Chapter Thirty-Seven

Lisa was no stranger to travel, but she realised this was the first flight she had taken without Ben since they had met. She missed having him along to share the experience. She always found airports so full of anticipation, excitement, and hustle and bustle – a unique, highly charged atmosphere. As it had been some time since her last flight, she realised she felt a little anxious about being in the right place at the right time for each of the steps she needed to take before she reached the aeroplane. She took a breath in an attempt to quash any nerves she could feel simmering at the surface and reminded herself of the confident young woman who had taken it all in her stride when she was eighteen. That person was still inside, somewhere; albeit that she was a little buried by time and life.

Following the guidance of the young people wearing ‘ready to help’ fluorescent jackets, Lisa checked her suitcase in and cursed the fact it was slightly over the weight limit –resulting in an excess baggage charge. Looking around, she could see other people had had the sense to wear their big coats and winter boots, rather than pack them. Oops! She really was out of practice.

Once through customs, Lisa wondered about getting a cup of tea and some breakfast, but, with her late start and the fact the food places all looked rammed, she decided to forgo the toast she could almost taste. She got herself some Percy Pigs instead and smiled as she recalled her road trip with Felicity. She took a picture of them and sent it to Felicity, with a message saying breakfast was sorted.

Seeing that her flight was being called, Lisa looked for her gate. Typically, the signs were all pointing in the opposite direction to the way she had walked in search of sustenance. She hurried along corridors and down escalators, and past signs advertising exotic destinations and lands filled with adventures. She felt a flicker of excitement inside. She had forgotten how good it felt to be going somewhere, how easy it was for the travelling bug to get under your skin. Checking her watch and hoping the gate wouldn’t be too much further, Lisa manoeuvred past the people on the travellator, who were standing still – making it slower than if they just walked next to it. Relieved to finally see her gate, she joined the small queue that had formed.

Looking at her phone Lisa saw a message from Felicity:

Ah fab! Bon voyage, mon amie.

Lisa smiled and started to reply, but as she got as far as typing ‘merci’ another message appeared. It was a picture of the Village People with the comment:

Stay away from the gendarmes!

Lisa laughed out loud, causing the people in front of her to turn around. She blushed and looked back down at her phone, replying to Felicity that she would do her best to resist, with a winking, tongue-out emoji. She then sent a text to her mum to let her know she was boarding, and another to Dom thanking him for the lift, the offer of friendship, and for being a nice person. Dom’s reply saying she was welcome and he was now doing press ups made her smile.

As she was called forward to have her boarding pass and passport checked, Lisa’s phone began to ring. She ignored it and realised she should have called her mum. She would want to tell her to have a safe flight, as she always used to, bless her!

Once on board the aeroplane Lisa located her window seat and began to settle in. She slipped her jacket under the seat in front and put her seatbelt on. As she was travelling alone she wanted to be sorted before anybody sat down next to her. She didn’t want to have to get them to budge if they had a big bottom or engage in conversation throughout the flight if they were really boring. It sounded harsh, even in her own head, but back in the day she had done enough travelling to know you should keep yourself to yourself until you knew who you were befriending. Sitting with people who travelled regularly for work normally resulted in knowing too much about how many miles they had travelled and how they rated the in-flight refreshments.

While Lisa looked out of the window, the seats around her began to fill up. She was in luck; a young girl, probably similar in age to Flick’s Alice, sat in the centre seat – meaning Lisa had plenty of room – while the girl’s mum sat next to her. Judging by the way they were working together to get their hand luggage and coats sorted, Lisa assumed the man and young boy on the opposite side of the aisle made them a family of four. The whir of the engine began; everybody settled into their seats and the plane filled with hushed voices, muttering in anticipation of the flight.

