’ there’s a heavy undertone of doubt, ‘you did want to go, I suppose. But, not on your own, not at Christmas.’

      ‘It’s fine.’

      ‘I know! I can come!’

      ‘You’ve got Jake and your family. And I’ll be fine, Sam.’

      ‘But, on your own?’

      ‘I’ll meet people, you know I’m good at that. And I am working, remember?’

      She stares at me. ‘But for actual Christmas?’ I nod. ‘And you deffo can’t take Callum?’

      ‘Nope, I dumped him last night.’

      ‘Ah, so that’s why your hair’s blue.’ She knows me well.

      ‘It might have a bearing.’

      She raises an eyebrow and ploughs on. ‘But you can’t spend Christmas all on your own.’

      ‘Well, I won’t be completely alone. Mr Armstrong hasn’t frightened off all his guests – yet.’

      ‘You know what I mean. You’re not going with Lynn, or anybody?’

      I shake my head, not wanting to voice the fact that there isn’t an ‘anybody’, and instead grab another Jaffa cake. I need sugar.

      ‘Well that explains why she rang and told me she was shutting up shop for two weeks over Christmas, then.’ She gets up and puts the kettle on. ‘Paid leave!’ She smiles. ‘How generous is that?’

      So, Sam gets paid leave and I get a fully inclusive break in a snowbound, rundown holiday resort with the Anti-Christmas.

      And he’s already decided I’m an idiot.

      ‘There’s more.’

      ‘More?’

      I hand her the slip of paper and watch the emotions flicker across her open features. If it was me, there’d be a hell of a lot of conflict going on there. Fear, doubt, envy, disbelief. Sam just grins.

      ‘Bloody hell, Sare, this means you’ve got a five-year plan! That is so—’

      ‘Not me?’ Sam know what I’m like. She knows I always like an escape route. That I can’t even commit to a hair colour, let alone a man or a job.

      ‘So amazing! It’s brilliant.’

      ‘It is? Sorry, I mean it is.’ I try and sound positive.

      ‘You love working here, and you’ll be able to look at new places, and redecorate.’ I raise an eyebrow; she’s getting carried away. ‘And tell Will Armstrong where to get off. It’s ace!’

      ‘I’ve never thought about even a five-day plan before. Five years is a bit . . . well, a bit somebody else, not me.’

      ‘You don’t have to think of it like that, though, do you? I mean, you were never going to just up and bugger off and leave Lynn and me in the lurch, were you?’

      She has a point. ‘Well, no, but—’

      ‘This is just kind of giving you more power!’

      I stop my self-indulgent worrying and give her a big hug. ‘Oh Sam, where would I be without you?’

      ‘Buggered, which means you can’t sack me!’

      ‘I’d never sack you.’

      Her eyes are twinkling. ‘But you are going to sort Will Armstrong out?’

      I take a deep breath, disentangle myself and turn back to my computer. ‘Yep, my first priority as,’ I pause; it seems a bit out-there to say it, ‘a company director.’

      I click a button on the keyboard, my fingers crossed under the desk.

      Booking confirmed.

      ‘All done, an all-inclusive break at the Shooting Star Mountain Resort. Watch out, Will, here I come.’

      Bugger, what have I done?