A quick round of introductions was undertaken. Bella, to her right, was a poised American with a sleek blonde updo. Astrid, sitting opposite, was a somewhat less poised brunette with knockout locks which Paige, as a frizzy ginger, wanted to chop off and keep.
In a non-serial killer way.
Sienna, to her left, another American, was a honey-blonde with big blue eyes. Dressed in her usual monochrome palate her curls mostly still contained in a twist at her nape, Paige felt decidedly dowdy.
A waitress appeared at their side asking them if they were ready to order a drink. They all glanced around tentatively for long beats. ‘Would you think me a terrible lush if I got a glass of prosecco?’ Paige finally asked.
It shouldn’t matter what three random strangers at an airport thought of her but the fact they’d all found the one free table in the entire café, possibly the entire concourse, and were all in possession of the same leaflet, made their meeting feel somehow more ordained.
‘Oh God no,’ Sienna said on a relieved sigh. ‘I hate flying and waiting around in airports even more. Let’s get a bottle. I’ll help you.’
‘I’ll have a glass,’ Bella told the waitress. ‘And some water for the table, please.’
Astrid glanced at the wall of clocks mounted above the bar, each displaying times from different capital cities around the world. ‘It’s five o’clock in Berlin.’ She smiled at the waitress. ‘Make it four.’
And suddenly Paige didn’t feel stabby at all.
* * *
Two hours, two bottles of prosecco, two cocktails and two desserts (each) later, the four of them had settled in, riding the buzz. People came and went around them but they chatted easily in the way of people who have known each other for a long time – not two hours. Nothing particularly personal. Just about where they were from and their jobs and their holiday plans. They talked about the best way to cook a turkey and the most exciting place they’d travelled and checked out each other’s socials.
‘I can’t believe you have your own VA business,’ Astrid mused as she scrolled Paige’s business account on Instagram. ‘That’s awesome.’
Paige shrugged, being a virtual assistant wasn’t what she’d planned for her life and it wasn’t making her rich but it paid the bills. ‘Thanks.’
‘So, you don’t have an office or anything?’
‘Nope.’ Paige shook her head. ‘I actually house-sit for people so I move around a lot and the nature of my business means I can work from wherever I am. Have laptop, will travel.’ She tapped her bag where the item in question was stashed, injecting a note of cheer she didn’t feel about her nomadic lifestyle, which was more about living within her means and avoiding permanence and roots than choice.
‘Is it why you’re in the US? Work?’
‘No. I was at a wedding in Chicago.’
‘Oh, how lovely.’ Sienna smiled softly, her voice a little dreamy. ‘How was it?’
‘You know. Pavlova dress. Drunken best man’s speech. Smooshing cake into each other’s faces. A handsy Uncle Chip.’
Bella downed the remainder of her glass before scraping up the last crumbs of her two slices of red velvet cake, which she’d pronounced to be the best cake in the history of cake. ‘I’d rather not talk about weddings.’
Paige raised an eyebrow. ‘Not a fan?’
‘Absolutely not.’
‘Don’t believe in love?’
‘I did. And then six months ago I stood up in front of 400 guests to let them know that my groom wasn’t coming.’
Their combined gasp was enough to turn heads at nearby tables. ‘Holy mother of…’ Astrid spluttered as she clutched Bella’s forearm. ‘You were jilted?’
‘Yup. By text. The morning of.’
‘Bytext?’Astrid’s mouth flattened. ‘What kind of scumbag does that?’
Sienna, no longer dreamy and clearly affronted on Bella’s behalf, demanded, ‘Who is he? Tell me. I’ll bring you his head.’
Everyone laughed but actually it felt very much like alcohol, carbs, a blizzard and that strange anonymity of a major international airport had heightened their fast friendship to this ride-or-die zenith. Sienna certainly seemed as if she was ready to go all crazy ex-girlfriend on Bella’s wayward ex-fiancé.
‘He’s not a bad person really, he just did a bad thing. He’s coasted through life with everything handed to him on a silver platter. He was a bit of a… Peter Pan. Commitment wasn’t his strong suit and I made the classic mistake of thinking that it would be different with me. That I could change him.’
