Driving Home for Christmas

by Emma Hannigan

  ‘No worries,’ Pippa said, grabbing her bag.

  ‘There seems to be an issue with this card, ma’am,’ the waitress said, moments later. ‘I’m afraid it’s been declined.’

  ‘Oh, shoot!’ Pippa said, smiling. ‘Try this one,’ she said, handing over her American Express. She was beyond relieved when the transaction went through. Stuffing the receipt into her bag, she went back to the table where the Champagne was being poured into flutes.

  ‘Pippa, I just looked at the prices. One hundred and sixty dollars for a bottle of champagne! I won’t be getting pissed in here.’ Skye was clearly horrified as she put the white-leather drinks menu back on the table.

  ‘Isn’t this place just ice-box, though?’ Pippa replied. ‘Look at the bright blue dance floor!’ Skye was beginning to irritate her. The prices were extortionate but the transaction had gone through so they might as well enjoy it. What was the point in harping on about it and making them look like paupers?

  ‘They do a foam party in here sometimes,’ Zack said. ‘There’s, like, an under-the-sea type vibe.’

  ‘This is worth celebrating,’ Pippa said, brushing off the twinge of fear that had just assailed her over her maxed-out Visa.

  ‘To Irish lassies!’ Bill grinned.

  ‘To New York and the wonderful views she boasts,’ Pippa said, giggling as she winked back at Bill.

  Rihanna’s ‘Only Girl (In The World)’ poured out of the speakers, bringing Pippa to her feet. ‘I love this song!’ she said. With one hand on her hip, she beckoned Bill slowly with the index finger of her other hand. ‘Dance with me,’ she whispered, as he put an arm around her waist. As they made their way down to the dance floor below via a Perspex staircase, Pippa drank in the heaving atmosphere and cool dancers. The girls were dressed to kill and so were the men. This was what it was all about. She gazed back up towards the VIP area to see the remaining four waving down at them. A couple of people dancing beside them clocked her friends and gazed at her and Bill with obvious envy.

  As far as Pippa was concerned, that bottle of bubbly had been a sound business investment. Once she’d had enough of dancing, Bill led her back up the stairs to rejoin the others. For the remainder of the evening, the men wouldn’t allow them pay for a single thing.

  Skye was chatting to Charlie but from her uptight body language it was clear that she wasn’t interested in staying for much longer. Lucy, though, was wrapped around Zack and seemed to be making the most of the night.

  Pippa had thought her heart would burst out of her chest when Bill kissed her as they went up the stairs to join the others after yet another fling on the dance floor, but no. Any potential fireworks were well and truly quenched by the slobber. It was like snogging a fish.

  ‘Want to go back to my place?’ Bill asked, with a slight slur. Had he known how to kiss, Pippa might’ve gone, but suddenly the shared hotel room with her friends and the potential for a bit of girly gossip seemed the better option. Maybe she’d been right last night when she’d said she was smitten by Jay, she mused drunkenly.

  ‘I’d better stay with the girls. We’re only here for a couple of nights and it might be rude of me to abandon ship.’ She injected as much regret into her face as she could muster.

  ‘Sure thing,’ Bill said, holding his hands up. ‘I didn’t think you would but it was worth asking!’

  As they rejoined the others, Pippa caught Skye yawning. ‘Skye, you poor love, you’re exhausted,’ she said, full of concern. ‘I think we should get you back to the hotel right now.’

  ‘I’m fine for another while if you girls want to stay on,’ Skye offered.

  ‘Oh, no,’ Pippa said, patting her hand.

  ‘Well, if you’re sure …’

  ‘Sorry to break up the party, guys,’ Pippa said, after the style of a boxing referee. ‘Lucy, it’s really late and poor Skye’s had it.’

  ‘Aw, seriously?’ Lucy said, disappointment etched across her face.

  ‘You can always stay with me?’ Zack said hopefully.

  ‘Ah, no. This hen party is sticking together,’ Skye interjected.

  Pippa pulled her coat on and hugged Zack and Charlie, leaving Bill until last. Knowing she wanted to keep their goodbyes brief, she gave him a quick kiss on the lips, then made a big song and dance of how sad it was they had to leave, arms flailing to discourage too much intimacy. ‘Double boo-hoo that we can’t meet up tomorrow night – we’re hooking up with some distant cousins,’ she fibbed.

