We'll have a Wonderful Cornish Christmas by CP Ward

Author:CP Ward [Ward, CP]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: AMMFA Publishing

23

Final Preparations

‘Where did you get to last night?’ Valerie said as Lucy sheepishly pulled back her bedroom’s curtain and stepped into the little living area where her parents were drinking coffee and eating toast. ‘We went through the cave just for a little look and when we came back you’d vanished. If it hadn’t been for your text message I might have thought you drowned.’

‘I wasn’t feeling the holiday spirit,’ Lucy said. ‘I decided to walk home.’

‘Wasn’t it dark?’

‘Yeah, but there’s only one road, and it wasn’t that far.’

‘What happened? Was it that heinous woman?’

‘What woman?’

‘Oh, Lucy, don’t give me that. You know. I saw her talking to you, and when I got back I checked her Instagram account.’

‘You didn’t—’

Valerie gave a grim smile. ‘I had to change my password—it’s scienceislife1, just in case I die—but I wanted to see what she had been posting.’

Lucy sat down next to Alan, who was watching the Spotlight weather news. ‘I don’t want to think about it.’

‘You know what she posted, don’t you?’

Lucy gave a despondent nod. The picture was a brutal shot of a pristine Elizabeth draped over a far less photogenic Lucy, one eye half closed as though it was jippy and a piece of hamburger visible through her partially open mouth. The caption read: I found her again! The barking girl! Could this be the truth behind the Beast of Bodmin Moor myth, or is she just a crazy local? Guesses in the comments below.

‘She’s getting a piece of my mind when I next see her,’ Valerie said. ‘No one humiliates my little girl like that.’

Alan glanced back. ‘Don’t mess with your mother,’ he said. ‘She’ll make that woman wish she was never born. I’ve wished I was never born a couple of times, haven’t I, love? Like that time I spilt coffee over your new work uniform?’

‘Don’t bring that up again,’ Valerie growled, snapping at the end of the sentence like a dog with a short fuse.

‘See what I mean?’ Alan said.

Lucy sighed. ‘Just leave it. I’m not a teenager. And I don’t remember you sticking up for me much back then.’

‘As a teenager you have to fight your own battles,’ Valerie said. ‘It’s character-building. Studies have shown that children with overbearing parents end up in lower-paid professions to those who have a sense of internal motivation developed by a hands-off approach.’

‘I’m not exactly raking it in,’ Lucy said, taking a piece of toast her mother held out. ‘There are three other travel agents on the same street, so commission isn’t exactly lying around like used notes in bags.’

‘You chose a profession which rewards hard work,’ Valerie said. ‘That’s what I’m talking about.’

‘And has really good travel discounts for staff,’ Lucy answered. ‘What’s the plan for today, anyway?’

‘We have to be up at the cricket ground by ten o’clock,’ Alan said. ‘In time for the official opening ceremony.’ He grinned, puffing his chest out like a proud rooster. ‘As the main sponsor, I have to make a speech.’

‘A proud moment for sure,’ Valerie said, giving Alan a wink.

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