Page 96 of Italy and Forever

When Lesley bustled back into the room, Ginny gathered it wasn’t good news. ‘He’s not answering.’

‘What time’s his flight?’ she asked. ‘This evening’ could be anything from five o’clock to eleven o’clock.

‘I’m not entirely sure. He told me not to come to see him off. I think it’s his way of coping with the goodbye. He probably wants to be alone. Was it very important that you see him?’

‘Of course!’ Ginny cried. ‘I’m trying to tell him I love him!’

Lesley’s entire face brightened. She approached on swift feet and patted Ginny’s cheek warmly. ‘Good,’ she said, her voice rough. ‘Very good. I had a feeling about you when I saw the photos.’

‘It won’t be good if I can’t find him!’

‘Oh, right. I see. There’s a point. Well, don’t worry. How about you call Andreas—? No, wait. He’s on his honeymoon right now, isn’t he? Hmmm.’

‘I’ll call Kira. Thank you so much, Lesley, but I’ve got to go. Maybe I’ll catch him in Weymouth.’

‘That’s a three-hour drive!’

Ginny just shrugged helplessly and escaped back to her car, dialling Kira and punching the button to put it on speaker.

‘Help!’

‘Ginny, you won’t believe this,’ Kira said at the same time.

‘Let me guess, ten seconds after I left the gym yesterday, Rhys turned up? You couldn’t have told me?’

‘I thought I’d already interfered enough,’ she said in an unusually small voice.

‘Interfered how?’

‘I might have… told him about the misunderstanding.’

Ginny braked so hard the car behind her nearly ran into her bumper. Waving an apology over her shoulder, she pulled into a parking space to process this information.

‘What did he say?’

‘Nothing much. He was kind of non-communicative. Nothing’s changed there. He insisted he didn’t want to go out for a drink and just left. I think I liked him best when you were there to make him more human.’

‘Do you know what time his flight is?’ she asked, no time to dwell on Kira’s statement.

‘Nope. He guarded that information like a state secret.’

‘But he stayed overnight in Weymouth?’

‘I think so. He’s flying out of Bristol some time tonight – that much I know.’

‘I’ve got that far too, but I don’t know if I’ll make it to Weymouth before he has to leave again. Damn it!’ She smacked the wheel with the balls of her hands. ‘I suppose this means I’m on my way to the airport. If I have to sit there for hours, I’ll do it.’

‘Wait, why?’

Ginny was already pulling out, narrowly avoiding a collision with another vehicle because she didn’t look over her shoulder. Ignoring the angry honk of the horn, she answered Kira’s question. ‘He can’t go before I tell him I love him!’

‘Oh, all right, then,’ Kira said in a dry tone. ‘I might meet you there. I want to see this.’

This stunt would cost her a fortune in airport parking fees, but Ginny was fiercely determined not to miss him. She arrived at Bristol airport a little after midday, her stomach rumbling.

She was going through the tills to buy a sandwich when her phone rang. She nearly dropped the device when she saw the name on her screen. By the time she’d pulled herself together and finished the purchase, she’d missed the call.

Staring at her phone as she wandered out of the shop, she reasoned with herself that this was the best news of the day so far, but she was still filled with trepidation when she tapped the screen to call back.