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Chapter Nineteen
“Please returnto your seats and fasten your seatbelts as we begin our descent into Sydney Airport.”
Alice guessed a quick victory dance along the aisle wouldn’t be allowed. Besides, they weren’t safely on the ground yet; she’d heard take-off and landing were the riskiest times.
Still, her heart swelled with triumph, because she’d almost done it.
She beamed up at the air hostess collecting the rubbish. “This is my first ever flight.”
The woman smiled back. “I hope you enjoyed it.”
“Loved it.”
It was true. At take-off the last vestiges of anxiety had vanished as adrenaline whooshed through her body. Her back flattened against the seat, the engine roared in her ears like a dragon and instead of fear all she’d felt was exhilaration. Sure, the online course she’d found, “Flying Without Fear”, had done a lot to help these past few days, as had Polly’s pep talks. (Even if Polly was handling her like a new and strange species, possibly at risk of biting.)
In contrast, Mum had definitelynothelped. She’d fussed around at the airport, hovering while Alice checked in until Alice was completely discombobulated. She’d sighed with relief as she’d watched Rowena’s tie-dyed skirt disappear, half convinced Mum would re-enter through another door and stow away in some unsuspecting passenger’s luggage. Rowena was deeply disappointed not to be there when Alice met Henry for the first time. And while Alice got that, she and Henry had a lifetime to catch up on.
Rowena owed her that much.
“Cabin crew, please be seated for landing.”
Alice closed her eyes, let the downward pull flow through her stomach into her legs. When the wheels touched down, she couldn’t help digging her heels in like she was hitting the brakes. She guessed it didn’t hurt to give the pilot a bit of help.
And then they were taxiing in.
Hooray!
But when she arrived in the terminal, the vastness of it, and the people milling in all directions, was more overwhelming than she’d expected. Her breath quickened. A man stepped forward from the crowd; the words “Alice Montgomery” bobbing on a board in front of her eyes.
Alice stepped back in surprise. “I—I wasn’t expecting to be met.”
The man smiled. “Professor Beacham-Brown arranged our chauffer service to pick you up.”
“Oh,” she said, her chest ballooning with pride. “How nice.”
She was due to meet Henry at 7 p.m. As she finished checking in at the five-star hotel, Alice realised that was only one hour from now. Henry was staying in the same venue for the conference. They’d had a short phone conversation last night, their first ever, somewhat surreal and stilted as they discussed the arrangements. Mum had been right; Henrydidhave a very posh voice—one notch down from royalty posh. Alice found herself musing over the term “plum in the mouth” after they’d hung up, wondering whether elocution lessons really did involve putting pieces of fruit into children’s mouths. Was there something significant about a plum or would an apricot or even a cherry do just as well? Maybe she’d experiment some time. And then she’d smiled to herself; this was clearly a displacement activity to stop herself thinking about the enormity of meeting Henry.
In her room now, she unpacked her carry-on bag—she was only here for three days, she didn’t need much. Put her toothbrush in the bathroom. Rubbed the luxury bath towel against her cheek, then padded back into her suite and hurled herself backwards onto the bed.
And that did it.
A lightning flash of throwing herself onto another bed, her skirt riding up her legs, arms reaching towards the most beautifully ripped male torso she’d ever set eyes on, and—
NOT NOW!
Not ever again.
A wounded little sound pierced the quiet. Startled, she realised it was her. She bounced off the bed and started pacing, nibbling at her thumb. She’d done so well until now. Was it really only three days ago she’d told Aaron that she’d loved him all these years? Every time she’d recalled the shock on his face, the sound of his horrified rebuttal, she’d flushed it out like a ferret chasing out a rabbit from its burrow.
She pressed her trembling fingers into her eyes. Admittedly she’d allowed herself the bitter satisfaction of her grief that night, sobbed into her pillow for literally hours before falling into an exhausted sleep. Which meant she’d had to wear sunglasses to breakfast.
“Are you all right, sweetie?” Rowena had asked as she stirred a pot of porridge at the stove.
“Migraine headache,” she’d mumbled into her cup of tea.
Later that day, Polly had appeared in her bedroom doorway and said, “It wasn’t a migraine. Rowena gets migraines. You don’t. Do you want to debrief yet?”
“No. Thanks very much.” Alice tried not to be snappy; things still weren’t back to normal since the Munchkin episode. The Henry thing had been hard on Polly, too. Of course Polly was happy for her but when she’d given her a congratulatory hug, Alice thought she heard a little sniffle; fathers were a fraught subject for Polly.
