Slaying Goliath

Chapter 11

It was midmorning when she got the call. She cursed a word she rarely said, after she put the receiver down. Plans had changed. She needed to fly out tonight. They had moved the case forward. Which meant she needed to be there tonight. She rang Amanda and asked her to reschedule her flight and have everything ready to go earlier than expected.

Then she looked at her phone. She felt the need to tell him. Even though she'd assured him that she wouldn't be sleeping over tonight, she still wanted him to know that she was leaving early. It wouldn't be right for her to leave without having him know where she was.

She dialled his number. It might be a one-sided conversation, but it would at least be better than a cold text.

"Hi, this is JJ's phone," A man's voice was in her ear, "He can't get to the phone right now, can you leave a message."

She thought it might have been the voice of one of his friends, but she didn't know their voices well enough to be sure of that. Why did they call him JJ? She'd heard them call him Jay, but she just thought it was a nickname, a shortened form of Josh. This was different though. Using 'JJ' on his voicemail recording made it seem like an official name.

"Josh," she realised that she needed to leave a message, "There's been a change of plans. I'm flying this afternoon. I'm sorry. I really was looking forward to," she paused as she searched for the right words, then gave up and just said, "I'm going to miss you more than you know. I'll text you. I'll be back on the weekend. lo..." she stuttered as she stopped herself from signing off with, 'love you'.

"I'll see you soon," she said quickly to cover her embarrassment and ended the call.

She hoped that he'd get the message, but she didn't have time to worry about it. Amanda stuck her head through the door and told her that she was flying at 5pm, which meant that she didn't have time to go home for clothes. She gave Jen a call. Her flatmate worked in Trenton and was her only hope. Luckily Jen was able to run home, pack for her and put her suitcase in a taxi.

Then she pushed herself to focus on making sure she had all the paperwork she would need. She met with her team and reviewed everything for the last time. Then she ran from meeting to meeting as she made sure she had everything covered for the two days she'd be away from the office.

The text from Josh came in during one of the meetings.

When is your flight? I'll drive you to the airport.

She smiled. At least she'd see him. She texted him the time and he text her straight back with the time he'd be picking her up.

Amanda had everything ready when she walked into the office. The small carryon bag with her clothes in, thanks to Jen, and her briefcase containing her laptop and all the documentation she would need. It didn't look like much, two small bags, but having her luggage sitting there made it real. She was going. This was the point she'd worked so hard to reach and this trip would be the turning point in her career.

"I would say 'Good luck'," Amanda handed her the printout with the flight information on it, "But that would be pointless, you've got this. Enjoy your moment on the stand and kick-butt!"

She took the lift down and was waiting for Josh when he pulled into the curb in his sports car. He jumped out and took her case, as she climbed into the vehicle. Only when they were on the road, in the traffic did she relax. There was nothing she could do now. She just had to trust she'd done enough preparation.

"Thanks," she whispered at Josh, "I didn't want to leave without seeing you."

He reached over and took her hand giving it a squeeze before he let it go.