Guess Who's Coming to Christmas Dinner Read online

  Guess Who’s Coming to Christmas Dinner?

  Laura Lockington

  © Laura Lockington 2013

  Laura Lockington has asserted her rights under the Copyright, Design and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.

  First published 2013 by Endeavour Press Ltd.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Sophie’s Turkey Free Christmas Dinner

  Christmas Delivery

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter One

  This Christmas was going to be different, Sophie vowed. The last one had been beyond miserable. She and Archie had been rowing the whole of the holidays and on Christmas morning Sophie discovered a present that she thought was for her, which turned out to be for Archie’s girlfriend. Their lovely daughter Bella had, of course, picked up on the hissed arguments, the sullen looks and the stony silences. With all weeping that Sophie had done, sobbing night after night into her pillow, Bella had been reduced to shambles, wetting her bed, which mortified her. She was, she insisted, a big girl now, but there were still a series of tantrums which split the air with the noise that only a four year old can make.

  Sophie was now husbandless, broke and feeling considerably under the weather, but that wasn’t going to stop her pulling the stops out for her daughter. Beautiful Bella deserved a magical time and she was determined to give it to her. No matter what the cost.

  Sophie glanced down at her notebook which was full of lists. Lists of what to buy, what to cook, what to wear, what to make for the Christmas Eve drinks’ party, and lists about lists. She sniffed and reached for the box of tissues. Getting a cold was so unfair. She shuffled to the kitchen to make yet another Lemsip and glanced at herself in the reflection of the shiny silver fridge. Dark hair scraped back into a ponytail, pale face and haunted dark eyes stared back at her. She bit her lip and tied the belt of her ratty looking, but comforting, red and black chequered dressing gown even tighter. That was unfair too, weren’t you meant to lose weight if you were ill? That rule obviously didn’t apply if you ate mashed banana and cream at midnight when you were missing your daughter and fighting a cold. The biscuits and cake probably didn’t help either but that made the Lemsip drinkable. Sophie made a mental note to diet as soon as soon as she woke up on Boxing Day.

  Bella was due to arrive on Christmas morning at 9.30. She had come to a tangled arrangement with Archie where Bella would stay with him and his new wife Bertha until then, and then she would be delivered, like a parcel, by them in their brand new shiny car. No doubt Archie would stand at the front door with Bella trying to drag him inside whilst Bertha regally waved from the car. Sophie practised waving back, a carefree sunny wave, she thought, flicking her fingers toward the imaginary car whilst pulling her mouth into a semblance of a smile. She sniffed again and shuffled back to her sofa with a blue and white striped mug of hot drink. She blew on the surface of it and stared around the room.

  The dark grey linen sofas with tartan rugs at either end seemed uncrushed without Bella jumping around on them. The cherry wood floorboards and the dark blue Afghan rug were smooth and straight without Bella pushing her favourite dolls around on it. Even the pale grey walls hadn’t had to be wiped of sticky handprints recently. Silver sprayed twigs dangling with tiny silver baubles were placed on the dark wood ethnic coffee table, in a tall glass jug. That had taken ages to do, with Bella and Sophie threading cotton through the impossibly small hooks of the silvery balls and then carefully looping them over the twigs. Sophie smiled at the recollection of her daughters face: a study of concentration with her pink tongue pushed between her lips as she had clumsily accomplished this festive task, her curly dark hair framing her face. Sophie wiped her eyes and blew her nose. Bella would be home soon. And she was with her father, after all.

  A selection of Christmas cards balanced on the wooden mantelpiece. Not as many as when Archie and she were together, she couldn’t help but notice. A large pink card with glued on cotton wool, glitter and stars took pride of place. Bella had made it at Nursery school and was triumphant when she gave it to Sophie. She’d made one for Archie and Bertha, too which Sophie had to enthuse over. The Christmas tree stood rather crookedly in the corner. That had always been Archie’s job and Sophie had struggled with it, dragging it back from the local greengrocers that had rows of trees leaning drunkenly against the wall and spilling out onto the pavement. Bella had ‘helped’ by scampering in the trailing top branches of it, tripping over and banging her knee, then getting her red woolly hat snagged in the pine needles. This had resulted in a crying fit in the middle of the high street and Sophie remembered how helpless she had felt with her daughter wailing and her own arms full of shopping trying to manhandle – or womanhandle – the tree up the street. A smart looking blonde woman, who had tip tapped past them on high heeled boots, had given a disapproving look as Sophie had pleaded with Bella to stop crying.

