Flight SQA016 (The Flight Series)

by A. E. Radley

  She’d contacted Margaret Davison from the marketing department of Crown Airlines who seemed very happy with the arrangement, and promised to get in touch with Emily before anything was actually published.

  Finally, she’d spoken with Iris Winter, who luckily seemed unaware of any hiccups concerning the article. Iris was very happy to hear that Henry was recovering well. It looked likely that he would be cleared to fly on Thursday and Emily asked if she could have her usual shift on the Friday morning flight. She may as well be earning some money while taking Henry back home. Neither could she ignore the happy coincidence that it would be Olivia’s usual flight.

  Emily had been thinking about Olivia all weekend. She didn’t know if it was because she was staying in her hotel suite or because of the telephone call, but she was struggling to get Olivia out of her mind. The woman frustrated and intrigued her in equal measure. Olivia processed thoughts and speech in a different way to everyone else, and Emily had to admit she found it captivating. She’d never known anyone with Olivia’s social awkwardness before and found herself researching the condition online. Despite not having much information to go on she found many interesting sites and forums that seemed to accurately describe Olivia’s behaviour pattern. Simon’s words about intention versus action had struck a chord with Emily, and she had started to wonder how she would deal with Henry if he ever exhibited any of those behaviours, terrified that she would react to him as badly as she had to Olivia.

  She considered what Simon had told her. That it was really down to Emily to change her approach towards Olivia, as Olivia couldn’t.

  Having so much time for reflection allowed her to revisit her interactions with Olivia and analyse them with a more critical eye. As she thought about the way Olivia acted, what she said, and the way she said things, Emily realised she could detect patterns and could easily see that the intent was genuine. Emily began to better understand the hesitation in Olivia’s manner and how she seemed to genuinely struggle with what to say and how to say it.

  Even though she didn’t know exactly what would happen between them she knew that she would be seeing Olivia regularly at work and, if Henry had his way, then probably socially as well. Once he’d realised he was in Olivia’s suite, and could see Olivia’s office straight across the street, the boy became a fully paid-up member of the Olivia Lewis fan club and wouldn’t stop talking about his new best friend. A friendship sealed by his beloved giraffe hoodie which he refused to take off, forcing Emily to use the hotel laundry facilities in the dead of night to wash and dry it for the next day’s wear.

  Henry’s excited scream of “Olivia!” indicated he had seen her arrive for work on Monday morning from his window. Emily stood behind him and watched with a smile as Olivia settled at her desk and spoke with Simon. After a while, she realised she, too, was snooping and quickly told Henry that it wasn’t polite to watch people without their knowledge. A brief discussion ensued which was quickly solved by Emily playing the overriding ‘because I’m your mother’ card. Henry returned to watching television, though he did occasionally sit up on the sofa and look over at Olivia with a huge grin.

  Mid-morning, Emily took Henry out to a local store to buy some things for lunch. Henry excitedly bounced around the store asking her what Olivia liked and she used her knowledge of Olivia’s airline menu preferences to choose what to buy.

  When they returned to the suite Henry was exhausted and Emily put him down for a nap. She anxiously set up lunch and paced the room, occasionally looking nervously over at Olivia in her office.

  CHAPTER 18

  Emily examined the table with a tilt of her head. She genuinely wanted to thank Olivia and she also wanted to apologise now she had a better understanding of her. But she also didn’t want to look like she was trying too hard. She didn’t want Olivia to get the wrong impression and think that the lunch was anything other than a meal shared between new friends.

  However, she did mentally gloss over the fact that she had changed clothes three times that morning, telling herself that it was nothing more than wanting to be presentable and not appear too out of place when Olivia arrived in her impeccable clothes and perfect makeup. She heard the door to the suite open and belatedly remembered that Olivia had a key and would obviously let herself in rather than knock. With one last, quick breath to calm her nerves, she headed for the door. The sound of Henry screaming Olivia’s name as he ran to greet her told Emily that she would be the second in line to meet their host.

  In nothing but his underpants and vest, Henry excitedly tore past his mother, heading for the door, his uneven running causing him to sound like a herd of small elephants. He launched himself at Olivia, grasping her around her thighs and holding on tightly. The look on Olivia’s face was absolutely priceless. She was effectively imprisoned between a five-year-old and a door. She was wearing a light grey skirt suit with a crisp white shirt, stockings and heels, and Emily smiled as she realised how much she had missed her.

