Runway Romance (Love in the Air Trilogy) (2 page)

“And it reeks when it gets rotten. Bad.” Jenny joined her roommates in the living room.

“Before I go shopping, let’s sync up our calendars. I don’t want to buy too much if we’re not even going to be here.”

When they all had their schedules up on their phones, Kate pulled up the Excel spreadsheet she used to record their flights.

Jenny started. “I’m all over the place this month. I don’t know what happened to my regular routes. It was steady for two months and now I’ve got red-eyes, back-to-back runs and somehow I got booked on a flight to Iowa.”

“Iowa?” Kate looked up from her screen. “What’s in Iowa?”

“People,” Patricia said.

Kate rolled her eyes. “I know there are people in Iowa, but we’re the Navy Seals of flight attendants. New York, Paris, Maui, the Caribbean, Australia; those are our destinations.”

“That’s why you had a week layover in Colorado, because you’re one of the elite?” Patricia asked.

Kate snagged the nearest pillow and tossed it at her friend of six months. It landed on her recently pedicured toes. She knew it would cause a reaction, making her sky blue eyes shine, ready for a fight.

Patricia was the perfect image of a flight attendant with her quick smile and friendly demeanor. She even made reciting the emergency instructions interesting.

“Hey!” She kicked the pillow up to her lap with her toes. “I needed another pillow anyway.” Patricia repositioned herself, hanging her legs over the edge of the recliner, allowing them to dangle. She placed the pillow behind her bare waist. Seattle was having a rare heat wave, causing them all to feel sticky.

Jenny’s normally smooth blonde locks seemed to be a conduit for static as her hair puffed out a good two inches all the way around. Even with the unusual humidity, nothing could erase the beauty of her creamy skin and joyful smile.

Kate’s dark chocolate eyes and cascading hair to match were quite a contrast. As usual, she was dressed in jeans and a black tank top. It could be hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk, and she’d still be wearing black leather boots. She only owned one other pair of shoes, and they were for work.

“Well, I’m barely going to see you guys this month. I’m bouncing between Seattle to New York and New York to Ireland. Round and round and round,” Kate said.

“Do we know anyone in Ireland?” Jenny asked as she searched her memory.

“Haverschmidt,” Patricia said.

“Hans! Oh my, I haven’t thought of him in weeks.”

“Can’t.”

Jenny and Patricia glanced at one another.

“When?” Jenny asked with astonishment in her voice. “We were only there twenty-four hours.”

“It doesn’t take that long.”

“Spill,” Patricia said.

“After breakfast, when you two headed into town and got stuck behind those sheep.”

“But you only date pilots,” Jenny said.

“She doesn’t date anybody,” Patricia clarified.

“Yes, I’m the FA tramp. I know it. Get over it.”

“When did you start branching out?” Jenny asked.

“If the mood is right and the guy is…”

“Breathing,” Patricia interrupted.

“George Michael sang it best: ‘Sex is natural, sex is fun. Sex is best when it’s one-on-one.’”

“George Michael is your sexual point of reference? You do know he’s gay, right?” Patricia said.

“Gay, straight, whatever. My point is that sex is fun and as long as I’m not hurting anyone, it’s nobody’s business but mine.”

“Pretty soon we’re going to run out of guys to hang out with on layovers.”

“Let’s get back to our schedules. Kate won’t be around…”

“Shaun O’Leary. You haven’t slept with him yet, or have you?” Patricia said.

“He’s almost seventy-five years old!”

“Is there an age limit on sex?”

“Good sex, yes.”

“Have you slept with him?” Jenny asked.

“No, I haven’t slept with him. And I don’t intend to.”

“He could be your go-to guy in Ireland. He has that big house with all those…”

“Cows. How can one man have so many cows? They creep me out. They just stand there and stare at you while their mouths sort of chew in a circle. It’s freaky.” Patricia shuddered at the memory.

“I’m sure he’d be happy to have you stay over. I think I have his e-mail still,” Jenny said.

“If anyone has it, it would be you.” Kate pulled her hair up off her neck. “Could it be any hotter in here?”

“A flight to Alaska sounds pretty good about now.” Patricia scanned her schedule quickly. “The only cool place I’m heading this month is Portland and it won’t be much cooler. Almost all my flights are local. I have apparently descended from the lofty status of the Seals.”

“This is the second month you’ve had a lot of local flights. What’s up?” Jenny asked.

Patricia shrugged. “Maybe the boss has it in for me.”

“Or maybe he likes you and wants to keep you nearby.” Kate raised an eyebrow. “Is there something you’re not telling us?”

“Don’t worry, I’m not challenging your Sex Goddess of the Skies title.”

“Ooh, I like that. Maybe I should get that tattooed on my ass.”

Jenny shook her head, her small belly jiggling as she laughed. “I’d give a million dollars to have your confidence.”

