Emily was struggling with her new home. Dubai wasn't what she had expected. She had moved here when her mom relocated to live with her new partner, Mike, an investment banker, who lived in Dubai for tax purposes, at least that's what her mom had told her.
They had moved to Dubai just over a year ago. Mostly Emily missed her friends back in England. She hadn't wanted to relocate, but as her dad had moved to Australia 3 years ago, at 18 years old she didn't have many options.
She kept in touch with all of her friends, and occasionally her mom's ex, Dan. Emily liked Dan and she still couldn't understand why her mom left him for Mike. He had treated them both well and had even offered them somewhere to live when their rental property had been sold by the landlord.
She had been back to England a couple of times, once with her mom, once alone, and had recently booked another weekend trip alone. Each time she had been upset flying back to Dubai, which didn't feel like home.
Tonight was much like every other in Dubai, bored at Mike's flashy apartment. Emily called one of her friends for a chat, scrolled through Tiktok, chatted to a few friends by text. One mentioned that she had bumped into Dan at the gym and that he'd asked how she was. Emily decided to send Dan a message on Whatsapp.
"Hi. How r u?"
The message was delivered, but the ticks didn't turn blue. Emily went back to chatting to her friend Lia. About 30 minutes later her phone pinged a Whatsapp notification, it was Dan.
"Hello you. Long time, no speak. I thought you'd lost your phone."
Emily laughed, one of Dan's bug-bears was that she had her phone "glued to her hand", as he put it.
"no, it's still super glued in place." She replied.
"So, what's up?" He responded. One thing Emily liked about Dan was that he was always to the point, "small talk is for small minds" was one of his phrases.
"Oh, nothing, just bored."
"So you thought of me, thanks lol."
Emily knew he was just joking.
"Lia said she saw you at the gym, and I realised we hadn't chatted for a while."
"And?????"
"Like I said, bored."
"Still not liking Dubai?"
"No. Still miss everyone back home."
Dan liked Emily. It had been a struggle when she had moved into his apartment with her mom, but they had made it work. Then, without warning her mom had told him she'd met someone else and that he had rented them an apartment. They had moved out less than a week later. It had been a shock, but not as much as when Emily had called him to say they were moving to Dubai. He'd expected that would be the last he would hear from either of them, so he was pleasantly surprised when Emily had messaged him shortly after they had relocated.
"Why don't you come back for a visit? If you need somewhere to stay you can crash at mine." He replied.
"Aww, thanks. I have been back a couple of times. Coming again in 2 weeks. Thanks for the offer, but I'm staying at Lia's."
"No worries. Offer is always there."
"Maybe we could meet up when I'm back?" Emily enquired.
"When are you here?"
"The weekend after next. Fly in on Friday evening and back on Sunday evening. If you're free we could meet on Sunday morning or lunchtime."
Dan knew he'd be free. When he didn't have his kids visiting, he always kept Sundays open, mostly because his diary was so full the rest of the time. He knew it was part of what had caused the break up with Tanya, Emily's mom.
"No problem, Just let me know what works best for you and where you want to meet." He replied.
The next 10 days passed. Emily and Dan had arranged to meet at a coffee shop by a lake. The weather, predictably unpredictable in England, was dry, so they were able to go for a walk around the lake.
Dan sat outside the coffee shop with a cup of tea, he never could get his head around the younger generation's obsession with coffee. Emily had told him that Lia was dropping her off, and would return to take her to the airport. He'd said that he would take her to the airport to save Lia having to plan her day around them.
Dan spotted Emily walking across the car park before she saw him. She had changed. Her brunette hair was dyed blonde with silver streaks and she looked much more grown up. He hadn't really thought about it, but she had only just turned 18 when he last saw her, it was over a year, and that year had made a difference, she no longer looked like the teenage girl who had lived with him, she looked like a young woman, dressed in light blue tight denim jeans, trainers and a cream coloured coat. He stood as she approached.
Emily smiled. She spotted Dan as she walked towards the coffee shop. He looked well, and happy. And he still had his old fashioned, stand up whenever a woman approaches a table, trait. He had lots of quirks that she viewed as old fashioned, but were quite charming.
"Hi." Emily beamed, breaking into a brief run and hugging Dan.
Dan hugged her back. They broke and he smiled at her, "It's great to see you."
"You too. You look really well!" Emily stated.
"Shall we get you a coffee and go for a walk." Dan replied.
They walked around the lake, Emily updating Dan on what life was like in Dubai. Emily certainly seemed to have done a lot of growing up since Dan had last seen her, and not just physically.