Page 40 of Nathan
“Hello.”
“Nathan, it’s me. Maximum is on the line too.”
“Hi, Nathan.”
The sound of Maximum’s voice made me lean back in my seat. “Wow, feels like I haven’t talked to you in weeks. How are you?”
“Good.”
“Still in India?”
“No.”
“You’re home? Why didn’t you say so? I want to see you.”
Maximum chuckled. “I’m not quite home yet. I made a stop in Dhaka.”
I was good at geography but still had to search for a world map in my memory. “Dhaka in Bangladesh?”
“Yes.”
“What are you talking about? That’s not on your way back to Ireland. You went in the opposite direction.”
Maximum gave another soft laugh before defending himself. “I had to come. There’s a project here run by an amazing local woman fighting to keep a local orphanage running. I heard how desperate she was for funds, and I’m glad I came. The people are wonderful here, and I really feel like I’m making a difference.”
“I’m sure you are, Saint Mumsimax.”
I could hear him smile through the phone at the name I’d come up with years ago when he first started his philanthropic work.
“Maybe I should come and join you. Things are a little crazy here.”
“Yes, River told me about Kit’s evil plot backfiring. That’s what happens when you mess with things you shouldn’t… So how bad is it?”
“Oh, it’s bad! You should see the number of messages and notifications on my phone, I don’t even know where to start or where these people got my number from.”
“That’s what it’s like to be a celebrity,” River said in a dry tone. “Everybody wants a piece of you.”
“Except it’s not in a good way. This morning I had someone shout at me during my morning run, and some wanker scratched up my car. The press is like wolves, and I’ve never seen so many trolls on the Internet. When the photos came out, River talked me into doing an interview, but it didn’t help. The journalist still wrote nonsense and half-truths.”
“You have my sympathy.”
“Are you being sarcastic?” River asked Maximum.
“Not at all. It sounds horrible.”
“Still, you think we deserve it because we tried to set Serena up, don’t you?”
Maximum chuckled again. “River, I’m not in the business of judging others. But listen, Nathan, if you need to get away for a while, I’d love for you to come and join me down here. River, you are welcome too, of course.”
River made a sound between a snort and a laugh. “I’ll come see you if I can stay in a five-star hotel nearby.”
“Come on, sis, I’ve told you before; you’re much too dependent on material things. Why don’t you take a break from it all? Once you do, you’ll understand how much power pointless things hold over you without you even realizing it,” Maximum said.
“Call me materialistic all you want, I’m fine with it,” River stated before I cut in.
“I don’t need luxury. All I want is a break from this madhouse. Send me your address, and I’ll book a ticket to Bangladesh as soon as I get home.”
River smacked her tongue. “Nathan, you can’t go to Bangladesh. That’s where Storm is.”
