Page 2 of Snowed In with You

‘Fuck me, they’ve hired a chalet with ten bedrooms?’ It was the first time Jonno had spoken, and his voice boomed out in the small room. Jonno only had one volume, and it was ‘East End fruit and veg trader’.

‘Yes. Well, it’s more of a small hotel, apparently. Titan have exclusive use. So everyone has their own en-suite room.’

‘So how do we choose?’ asked Rachel hopefully. ‘Pick names out of a hat?’

You wish, thought Lucy. Rachel had only joined the account six months ago, long after the award-winning campaign was finished. A lucky dip was the only way she was going.

‘No,’ said Sasha emphatically. ‘We discuss it as a team, like sensible adults, and agree who deserves to go.’ She put on her glasses and checked the notes on her phone. ‘We’ll be heading out on Thursday the nineteenth of January and flying back late on the Sunday. Can anybody not make that?’

A jolt of pain pierced through Lucy’s chest, forcing her to suppress a gasp. The twentieth of January was Leo’s anniversary, which she’d booked off to spend with her parents. It was never an occasion she looked forward to, so maybe being out of the country wasn’t such a bad idea. She could feel Jonno looking at her curiously, and flicked through the notebook in her lap like she was looking for something important.

‘Anyone?’ repeated Sasha impatiently.

Video Derek put his hand in the air. ‘I, umm, have a thing.’

‘What kind of thing?’ asked Sasha.

‘Just a thing. Um, the usual, you know. Volunteering.’

Lucy gave Derek a smile that she hoped communicated her utmost admiration and respect. Derek was an absolute saint who spent most of his free time volunteering at a Bristol drop-in centre for troubled teenagers. And unlike Steve, he only ever talked about it if asked directly.

‘Fine, no problem,’ said Sasha. ‘No Derek, but the rest of you are welcome to share your opinions on who should go.’

Lucy said nothing and waited, knowing that there was no chance on earth she wasn’t going to be on this list. She’d written every word of the winning campaign across every platform, so obviously somebody was going to put her name forward. The question was, how did she make sure Jonno went too? If she wasn’t going to be remembering Leo in the usual way, she needed Jonno there for emotional support.

‘I’ll start,’ said Jonno. ‘Lucy should be on the list. Without her, none of this would have happened.’

‘Other copywriters do exist,’ muttered Rachel.

‘Yes, but this campaign was written by Lucy,’ said Jonno, giving Rachel a withering look. ‘Can any of you really imagine a scenario where she’d be left behind?’

Everyone shook their heads, apart from Rachel, who hated it when other people were given nice things, or experienced feelings of happiness.

‘Right, that’s Lucy,’ said Sasha. ‘Assuming you do actually want to go?’

‘Yeah, course,’ shrugged Lucy, nudging painful thoughts of Leo aside in favour of a winter-wonderland fantasy involving accidentally falling over in the snow and being rescued by a hot ski instructor with very warm hands.

‘Good, one down. Anyone want to recommend anyone else, before you all start pitching for yourselves and this turns into The Hunger Games?’ Lucy kept quiet, mentally crossing her fingers that someone would say Jonno’s name. It couldn’t be her; everyone knew they were best mates.

‘Jonno,’ said Steve, who had missed out himself but clearly wasn’t going to sacrifice the whole Creative team. ‘He did most of the design work, and the client loves him.’

‘Agreed,’ said Sasha. ‘Anyone object to Jonno?’

‘Not an objection, per se,’ said Kim, clearing her throat. Jonno had recently turned her down for promotion, and apparently she was about to get her revenge. ‘I’m just wondering if it’s appropriate for directors to go?’

‘On what basis would that not be appropriate?’ asked Sasha, raising her eyebrows and giving Kim a look that would melt an ice cap from outer space.

‘Well,’ said Kim, looking mildly panicked. ‘It’s just, you know, you guys already get to do a lot of cool stuff that we don’t.’

Sasha’s eyebrows were now glued to the light fittings. ‘Such as?’

‘I don’t know,’ muttered Kim, casting around the room for help. ‘Like, awards dinners and events and fancy hotels abroad.’

‘Fancy hotels abroad?’ asked Sasha, blinking furiously.

‘Yeah, like when you and Jonno went to Cannes.’

Sasha laughed. ‘For the Lions festival. It’s the biggest creative event in our industry, and it was all work. Where would you have preferred we stay? In a hostel? A caravan?’