Free Love or Money? by Carrie Stone Page A

face and you look flushed?” Felicity asked quizzically.
    Glenda dismissed her d aughter with a wave of her hand. Picking up the last of the clothing to be packed, she squashed it carefully into Fee’s suitcase and closed the lid. It was only then that she felt a small wave of sadness sweep over her. In less than twenty four hours, her daughter would be gone until Christmas.

Chapter Nine
     
    The silver suitcase stood mockingly in the hallway as Felicity prepared the final touches of her make -up. With her goodbyes already said, the taxi would be arriving in less than thirty minutes. Her hands shook with nerves as she gently tried to apply a third coat of mascara.
    She focused her thoughts on the five star hotel she had booked herself into for the first four nights of her trip. It had looked exquisite and was ideally located near the main sights of Sydney. Thinking about the remaining nine and a half weeks of her trip, her stomach did a flip. She hadn’t planned or booked anything. She was as free as a bird and as unprepared as a fool.  
    “Goodness, what am I doing?” she asked aloud to herself in the mirror.  What person in their sane mind takes a three month sabbatical from their life?! Dan’s face flashed into her mind to haunt her, immediately followed by James’.
    Looking her reflection firmly in the eyes she told herself she was doing exactly what was needed. Getting over the past.
    Applying a final layer of mineral veil she packed her make-up bag carefully into her new travel holdall – an unexpected leaving gift from Sylvia. Thinking of her new friendship made her smile. The holdall had been a promotional benefit of Sylvia working on the UK’s biggest girl band. It was amazing how much her client list had grown from the days that Felicity had known her. Despite her initial envy at her friend’s new found success, Felicity was proud of her. 
    Catching up with her the previous day, she’d been surprised to hear the finer details of Sylvia’s relationship with her GMT partner. It seemed that his charming and caring persona on the televi sion was a far cry from the ego-obsessed man that she had spoken of. She’d been even more surprised to hear that her friend had called an ending to things that very day, without so much as a backward glance. Surely that wasn’t a wise thing to do.
    The taxi horn made her jump. Picking up her holdall and extending the handle of her suitcase, she prepared herself for the biggest journey of her life. I t was time to find Felicity Harroway again; she had missed herself for far too long.
     
    Sticking his fingers deeper into the dry, crumbly soil of the newly planted shrub roses, Dan sighed. His client, Mrs Franklin, had evidently gone against his advice to provide the bordering plants with sufficient watering. Crispy brown petals littered the ground around him.
    His phone beeped making his body stiffen. She still hadn’t responded to his text. It had been two hours and he couldn’t bear the suspense any longer. Eagerly taking his phone from his pocket, he flipped open the screen to see Stacey’s name displayed. Disappointment ate at him. He should have known it wouldn’t be the woman he was hoping for.
    Ignoring the text and shoving the phone awkwardly into his jeans, he continued with his work. This garden had been one of his first landscaping projects. Usually it filled him with satisfaction and pride to see how things had flourished in the years since his client had contracted him. Today was different. He felt as dried up and disheartened as the wilted Delphinium he was tending to. 
    His relationship with Stacey had gone from bad to worse and he feared it wouldn’t be long before she placed bigger demands on him. It seemed that she’d developed a backbone from somewhere in the past week. Her new found confidence and backchat was causing him grief.  
    The other woman however, had been an unexpected find. She was everything Stacey wasn’t. Confident, sassy and