Free Staying Away at Christmas by Katie Fforde Page B

found rather rude. It was a shared problem, after all. She decided to abandon the tea. She found the bottle of wine which was part of the welcome package and the corkscrew. Possession was nine tenths of the law and having a glass of wine in her hand would definitely declare her ownership.
    Dan stood still, watching what was going on but not speaking. Isa, who was probably dying inside, Miranda felt, was fiddling with some of the decorations. Although Miranda felt a strong antipathy to Anthony, once everything was sorted out and he and his family were in the right rental property, which would probably be nearby, it might be nice for Isa and Lulu if they arranged to meet up in a couple of days’ time. It would be some sort of a social life and it would stop them missing their friends so much.
    Anthony stalked back into the kitchen looking furious. ‘She’s coming over,’ he said, ‘to sort things out.’ He looked enviously at Miranda’s wine.
    Miranda considered offering him a glass but his referring to Sheila, who worked so hard to make everything nice for her tenants, as ‘she’ had annoyed her.
    ‘Don’t think,’ he said, ‘the fact that you have a glass of wine and I haven’t will make it so I have to move and not you.’
    Miranda took a sip. She might as well take advantage.
    Lulu had sloped off to the living end of the room and put the television on and to Miranda’s relief Isa went to join her. Amy soon followed and then Dan. A discussion about what to watch went on briefly and then a familiar theme tune was heard followed by general sounds of approval.
    Had the situation been remotely normal, Miranda would have said something along the lines of ‘It’s good they seem to be getting on’, but the situation wasn’t at all normal and Anthony’s prickly attitude wasn’t helping.
    Shortly afterwards, the back door opened again and Sheila appeared, looking harassed, notwithstanding a trail of tinsel in her hair, which didn’t seem to have been put there on purpose.
    ‘I’m so sorry! And I would have been here sooner only we’ve got a family party going on.’
    ‘So sorry to have troubled you,’ said Miranda, who felt awful dragging her out here on Christmas Eve.
    ‘Can you sort it out, please?’ said Anthony, just the right side of rude. ‘This muddle? How two families seem to have been double booked into the same property?’
    Sheila produced a book and put it on the kitchen table, then ruffled through the pages. ‘I’m terribly sorry,’ she said to Anthony. ‘I thought you’d changed your mind and cancelled.’
    ‘Why did you think that?’ he demanded.
    ‘You didn’t pay your balance. I asked you for it but you never sent it,’ said Sheila.
    Anthony peered over her shoulder. ‘Oh God, I really thought I had.’
    The hot air leaked out of him slowly but inevitably. Possibly sensing this, Sheila took the upper hand. ‘I’m afraid if I don’t get the balance, the booking isn’t confirmed. I sent you at least three emails telling you this.’
    ‘God, what a mess,’ he breathed. ‘I’m afraid my secretary left and I got a new computer at the same time. A lot of things fell through the cracks.’
    ‘Well,’ said Sheila, ‘I could offer you a little two-bed but I haven’t been in it since October and it hasn’t got a wood burner or a fireplace or anything.’
    ‘That doesn’t sound very festive,’ said Anthony and for the first time smiled somewhat ruefully.
    Miranda felt a moment of relief – and triumph – that she had been in the right. And then the spirit of Christmas kicked in and she made a decision. Before she could change her mind she said, ‘You could stay here.’
    Anthony looked at her, frowning slightly. ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘I mean, there are four double bedrooms, you could stay here. We could both have the house for Christmas.’
    ‘We couldn’t possibly impose –’ Anthony began.
    ‘Otherwise it’s the two-bed with no wood burner,’ said