  “My knee hurts mummy, carry me, carry me!” Bella had wailed in her high four year old voice which seemed to carry further than was humanly possible. Bella had held her arms up to be carried and Sophie’s heart had sunk.

  “Darling, I simply don’t have the arms! Look – Mummy has got the shopping, the tree, and her handbag...now, be a big girl and walk. Please.” Sophie added ‘dammit’ under her breath and forced a smile on her face. She knew it had been too much to carry but if she got it all in one hit then she wouldn’t have to go out again.

  Bella’s face had turned as red as her hat, and her mouth opened to start a full on tantrum. That’s when Laurie had walked past. Thank God.

  “Howdy neighbour! Hi Bella - nice hat,” Laurie said, hunkering down so that his face was level with Bella’s. He glanced up at Sophie. “Nice tree, too,” he smiled, his hazel eyes crinkling at the sides through his specs. He’d got a woolly hat on too, and a striped scarf which he’d wound several times around his neck.

  “Hop up,” he commanded Bella and she willingly squealed with delight and allowed herself to be piggy backed home, chattering excitedly to Laurie about the tree. Laurie had carried Bella on his back and the tree, to the front door. Then he’d gone back to his flat, which was opposite them across the tree lined road. He’d waved at them from across the busy street and Bella had waved and waved until he’d appeared at his living room window and waved back again. Only then had Bella consented to accept that he’d finally gone.

  Sophie sniffed again and wondered, not for the first time, why it was that Laurie, a very nice guy and not at all bad looking, was still single. Wasn’t there meant to be a shortage of nice young men in London? She wasn’t complaining though, if Laurie had got a girlfriend he wouldn’t spend so much time hanging out with her and Bella. Sophie thought it was a good thing that Bella had a male role model in her life. Not that the southern suburbs could really be called London, not really. They were pushing the boundaries of Kent, but the commute was just about do-able. Even if the price of everything was the same as Mayfair. Sophie sighed. It had all been so much easier when Archie had been there. She now worked part time in the local deli and worried about everything - how to pay the bills, how to pay for Christmas...she stared at her lists.

 
The Christmas Eve Drinks Party was the first one. She sighed. It had seemed such a good idea at the time. A grown up party with no kids. Something for her. Something that didn’t revolve around just her and Bella. Her best friend Susi had egged her on. Sophie picked up the phone and punched in Susi’s number. It was engaged. Of course it was. She pictured Susi at her desk, her friend’s hands running through her mop of auburn hair as she chattered away on the phone. Susi worked in a PR company and was permanently welded to her phone. Sophie had joked with her that she probably slept with her phone under her pillow and Susi had stared at her in surprise. “Doesn’t everyone?” she’d asked.

  Sophie concentrated on the list. It simply said – booze and nibbles. Not very inspiring. A sneeze was tickling Sophie’s nose and she grabbed a tissue and willed it be over with. Hopefully by tomorrow she’d miraculously be cold free. The sneeze exploded from her nose, and she automatically muttered ‘bless you’ before another sneeze came.

  “Yuck.” Sophie rolled the wet tissue and hurled it into the bin with the others. She wondered what Bella was doing. Hopefully driving Archie and Bertha to distraction with her new found ability to sing one line of a Christmas Carol over and over, so that Chinese Water torture seemed preferable. Sophie smiled to herself as she remembered Bella learning the lines.

  “Go on Bella. Give them ‘The Holly and the Ivy’,” Sophie said to herself, hugging her dressing gown around her shoulders. The flat was cold, but she had put the heating on earlier in the morning and didn’t want to put it on again. Not just for her. She tried Susi’s number again.

