Whirlwind

(45) reversed surprise

LIBBY

***

I read the whole book in a day. And it was beautiful.

His writing is beyond anything I'd ever read in a book like this before, and the fact he was writing about me, about us and about our lives made it all the more special.

So special that I got a plan in motion.

I had two weeks before my dissertation needed to be in, but then after that I was done with university. So that was the target. Two weeks. And after that I could surprise him at whatever book signing he was in at the time.

Thankfully Jasper had given me his book tour organiser's number in case of emergencies, so I used this opportunity to ring her. And maybe, just maybe, I'd be able to surprise him for once.

***

"Hello?" A groggy voice came over the line when I'd finally found the number.

Crap! It's still early in the US. I'd been forgetting about the time difference. Jasper never minds as soon as he hears it's me, but I'm not so sure how Lori would feel.

"Hey Lori, it's Libby." I say meekly into the phone, hoping she doesn't hang up on me due to how early it was.

"Oh hey." Phew. "How you doing? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine. I just... I wanted to surprise Jasper in a couple of weeks and I needed your help."

She giggles, immediately sounding more awake. "I'm down for that. The guy's been downright miserable for weeks. I was actually thinking of cancelling this leg."

"Oh?" I stop and look up. Cancelling?

"Yeah he's not been sleeping properly and he's got mouthy twice at some of the team."

"Ah jeez. Well... in that case, should I bother?" I shake my head. "No! Ignore that... I'm coming. Where is he in two weeks? So I can book my ticket."

"Oh yeah, sure honey. Hang on a sec," she says, and I hear a creaking noise as well as the shuffling of a few papers. "So in two weeks we'll be in... Seattle."

"Seattle!" I'd wanted to go to Seattle when we went travelling but we didn't time. "Oh my god that's perfect. I'll book my ticket. How long is he there for? And then how long does he have left after that?"

She chuckles. "By then he'll have one month left of the tour. His flight to London with all his stuff is July 10th but then he's got to pack and stuff. I think he said it's all in Albany at the moment." That made sense. That's where Jules and Paul are.

This seemed to be working out in our favour for once. My graduation down in Exeter was on July 16th, so if he was flying on the 10th it would mean he would be there for it, which I wasn't sure he would be.

"Okay amazing." I wrote all the details down in my book. "Thank you so much Lori."

"No problem Sweetie. Thank you. Seeing you will be so good for him. He's really struggling."

Struggling? Why hasn't he said anything? Whenever he's spoken to me he's seemed so happy and vibrant, and he hasn't seemed down at all.

"Why didn't he say anything?" I ask, concerned.

"He wants to put on a strong face I suppose. But having you there for the last leg will be good. For all parties."

I wanted to ring him now. But I was worried maybe it would be too early still. I hadn't meant to ring so early for Lori, but even six in the morning for Jasper was pushing it, even if it was me.