Page 36 of A Winter in Wonderland
Chapter 17
Wish me luck, I might die today, I texted to Willow and Max on a group chat a little over a week later.
I was lying awake in my bunk, listening to the creaks and shuffles of the staff chalet waking up around me. In the bed below, Esteri was gently snoring, a noise which I liked a lot (I’m not being sarcastic) because it was like listening to one of those soundscapes on the Headspace app that help you relax.
I reached my arm out from under the covers to lift the curtain while I waited to see if anyone would text back. It was sometime around seven a.m. here in Lapland, which meant it was only five a.m. back home, so they might be fast asleep.
Outside the window, the world was black. Tiny outdoor floodlights lit the paths from the chalet to the activities’ lodge, and the chalet to the saunas. Lights also sat nestled under the nearby pine trees, with their beams pointing upwards, and I could see the snowflakes falling to the ground thanks to them. All was calm.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw my phone screen light up with a message from Willow.
So dramatic. See ya then.
Charming.
She followed it quickly with,Just kidding, don’t snuff it. What are you doing today?
I’m heading back out on the snowmobile. With a family. With kids.
Oh god.
I know.
I was making light of it, but I was a bit nervous. Today, for the first time, I was running a Seeking Santa Claus day tour. The adults would have their own snowmobiles, the children would be in a sleigh pulled along by me. Lucky them.
What are you doing awake?I asked Willow.
I’ve been checking out the Black Friday deals online. Christmas shopping!
It was Friday? Well, there we go.
Ooo, gotta go, Willow wrote.Just made it through the virtual queue onto the Boots website. Happy snowmobiling! Don’t ruin it for anyone.
Thanks, I won’t, I replied, hoping that were true.
It turns out I needn’t have worried, because when I arrived at the activities’ lodge a while later, I was told my family had changed their minds, and wanted to switch to the reindeer Seeking Santa option instead. Now that was more like it. I was saved from the snowmobile for another day!
While I waited for them to arrive, I searched the faces of my elf colleagues who were milling around the lodge to see if any of them were Josh. I hadn’t talked to him in about a week, only seeing him in passing across the chalet. I mean, we were hardly best buds, but still, I wondered how he was getting on.
He didn’t seem to be here though.
All of a sudden, a shuttle bus from a nearby hotel pulled up and a tumble of little limbs and bobble hats came out, two of whom ran straight over to me, hand in hand.
‘We want to find Santa! Where is Santa? Where is Rudolf?’ cried one little girl, looking up at me with a toothy smile.
I was about to answer when the other girl, younger, with braids that stuck haphazardly out from under her hat and big eyes behind her spectacles, shouted ‘Merry Christmas’ up at my face.
‘Girls,’ called the dad in a British accent, a tall man with a gingery beard. ‘Come on, we need to go inside first and find out where to go.’
‘Hello,’ I replied to the younger girl. ‘Come with me and we’ll get you put in special clothes so you can keep toasty warm while you look for Santa.’
The girls stuck their hands out immediately, so I checked in with the dad, who smiled, and I took hold of the little hands, leading them back to their parents and inside the lodge. At this point I had no idea if they weremyguests, but then the mum said to me, ‘We were booked in for a snowmobile tour today but called ahead to see if we could switch it to reindeer instead?’
‘Oh, then you’re with me!’ I said. ‘I’m Myla. Welcome to Lapland.’
‘Great,’ said the mum. ‘I’m Aubrey. This is Greg. And this is Briony and Leah. Thanks so much for letting us change at the last minute. The girls are so excited, they can’t believe they’re actually here, in the most Christmassy place on earth.’
Join the club, I thought, but led them to the counter where they checked in and then were shown to the shoe and outerwear room to get them all kitted up.
