Free Christmas at Claridge's by Karen Swan Page A

you sound properly mad.’
    ‘And besides, you know she’ll always win,’ Clover jibed.
    Clem wordlessly opened the cage door to let Shambles fly around the room, knowing that Clover had an irrational, but unarticulated, fear of the parrot landing on her head and getting a claw
tangled in her hair. Clem came and sat back down on the bed, watching as Clover moved closer to Tom, her eyes never leaving the parrot.
    Revenge. Just like that.
    ‘So, what are you lovebirds up to today, then?’ Clem asked, tucking her legs beneath her and stealing the last bite of waffle left on Tom’s plate while he took a sip of
tea.
    ‘Oi!’ he protested.
    ‘Cos I’m up for a lazy afternoon at the Electric if you are. I still haven’t seen the new Scorsese yet. I started to last night but . . .’ she shrugged.
    Tom’s eyes narrowed again.
    ‘Well, as much as an afternoon sitting in the dark sounds exciting, we’ve made some appointments to view a couple of flats later,’ Clover smiled.
    Clem looked at Tom in alarm.
‘What?’
    ‘Jesus, Clo! You said you’d let me handle it!’ Tom muttered, visibly annoyed, pulling himself up further into a sitting position. He looked back at his sister, his most
placatory expression on his face. ‘It’s only some viewings, Clem. We’ll probably hate them.’
    But he was missing the point. ‘You want to move out and leave me?’
    ‘Not leave
you,
sis,’ Tom replied urgently. ‘Just . . . here. Maybe.’
    Clem blinked at him, speechless, which had the effect on Tom that his tic had on her.
    ‘Look, it was pretty clear after going through the numbers with Simon yesterday that I have to get some capital into the business. Fast. We’ve used up all our credit with the bank
investing in the new machinery, and they won’t extend any more.’
    ‘But why does that mean you have to move out?’ Clem whined. ‘I pay my rent on time.’
    Clover gave the patient smile of the victor. ‘With the company in such trouble, it would be foolish for Tom not to look at downsizing. We’ve talked about it and Tom agrees the best
option would be to release his equity in this place and reinvest it in the company instead.’
    Equity? Clem felt like she’d been shot with a tranquillizer gun. Their voices seemed hollow and distant, as if they were in a tunnel. ‘You mean you want to
sell
?’ Clem
asked her brother, resolutely ignoring Clover. Talk about going from bad to worse! He was wiping imaginary crumbs off the bed onto the floor and keeping his eyes well away from hers. She saw the
now-familiar tension tighten in the corner of his mouth again.
    ‘Like I said, it’ll probably come to nothing. These flats we’re looking at are all the way out in West Kilburn,’ he replied flatly.
    ‘Kilburn?’ Clem screeched, as though he’d said Dark Side of the Moon.
    ‘Yes, Clem. It may not have the fancy Portobello address, but a one-bed out there is almost half what you’d get for this,’ Clover said firmly. ‘It would solve all
Tom’s problems in one fell swoop.’
    And yours, Clem thought bitterly, glaring at her. She’d been angling for Tom to move in with her for years. This way she was going to get Tom alone at last and herself on the mortgage
deeds. ‘But what about me?’
    Clover smiled. ‘That’s the beauty of it. You can stay here and just buy the flat off Tom.’
    ‘Just buy?
Just buy?’
Clem hollered, jumping to her feet so that she was standing on the mattress, her head brushing the bottom of the light, which had a top hat as a shade,
making for quite a ridiculous image. ‘You know perfectly well I don’t have half a mill to just shell out whenever I want!’
    ‘No, but your parents have always made it perfectly clear they’d give you financial assistance if you needed it. All you have to do is ask,’ Clover said smugly.
    ‘The bloody nerve!’ Clem stormed at her brother. ‘Telling us what our parents can or cannot do with their own money. Are you really going to let