Change of Heart

Chapter 2: Surprise, Surprise

The drive to the airport in Conakry was going to take all day. It would be dark when she got there. She drove in silence, too afraid of being distracted on these unpredictable dirt roads to turn on the radio. Not that she would have heard much out here, reception was horrible. She sighed as she steered the car down the dusty line before her. She wondered who she would be meeting and where their trip would take them. She had not had the opportunity to see much of the country, and was excited about the itinerary Tania had described. Perhaps she would learn a thing or two during this week herself.

Hours later, she was relieved to pull into the parking lot of the airport, to finally be at her destination. She was excited, it was always nice to meet people who volunteered to work with UNICEF, they were bright eyed and full of excitement, usually. She smiled to herself as she sat in the jeep outside the door of the airport and read the tentative schedule for the trip as the sun set around her. Soon it would be too dark to see anything; the artificial lights of the airport were the only ones of their kind for a large distance. You would see a street light here or there in the area of the air port,  but they were scarce to say the least everywhere else. Jacks felt herself yawn. Driving took a toll on her.

She looked up into the sky and smiled, there were hardly any clouds, there would be moonlight. The moonlight made the darkness easier for her. She was grateful. She looked down again just in time to see a group come out of the doors of the airport, a man waved to her, she smiled at him and got out of the jeep. As she walked around to the passenger side, she noticed the only two faces out of the five that approached her that she did not immediately recognized. The shorter one with the wide eyes and the weary smile looked familiar, but she was positive she knew the taller one with the broad and infectious grin.

It was Tom. She would know that face anywhere, even if she hadn’t seen it over and over again in various films over the time since they met in New York. She sighed and cleared her throat as they approached. She wondered what to say, and cursed herself for the blush that threatened to cross her cheeks. She was immediately thankful for the heat; it would make a great excuse for her redness. She felt like an idiot, and tried to compose herself and to figure out something to do with her hands which now felt like weights at the end of her arms; horribly awkward and misshapen weights. She felt ridiculous; she had no reason to be nervous. She seriously doubted that he would remember their less than five minute exchange or his gift to Marcus. She felt a tiny ball of nerves in the pit of her stomach as she realized that she wanted him to remember otherwise trying to thank him for it would be super awkward.

“Wonderful, you’re here” Julien smiled a warm smile and held out his arms to hug Jacks as soon as the group was close enough. “and of course you met Louise and Pauline on their last trip. This is Luke Windsor and Tom Hiddleston; they’re our first timers, ambassadors of sorts. Tom’s going to write a blog about what we do here. Tom, Luke, this is my friend from UNICEF US, Jacqueline Famosa. She is an assistant project coordinator with their branch of UNICEF. My own assistant here fell ill all of a sudden, and she was kind enough to step in and take his place.”

“We’re allies after all.” They all nodded and laughed and shook her hand as she extended it. “You can all call me Jacks.”

“But of course I knew that already.” Tom said, grasping her hand in both of his as if they were dear old friends. “It’s wonderful to see you again.”

“You too! I can’t believe you remember.”

"Of course I remember! How could I forget something like that?”

"I don’t know…you didn’t leave a number or anything, I had no idea how to find you. I wanted to thank you. Then Thor happened. You were everywhere after that. I thought I’d never see you again.”