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Jolene said, ‘The outfit looks fine, more than fine, it’s just …’
‘Just what?’
‘Your hair. I think you should wear it down.’ Jolene walked over to where Freya was standing in front of the mirror and carefully took out the hairband, unfurling her long hair.
‘I’ve got a hairbrush.’
‘Here, let me.’ Jolene brushed her hair and handed the hairbrush back. She put her hands on her shoulders.
‘What is it?’ Freya asked, seeing her expression in the mirror.
‘You look so beautiful.’ Jolene dropped her gaze.
Freya turned around, looked at her for a long moment, then stepped forward and gave her a kiss on the cheek. ‘You are the best – you know that?’
She smiled. ‘I know.’
They linked arms and walked out of the bathroom.
Jolene unlinked her arm. ‘Now, go get that secondment.’
Freya smiled. ‘Will do!’
Chapter 14
Freya knocked politely on the door before stepping into the dean’s office. She was so excited that her secondment was about to be confirmed that her stomach was doing somersaults. She wouldactuallybe going to Egypt to work in Alexandria. It was a dream come true.
‘Ah, Freya. Come in, come in.’
Freya smiled at the dean, her brows knitting when she saw that she wasn’t the only one who had been summoned to her office. She glanced at the young man already seated in front of the dean. Was she late? That wouldn’t make a good impression. And what was he doing there, anyway? Did she have competition for the coveted place? She felt her face growing red at the thought that she’d got it wrong and wasn’t the only one who’d applied for the position. She hadn’t prepared for the possibility that the dean might have a shortlist and be choosing between them.
‘Freya, I’d like you to meet Tarek.’
Tarek turned in his chair and stared at her.
She saw him looking her up and down with what felt almost like disdain.What’s his problem?she wondered.
‘He’s come all the way from Alexandria.’
‘Alexandria!’ Freya grinned. She hadn’t expected this. They had sent someone to greet her and accompany her back to Egypt. She stepped forward as he rose from his chair. He was tall, with a dark olive complexion, soft brown eyes, and what she thought to be an old-fashioned seventies-style haircut. Her heart pounded in her chest as he took her hand.
For some reason, Jolene came to mind and what she’d said when she was drunk; that her heart skipped a beat whenever she looked at her friend. Freya wondered why that remark had come to mind as she looked at her new acquaintance from Alexandria. And was she mistaken, or was he holding her hand a little longer than necessary? The look on his face as he stared at her was the same expression she’d seen on Jolene’s face a moment earlier.
The dean coughed into the awkward silence.
‘Right, well now I’ve made the introductions. Freya, I’ve selected you to show him the ropes.’
Freya nodded enthusiastically. ‘Oh, I see. I’m showing him around here before we return to Alexandria.’
‘We?’ He looked at her, then at the dean.
Freya added. ‘When I start my secondment.’
The Dean said, ‘You did get my email – didn’t you?’
Freya looked at her blankly.
The dean cast her gaze down at her laptop, tapped a few keys and frowned. ‘Oh, bother. It failed to send. It’s still in my outbox.’ She looked up at Freya. ‘Well, that explains why we are talking at cross purposes. Tarek has been secondedherefor three months.’
