A Proper Family Holiday by Chrissie Manby

Author:Chrissie Manby [Manby, Chrissie]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
Tags: Fiction, Contemporary Women, General, Humorous
ISBN: 9781444742749
Google: pK_fAgAAQBAJ
Amazon: B00B8TBUTW
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Published: 2014-06-04T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chelsea

Lanzarote was a strange sort of island. It was certainly unlike any place else Chelsea had visited before. The volcanic landscape was more reminiscent of the surface of the moon than anywhere on Earth. Inland, the bright summer sunshine was absorbed by glowering grey mountains that undulated along the length of the island like the backs of sleeping dinosaurs. The coach passed a vineyard, also unlike any vineyard Chelsea had ever seen. Rather than being planted in regimented rows, the grapevines in Lanzarote were planted so that they grew low to the ground, surrounded by windbreaks of grey lava rock. In a voice that suggested the very opposite of enthusiasm, the Scottish guide assured the passengers that the wines of Lanzarote were superb. Chelsea wished she could have taken the tour that included a wine-tasting, but that probably wasn’t such a great idea with Jack in tow. She was in loco parentis after all.

While Jack chattered on about another episode of Captain Tim and the Brain-Melting Bobulons, Chelsea chanced a glance across the aisle. Adam was treating his daughter to a very detailed analysis of the view from the window. He was talking about Lanzarote’s dramatic volcanic past.

‘Remember Vesuvius?’ he asked her. ‘The volcano we saw last year? Well, Timanfaya, the volcano that erupted here, was about the same size as that.’

‘Were lots of people killed, Daddy?’

‘I think most of them managed to get away,’ Adam assured her.

Lily wrinkled her nose as though that wasn’t such good news as far as she was concerned.

‘Is the volcano going to go off while we’re here on holiday?’ Jack asked Chelsea.

‘No,’ said Chelsea, ‘it won’t.’

‘How do you know?’

‘Well, I don’t know for certain.’

‘So it might go off.’ He pressed for details.

‘Yes, I suppose it might.’

‘Cool. That would be exciting,’ said Jack. ‘I would like that.’

Children were perverse little creatures, Chelsea decided. Across the aisle, Adam suppressed a smile. He must have been listening in, just as she had been eavesdropping on him. He glanced in Chelsea’s direction. She allowed the corner of her mouth to twitch upwards in response. A shared joke. Perhaps when they got to the Blue Lagoon, they could encourage the children to make up and resume their cruelly curtailed flirtation. But as the tour’s destination drew nearer, Chelsea grew tense as she realised that the Blue Lagoon car park would just as likely be the next potential flashpoint between Jack and Lily. When it came to getting off the bus, who was going to go first?

As it happened, Adam unbuckled his seatbelt as soon as the bus swung through the car-park gates, then reached for his daughter’s seatbelt. His actions would give him valuable seconds to get ahead, but there was no way Chelsea would actually undo Jack’s seatbelt until the bus had stopped moving. She couldn’t. It would have been irresponsible.

When the bus did finally stop, Adam leapt to his feet. Chelsea did so too, forgetting that she still had her belt on. Jack was paralysed with embarrassment as Chelsea crumpled back down into her seat.

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