week later she was on her way, but her usual confidence was somewhat missing this time. As the plane approached Nairobi, Natalie felt the relaxing waves of relief that had been sadly lacking for the whole of the journey. There was still the landing, of course, but the flight was almost over. She was not a good air traveller although as often as not her job took her to many far flung places of the world and flying was a necessity. She preferred it when she could work in England, a car or train her transport, but that sort of ease was rare. Her father seemed to attract work in far away places.
This trip had taken it out of her more than usual for some reason, making her feel almost ill. It had been a long flight, most of the journey in darkness. To see the other passengers sleeping peacefully made matters worse and now her olive tinted skin was pale from lack of sleep and that vague fear she could never quite shake off, however many times she flew.
Somebody would meet her, she knew that, some representative from Madembi government. She hoped they had a room booked for her in a cool, quite hotel because she felt more than jaded. A shower, a light meal and some sleep would restore her to normal, or near enough. Nothing in life was exactly normal now, not since Neil had told her his news. She tried to put it right out of her mind but refused to go, tiredness not helping at all.
She closed her eyes for a moment, unwillingly reliving the evening a month ago when her date with Neil had been the opportunity for him to announce his engagement to somebody else, the sweet good natured girl who worked with them, a girl she had to see everyday as she also had to face Neil.
She tried to be fair, logical. She had not been engaged to Neil herself; they had simply been going our together for more than a year. People did change their minds, meet someone else, but he had told Natalie more than once that he loved her, that one day they would marry. She had been jilted with no ring to prove it and, whatever change of heart Neil had felt, it had not happened to her. She still loved him. He would never know. That was her shield, and the shield was always in place.
Her father would never know either, for all his suspicions. But she didn't really have the calm serenity of her mother. She could only pretend calm, be aloof, cool, withdrawn. She had always lived on a good deal of nervous energy, tight as a bow-string, any small fears hidden. Neil had come into her life as she had lost her mother, and now that he too was gone a great gap yawned in front of her, nothing to fill it because, much as she loved and admired her father, he was not a shoulder to cry on. Jonas West believed in drive, power, retribution. If he knew how she really felt, he would crush Neil Bradshaw utterly and enjoy doing it.
Before she left, Neil's attitude seemed to have changed making her feel guilty. He had taken to watching her, a thing he hadn't even done when the were going out together, and it was making things very uncomfortable. Pretty soon, Paula would notice. She was not quite the dumb blonde she seemed and Natalie didn't want her hurt as well. Life seemed to be getting too complicated to live at the moment. It was a good thing she had left London.