The following week was a busy one. It was edging toward summer now, and the Sheikh was pushing ahead with his building project. Things were moving faster, the planning almost wrapped up, and as a consequence, he was constantly in meetings or pouring over paperwork and planning documents. Tracey, as she'd promised, stopped to say hello whenever they met, but there was often little time for him to do more than greet her before they both had to run on. She saw the regret in his eyes during these brief encounters, and she felt it too. She worried her chance, however slim, might have been slipping away.
So she found other reasons to see him, bringing him coffee and meals when he was shut up in his office working. The first time she'd appeared with coffee, he'd looked up from his work in dazzled surprise, smiling as she handed it to him.
"Thank you, Tracey," he said gratefully, his fingers brushing the back of her hand as he took the mug. "You don't have to do that."
"Of course I do," Tracey said, returning his smile. "I'm your personal assistant, right?"
She winked and he chuckled, but she didn't linger, not wanting to get in the way of his work. Still, even those brief moments seemed to lift her spirits more than she could express.
Near the end of the week, Adil looked particularly frazzled. He was rubbing tiredly at his temples as Tracey knocked on the door and entered with some coffee. Seeing he was preoccupied, she set the tray on his desk and started to leave silently.
"Wait a moment," he said as she turned toward the door. He looked up, tired but smiling at the sight of her. "This is sudden, I know, but are you free this weekend?"
Tracey considered it for a moment, caught off guard. Aside from the usual chores, cleaning house and grocery shopping, she didn't have anything big planned for this weekend.
"Yes," she said, sitting down in the chair near his desk. "Why do you ask?"
"I need to get away from all this for a while," he said. "And forgive my forwardness, but being around you relaxes me. Would you like to go on a trip with me?"
"Right now?" Tracey asked, her eyes wide with surprise and her heart stuttering a little at his words.
"Yes," he said. "Right now, today. Just for the weekend. Anywhere you’d like. Paris. Tokyo. Hawaii!"
Tracey's face lit up at the mention of Hawaii. Then it fell as she realized it was impossible.
"I could never find a babysitter in time," Tracey said. "Detta, my regular sitter, she doesn't work on weekends."
"That's fine," Adil said immediately, standing up. "Charlie can come with us!"
"Really?" Tracey asked, standing to meet him.
"Really!" he said, taking her by the arms. "So you'll come?"
"Of course!" she said, his excitement spreading to her. He pulled her closer and kissed her. It was brief but warm with his delight, and it was only by clinging to him that Tracey's knees didn't give out.
"I'll call the airport and make the arrangements," he said. "You run home and get Charlie and your things."
"What about work?" Tracey looked back as though she imagined Lorraine would be there, waiting to spoil things. She'd not been happy about Tracey taking the day off to play personal assistant to Adil.
"I'll call the maid service and take care of it," he said. "I promise you won't get in any trouble."
"Okay." Tracey smiled, practically humming with excitement now. "Okay! I'll see you soon!"
She stood on her toes to kiss him, a quick peck, just to prove to herself she was brave enough to do it. Then she turned and hurried out, waving to him as she left.
She rushed home, explaining things briefly to Detta as she collected Charlie. Charlie, who'd been woken from his nap, looked rumpled and confused.
"What's going on?" he mumbled, rubbing his eyes.
"We're going on a vacation, Charlie!" she told him, grinning. "We're going to Hawaii!"
"What?" Charlie's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, his voice squeaking with excitement. "Hawaii! Holy cow, yeah!"
From there he dissolved into mostly incoherent yelling and bouncing in excitement. Tracey herded him back to the house and started packing, throwing a few changes of clothes and a swimsuit into her bag before helping Charlie with his. Once she'd convinced him that bringing all of his toys was unnecessary but more than one change of clothing was probably wise, they rushed to the car and hurried back to the Sheikh's mansion.
Adil was waiting on the front steps for them. He hugged Tracey as soon as she got out of the car, all of them caught up in the whirlwind excitement of the spontaneous vacation. They moved their bags quickly into Adil's sleek black town car, and just like that they were off to a private airstrip where Adil had a jet waiting for them.
It was just the three of them who settled into the beyond-first-class seats of the private jet—they were more like plush leather armchairs than anything else. An attractive stewardess strolled up the wide champagne-carpeted aisle to bring Charlie fresh-squeezed orange juice. Adil and Tracey sat facing each other over a small table, sipping mimosas as though they were at a café rather than about to take off. Tracey had changed out of her uniform into a simple T-shirt and jeans. She felt oddly underdressed for the luxury of the airplane, but from the way Adil looked at her, Tracey had a feeling he thought she looked fine.
"I've never been out of the continental U.S. before," she told him as the plane climbed higher into the air. Charlie was strapped in on the other side of the aisle, his face pressed to the window, watching the world vanish below with undisguised awe. "Charlie has never even flown."
"If you enjoy this trip," Adil said, "perhaps we could take others? I would love to show you some of my favorite places. That café in Florence. A villa in Tuscany where they make the most incredible wine. Perhaps a trip to Florida for Charlie?"
Tracey laughed. "Don't say that too loud. He'll make us turn the plane around."
"I'm serious." Adil leaned toward her, smiling. "You make me happy. I want to spend more time with you."
"You make me happy too," Tracey confessed, flustered. "And I think Charlie is going to adore you after this."
"He's a wonderful boy," Adil said, smiling at Charlie, who was still watching out the window. "He's lucky to have such a hardworking mother."
"I'm pretty sure it's the other way around." Tracey's smile turned wistful as she looked at her son. "He's been so patient with everything, and he's stayed so bright and happy, even after losing his dad. I don't think I could have made it without him."
"His father, with the gambling, right?" Adil asked. "Any sign of him lately?"
Tracey shook her head.
"Charlie asks about him sometimes," she said, "but I think even he understands by now that Derek isn't coming back. If there's one thing he was good at, it was hiding things. I guess that includes himself. You know he hid the gambling from me for almost four years? He insisted on paying all the bills and handling all the money so I wouldn't see. Acted like everything was fine right up until they were cutting the power off. I can't ever be with anyone who hides something like that, not again."
Adil looked away for a moment. Then he reached out for her hand, squeezing it gently.
"Let's forget all that for now," he said. "It doesn't matter where we're going. For just this weekend, nothing matters except that we relax and enjoy ourselves as much as possible. The rest of the world can wait."
"You're right," she said, smiling and squeezing his hand. "This is all that matters."
They continued to talk while Charlie colored or watched cartoons on the in-flight TV. They talked about what they would do in Hawaii, their favorite vacation activities, favorite movies—anything, Tracey noticed, except Adil's past. She tried to subtly steer the conversation that way more than once. She brought up her favorite childhood vacation, hoping he would answer with his own, but he dodged it effortlessly, turning the conversation to trips Charlie would like with ease. Once or twice Tracey would have understood, but he wouldn't talk about anything that had happened before the past few years. It was beginning to make her nervous.
***