“It’s up to you; of course it is. This is your day. I just think it’s a shame that the people who are following your journey can’t be a part of it.”

“If they care as much as you say they do, they’ll understand,” Amanda says firmly. “Like you say, it’s Ava’s day. She needs to feel comfortable and she wouldn’t with a bunch of strangers around, as well-meaning as they may be.”

I throw Amanda a grateful look. She knows me so well.

“Of course,” Nadia agrees.

She means well, I’m sure of it. She just sometimes forgets to take her journalist hat off in the search for a good story.

That night, I get a message from James. I haven’t seen or heard from him since the night we slept under the stars beside Lake Taupo, but he’s never been far from my thoughts. I keep remembering what it was like to wake up to a dawn sky and him asleep on the lounger next to me. Studying his face, I felt like something had shifted between us, and the whole morning while he shot photos of me on the jetty and around the lake, it was as if we were both on the verge of saying something. But neither of us did, and he left before I checked out.

When a photographer called Steven turned up at the next article shoot, the one at the vineyard, I’d been disappointed.

“No James?” I’d asked Sophie nonchalantly as she adjusted the waistline on the beautiful ivory dress I was wearing for that article.

She’d given me a shrewd smile, even with pins clenched between her teeth. “He’s overseas on some assignment for National Geographic.”

“Wow. Impressive.”

“He’s very good at what he does. Very in demand.”

“Far too good to be taking photos of me, that’s for sure.”

“He enjoyed it, actually. Said you were a star pupil.”

“Really?” I felt ridiculously proud at her words, but sad that I might not see him again.

So when my phone beeps and I see his name pop up with an instant message, I’m surprised. I am outside on the deck enjoying the belated birthday present Kate bought me, even though, as I’d pointed out, she’d already given me a bottle of perfume on my actual birthday.

She’d shrugged. “Call it an early present for next year, then.”

Her present was a swing seat, a wide three-seater that I could lie down on and watch the stars, or just sit and swing and watch the ocean and the clouds. Both pastimes I found particularly soothing.

His message says,

Hi, Ava.

I message him straight back:

Hi! Where in the world are you? I hear you’re off on an adventurous photo expedition.

James:

Not so glamorous, I was in Burma covering the Rohingya situation. Back home now though.

Ava:

Oh sorry! Hope I didn’t upset you with my flippancy. You must have seen some pretty sad stuff.

James:

It wasn’t fun, that’s for sure. I’m not upset though. In fact, funny you should say that. I wrote and deleted my first message to you about six times. I don’t know whether to ask how you are, or whether that’s a stupid question. I don’t want to upset you.