Page 57 of The Christmas Express
‘I’m going to pee myself!’
And thank God we’re back on flat ground because this sends everyone into giggles and now we’re level again we remember that we’re all still mad at each other and pull ourselves together. There’s a lightness though that wasn’t there before, as we trudge our way back to the bus. A camaraderie, perhaps.
Once Alex has dropped us all off outside the hotel, returning the shuttle bus, I check the time. We have about thirty minutes before we need to head back to the station.
‘Does anyone want to stop for some brekkie?’ I say, spotting an open diner with huge windows offering views out across the valley. All seven of us bundle inside the toasty warmth, hanging a few of our layers on a coat rack beside a large Christmas tree bedecked in red baubles and ribbons.
As we sit down to a tableful of pancakes and waffles and so much syrup we’ll almost certainly spend the rest of Christmas Day on a sugar high, it’s, actually, like old times. In a way. There’s a comfort in that, but the best part is sitting side by side with Alex.
Too soon it’s time to board the train again, and although the others are talking about taking warm showers and calling their families once we’re back on board, I plan to head straight up to the celestial carriage again. I don’t want to miss a single second of this scenery.
And if anyone wants to join me, that would be okay too.
Chapter 29
Cali
All of us are energised, I can feel it as we re-board the train. We have pink cheeks, snowflakes in our hair, runny noses, cold toes and smiles on our faces. I don’t want to ruin the mood by pointing this out, but, uh-oh, it’s coming out anyway.
‘Look at us all getting along so well!’ I cry out, giddy and high from the sensation of getting back everything I’d lost, even if only for a morning, and flicking my long frost-damp curls into Luke’s face as I spin around in the small space of the carriage. ‘It’s like that Christmas at Bryn’s again, isn’t it? The one you mentioned, when she hired the snow machine?’
Flickers of remembrance pass their faces, and I can’t help but sneak a look back at Luke, who meets my eye, and I think we might be both thinking about the same thing.
Bryn had had a huge, plush bunch of mistletoe hanging over the door of her parents’ country home, and the excitement took over me when we first arrived – I’m not sure if it was the Hollywood-movie level of White Christmas, or the mulled wine we’d shared from a flask on the way there – but I’d slung my arms around Luke’s neck and planted a big, albeit quick, kiss on his lips. He’d reciprocated, we both laughed, then I’d got self-conscious and ended up kissing all of them on the lips, but I’d played that one with him over in my mind for the rest of the holidays.
‘That was a fun time,’ Ember agrees, and I notice Alex looking a touch uncomfortable beside her.
Like dandelion prongs we all start to drift our separate ways, heading towards our own seats, our own compartments. ‘Wait, let’s . . . let’s do something this afternoon.’
‘What like?’ asks Joe.
‘Um . . .’ I glance around, unsure what to suggest. But this is our last day on the train, tomorrow morning we arrive in Vancouver at dawn. At the start of this journey, four days seemed like a long time, now it doesn’t feel enough. There’s too much that hasn’t been said, and I want Bryn’s plan to work, for the sake of all of us. I just want my friends back. ‘I don’t know, but, it’s Christmas, and we’re together, so we should . . .’ make the most of it. I know it might not happen again.
‘There’s a wine tasting in the celestial carriage in a little while?’ Alex suggests, and it’s as if she’s cracked the ice.
Nothing like a bit of alcohol to loosen the ol’ tongue.
The whole gang is in agreement, especially Ember who looks glowing at the thought, and soon enough I’m showered and warmed and climbing the stairs to the celestial carriage, bedecked in my Christmas jumper and Christmas earrings and I’m ten minutes early but that’s okay because it’s warm and cosy up there and so am I. I think I have hope, for the first time. Hope that maybe we can all come back together, beyond this trip.
‘Hi.’ Ember waves from one of the seats.
‘Hey!’ My voice is still laced with excitement. ‘Is Alex coming?’
‘Yeah, definitely.’
‘That’s amazing, she seems really lovely.’
Ember laughs and tilts her head to the side in agreement. ‘She is lovely.’
‘Are you two . . . ?’
‘Are you asking if I’ve given up on the idea of going to see Bryn?’
‘Bryn? No, I hadn’t even thought of her . . .’
She sighs and gazes back out of the window, where we’re passing a lake of ice-blue water, surrounded by mountains blanketed in snow-topped pine trees. We only just stepped back in from that winter wonderland out there but I still can’t stop staring out at it. I’m so toasty warm right now.
‘I don’t know,’ Ember says. ‘I’ve come all this way, Cali. But I was thinking—’
