This was not how Nathalie had pictured her Saturday. She had been sleeping on her best friend’s couch after a late night in the park when her boss had called her around noon.

Nathalie was used to Bart calling her during weekends. She didn’t like it, and she had told him so, but he kept doing it anyway. He believed it was part of being an employee at a start-up, apparently.

Still, this call had been worse than others. He hadn’t asked her about an invoice or a certificate he couldn’t locate on the office cloud drive. No, he had asked to drop everything she was doing and pick up Raven Robinson from the airport.

Bart hadn’t even given a good explanation for why he couldn’t go to Brussels himself. But it was clear he wouldn’t be there, and Nathalie felt bad for Robinson.

Now that she was sitting across from Raven in a train to Ghent, Nathalie was no longer frustrated about her decision to pick Robinson up. Fidgeting with the elastic band in her hair, she took in her guest again.

Raven Robinson was wearing a tracksuit in a burgundy, velvet-like fabric. It looked very comfortable, and it was the last thing Nathalie had expected to see her in. She always had pictured Raven in dark business suits.

She guessed that that was in part because of the pictures she had seen of Raven online. Nathalie had googled her when Bart had instructed her to take care of Robinson’s travel arrangements.

Raven’s LinkedIn picture had looked rather typical. Bright smile. White teeth. A blazer with padded shoulders. And that’s what Raven Robinson had looked like in Nathalie’s mind since. The real Raven had been a pleasant surprise.

Nathalie glanced to the side, not wanting to get caught staring. She studied the silk scarf draped over Raven’s shoulders. Her eyes drifted to the hands wrapped tightly around the carry-on, squeezed between Raven’s legs.

“Sorry about the train,” Nathalie said again, apologetically. “I promise you, a car would have been worse.”

Raven slowly turned her head. “It’s okay,” she said. “I’m just feeling the lack of sleep, I guess.”

“We can take a cab to the hotel if you like,” Nathalie offered.

Raven adjusted the scarf around her shoulders. “Is it a long way from the train station?”

“I think about twenty minutes by car. Maybe 15 by tram?” Nathalie thought aloud.

“The tram is faster?” Raven asked, shifting in her seat. “Let’s do the tram then.”

“Alright,” Nathalie nodded.

Raven turned her gaze back to the window. Nathalie sucked her lips into a thin line. She wished they could chat, but her guest clearly wanted to rest.