“Well, yes, I suppose. I mean, I taught in London, as you know, and I’ve sometimes wondered about living in a non-English speaking country, maybe teaching English.”

“Exactly right. Education will always be a worldwide endeavour, and of course, so much learning takes place online these days. There are those opportunities too.” I wasn’t sure why, but something about his comment didn’t sit well with me. But before I could respond, we were interrupted again by the arrival of the wine and the business of tasting and pouring. James made a generic toast “to Sydney”, and after touching the rim of my glass to his, I took a sip. Delicious—but of course it was. It was a Western Australian chardonnay.

“So, Sarah, I was thinking we could head over to New Zealand for the weekend.” It was a total non sequitur and I nearly choked on my wine.

Was this what life with James would be like, him whisking me away to some gorgeous destination at a moment’s notice? Traveller Sarah was very much on board, so to speak, but practical Sarah—the one who was preparing for the new school year, the one who had brunch plans with her girlfriends that Sunday—wasn’t quite so sure. Hiding my raspy coughs behind my hand, I looked up to see those eye crinkles again. “So, what do you think?”

I cleared my throat. “Um, that sounds amazing,” I replied, traveller Sarah taking the lead. “I’ve only been there once, and it was ages ago.”

“Where did you go?”

“Christchurch, then up to Marlborough.” He nodded. “Have you been to New Zealand?”

“A few times.” He didn’t elaborate, obviously not the type of person to go on and on about all the amazing places he’d been.

“So where were you thinking we’d go? I asked.

“Well, I’d love to take you to one of the sounds. Milford is probably my favourite.”

“Oh, that’s supposed to be beautiful.”

He grinned and laid out the rest of his plan. “We could fly into Queenstown, stay there, then head down to Milford by car. There are these overnight cruises where you wake up on the sound. It’s incredible. Then there’s the wine tasting, of course. We’d be right in the heart of the Otago region—great pinots.” He raised his eyebrows at me. The trip did sound incredible, but I wondered how we’d fit it all into a weekend. “What’s that? You frowned.”

“I was just thinking. It’s a lot to do in a weekend.”

“Well …” He drew it out and smiled to himself. “We could take a little longer. I’ll be wrapping up the museum talks in the next couple of days. We could leave Thursday, or perhaps even Wednesday evening, and I’d have you back in Sydney on Monday. We’ve got time, right? You said you’re off work until the end of the month?”

“Well, yes. We don’t start the school year until the third of February …” I was stalling as I thought of all the things I’d have to rearrange and cram into the next few days. Then I realised that when the handsome man, who says he’s falling in love with you, wants to take you to New Zealand for the weekend, you say “yes”.