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James let loose a nice loud helpful swear word.
Clinging to the mouse for dear life, he took a deep breath and read the whole message again, just to make sure he wasn’t dreaming.
When he finally believed every word to be true, he swore even louder and grabbed for the phone, his hands shaking as directory enquiries put him through to Rick’s Body Shop.
‘Rick speaking.’
‘Rick, it’s James Dillon. Is Siena there?’
‘No, mate. That crazy-looking driver of hers picked her up to take her to the airport about half an hour ago. She still has to work that flight back to Melbourne. But I thought you—’
James hung up and was out of his chair, into the kitchen, grabbing his car keys and pulling a T-shirt over his bare chest and running down the front path faster than he had ever run before.
Slow Saturday drivers threatened to block his every turn, but somehow gaps in the traffic opened up before him every time he needed them to. Lights turned green upon his insistence. The fates were giving him one last chance to get this right.
As he neared the airport a big baby-blue poster advertising MaxAir caught his attention. And he almost crashed the car as Siena’s beautiful smiling face looked back at him.
He slowed, rubbed his eyes, saw that it was really her. She was dressed as a flight attendant in one of those blue suits and matching Jackie O hats, her glorious curls pulled back off her face into a severe bun, a wide smile on
her lovely face, her eyes sparkling for all the world to see. Her stunning ocean-green eyes, her fine cheekbones, her heart-shaped face, her—
The car behind him beeped its horn and he pulled away. The poster could wait. If the fates continued to conspire in his favour the real thing could be at the end of the line.
The real thing.
God, he had so much to tell her and this time he was going to tell her right.
He’d left the night before thinking he’d said all he had gone to her to say. But after reading her love letter to him, for that was what it had been, he knew that he’d been holding back.
Damn it! He could have blown it all.
If she hadn’t have been brave enough, and sensitive enough, to see through the superficial things like roses and throwing pebbles against her window, and tenuous offers to give it a go and see what happened he could have lost her.
He sailed over a speed hump as he drove into the short-term car park, found a spot and landed on the pavement running, thankful that he had remote central locking or he would have left the damn car to its own devices.
Pushing past tourists with baggage trolleys and families slowly wandering into the terminal to pick up loved ones, he rushed along the length of the outdoor car park.
He wanted to be with this woman for the rest of his life. He loved her stubbornness and the fact that she was hard work and that she made Kane laugh and made him smile. He loved the fact that she was sure, and that their courtship had weathered storms a-plenty and come out the other side stronger. And he loved the fact that she loved him right on back. That part he loved most of all.
But he hadn’t told her any of that.
Instead he’d dangled a carrot and hoped for the best. And now, hours after she had written that note, she could have given up on him and taken the Rome gig and left.
Unable to wait for the electronic doors to slide slowly open, he pushed through a side door of the departure gates. Running backwards, he eyed the monitor showcasing all departing flights until he found the MaxAir flight to Melbourne.
And then he was off, ignoring the packed escalator, taking the steps two at a time and travelling down the long hallway as fast as he could without arousing the attention of airport security.
As he closed in on the departure lounge, he took in the scene around him, willing his senses to slice through the hundreds of travellers to pick up only on her familiar dark curls, the classy scent of her perfume, her soft skin and those winning wilful eyes.
Where else did he find her but sitting in a café, a half-drunk cappuccino sitting congealing at her side, as she concentrated wholeheartedly on the dozen salt packets balanced in a precarious pile before her?
He slowed to a walk, taking advantage of a few moments to watch her, just watch her being her.
Her head was cocked to one side, her dark curls tamed into a slick wavy hairdo reminiscent of a forties movie star, sexy as hell in her baby-blue MaxAir uniform, looking nothing like the robot he had accused her of being all those millennia ago, but very beautiful, and very soft, and very real.
Marring the vision of true incandescence, her stormy green eyes seemed heartbreakingly sad and he guessed that lashings of eyeliner had been used to cover up evidence of tears. Tears he had caused? Tears that made his chest feel tight with regret. Tears he hoped to never let happen again.
Siena. The woman he loved. How had it ever come to this? How he had been lucky enough to find love twice in a lifetime, he had no idea. He’d done something right by somebody to deserve such a blessing. Especially because he knew in his heart that this time it would last a lifetime.
