“It sounds like a special place.”

“It is.”

“I’d love to go there with you.”

He’d caught me off guard and I blinked at him like the proverbial stunned mullet. It was one thing for me to go to Hawaii with Josh—we’d made those plans while we were still in Greece and before I’d seen James in London. But if James and I were already going to New Zealand together and he was talking about Italy, were we going to turn into a vacationship too?

Chapter 19

As I’d anticipated, the next few days passed in a frenzy as I prepared for my trip to New Zealand with James, pinging from one task to the next like a child hopped up on birthday cake.

I called Lins to see if she and Nick would have Domino again and she dryly suggested they just adopt him. Rude! And I spent several hours sifting through my wardrobe and trying on outfits to assemble the perfect trousseau for a long weekend in New Zealand with a sophisticated fifty-something. It was more difficult than it may sound.

I moved my brunch date to the following weekend, ran errands and ticked off those heinous online tasks that I usually put off until the last moment, like banking and renewing my car insurance, baked cupcakes for the bake sale Mum and her friends were hosting to raise money for wildlife preservation, and did some planning for the new school year—all things I would have done if I wasn’t going to New Zealand, but condensed into three days.

And on the day before I was flying to New Zealand with James, I spoke to Josh.

I know, I know, but there was no way not to. Josh texted to say he had something important to tell me and asked if we could FaceTime. How could I put him off until after New Zealand? “Uh, sorry, Josh, no matter how important your news is, I’m about to chuff off to the ol’ NZ for a long weekend away with my other lover. I’ll catchya on the flipside!”

My stomach fluttered as soon I heard the ring tone and I took a breath before answering the call.

“Hey!” A massive smile broke across his face warming me instantly. I loved that smile. I missed that smile.

“Hey back! So, what’s the big news? I’m guessing it’s good since you don’t look like you’ve been wallowing or anything.”

“No, no wallowing. I just wanted to let you know that my bigger life reboot has gotten off to a good start.”

“Oh, that’s fab! Anything in particular?”

“Yeah, actually. And it kind of involves you.”

I had no idea if it was good news or bad, but my traitorous stomach defaulted to “bad” and knotted into a tight ball. Damned video conferencing. It took all my acting prowess, which is hardly any at all, to keep a neutral expression and a light tone in my voice. “Oh yeah? How’s that?”

“So, you know how I told you that I’ve been kinda stagnant since Greece?” I nodded in encouragement. “Well, I went to see my career advisor and she told me about this cool new team the company’s putting together.” The ball started to unknot as I saw his obvious excitement.