Christmas for Beginners - Carole Matthews Page 0,78

me and says, ‘Chill out. We’ve got plenty of time.’

But it’s easier said than done.

Eventually – and not a moment too soon – Ken drops us at the front door of the hotel in the centre of the city and right by the theatre where Aladdin is showing. There’s a Christmas market in the adjacent street in full festive flow. Myriad lights shine out from cheery stalls selling all manner of festive fayre. The scents of cinnamon and spices on the air are wonderful, but the crowds look terrifying. Even so, I wish we had more time to look around.

Instead, we check in and then leave our bags to be taken up to Shelby’s rooms. Lucas is tense as we walk the few hundred metres to the stage door of the theatre and I’m not much better. At the reception we ask for Shelby and are told to wait. We stand in a narrow corridor that’s painted beige and wait, then we wait a bit more. There’s nowhere to sit and we’re in the way. Every time a performer comes in or out, we have to jiggle round them.

Lucas is getting agitated. ‘He’s such a fucker,’ he mutters.

‘This is his job,’ I remind Lucas. ‘He’s not keeping us waiting on purpose.’

I get a murderous look.

Another twenty minutes later and Shelby finally comes out, all beaming smiles and open arms.

Lucas glowers darkly.

Oblivious, Shelby kisses me and slaps Lucas on the back. ‘Good to see you both. The place is madness tonight. Utter madness! The local BBC television station have sent a crew down to interview us. It should have started half an hour ago, but I’m still waiting. Can you forgive me?’

‘Sure,’ I say. ‘Do what you have to do.’

‘I’d booked a table at a nice Tex-Mex place further down the street. Do you want to head off there and I’ll join you when I can?’

‘How long do you think you’ll be?’

‘Not much longer.’ Shelby glances over his shoulder. ‘Five, ten minutes?’

‘We’ll wait. It’s not a problem.’

‘I’ll be back as soon as I can. Promise.’ He dashes off before I can say anything else.

Lucas rolls his eyes at me.

‘Say nothing,’ I warn him. Another gaggle of performers squeezes past us. ‘Shall we wait outside?’

‘It’s December and I’m wearing a shirt.’

‘You didn’t think to bring a coat?’

‘I assumed I’d be sitting in a theatre all night.’

Probably quite rightly.

In the event, it’s a good forty-five minutes before Shelby resurfaces. He does, however, look flushed and excited.

‘It went well?’

‘Brilliantly.’ Then he grimaces at me. ‘Problem is, now I’m tight for time. I need to be in make-up in a few minutes. Dinner is off the cards, I’m afraid. It’s not long before the show starts. Do you two want to grab a sandwich or something in the foyer and then we can have dinner afterwards?’

I dread to think what time that will be. Matt is staying over at the van, but I’ll still need to be up early and away after breakfast. I don’t want him holding the fort alone. We’ve got students in tomorrow, so I want to be back as soon as I can. I’m assuming that Shelby can lie in until lunchtime and hasn’t really considered this.

‘Yes, that’ll be fine,’ I say.

‘I hadn’t planned it like this.’ He does look terribly apologetic. ‘I’ll make it up to you.’

He thrusts two tickets into my hand and dashes off again. I stare after him.

‘How many times have I heard that?’ Lucas grumbles. ‘This is typical of my father. All that fuss about us coming and he doesn’t care if we’re here or not.’

But I’m trying to keep the peace between them, so I say nothing. If we’d known that Shelby was going to be so delayed we could have gone round the Christmas market or had dinner. A lesson learned.

‘Come on then. There’s not much time before the show starts. We’ll go round to the front and see what we can find.’

‘I must remind you,’ Lucas says, drily. ‘That I am absolutely doing this under sufferance.’

His dad being late isn’t a great start – I’ll give Lucas that – but he’d better brace himself as I fear that the worst is yet to come.

Chapter Fifty

There are no sandwiches to be had in the foyer, or any other substantial snacks. They have plenty of chocolate, but Lucas can’t find anything that’s vegan, so he sulks a bit more. If it weren’t for Lucas’s censure, one of those large bags of Maltesers – vegan or