  “Grange PR. Susi here, how can I help you?” Her voice was very chipper and Sophie could hear the sound of a frantic office in the background. She had a twinge of guilt, knowing that Susi was probably very busy and that she had only called for a chat.

  “Don’t be daft, it’s lovely to hear your voice – hang on a minute Soph. No. NO! I told you the press packs have been delivered....sorry, it’s bloody chaos here, not helped by the fact that we’ve been given a few crates of Strombair.”

  “What’s that?”

  “A sort of strawberry liqueur, quite disgusting really, but delicious if you mix it with something fizzy,” said Susi cheerfully. “I’ll whizz you over a case if you fancy it, be great for your party. Have you invited everybody?” Susi lowered her voice to a whisper, “and Ned IS coming....”

  Sophie could only sniff at this bit of information. Ned was the glamorous boss of Grange PR and Sophie was astounded that he had nothing better to do then attend her party. He’d probably bring a model like creature with him and only stay for ten minutes.

  Susi’s voice resumed to its normal pitch, “You want a crowd, you know, people sort of crushed against one another full of the festive spirit. And don’t forget mistletoe, mistletoe needs to be everywhere! And music, don’t forget the music, not some dreary bloody Christmas stuff though. A few festive songs of course sprinkled amongst the rest always works, but no damn carols. You need Slade, of course, and maybe some Ronettesn- that would be a retro sort of nod. Then food, I mean you are practically Nigella in that department, so that’s not a problem, is it? Oh, hang on a second....no, no...the top drawer of the filing cabinet... I’m going to have to dash Soph but I’ll swing by on the way home with the crate of booze. Text me if you need anything else, OK? Love you!” And she was gone.

  Oh dear. A crush of people dodging mistletoe whilst dancing to Slade was not quite what she had in mind. Sophie glanced around the room doubtfully. And that was just Christmas Eve. There was the dinner on Christmas Day to get through as well. Her parents were driving up from Devon after picking up slightly eccentric Aunt Dot from Dorset. Sophie curled up on the sofa, biro in one hand, and a blank list in front of her. She guiltily flicked the remote control on. Daytime TV was bound to give some inspiration on how to host a swanky Christmas party and be the perfect single mum.

  Chapter Two

  Sophie woke up on the sofa with the TV showing the evening news and her cheek pressed on to the spiral metal spine of her to do list notebook. It looked like a caterpillar had nested there overnight she thought as she glanced in the bathroom mirror at the raised red spiral indentation. Her eyes were red and bleary and her new bed head look was horrible. She was still trying to wake up when the front door bell went. Knowing that it was Susi she stumbled down the dark hallway, knotting her dressing gown tighter and pulled open the door.

  It was Susi, as expected, but with Ned, as well. Definitely not expected. Oh god. Ned was the sort of man that made you pull your tummy in even if you were wearing a pair of Spanks. He was tall, dark haired, and broad shouldered with a devastating grin to match. Sophie gaped at him, all too aware of how she looked.

  “Hi honey,” Susi said as she stepped inside and kissed Sophie on the cheek. “Cor, it’s freezing out there. Ned carried the Stromboli for me. Do come in Ned.” Sophie saw that Ned was indeed carrying a cardboard box. It looked heavy. She made welcoming gestures to come inside, whilst frantically wiping sleep from her eyes and desperately hoping that her nose wasn’t running. She gave her best friend a narrow eyed look that Susi immediately picked up on.

  “Sorry to wake you when you’re feeling poorly... I did try and call – guess you were napping?”

  Sophie cleared her throat and tried to be welcoming. “Yes, but no worries, do come in, it’s lovely to see you. Ned, just shove the box in the corner,” she said and then to her horror a sneeze came out of nowhere, which sprayed Ned over the front of his coat. Cashmere probably, she thought miserably.

  “Oh I’m so, so sorry!” Sophie wailed, trying to fish a clean tissue from her pocket to wipe him down. She was relieved to see he was smiling. Sort of. Or it could be a grimace of disgust, she thought as she dabbed at his coat.

