Free Break by Vanessa Waltz

enough, I found a blurry photo of us leaving Opus One hand in hand, with the caption underneath: Luke Pardini leaving Opus One with blonde bombshell. I laughed at that. Blonde bombshell? Me? Yeah, right.
    “So long as you keep your feelings in check, you’ll be fine.” It was clear from Natalie’s tone that she didn’t expect me to. “I really wish you weren’t leaving before Thanksgiving. Won’t your friends miss you?”
    My cheeks flushed at the mention of the lie I told Natalie about finding a group of people I celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas with. I crammed a few socks into my suitcase and refused to look at her.
    “I lied about the friends. I spend every year at the soup kitchen and then I go home alone. This will probably be the best Thanksgiving I’ve ever had. Don’t worry about me.”
    A hollow silence followed my words. When I finally gathered enough courage to look at her, Natalie’s stricken face made me feel guilty.
    “Why did you lie to me? I asked you a hundred times and you always said no. D’you know how that makes me feel?”
    I sputtered. “What? I didn’t want to go because I thought you and Ben needed time alone. I just feel weird being the third wheel.”
    Natalie opened her mouth but I changed tact with lightning speed. “I’ll be able to wire you rent money from abroad, so you don’t have to worry about that.”
    “I know you’re really excited about this, but I don’t know. I hope nothing bad happens.”
    I wished that she would give it a rest with the whole prostitution thing. “I’ve told you a thousand times, I’m not going to trade sexual favors for money.”
    “I’m not talking about that. What if you legitimately fall in love with this guy? He’ll break your heart. You’re already smitten.”
    Who cares? I’m making ten thousand dollars a month. “We have chemistry,” I shrugged. “I’m not going to avoid this amazing experience just because something bad might happen. I’ll probably never have this opportunity again.”
    Natalie relented. “Well, I hope it’s worth it.”
    The doorbell rang. “Who’s that?”
    Flustered, she ran to answer the door. “Ben. We wanted to have dinner—” she opened the door. “Hi, honey!”
    Ben’s voice boomed through the apartment, and I abandoned my packing with a sigh. A plastic smile on my face, I went to greet Natalie’s boyfriend.
    “Hey, Ben. How’s life?”
    “Good!”
    Tall with Norwegian features like fair skin and blonde hair, Ben’s blue eyes sparked as he swept me into a hug.
    “So, I heard that you’re dating a billionaire?”
    He cackled as I glared at Natalie. “How’s the law firm?”
    Lucky for me, he happily seized on the topic and talked about it for a while. Still filled with anxiety over the trip, I tried my best enjoy the rest of the night. Tomorrow, Luke’s driver would bring me to SFO. He also paid for my passport’s rush processing, and it arrived on Monday. Until a courier dropped off the one-way ticket from San Francisco International to Heathrow, it was hard to really believe I was leaving.
    I’ve never been on a plane. It was going to be awesome.
    After Ben left, I finished packing and double triple checked everything. Unsure about the length of the trip, I filled two suitcases and a backpack. I was ready to leave hours before the driver came to pick me up the next morning, and Natalie worked from home acting as anxious as I felt. She didn’t help matters by constantly fussing over me.
    “Where’s your ticket? Did you pack your passport?”
    I quadruple-checked my backpack. “They’re both here.” It was ten o’clock, the time Luke said he would pick me up. What if he had changed his mind?
    “Did you pack Chapstick?”
    My stomach lurched. Crap. “I don’t know.” I sprinted to the bathroom and skidded to a halt as I heard the doorbell ring.
    Natalie bolted to the door and wrenched it open.
    A pleasant, deep voice filled the room. “Hello, you must be Natalie.