  ‘That’s a shame.’ Bill looked a little crushed.

  ‘Take care, boys, and thanks so much for the club,’ Pippa said.

  The girls linked arms and strode up the road towards their hotel.

  ‘You’re such a liar, Pippa Craig!’ Skye chided her, as they went out of earshot of the boys.

  ‘Yes, and I quite liked Zack, thank you very much!’ Lucy said, swiping her.

  ‘Sorry, Lucy, I wasn’t thinking,’ Pippa said. ‘Bill was nice but he kissed me and it was so vile I knew I had to ditch him. He was like a Dyson crossed with a slug. Bleuch!’

  ‘Ah, I’m only messing with you,’ Lucy said. ‘I could’ve stayed with him if I’d thought he was going to be The One.’

  ‘It’s hardly wise to go hotfooting off with a strange man in a massive city like this,’ Skye said.

  ‘True,’ Pippa said, elbowing Lucy. ‘Listen to Mummy Skye.’

  ‘You can tease me all you like but it’s not a good plan to go off with strange men.’ Skye bristled.

  By the time they’d bundled into the hotel room and got ready for bed the mess was astonishing. Shoes, clothes and makeup littered the floor and all of the surfaces.

  ‘I’m wrecked,’ Pippa croaked. ‘I need to crash. Night.’

  The next morning Skye groaned as she staggered bleary-eyed across the room to answer the phone. ‘Hello?’

  ‘Good morning,’ the receptionist chirruped. ‘This is your wake-up call.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Skye replied before putting the phone down. ‘It’s lucky I ordered a call or I reckon I would’ve slept all day. You two conked almost immediately last night. I was wide awake for ages.’

  ‘Poor you,’ Pippa said, peeling herself up from her pillow. ‘We’d better get up, girls, if we want to get to the outlets. The flight back is so early tomorrow morning we won’t have time to do anything. Next time we need to come for a week.’ She yawned.

  ‘Only if we have about two years to save!’ Lucy said. ‘I was stretched to my limit just to manage this. With Christmas around the corner, I couldn’t have stayed any longer. Is it just me or does anyone else feel rough?’

  ‘Yup,’ Pippa answered, and pulled her sheet over her face. ‘I’ve no idea how many drinks I had last night. It was a great idea at the time but I’m feeling pretty horrendous now.’

  ‘I’m going to have a quick shower. At least if one of us is ready we might have a chance of getting something done today,’ Skye said, marching into the en-suite. ‘Come on, girls,’ she said, exasperated. ‘Friday is our only full day here so let’s not waste it moaning.’

  ‘Uh, are we in trouble?’ Pippa rolled over and faced Lucy in the adjoining bed.

  ‘I don’t think Skye went past her usual two-drinks limit and she didn’t score with what’s-his-face,’ Lucy said.

  ‘We weren’t that bad, though, were we?’ Pippa asked, as she tried sitting up. She lay down again: the room was spinning.

  ‘Ah, no. Skye will be fine. She’s just excited to be here, that’s all,’ Lucy explained. ‘I’ve known her for years. She’s a sweetheart.’

  ‘Come on, girls, up you get!’ Skye appeared from the bathroom wrapped in a towel. ‘The shower is more dribble than power so don’t expect any water jets to massage your aching heads.’

  ‘Right, I’m awake. I’ll have a quick shower,’ Pippa said, and staggered towards the bathroom. ‘I need to find a cashpoint too,’ she said, as she kicked the door shut. She couldn’t remember getting into bed but, judging from the
pile of clothing in the corner of the bathroom, she’d made it to the toilet, stripped and found the nightdress she was wearing. Her stale makeup was well and truly welded to her face. Black beads of dried-in mascara weren’t helping the slightly green pallor with which the drink had left her.

  The bathroom was pretty drab, with cracked tiles and an avocado suite. Still, the hotel was cheap and the management had agreed to slot in a third bed so they could all be together.

  Skye hadn’t been lying when she’d said the shower was dribbly. Pippa was cold when she emerged and found a towel. She grabbed a facecloth and scrubbed the remainder of last night from her eyes and cheeks. ‘I need some food,’ she moaned, as she shuffled back into the room.

  ‘Me too,’ Skye said, applying lip balm.

  The room was like a war zone by the time they were ready to head down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. ‘We’ll clean up later,’ Pippa said.

