A Proper Family Holiday Read Online Free PDF Page A

surrounded by her family’s bags and the untouched sandwiches, Ronnie tried to regain her sense of humour as she sipped her coffee. Alas, the coffee was so hot it burned her tongue. She was tired and she was anxious and suddenly her eyes were stinging with the effort of holding back tears. It was all right for Mark. He was always the good guy, dispensing gifts and overturning Ronnie’s sensible decisions. Surely the first rule of parenting was not to undermine each other? Mark had no idea how hard it was for Ronnie to impose any kind of discipline on the daughter he called his ‘little angel’ when he contradicted everything she said. Lately, it seemed almost every row they had began with something Sophie had done.
    And now, just as Ronnie had feared they would, they were calling the Lanzarote flight. Ronnie stood up at once and scanned the terminal for her family. She had known this would happen. The hour-long delay had turned out to be only half an hour in the end. She looked at the departures screen. Seconds after the new departure time was revealed, their flight flashed in red for final boarding. Final boarding! They’d only just announced that boarding had begun.
    Ronnie phoned Mark. She phoned Sophie. Neither of them picked up her call. She kept one eye on the departures screen and the flashing red gate number. If they missed the flight, she would never forgive Mark. Her parents had spent a fortune on this holiday. They had to get there. She could feel her blood pressure rising. She phoned Mark again. Then Sophie.
    ‘All right, Mum,’ said Sophie. ‘ All right . I’m standing right behind you.’
    Mark, too, was striding through the crowd towards her, with Jack perched high on his shoulders.
    ‘Come on,’ said Ronnie. She was starting to panic. She couldn’t hold back any longer. ‘We need to hurry up. Has everybody got their things? Sophie, where’s your jacket?’
    ‘Er, I’m, like, wearing it?’ Sophie had the jacket from Hollister, a birthday gift that had cost way more than Ronnie wanted to pay for something that already looked so worn, tied carelessly round her waist.
    ‘Jack, where’s your rucksack?’
    ‘It’s on my back.’
    ‘So it is. Now come on.’
    Ronnie led the charge for the gate. By the time they got there, Sophie was complaining of a stitch, and Mark, who had carried Jack all the way, said he thought he might be having a coronary.
    And so much for last call. The gate area was absolutely rammed with would-be passengers for Arrecife. Despite the departure screen’s insistence that the flight was closing, no one had boarded at all, and there was nowhere for Ronnie and her family to sit down until they did.
    ‘I knew we didn’t have to hurry,’ said Sophie. ‘I knew it. I could have stayed in the queue at Accessorize.’
    Sophie sat down on Ronnie’s carry-on bag with a dramatic sigh.
    ‘For heaven’s sake. You’ll squash the sandwiches!’
    ‘Who the hell brings their own sandwiches on a flight anyway? My family is so bloody chavvy.’
    Luckily for Sophie, Ronnie didn’t hear her above the announcement that the flight was ready to board at last.
    Despite the jam at the gate, Ronnie and her family had slightly better luck with their seating arrangements. Mark somehow hustled to the front of the queue by carrying Jack, whose smile parted crowds before them. Jack was that kind of child, with a face at once angelic and mischievous. Once on board, Mark nabbed four seats in the second row. Ronnie was surprised and pleased when he wrestled the hand luggage away from her so he could put it in the overhead locker while they took their seats. She was less surprised and pleased to find she had ended up in the aisle seat, with Jack next to her in the middle seat while Sophie sulked with her head against the window. Mark, across the aisle, was sitting next to a perky twenty-something blonde who was just a bit too smiley for Ronnie’s liking. Mark didn’t seem to have noticed her,