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“See you at seven tomorrow.”
I didn’t catch another breath until I was safely in my room with the door shut behind me. Once I had calmed down, I changed into dry clothing and climbed onto the bed, clutching my phone tightly in my eager hands. As the rain continued to drum against the windowpanes, I swiped through my phone to look at the photographs of Neil and me together.
My heart swelled with hope and longing as soon as I saw them.
In all three photographs, Neil wasn’t looking at the camera, he was looking at me, and with such a fond and wistful expression that anyone who didn’t know any better would think he was in love with me. He even had me fooled for a minute.
Before I could talk myself out of it, I sent my favourite of the three pictures to Neil. No caption. Just the photo. I wanted to see how he would respond—If he would at all.
Anticipation gripped me as the message turned from unread to read, and a heart reaction popped up.
Chapter Forty-Three
Iwas still puzzling over the heart reaction the next morning when I bumped into Neil at breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Was it intentional, or had his finger slipped? The mystery nagged at me, but I wasn’t about to bring it up with him.
After we had eaten, we collected our luggage, checked out, then took a taxi to the airport.
Passing through check-in and security was seamless, but instead of heading straight to the business lounge, Neil steered us towards a customer service desk.
“Is there a problem?” I asked.
Neil’s demeanour remained cool and composed. “There’s no problem. This is all part of the plan.”
Plan? What plan?
Before I could enquire further, the customer service agent greeted us with a smile. “How can I help you?”
“I’d like to change my flight to a later one,” Neil said.
A barrage of questions flooded my mind, but Neil’s prior assurance kept them at bay. I watched as he exchanged his ticket for a flight more than twelve hours later. The agent then turned her attention to me. “Will you be changing your ticket too, ma’am?”
I looked at Neil for guidance.
“You have two options,” he said. “Take your scheduled flight as planned, or else change your ticket to join me on the later flight. If it’s the latter, I ask that you stay in the airport and don’t go back through customs. My advice would be to stick with your current flight. It will be a very long time to wait otherwise, and with nothing to gain for it.”
“Are you going somewhere?”
Neil tensed. “Yes, but you can’t come with me.”
However much I wanted to help him, I knew better than to argue with him. Whatever he had to do, it seemed important.
An impatient-looking man joined the queue behind us, and I became conscious of holding him up if I didn’t decide soon. “I’ll stick to my current flight, thank you,” I said.
I respected Neil’s advice enough to take it, even if it meant we had to embark on separate journeys.
With that settled, we stepped away from the desk, finding a more secluded spot to continue our discussion in private.
“I’m going to leave the airport soon,” Neil said. “Take care on your own. Winston will pick you up and take you home from Auckland airport, as arranged.”
I nodded, comfortable with the logistics of my return.
Neil looked around, then lowered his voice. “You know what this is about, don’t you?”
I pieced together the fragments of information at hand. The clandestine nature of his actions hinted that there must be something secretive he had to do—or someone he had to see. Business he couldn’t attend to with all the work commitments and potential spying in the mix. Now that he was through airport security and en route to Auckland, no one would be watching his movements anymore. Was he going to meet Veronica? The chairman? Both?
“I think I understand. You have unfinished business to attend to. People you have to meet.”
“Yes.” He paused for a moment, his gaze lingering on me. “I’ll be leaving in a minute. Don’t contact me until tomorrow, okay? Not unless there’s some kind of emergency.”