  ‘I’d hate to be the maid walking in here,’ Skye said guiltily.

  ‘I’ll put the do-not-disturb sign up,’ Pippa suggested. ‘That way we don’t have to inflict our pig sty on anyone.’

  After several cups of coffee and a plate of pancakes dripping in syrup, they all felt a lot more enthusiastic about heading to the outlets.

  ‘I’m glad the food’s good, seeing as tonight’s dinner is included in the package,’ Skye said, as she finished her last mouthful of breakfast. ‘I’m actually a bit stressed about money at the moment,’ she added. ‘I’ve been renting a place but I couldn’t stay there on my own any longer. The website designing’s going better than I ever dreamed, but the landlord jacked my rent up.’

  ‘Just find somewhere else, why don’t you?’ Pippa wondered, as they made their way out of the hotel in search of a cab.

  ‘I’ll have to, but it’s probably not the ideal time of year to move,’ Skye said. ‘I moved out a couple of days ago – my cousin let me bring my stuff to his place but the thought of sleeping on the sofa in a flat with three grungy guys doesn’t exactly fill me with joy.’

  ‘I’ll let you know if I hear of anywhere,’ Lucy said.

  ‘Me too,’ Pippa said, as they bundled into the warmth of a taxi.

  A short while later their hangovers were forgotten as they pulled up at the outlets.

  ‘This is fabulous!’ Pippa squealed, as she spotted row after row of her favourite stores. ‘They have Juicy and Max Mara – and there’s Hollister! Hold me back! I feel a splurge coming on.’

  The mall was a shopper’s dream, spotlessly clean and divided into identical-sized units. Inside, the rails were clearly marked, according to the discount offered.

  ‘Look at this! Chanel with eighty-five per cent off the original price tags,’ Pippa exclaimed to Skye.

  ‘Yeah, but it’s still crazy money,’ she said, stroking a jacket longingly.

  ‘Wouldn’t you just kill for a Chanel jacket all the same?’ Pippa took one off its hanger.

  ‘Totally,’ Lucy agreed immediately. ‘I know it’s a cliché but it really is an investment piece. One of my college friends has one that belonged to her grandmother. It’s still as amazing today as it was when she bought it. It’s timeless style at its best.’

  Reluctantly Pippa put back the jacket and they moved from Chanel to the other stores. After two hours of manic trawling through stores and rails, they collapsed at the coffee shop with coffee and cake.

  ‘I’ve bought four pairs of jeans for the price of one crappy pair at home,’ Pippa said, as she sipped her cappuccino. ‘It’s so cheap here it’s a joke. We’re so ripped off, aren’t we?’

  ‘Totally,’ Skye agreed. ‘You’d better be a bit careful with how much you buy all the same, though, Pippa. They’ll charge you a fortune if you’re over the allotted weight when we check in.’

  By the time they got back to the hotel it was snowing and minus three degrees centigrade.

  ‘Let’s dump our treasures and head down to the hotel bar. The windows will give us a bird’s eye view of the passers-by and the snow falling!’ Pippa said excitedly.

  ‘Oh, my God, the mess in here!’ Skye gasped, as they shoved the door of their room open. ‘How about we do a quick pack and then we’ll be sorted? At least we won’t have to do it all later or, worse, at four in the morning before we go to the airport.’

  ‘Do we have to?’ Pippa moaned.

  ‘I’m going to,’ Lucy said, staring at the debris on the floor. ‘I certainly won’t feel like it later.’

  Reluctantly Pippa joined forces with the others and found her bits and pieces. She stuffed them into her bag, which didn’t want to close. She didn’t want to admit it to Skye but she was having serious trouble closing her bag. It weighed as much as a small mammal too. Figuring she could go for the layered look, she took out two sweatshirts, a coat and one of her new pairs of jeans. She’d need to be well wrapped up against the biting cold. She flung her shampoo and conditioner, with a pile of other toiletries, into the bath, and allowed herself to feel a little smug.

  ‘I’ve just saved myself loads of space and suitcase weight,’ she said, looking a bit florid in the face.

  ‘But they’re full bottles – expensive ones too,’ Lucy said. ‘You’re something else, Pippa! I’m too broke to buy that brand of shampoo, let alone throw it away.’

  ‘I get them when I’m having my hair done so it never seems that expensive,’ she said. ‘Feel free to take it if you have space.’