Prompted by the announcement, Lisa leaned down and took out her phone, ready to switch it to aeroplane mode. She did a double take as notification of a missed call from Nathan flashed up on her screen. He hadn’t left a message. Lisa looked around. There was no time to call him back and she had no idea what to text him. He hadn’t contacted her for a while and she wondered what he could possibly want now. And if Harold Martin’s information was correct – and the fact the man kept a notebook suggested it was – Nathan had been to her house the morning after seeing her at Cin Cin with Dom. If he had something to say to her, Lisa wondered why he didn’t just get on and say it. She switched her phone off in frustration and put it away.

The cabin crew began to go through their safety talk, reminding passengers of the escape procedures. Lisa thought about how – much more these days than when she had travelled in the past – taking a flight meant you felt like you were putting your safety in the hands of the other passengers as well as the aeroplane, crew and pilot.

The young girl sitting next to her picked up the safety card as directed by the air steward. ‘Look, Mummy, a slide! Can we go on it?’

‘Let’s hope not.’ The girl’s mum laughed, smiling at Lisa.

The sight of her mum, dad and brother standing at the airport holding a sign saying ‘Lisa Blake – it’s about time too’ made Lisa laugh and cry all at the same time. She rushed into their awaiting arms, realising with that embrace how much she had missed them all. She clung on to them, crying at how good it felt to be within the comfort of their arms. It was the feeling of home and security she had sought when she had returned to her parents’ home. Of course, she knew now it wasn’t the place but the people she had craved when she felt so low. Sometimes, no matter how old you are, only a hug from your family will do, Lisa conceded. Most of the people from her flight had left the airport by the time she was ready to relinquish her grip on them.

As they went to the car, Lisa clung on to her brother. Luke’s hair carried highlights from the sun and contrasted with his tanned skin. He seemed taller and broader since she had last seen him, though some of that could have been down to the many layers he was wearing.

‘You look like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man,’ Lisa teased as they took their seats in the back of her dad’s car.

‘It’s bloody freezing here,’ Luke scoffed.

‘Ah, are you missing the sun?’

‘Too right,’ Luke groaned. ‘Sun, surf, Se—’

‘Luke!’

Lisa burst out giggling, it felt so good to be enjoying familiar family banter. Less than half an hour since they were all reunited and her mum was already telling them off. It felt so normal.

‘I was going to say Selina.’ Luke crossed his eyes at Lisa behind his mum’s back.

‘Selina? Your girlfriend? Isn’t she here yet?’ Lisa hadn’t given her a thought at the airport. But the mention of Luke’s girlfriend reminded her that she should have arrived before her.

‘She’s staying with her folks in Ireland; turns out now they’ve got her they don’t want to let her go.’ Luke sighed. ‘I’m heading there for New Year instead.’

‘Meeting the parents?’ Lisa scoffed.

‘I’ve already met them actually. In Oz.’

‘What?’ Lisa wondered how she had missed this piece of information. Her brother had never been serious enough about anyone before to meet their parents.

‘See, if you ever checked in with your brother, you’d know these things.’

Lisa felt a pang of guilt. Not only because Luke was right, she hadn’t checked in with him in any meaningful way for a long time, but also because she was pleased Selina wasn’t joining them in France. It gave her time to have her family to herself.

Once off the main road from Geneva, the journey to Samoëns was picturesque, winding increasingly upwards through mountains. It was breathtaking. The sky was clear blue and the sun glistened off the snow. It had been years since Lisa had been to the area. As children, they had often visited, staying in small rental properties. She remembered the area as pretty and fun. She had liked playing at the lake in the summer and skiing in the winter. As an adult, she could see exactly why her parents chose to spend half their year in France. The space and open landscape, made it somehow easier to relax and breathe. It was hard to imagine that, just hours before, she had been travelling, pushing through the traffic in London with Dom, and even harder to imagine that she used to live in the heart of London.

Lisa had seen pictures of her mum and dad’s place, she had even had the FaceTime tour, but none of it had done justice to the beautiful, three-storey chalet they pulled their car up in front of. Set in its own land with a view of the surrounding mountains, the once-farmhouse-cum-food-store had been transformed into an impressive residence encompassing the right mix of traditional and modern in its design.

