Never the Same

Chapter 16

"I'll try my best but if they're not well, the last thing they'll want is for someone to disturb them."

"Thank you, Kaylee."

I lean forward and wince. "Julia, why am I just being told about all of this now? Have any of my clients been phoning up with anything needing to be done?"

"No, I've managed to deal with all of them and explained to them that you won't be in the office for a couple of weeks yet."

"Nice jump over my first question," I point out with a grin playing on my lips.

I reach down as best as I can for my shoes but stop short when the pain in my ribs becomes unbearable. I breathe deeply and look at Luca who is watching me closely. He moves quickly moves to me, kneeling down in front of me to put my shoes on.

"Thank you," I mouth to him.

He smiles and gets to his feet.

"Sorry, I did promise most of the people in the office that I'd contact you over the weekend for answers. I'll let them know what you've told me so far and if you hear anything else, let us know."

"I will do." I get to my feet with Luca's help and pat him on the chest with my free hand. "You'll be the first one I call if I hear anything. Bye, Julia."

"By, Kaylee."

I end the call.

"Trouble at work?" Luca asks.

We walk towards the front door and I take the offered bag Lyla is holding out for me, and slip my phone into it.

"No one has heard from either Jackie or Oscar this entire week," I answer. "She was wondering if I've heard from them since I'm supposed to be working with them."

"But you haven't," he adds.

"The last I heard from them was the weeks prior. Then this whole thing with Nadia blew up and-" I look at Luca and catch his frown that he quickly tries to hide when he sees me looking at him. "What? What's the frown all about? What's going on?"

Luca shakes his head. "Nothing. It's nothing."

"Luca, what's going on?"

If there's something going on with my boss and one of my friends, I want to know. I don't want it to be something bad and be the last person to know. I don't want to hide things from my colleagues if it's to do with work.

"Luca, tell me." I press.

"It's nothing," he repeats. "I promise you it's nothing but-"

"See? I knew there was a 'but' coming. What is it?"

"If you give me a second to finish what I was going to say, I'll tell you." He shakes his head and grins. "If you're all that worried about Jackie and Oscar, I'll see about sending someone to their hotel to check up on them."

I take a deep breath and nod. "Thank you. That'd be a big weight off all our minds."

Luca closes the gap between us and places a small kiss on my forehead. "If it helps you relax like you're supposed to be doing, I'd happily do anything for you."

I roll my eyes and walk out of the house to the waiting car. "I know you would."

Luca laughs lightly and helps me settle into the back of the Jaguar. We sit in silence for a few moments before we drive off to the airport. As soon as we're out of the driveway and onto the main road, I reach for Luca's hand and squeeze it tightly. He covers the top of my hand with his other hand and squeezes it ever so slightly, letting me know that everything will be okay without saying the actual words.