‘That won’t be happening,’ I say primly, desperate to claw back some professionalism. ‘Listen, shall we discuss plans for landing in Perth?’
Clio looks slightly crestfallen, but at least we’re back on track.
Thanks to my cheeky seat reshuffle I’m the last of our group to board plane two of the day. With five hours until we get to Perth, I fully intend to dazzle Hamish with my brilliance as he settles down in the seat next to mine. His behaviour has not been ideal so far but given all the glorious times we’ve shared in the past, I’m happy to brush that aside. He’s probably still processing the fact that he’s seeing me again for the first time in years. I know I’m all at sea right now, too, so I must cut him some slack.
‘Fancy seeing you again!’ He smiles.
‘I know. It’s as if Fate is trying to get us back together,’ I giggle.
Damn it, Nina!That sounded way too keen and also unhinged.
‘Ha, erm, yeah,’ Hamish says, looking a little unsure.
Too much. Just be cool.
‘Did you get to make all your calls?’ I ask.
Hamish nods, and I suddenly realize that he could have been checking in with a girlfriend during the layover. My stomach swoops uncomfortably. How haven’t I established if he’s single or not yet? What a rookie mistake. I’m pretty sure inTime Travel for Lovers and Dummies, checking if the one that got away is available is right up at the top of the to-do list.
‘Got to check in with your girlfriend, right?’ I ask, cringing at myself for the delivery. What happened to cool, chic, easy-breezy Nina? Where did she go?!
‘Huh?’ Hamish frowns. ‘Oh, no. I’m not seeing anyone right now. Actually just came out of a relationship, to be honest with you.’
‘Did you?’ I ask, immediately needing to know every last detail as the plane is prepped for take-off.
‘Great girl,’ he says, and I nod along encouragingly. ‘Really cool. But ultimately, Nee, it just wasn’t meant to be.’
‘How so?’
‘She just didn’t really get my drive and passion,’ he says.
There’s a tumbleweed moment where I try to match up his words with his actions. I cannot.
‘Drive and passion for … ?’ I can’t help it, I have to ask.
‘Surfing,’ he replies, as if this were obvious.
‘No, of course,’ I say hurriedly. ‘She wasn’t a fan?’
‘I mean, she could surf, but it wasn’t her main thing. For me, that’s my whole focus, you know? And in the end we just got into too many arguments about me wanting to be out on the ocean and her wanting to do other shit, like, I don’t know, hang out and stuff.’
‘You know, Hamish, that sounds exactly like me and my ex,’ I say, a bubble of optimism rising inside me. This is much more like it! Finding things in common with my one true love all over again. Next stop, falling back in love. By the time we’ve landed, who knows what could have happened between us.
‘Really?’ he asks, interest apparently piqued.
‘Yup.’
‘You broke up recently?’
‘About a month ago,’ I say. ‘He was a great guy, and we had fun together, but ultimately I was more focused on work and less on him, and it started to cause arguments.’
‘Man,’ Hamish says, shaking his head. ‘Increasingly, I’m learning that being tethered to someone else is too challenging. Monogamy, eh? It’s not natural for human beings to put boundaries on themselves in that way.’
What? No!
‘Well,’ I counter, ‘sometimes boundaries are good. And when you get it right …’
I leave that hanging in the air, suggestive of our time together. How we totally got it right. I can see Hamish thinking on this. Now, I just need to casually drop into conversation some amazing memories from our hot hot summer together. But which one to lead with? It feels important to get this right, because a lot is at stake here. My future happiness, for one.
