“You hired security without telling me?” Anger flashed across her face, but then it melted away. “Normally, I would hate this, but those crates are everything right now. Thank you.”
Was that honest gratitude on her face? Jarik responded to it almost violently. Suddenly, he wanted to see that look on her face all the time. Peace and relief.
He wanted to make Maria Walken a very happy woman.
“Check on your crates, and then I have another surprise for you.”
“Another surprise?”
He reached out and took her hand. “I can’t do anything about the snow, and I can’t get your crates to Syria, but I can do this for you. And since you have nothing to do for the next twenty hours, you can’t object.”
Maria raised an eyebrow. “That depends entirely on what this surprise is.”
“It’s a very good surprise. I have a donor for your charity. I can help make this the very best Christmas for Christmas Crates.”
“A donor?” A huge smile crossed her face. “Here in Riyadh?”
“No, we have to fly to the coast.”
Maria blinked and stared at him. “Fly? Jarik, that’s the reason that we’re stuck here. We can’t fly anywhere.”
“The planes are grounded, but I called in a favor. How do you feel about helicopters?”
“Helicopters? If you could take a helicopter, then what are you doing here with me?”
Jarik reached out and took her duffel bag from her. “Someone needs to keep an eye on you. Now, go check and make sure that the crates are loaded. Then we’ll head out.”
Her eyes were lit with excitement, and for a moment, she looked like a kid. Jarik felt his heart pick up speed as she practically skipped to her plane. Waving his fingers slightly, he nodded to the security to let her through. Relaxing, he watched amused as she scurried from crate to crate, checking the numbers with the inventory list. The cold air bit at his nose, and he wrapped his jacket tighter around him.
His phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out to look at the caller ID.
“Melka? What the hell has Samir done now?” Jarik growled after he tapped to answer.
“Nice to hear from you too, brother,” Samir said dryly. “What’s this I hear about you visiting Kivi?”
“Samir,” Jarik sighed. “I’ve told you before that Kivi is none of your business.”
“Relax. I’m not here to pick a fight with you. Where are you exactly?”
Jarik hesitated. “Actually, I’m on my way to Syria.”
“Syria? That’s a dangerous place for you to be.”
“Minor detour,” Jarik said smoothly. “But I can’t talk long. What do you need? Bail money?”
“No. I was actually wondering if you spoke to father recently.”
“Nothing other than a few business memos last week. Why? Is something wrong?”
“I’m not sure. I spoke to him yesterday, and he didn’t seem well.”
“Like, he was ill?”
“No. Like he was upset about something. He mentioned that he wanted to see us all together before the end of the year.”
“All of us? Together?” Jarik couldn’t believe his father was asking this. Samir must have heard wrong.
“My thoughts exactly.” From his tone, Jarik knew he was just as surprised.