Building Bridges

Chapter 5

Amy let her head sink into the seat on the plane.
Well, she was here - she was doing it.
She'd had the whole weekend to think of a way to wriggle out of this impossible situation, and she hadn't managed it.

There was nothing else for it.

So she had spent her time packing a suitcase, cleaning her flat and making a few final arrangements with Karen about Fluffy and the contact details of her landlady. She had also manged to have a quick read of the file that Karen had passed her all about the man she was supposed to find and bring back to England.

Callum Howard was a very successful business man over in New York in his own right.
He had managed to build up a company by himself, with no help at all from his father - not even was there a hint of his parentage in any article Amy could find about him.

He had left home at 18 to study abroad. He had left England and had never returned.
Quite how he had managed to achieve as much as he had without his family influence was pretty astounding.
"mmmm. Must be in the genes" muttered Amy as she glanced over the file again, which she had stashed into her hand luggage.

Callum hadn't given up his family surname, and nobody had made the connection between the Howard family in England and the successful entrepreneur in New York. His media company was amongst the highest earning companies in the two previous financial years, and was promised to be up amongst the top slice of success for this year as well.

All of which was very impressive, but unfortunately left Amy with a sense of hopelessness. How on earth was she supposed to get in touch with a man who probably had more security than most business men?

Well there was nothing she could do now. She just had to hope some amazing plan popped into her head, and soon. There was no doubt that Mr Howard senior would expect results - good ones. She gulped and could feel the panic rising in her chest.
Oh boy, this was not going to go well.

Amy felt a hand gently cover hers.
"First time flying huh? " asked a kindly voice.
Amy looked straight into the face of an extremely handsome man!
" Oh God, you have no idea" She replied as she gently pulled her hand away from the stranger.
"A little light reading? " the stranger asked, glancing at the folder half opened on Amy's lap.
" Oh, just work - you know. Just work... stuff. " Amy closed the file quickly and tucked it away down the side of her bag.
"I see! " - A smile twinkled in the strangers eyes.
"I'm Josh by the way" he stated, holding out his hand.
"Um.... Hi - erm..... Amy" She shuffled uncomfortably in her seat taking his hand. Why couldn't she just have been sat next to some old lady who slept through the flight and ignored her?
"So Amy... What brings you to New York?"
"Erm.... Work" She replied hesitantly.
Josh chuckled - "Well I can see this flight is going to be just non stop chatting the whole way" - He held his hands up in mock horror.
Despite her misgivings about talking to random strangers, Amy found herself smiling.
"So Miss Erm Work - how come you're not flying in business class - boss too cheap? "
Now it was Amy's turn to chuckle. Mr Howard had probably never been called cheap in his whole life.
" What's the point? The plane gets me from A to B. There's no point spending more money on me. "
" They have bigger seats, more comfortable too. I'd spend more money on you - you can even lay down and sleep in them. " Josh drawled, wriggling his eyebrows.

Amy turned her face away so Josh could not see the pink flush in her cheeks. Top secret family missions for domineering multi millionaires did NOT start with getting chatted up on the plane.... No matter how charming the man in question was.
"How do you know so much about business class? " Amy questioned, steering the conversation away from herself - a talent she had acquired over the years.
" Ahhh it's so boring in there. Suits all trying to look busy on laptops and God knows what else. THIS is where the fun is. No stress, no tap tap tapping on keyboards. "
" Ohhh - your boss must be really cheap then!" gloated Amy.
Josh chuckled. "I'll have to tell him you said that!"