  “That’s quite OK,” Ned said moving away from Sophie and bumping into the coat stand which was draped with Bella’s jackets. “I hear you’ve got the winter lurgy...vile...only one place for you...” He smiled at Sophie, and she could feel her face redden. He wasn’t going to say ‘bed’ was he?

  “Huddled up in front of the fire with a hot toddy. Doctor’s orders.” He smiled again at Sophie and she felt a mixture of disappointment and relief at the same time.

  After a bit of hallway confusion where Ned seemed to bump into everything and trip over a pair of Bella’s shoes, he left to get back into the waiting taxi. Sophie closed the front door and turned to Susi who held up her hands. “I know, I know, but I really did try and call you and honestly you don’t look as awful as you think you do and-”

  “I know just how awful I look!” Sophie wailed, running her hands through her hair. Her friend laughed, took her by the arm and marched her through to the kitchen.

  “Sit down. I’m going to make you some supper and then we can plan the party. Now then, what’s in the fridge?”

  Very little, Sophie thought. With Bella away, there was none of the usual goodies in, and there was certainly nothing that Sophie could rustle up for them. Not that Susi was the rustling sort, really. There was bound to be a bit of cheese that had seen better days and some milk. Sophie had been planning a sophisticated supper consisting of another Lemsip and possibly beans on toast. If there were any beans, of course, and failing that a biscuit. Or two. She usually had a decent amount of food in from the deli – Paston’s – where she worked, but having been ordered home by the owner, Maria, the fridge was empty and the cupboards, were quite literally bare.

  “Knickers to this,” Susi said after inspecting the fridge and throwing open a few cupboards. She pulled out her phone and started to order a take away. Susi waved away her protests.

  “It’s exactly what you need, ginger, chilli and garlic – simply marvellous for clearing the tubes!” Susi insisted, continuing to order enough Indian food to feed an army. Sophie had exactly seven pounds fifty in her purse, and started to form an apology as she tried to hand Susi some money.

  “Don’t be daft, my treat darling,” Susi said, waving away
the money. “Now then, let’s look over the guest list, and I’m going to make you a Winter Twinkle...”

  “A what?” Sophie said wiping her nose with a tissue, suddenly feeling very tired. And hungry. Other than several biscuits and the dreaded Lemsips she couldn’t remember when she had last eaten a meal.

  “Stromboli and fizz. Lethal and delicious,” Susi said hunting for glasses in the cupboard.

  “But I haven’t got any–”

  “Fizz? Really? Oh...” Susi sounded disappointed and disbelieving. Sophie knew that her friend’s fridge was always bulging with bottles of Prosecco at the very least, and usually some very expensive bottles of champagne, too.

  “What’s that then?” Susi demanded pointing at a tatty cardboard box shoved under the kitchen table which held large bottles of assorted screw top plastic bottles.

  “Oh, umm, that’s the Elderflower stuff that I made with Bella in the summer, but really, it’s not, I mean, it’s called champagne, but it’s not really. It’s…”

  But it was too late. Susi had pounced on it and was already opening a bottle of what had once held fizzy water. The liquid foamed over the top of the bottle and dripped all over the floor. It smelt OK, but was it safe to drink Sophie wondered? She’d been meaning to ditch the whole lot, but had never got round to it. And Bella loved checking on it periodically, peering at the tiny bubbles that were fermenting away inside the bottles. Sophie watched her friend go into bartender mode, as Susi made a couple of Winter Twinkles and handed her one with a flourish.

  “Just the thing to kill those bugs...Happy nearly Christmas sweetie!”

  Sophie eyed the pale pink fizzing concoction doubtfully. It was the last thing she felt like drinking, but her friend was urging her to at least take a sip. Sophie reluctantly raised the glass to her lips. It tasted lovely. Summery and fruity and very non-alcoholic. The glass soon disappeared and they made another one. It was obviously doing her good as she hadn’t sneezed for ages. They had just settled down with their second glass in the living room and the lists when the door bell went.