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I took my phone from my bag and turned to Ned.
“Would you mind taking a photo for me to send to Carolyn?”
“Of course.” He put his phone down on the table in front of him. “Do I know Carolyn?”
I raised my glass and smiled for the camera. “You met her at theExclusivesparty. She’s a friend of Justine and Lina’s.”
“Ah yes, I remember now.”
I sent the photo to Carolyn, with the captionGuess where I am—on my way to Las Vegas! In a private jet, no less!
A message flashed on the screen of Ned’s phone. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a thumbs-up emoji from someone called Amos Kerrigan.
Ned picked up his phone, looked at the message, then drained his glass. “You’ll need to switch your phone to airplane mode,” he said, turning his off. “We’ll be taking off soon.”
I turned off my phone, thinking how surprised Carolyn would be to get my message. Ned pushed his chair back and yawned.
“I’m going to sleep,” he said. “Feel free to do the same.”
But I couldn’t, I was too excited.
We arrived in Las Vegas, and everything was like a dream. Ned had booked us into a mega hotel–casino complex. If I’d had to stay in my room all day, I wouldn’t have minded. It was enormous, with sliding doors that led onto a balcony almost as big as my studio apartment.
“What do you think?” Ned asked from the doorway as I peered over my balcony at an enormous swimming pool below.
“It’s amazing.” I turned to him. “Thank you for inviting me along, it’s so kind of you. You won’t regret it, I promise.”
Ned smiled. “I’m sure I won’t. In fact, I already know that you’re going to be a great help. Why don’t you unpack? Then we can have lunch. I’ll meet you in the lobby in thirty minutes.”
I unpacked quickly and sat down to send a message to Carolyn. I felt suddenly bad that I’d come all the way to Las Vegas without telling her. I’d had to pack in a rush—but was it because I thought she might dissuade me from coming that I hadn’t found two minutes to call her? I didn’t know why she might have tried to dissuade me, because shebarely knew Ned. But the feeling was there, and I knew I would only feel better once I’d spoken to her.
But my phone wasn’t in my bag. My heart sank; I remembered putting it into the seat pocket after I’d switched it to airplane mode. I must have left it there.
Aware of Ned waiting for me, I took the elevator down to the lobby. There were so many restaurants to choose from that I was happy to let Ned decide.
“I think I left my phone on the plane,” I admitted, once we were sitting down.
“Don’t worry, when the plane lands in London, I can have it couriered back here.”
I paused, my glass halfway to my mouth. “You can’t do that, it would cost too much! It’s my fault I left it on the plane.”
He smiled. “I don’t mind. But it might take two or three days to get here, and we’ll probably be on our way back by then.”
“Don’t worry, it’s fine. If I need to contact anyone, I have my laptop.”
But later, when I was alone in my bedroom, I opened my laptop to email Carolyn and the screen was completely blank. I tried holding down the power button, but it didn’t make any difference. Without thinking, I picked up the hotel phone and dialed Ned’s room number. He answered after only three rings.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Ned, it’s Amelie. I’m sorry to call so late, but I can’t get my laptop to work…” I trailed off, realizing that he probably wasn’t going to be able to help.
“Did you knock it or drop it?”
I blushed, suddenly remembering dropping my bag on the floor in the bathroom at the airport. “Not that I know of,” I lied, because I didn’t want to seem too much of a liability after having left my phone on the plane.
“Let me make a few calls, see if we can get it fixed. If not, I’ll get you a new one.” He paused. “Don’t sound so worried, it’s not a problem.”
“But what if you need me to do any work?”
