Page 83 of Best Served Hot
‘Probably for the best,’ Alex said, taking a sip. Her shoulders dropped, a little stress leaking out. ‘Maybe I do need this break.’
Nicole looked around her. ‘Oh, look. A bag shop. I wonder if they do rucksacks?’ She’d planned this. They couldn’t take cases where they were going. She’d waited till now to get them because she wanted Alex to have zero hints. She didn’t want her to be able to narrow it down even to a continent.
‘Huh?’ Alex asked. ‘Rucksacks? What the—’
‘Come on,’ Nicole said, dragging her into the shop. They spent several minutes getting a talk on the best kind from a rucksack enthusiast who worked in the shop. They picked up two reasonably priced yet rugged numbers. They were also given the location of a locker where they could leave the cases once they switched over their belongings.
‘Why do we need these?’ Alex asked as they exited the shop, still a little tense. ‘Nicole, where on earth—’
‘Let’s go to a departure board and see what’s leaving this morning, shall we?’ Nicole interrupted, nodding towards an electronic board twenty metres away.
Alex smiled and nodded, starting to look a bit more excited and a bit less anxious.
They arrived at the board, and Alex scanned hurriedly. ‘OK, well, I don’t know which it could be…’ she muttered, checking down the list. And then, she reached one of the flights listed in about two hours. ‘I know this might sound a bit crazy, but… It’s not Kathmandu, is it?’ she asked, hopefully. ‘I mean, it wouldn’t be. Would it?’
Nicole shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Would it?’
Alex was vibrating on the spot now. ‘Oh my God, Nicole. Nicole! NICOLE! You didn’t!’ She spilt about half her coffee, hopping from foot to foot.
‘I did. We’re going to the foothills of the Himalayas on a red panda tracking tour,’ Nicole revealed, tickled to finally tell her.
It had taken some doing to get this set up. But she wanted to do something special for Alex, something unforgettable.
Alex’s excited eyes grew so wide they seemed to take up most of her face. She started crying happy tears. ‘You’re amazing,’ she blubbed. ‘I’m so happy I was conned by a married man and lost my job. It was the best thing that ever happened to me.’
Nicole took the remainder of her coffee and put it with her own on the floor, then grabbed her in a tight, emotional hug. ‘And realising that my husband was a serial cheat and fraudster was the best thing that ever happened to me. Now… Let’s go and see some red pandas, shall we?’
Alex nodded excitedly as the hug broke. ‘Oh my God, red pandas. I won’t get to hug one, will I? I mean, that’s pretty unrealistic, isn’t it?’ Alex started babbling, picking up her bags and coffee cup. ‘I’m not gonna get my hopes up on that one,’ Alex told herself, still wet-eyed and elated. ‘That’s just bonkers. Right?’ Alex asked as she began to march toward the ticket desk.
Nicole grabbed her coffee and bags and hurried to follow her eager wife-to-be. ‘I wouldn’t bet against it,’ she told Alex happily as she caught her up. ‘Stranger things have happened.’