Page 92 of What Happens in Dubai

‘Aaaaahhhhh! We did it!’ Ashley ran over and hugged me tightly as Tom rustled his hand playfully through my hair. ‘What did Raj say then?’ Ashley asked.

My phone pinged in my back pocket. It was a message from Raj, with a screenshot of flight details attached.

See you all Saturday! Tell Tom to clear out my clinic room. I’m coming home!!!

I read the message aloud, excited at the thought of seeing Raj again, but my enthusiasm plummeted a second later. Tom would be leaving.

I glanced at him. He looked completely calm.

‘Saturday it is! It’ll be good to see Raj again,’ he said.

‘Yes, totally. I’ll genuinely be sorry to see you go though. Jesus, I never thought I’d say that again!’ I chuckled and came closer to Tom, not knowing how to embrace him.

‘It was great fun, Zara. Hey, we should celebrate! Friday night?’

‘YES!’ Ashley yelled. ‘One hundred per cent in!’

‘I’ll take us all for dinner,’ Tom said.

‘No, no! No way!’ I interrupted. ‘I’m the boss at the moment, which means I have the business card! I’ll be taking you guys out, to thank you both. I should invite Andy too.’

Tom smirked and gave me a salute. ‘Absolutely!’

‘I’m well up for this! Where are we thinking?’ Ashley asked.

‘I’ll book somewhere nice. Don’t worry, Ash,’ I giggled.

We stood huddled together, happy but dampened, knowing that the dynamics would change suddenly at the end of the week. I grabbed my phone out of my back pocket and messaged Andy.

Hey! I’m taking Ashley and Tom out for dinner on Friday night just to say thanks for everything before Raj gets back. We would all love if you could make it too! X

Read.

My phone began ringing instantly from Andy and my stomach flipped with nerves. I stepped a few steps away from Tom and Ashley.

‘Zara, I just got your message but Friday is a bad night for me.’

I felt my heart sink, not really understanding why.

‘No, listen that’s totally fine. It’s short notice anyway,’I replied, trying to disguise my disappointment.

‘I know, I’ll deffo come to the next one. I’ve just got commitments every Friday night with Jennifer and Ty. I can’t get out of them, you know.’

OK, wow. I was not expecting that. What commitments? Who the fuck were Jennifer and Ty? Did he have kids I didn’t know about? Or was Jen his girlfriend? My head was racing with questions.

‘No, of course. Listen, if your schedule changes, I can always add you on!’ I replied calmy, despite my mental thoughts.

‘I appreciate it, hen! Take care!’

I turned back around to Tom and Ashley who were chatting away casually.

‘OK, Andy can’t make dinner for Friday so it’ll be a table for three! Let’s get this show on the road. We have a busy afternoon ahead!’ I clapped my hands, breaking the silence, and we got back to work.

For the rest of the day, the atmosphere was sombre, but none of us acknowledged it. We’d always known Tom’s presence here was temporary, but in the few weeks we’d all worked so well together. We couldn’t have changed Individualise around without him, and as much as I pretended to be OK, I knew then, deep down, I didn’t want to lose him again.

Chapter Thirty

Friday sped around far too quickly, and each time I thought about Tom leaving, I felt my stomach churn. I composed a mental list of reasons to keep him on, which I would present to Raj, but realistically I knew there was no room for a third practitioner. At the same time, my head often wandered off about Andy.What was his situation?And had I imagined a flirtation brewing between us all along? I suppose he was the first man to ever see beyond my looks. He encouraged my ideas, my business skills and supported me. Perhaps his genuine personality and good guy attributes, combined with muscly pecs and a decent-sized bulge, made him intriguing for me.

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