‘Wow! If I had known it was quite like this, I would have come sooner.’ Lisa’s eyes swept the area. The air felt cold to her cheeks and began seeping through her too-thin jacket but, after the confines of the plane, it felt refreshing. Sitting above the main village of Samoëns, the view from the chalet was stunning in every direction.

‘You’ll never get rid of her now, Mum!’ Luke joked.

‘You know your sister is always welcome.’

Lisa hugged her mum as she got out of the car; perhaps it was the cold, but she wondered if she saw a tear in her eye. Her mum rarely showed emotion.

‘I’ve missed you, my darling girl.’

The words and the kiss on her head made tears well in Lisa’s eyes too.

‘Come on now, let’s get out of the cold.’ Lisa’s dad lifted her case from the car.

‘Bloody good idea.’ Luke shivered.

‘Your mum’s got Milka hot chocolate and some of that marble cake in for you.’

‘Oh my God! Did you Mum?’ The excitement Lisa felt made her feel like a little girl again. It was what they’d had as a treat whenever they had visited France when they were young: chocolate milk, cold in the summer and hot in the winter, and marble cake no matter what the occasion.

After enjoying too much hot chocolate and a large slice of marble cake, Lisa unpacked and lay on her bed. It was warm and cosy in the room she decided to designate as her own from now on. The seasoned-pine walls perfectly framed the view of the snow-covered mountain from her window. The whole place was Christmas card perfect. As soon as she had walked into the chalet, seen the elegantly strung holly garlands on the banisters, and smelt the heady mix of oranges, cinnamon and cloves, Lisa understood why her mum had scoffed at the thought of Bing. He would never have fitted into this Christmas ideal. Lisa’s mum had hung a painting of a stag on the wall next to her bed; Lisa felt him watching her, but liked his friendly face. His slightly wonky eyes reminded her of Jack.

Lisa rolled over to the side of the bed and glanced at her phone. Nathan hadn’t called back. She decided not to call him. Pete had put his feelings to the test at Cin Cin and he had made it clear how he felt when he walked away. She couldn’t answer casual calls and casual texts, and he deserved to know why. She wanted to tell him how she felt, but would need to do that face to face. Lisa realised how wrong she had been when she had agreed to them just being friends. With Dom the thought of friendship felt exciting, fun, right; with Nathan it made her heart and body ache for more.

There was a knock at her door. Lisa sat up.

Her dad put his head round the door. ‘Dinner’s almost ready.’ Taking in the sight of Lisa he faltered. ‘You OK, love?’

‘Yes, thanks. It’s really good to be here. To see you all.’

Lisa’s dad sat on the edge of her bed placing his hand on her leg. ‘I’m sorry we haven’t been around for you. You look … well, I can see you’ve had a difficult time.’

Lisa was grateful her dad hadn’t gone for a full on ‘you look terrible’, especially after she felt she was looking so much better lately. ‘Gee, thanks, Dad!’

‘You look pale and skinny. You know what I mean.’

‘I’ll take skinny as a compliment.’ Lisa laughed.

‘You need to get some of your mum’s cooking inside you and a bit of time on the piste will get the colour back in your cheeks.’

‘Thanks, Dad.’ Lisa smiled. She hadn’t told her parents why she had split up with Ben, but the fact she had moved home meant they knew it had knocked her.

Her dad stood up and jumped at the sight of the stag. ‘Bloody Nora, I thought I’d seen the last of him!’

‘I quite like it. Why don’t you?’

‘He’s been staring at me for months, your mum painted it in her art class and hung it in our room.’

‘Art class? Mum?’

‘Yes, she’s quite the joiner here, you know; any excuse to test out her French.’

‘Well, I like it.’

‘Tell her that and you’ll be in her good books forever.’