Page 18 of Where She Is
“You’ll come?”
“Yes, but just to talk. I can’t make any promises.”
“I haven’t asked you to. All I want is to make this right. My driver, Jack, will be there on Friday to pick you up from the office.”
“Then I suppose I’ll see you Friday.”
“You will.” There’s a pause before he speaks again. “Just give me a chance.”
“Okay, Daniel. We could both do with another chance.” I smile to myself.
“All right then, I’ll see you.”
“Not if I see you first.”
He laughs, “Night, Hannah. Sleep well.”
My heart thumps from the very tone of his incredible accent. “Night, Daniel.”
I hit the red button, hold the phone close to my chest, and close my eyes. There’s no one else around, so I bask in my excitement, squealing and jumping around like an excited toddler. I can’t stop my ridiculous grin and I couldn’t be happier.
By the time I’ve finished my energetic celebrations, I’m knackered. I close the mail to Lucy and decide to finish it another time. I wouldn’t know what to say about Daniel, anyway. Plus, she’s bound to worry and think I’m not making the right choices. I’m in such an excited tizz, I don’t want anything to dampen my mood. All I want is to sit back and bask in the excitement of the weekend to come. I can’t wait to see Daniel again.
Chapter Six
It’sa bright Monday morning and far too warm to spend the day in an office, but that’s why I came here. I have a job to do.
I try not to think about the weekend ahead because when I do; I get excited butterflies. When I reach my desk, I find the most beautiful arrangement of white roses. The card attached reads,
To second chances
Yours,
Cowboy x.
His mobile number is written on the back with a line underneath that reads,‘If you need me.’It makes my day before it’s begun and I find it hard to wipe the stupid grin off my face. Then I notice something else, a post-it-note attached to my screen.
I didn’t get to say goodbye at the weekend, circumstances beyond my control. Meet me for adrink later?
Matthew.
Poor Matthew, I’d forgotten about him. I place the flowers and card on the side of my desk where I can gaze at them all day. I log into my system and quickly realise there won’t be much time to think about Daniel or Matthew’s offer of a drink. Richard has back-to-back appointments and I have to accompany him to most of them. There are also flights to arrange. As part of Richards “hands on” schedule, he has to visit the Melbourne and Perth sites. Unfortunately, he doesn’t need me to attend. It would be great to get freebie visits to these cities, but on the upside, it will probably be all work and no play.
I type out a quick text to Daniel to thank him for the beautiful flowers.Well, there you go. I needed his number after all.Then work on my very long ‘To do’ list and a string of emails. That was the start of a full-on workload, so by six o’clock, I’m done. My sleep patterns are out, because of the phone conversation with Daniel. I continued to play it on a constant loop in my brain for most of the night until eventually, I’d fallen asleep to the sounds of a dawn chorus. An early night is on the cards. I busily clear my workspace and think about what to eat for dinner when two hands clasp the side of my desk and a body leans over the top. I almost jump out of my skin. I was in my own world for a second.
“Are you ready for that drink?”
My hands slap to my chest. “Jesus, where did you spring from?” I puff out a smile, but my heart is genuinely racing with the shock.
Matthew laughs then gestures for us to leave, “Shall we?”
My shoulders sag with tiredness. “I’m sorry, I forgot about the drink and I don’t want to be rude, but could we take a rain check? I’m exhausted.”
He squints with a smile and I can tell he won’t let me off easily. “Oh, come on, Hannah. Just one, I want to make it up to you.”
“Make up for what?”
“I feel awful after the other night. I tried to catch up with you, but I was warned that it wouldn’t be a good idea by a certain Director.”
