Ally nodded, almost afraid to answer.
“It’s OK, she is a very sound sleeper. Has to be, with a five year old brother.”
“I know. And I can’t believe this is only our second Christmas together. Remember that year, the big snow storm when I was marooned at your place?”
They’d dressed up in two of the ugliest holiday sweaters and thrown together some food from whatever was in Lara’s fridge, then spent the rest of the evening talking until the early hours.
The next morning, Ally awoke to a present under the small tabletop tree in her friend’s place. The tag read ‘from Santa’.
She still had the fuzzy socks that were inside the perfectly wrapped package.
Her friend had always been Christmas crazy but it was only now that Ally was beginning to appreciate it.
“I promise,thiswill be a Christmas to remember,” Lara said. “This town goes all out with the holiday cheer and decorations - and the ice maze. Plus the big Christmas Eve Snow Ball. Honestly, by the time I’m finished with you, you won’t have time to think, much less work.”
At the mention of work, Ally felt her heart deflate afresh at the realisation she was without any of her conferencing equipment.
And her phone battery was now running perilously low.
“Do you have an office I could maybe use for my meetings tomorrow?” she asked Lara.
“Yeah, we have a den, next room over. Very quiet and private. But why do you have meetings set up anyway? Who wants to work on the holidays?”
But Ally had already gone to check out the den, making a mental checklist of what she would need; phone, computer, an extra monitor, decent internet.
She sat in the large leather desk chair, powering up the desktop and ran a quick diagnostic test to determine Lara’s wifi speed. Much to her surprise, it wasn’t fast enough to run her mobile conferencing software, even if she did have it. It wasn’t even fast enough to stream a movie.
How on earth did Lara and Mark survive?
Going back to the family room, she made a mental note to see about getting their internet speed upgraded.
It would be her gift to them for being such gracious hosts.
Ally was tempted to take out her phone and create a reminder for herself, but until she secured a charger, she had to maintain what little battery life was left.
The thought of being completely without her phone too was enough to make her panic. It was her lifeline; she’d be completely lost without it.
There was still no reply from Mel about her missing luggage, and she hoped against hope that her assistant hadn’t well and truly logged off for the Christmas break.
But why wouldn’t she? The last time they’d spoken, as far as Mel was concerned, Ally was all set.
Just as she was about to express these worries to Lara, she noticed her friend’s eyes were closed while Charlotte curled up against her chest.
Ally stopped, in awe of the cosy maternal scene.
Then Lara’s eyes flickered open. “Oops, sorry about that. she’s been teething, so I’m a little behind on my sleep.”
“Sounds rough. You should get to bed.”
“I feel terrible though. Here you are on your first night and I’m falling asleep on you.” Lara stood up, gingerly carrying a still dozing Charlotte. “Look, try to get some sleep yourself and try not to worry about the luggage thing. It’ll be returned in no time. In fact, I’m sure whoever took yours is already figuring out a way to get it back.”
“Hope so.” Ally nodded and quietly followed upstairs in her friend’s wake.
Still fuelled by the trauma of losing her suitcase and the nap she took earlier on the airplane, she wasn’t ready for sleep though.
She ran through any potential options for entertainment in her mind. No iPad, laptop, just an almost-dead phone - and no TV in the guest room either.
It wasn’t looking very promising.
