Cameron watched him skulk from the building, disappearing behind heavy double elevator doors. This was a mess. No doubt about it! She felt so sorry for him... No matter how many times she tried to work it out in her head, she kept coming back to the same conclusion. No one could ever tell Sydney about what happened between her and Nigel, she would have to remember it for herself. She could only hope that Sydney’s memory was as sharp as her intuition or lightening fast reflexes.
"Nigel, pack yourself a bag for England, you get a paid trip back home!" Sydney beamed, and walked in with their latest itinerary, ecstatically dropping it in front of his bookish nose. "We’ve been invited to help find a particular burial item London. It was such an exciting find about five years ago, but they never did locate one important piece."
"Oh, really?" He pulled himself aside from his research to examine the document. "I see, it looks like they got pretty much everything except a spear."
"Yeah, it’s the spear of a female gladiator who was buried not far from London. It was widely believed that the blood of a gladiator had healing or aphrodisiac properties, as well as the sword or spear which a gladiator was killed. They’re anxious to find it, and naturally we were asked to help. I thought this little adventure would be good for you, it’ll give you a chance to catch up with Preston as well."
"Sure..." He handed the papers back to Sydney and resumed tapping away at his computer. "I’ll be packed and ready in about an hour Syd."
His reaction to her suggestion was less than enthusiastic, and this particular mode of behaviour was becoming more and more prevalent in Nigel since their return from Vancouver, he had retracted himself from her in a most bizarre way. He didn’t call her late at night anymore, he stopped going out for their daily coffee talks, and he put a halt to staying any later at the office than he was required to. In fact he seemed to be retreating from being part of her daily routine. Sydney gave her head a shake and laughed inside, regarding her teaching assistant Nigel Bailey as part of her regimen was going a little too far. She thought at first that it must be because he was missing Cameron, after all, he did tell her they were involved once. It pained her a little... but that was life. He was ten years her junior, her subordinate and she knew that allowing herself fall for his endearing little peculiarities was not wise. In fact, many times in the past it had proved disastrous. Friendships were ruined and solid working relationships destroyed beyond repair. She’d promised herself never to go there again, no matter how tempting it may be.
"Okay...I’ll meet you here in an hour." Sydney finished, and stood there watching him.
Nigel never could get any work done with someone looking over his shoulder, and thoroughly nettled, he sighed. Closing the window he was working in, he turned back to his boss. "Was there anything else you wanted to add Syd? I really need to complete this study before we leave."
"Ah, no. I’m sorry, I have to get moving myself. Karen said our flight leaves in about two hours, so I better get packed as well." She took a couple steps backward before turning on her heel out the door of their office. Did he just brush her off? She couldn’t for the life of her explain why she felt so slighted and tried to put it out of her mind, but stopped in the hall only a few steps from the office door, considering going right back and asking him what on earth was his problem? It wasn’t like him to display such stuck-up, give-away British trait as effrontery! In the past he would have been as excited, if not more than she was about a dig like this. One attractive thing about it being that he would be able to visit with his brother Preston, not to mention the subject matter of the hunt this time. It was long thought that the female participants in the ring were for folly only, and no blood was ever shed. No matter, Sydney thought, they had another relic to recover and the tension between them would have to wait.
THE END
(Their story will be continued in another title)
Thanks for reading! :-)