“You have confidence.”

“Not like you. I’ve never seen you second guess yourself.”

“I know what I want.”

“That’s what I’m saying. You have confidence; you know yourself and what you want. I take forever to make a decision, and even after I’ve finally made it, I still wonder if I did the right thing.”

“If it’s what you want, it won’t be wrong. Trust your gut.”

“You make it sound so easy.”

“It is.”

“Not for me.”

“I don’t have a confidence problem, but I do have a time problem. Jenkins Grocery closes up shop in half an hour.” Patricia stood up, grabbing the shopping list. “We’ll have to do this later. Someone could come with me.”

“It’s your turn,” Kate said.

“Sorry, you’re on your own,” Jenny said.

“You’re the one who’ll be sorry when you reach for the toilet paper and there’s none to be found.”

“You’d never do that to us,” Jenny said.

“Those kinds of threats only work when you’ve followed through with a consequence once or twice. You’ve never let us down,” Kate said.

“There’s always a first time.”

“Now you have twenty-nine minutes to get to Jenkins,” Jenny said.

“You could go to the big grocery store on Sixth,” Kate said.

“They don’t sell real food, they sell ‘product.’” Patricia wrinkled her nose indignantly. “Plus, they mark all the prices up. Jenkins has a much better quality of food.”

“We don’t eat toilet paper,” Kate said.

“Where’s that pillow? Instead of throwing it at her, I think we should tape it over her mouth.”

“Add duct tape to the list,” Jenny said.

“I was just kidding.”

“Oh, I know. We actually need some. It’s for Kate when she has her ‘special time’ with Shaun.” Jenny put her hands in the air to catch the pillow she knew was heading her way. She caught it on the first try.

Chapter Three

When the alarm rang and Jenny opened a sleepy eye to greet three o’clock, she groaned. “Early flights are evil.” She passed by her neatly packed bag as she made her way to the shower. “Need caffeine.”

After her shower, she dragged a hand towel across the steamy bathroom mirror. “You look tired,” she said to her reflection.

You’d look tired, too, if you’d only had two hours sleep.

Jenny placed soft pink rollers in hair, attempting to create curls instead of the humidity frizz she was becoming used to. “I either want curls or my straight hair back. Anything but finger-in-a-light-socket hair.”

She padded her way to the kitchen and poured a cup of coffee into her oversized “Have you kissed a flight attendant today?” mug, thankful for automatic coffee makers. She closed her eyes, allowing the steam to float by her nose as she inhaled deeply. The scent was half the pleasure. She signed as the aroma seemed to spill into her veins.

“You’re going to be late,” Patricia said, slipping beside her to pour a cup of coffee. “Where’s my mug?”

“Flight attendants do it in the air?”

“Yeah.”

“Kate used it to put hydrangeas in.”

“My coffee cup?”

“Yep.”

“She could have used her own damn cup. No reason to use mine.” She fumbled through the wide array of mugs in the cupboard. “Where’s her cup with the fancy K on it?”

“Don’t know. Don’t drink out of it.”

“Well, I’m drinking out of it this morning. As soon as I find it.”

“I’ll be ready in half an hour.”

“Make it twenty minutes or I’m leaving without you.”

“Ten minutes is not going to make a difference.”

“It will if you have to call a cab. You need to get a car.”

“I don’t need a car. I have you two.” Jenny turned her back on Patricia and headed down the hallway, taking another sip of coffee. “I’m leaving on a jet plane. Don’t know when I’ll be back again.”

“I hate that song!”

“I know.” Jenny sat on the bathroom counter and applied her make-up, then took the rollers out of her hair. She tipped her head down as far as she could and ran her fingers through her hair from root to tip. She grabbed the hairspray and made short spurts all around her head. “Don’t touch it. Only use your fingertips to style,” she reminded herself of her hairstylist’s words.

She dumped the dregs of her coffee down the sink, brushed her teeth and headed to her bedroom to collect her things.

“Five minutes.” Patricia poked her head into Jenny’s bedroom. “You know I don’t wait.”

“I know. I’ll be there.” Making one quick glance around the room and then making sure she had her travel documents, she headed down the hallway.

“You leaving?” Kate mumbled as she stood in the nude with eyeliner smudged around her eyes and hair askew.

“Yeah. Utah. Patricia’s on her way to the Bahamas. When do you leave for Ireland?”

“Two days.”

“Did you e-mail Shaun?”

“Mmm hmm. He agreed to let me stay over. Must pee. Safe trip.”

“You, too.”

“Is that coffee I smell?” A man with a smooth chest and a cleft in his chin emerged from Kate’s bedroom with a sheet wrapped around his waist. His dark brown hair was tousled perfectly and Jenny almost reached over to rub her thumb against his inviting stubble.