Page 116 of I’m Dreaming of a New York Christmas

Mum squiggled her signature without bothering to lean on a firm surface, holding the signed document towards him without actually moving. Mr Bone stepped into the room cautiously, tiptoeing around all the mess on the floor, and retrieved the paperwork.

‘Thank you. And the over-occupancy situation?’ the manager asked, looking at each of us in turn, his distinctive eyebrows raised.

‘Oh, c’mon, we’re leaving in the morning; can’t you just let us stay for one more night?’ Anneka said.

The manager turned an even deeper shade of red to the point where I was worried something in his forehead might burst.

‘Absolutely not. At the very least, I need one of you to leave.’

I sighed. ‘It’s fine, I’ll go. I’m already dressed, after all,’ I said, gesturing to my now very sweaty fancy jumpsuit. ‘Can you give me half an hour to pack, Mr… Bone?’ I asked, attempting to inject sweetness into my voice.

‘No, I have already taken enough time out from my night off to deal with this. Please leave, immediately. My reception team will see you out.’

‘Okay, okay,’ I muttered, slipping on my now-threadbare Converse, pulling the first jumper I could find over my head and grabbing my coat and backpack, which at least had a few essentials in it – my passport and noise-cancelling headphones included.

‘Could you…?’ I turned to Mum and Anneka, still tucked up in bed, and gestured towards the jumbled array of items strewn around the room.

‘Yeah, we’ll pack your stuff, don’t worry,’ Anneka replied, glaring at the manager from under the covers.

The Flora of five days ago would have been horrified at the thought of Anneka chucking her possessions in a suitcase at random, but right now I couldn’t care less.

‘Thanks. I’ll just head straight to the airport and connect to the Wi-Fi when I’m there so we can figure out a plan. Anneka – make sure Mum takes another dose of charcoal first thing – that’s two capsules. And keep your fluids up, Mum.’

‘Yes, yes,’ Mum replied, before adding with genuine gratitude, ‘Thank you for sorting all this out, Flora.’

I flashed her a quick smile as Mr Bone saw me out of the room. He made sure I got in the lift before he headed back to wherever his office – or on-site dwelling – was. I emerged into the reception area in a state of shellshocked disarray, where I was greeted by the receptionist.

‘Hey, I’m sorry about all this,’ she said, her face flushed with embarrassment. ‘He wouldn’t get off my case about that disclaimer form.’

‘It’s okay, I get it. We have been extremely cheeky this week, so it’s probably me who should be apologising to you. Did you know there were three of us in there?’

‘Of course I did. But, hey, it’s an expensive city. Figured what my boss didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. Did your mom sign the form?’

‘Yeah.’

The receptionist mimicked wiping her brow in relief. ‘Where are you headed now?’

‘Oh, I’m just gonna go to the airport a few – well, about twenty – hours early.’

She grimaced. ‘Want me to sort a cab for you? I know a guy who can do a discounted price if you can pay in cash?’

‘Yes please. Oh, and can you arrange a wake-up call for my mum and sister at nine a.m. tomorrow? Knowing them, they’ll forget to set an alarm.’

She smiled and nodded as she picked up her mobile phone and made a call.

I collapsed into an armchair and checked my WhatsApp messages for the first time since I’d left the wedding. There was a message from Ethan from just over an hour ago.

Ethan:

Is your mom ok?

Flora:

Hey, sorry, things have been hectic. Yes, she’s fine. We left the hospital a couple of hours ago.

Ethan:

Thank God for that. I was so worried. What happened?