  When they left the room to go down to the bar for a well-earned drink, it looked much more organised. As they toasted a wonderful day of shopping, the snow was beginning to stick outside.

  ‘This is like being inside a snow globe, isn’t it?’ Pippa said. ‘I think I’d like to live here for a while.’

  ‘I wouldn’t,’ Skye admitted. ‘Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had a total blast, but I find the speed of it all and the vast amounts of space and crowds of people sort of scary.’

  ‘I know what you mean,’ Lucy agreed. ‘But I’d happily come and visit Pippa a few times a year if she’s planning on being here!’

  The evening went far too quickly as Pippa managed to attract another group of men. ‘I just can’t get enough of the New York accent,’ she said.

  ‘Well, your Irish accent is just the cutest thing,’ one said, taking the bait instantly.

  ‘Really?’ Pippa said. ‘I didn’t even think I had an accent!’

  ‘Oh, you certainly do,’ another man joined in.

  ‘Do any of you have Irish roots?’ Pippa asked.

  As they all tried to answer at once, Skye grinned at Lucy. ‘What will we do with her?’ she murmured. ‘She’s irrepressible, isn’t she? You could dump Pippa on the edge of the earth with nothing but a smile and she’d get herself invited to a party within half an hour.’

  ‘I think the big blue eyes, ski-slope nose and perfect figure help,’ Lucy said. ‘I’m bursting out of my skinny jeans after all the carbs and booze we’ve had since we got here.’

  ‘I’ve a massive zit coming up on the side of my nose. I always end up with manky skin when I travel,’ Skye said.

  ‘I know the feeling. But Miss Ireland here seems to flourish,’ Lucy said. ‘She certainly knows how to pull, doesn’t she?’

  ‘Hell, yeah!’ Skye said, in a mock-American accent. ‘As I said before, she’d draw a crowd even if she were in solitary confinement!’

  They decided to call it a night at just after one o’clock. As Skye and Lucy drifted off to sleep, Pippa’s jetlag kicked in and she was suddenly wide awake. Without disturbing Lucy and Skye, she tiptoed to perch on the window seat and gaze out at the lights and hubbub of New York below. It was still snowing but she had a good view, and could see dozens of people still wandering around.

  She tried to picture what it might be like to live here, and suddenly felt unsure. Maybe it wouldn’t be that great. The snow and bright lights were exciting, but New York didn’t hold a torch to Huntersbrook House. She couldn’t imagine being anywhere else on Christma
s morning. Tomorrow night she’d be missing Lainey’s birthday dinner. Now that she was awake, alone and with nobody to chat to, she felt stupidly homesick.

  In the taxi on the way to the airport they were quiet as they huddled together for warmth. The roads were snowed over but they made it on time for check-in. Pippa rooted in her purse for her third of the taxi fare. ‘Girls, I’m so embarrassed but I haven’t a bean left. Can I pay you back when we get home?’

  ‘I’ll put in your share. I have cash,’ Skye said.

  ‘Thanks,’ Pippa said, cringing. She hated not having money of her own.

  They went into the airport and found the right desk. Pippa heaved her bag on to the scales. ‘This one is over the allocated weight. There’s a charge of eighty dollars,’ the check-in woman announced, in a voice that didn’t invite argument.

  ‘Holy cow, Pippa.’ Skye giggled. ‘You’d have been better off buying the stuff in Dublin! Any savings you might have made are going straight back on.’

  Pippa produced her trusty American Express card and paid the charge.

  Once they were rid of the luggage, they went through Security and wandered towards the duty-free area. ‘I’m going to pick up some makeup. Clinique’s really cheap here,’ Pippa said knowledgeably. ‘Come on – I’ll treat you both to a lipstick and nail polish, seeing as you had to use your cash to pay the taxi driver.’

  ‘Thanks, Pippa. That sounds like a fair trade,’ Skye said. ‘I’d love a nice new lippy for the Christmas-party season.’

  ‘Me too,’ Lucy chimed in.

  They chose their lipsticks and nail polish, then glanced at the time, squealed and ran. They should have been at the gate, ready to board the aircraft.

  ‘Oh, my God, imagine if we missed the plane because we were so busy trying on lipstick!’ Pippa panted.

  ‘Don’t joke, we’re not on it yet,’ Skye said. ‘I feel like I’m going to puke from running.’