  She watched as Olivia hesitantly placed her hands on Henry’s shoulders, clearly still concerned about the appropriate rules of engagement when it came to touching him, especially in his current state of undress.

  Brown eyes flicked up to meet Emily who smiled back warmly, trying to express herself with her body language to let Olivia know that all was okay.

  “Olivia! We’ve been staying at your house,” Henry said, his voice muffled against Olivia’s hip.

  “So I hear.” Olivia smiled and gently touched the boy’s hair. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to see you feeling better, Henry.”

  “Why can’t you?” Henry pulled back to look up at Olivia.

  “It’s an expression.” Emily filled in. “But I think you need to get dressed now. Do you need some help?”

  Henry released Olivia and looked at Emily like she was an enemy. “No, Mommy, of course not!” He stomped past her to their bedroom to dress himself and Emily briefly wondered what mashup of clothing he would return in before she turned her attention to Olivia.

  “Hi,” Emily said, breaking the ice.

  “Hello.” Olivia nodded with a tight smile, clearly nervous.

  Emily took a breath and took the first step for them both. “I’m sorry for overreacting.”

  Olivia raised her hand, waving away Emily’s apology. “No, I’m the one who should be apologising. I was completely out of line. I’ve thought about it a lot and I—I can’t explain what I—W Why I—Well...”

  “How about we both agree that we were wrong and that we are both sorry and put it to one side? Just have lunch, without the awkwardness?”

  “I’d like that.” Olivia followed Emily through to the dining room.

  “I just got a few light foods,” Emily explained. “Salad, chicken slices, some bread, some pasta salad.”

  “This is wonderful,” Olivia said and Emily gestured for her to sit down at the head of the table and took a seat beside her.

  A moment later, Henry came tearing back into the room wearing his giraffe pyjama bottoms, his giraffe hoodie on backwards with LEGO characters in the hood, and a Darth Vader mask. Emily sighed.

  “Henry...”

  Henry breathed deeply in his own impersonation of the Dark Lord. “Mommy…I am your son!”

  Olivia laughed.

  “Don’t encourage him, he thinks he’s funny enough as it is!”

  “I am funny!” Henry stated.

  “Henry, mask off, LEGO out of your hood, please,” Emily instructed and he begrudgingly complied with his mother’s wishes. “How is work? I notice that Simon was working all weekend?” Emily asked Olivia conversationally.

  Olivia sighed. “We’re struggling to keep a firm from insolvency,” she said.

  “Yes, he said something but it went over my head,” Emily said. Henry sat opposite her, next to Olivia and Emily started to plate up some food for him, passing Olivia another plate.

  “We need to either find someone to buy the business or convince the companies who
are owed money to take less or wipe the debt entirely,” Olivia explained. “That’s the real issue. And we’re up against a deadline of tomorrow.”

  “Why tomorrow?” Emily asked, pouring Olivia a glass of water from the jug on the table, not needing to ask Olivia’s beverage of choice.

  “Tomorrow is when the staff payroll is due to be finalised,” Olivia explained.

  “And the business can’t pay?”

  “No, they’ve been surviving on bank loans and they have now been cut off.” Olivia picked out a few lettuce leaves and added them to her plate.

  “Sounds familiar,” Emily said under her breath.

  “Indeed,” Olivia said softly, lining up her drink coaster at a precise angle.

  “So, what happens if you can’t find someone to buy or reduce the debts?” Emily asked.

  “Insolvency, the business will cease to trade,” Olivia sighed, a weight seeming to come over her. “But, I don’t want to talk about that,” she added quickly, and changing the subject asked, “How is Darth here doing?”

  Emily laughed. “He is doing well, very tired but that’s to be expected. He is recovering on schedule and the doctors are pleased with him. We’re hoping he can fly home on Friday morning.”

  Olivia looked up with a hopeful face. “On my flight?”

  “Hopefully.” Emily grinned.

  “Can I sit with Olivia again?” Henry’s eyes lit up.

  “We don’t know where you’ll be sitting, Henry,” Emily explained. “There may not be room where Olivia sits.”

  Henry looked disappointed but didn’t say anything else.

  “Have you enjoyed the hotel, Henry?” Olivia asked in an obvious attempt to change the subject and cheer the boy up.

  “The bed is soft,” he said. “But there are no giraffes on the buses.”

  Olivia blinked in surprise, her fork suspended inches from her lips.

  “Simon said that there are buses without roofs so the giraffes can sit on them. Because they can’t get taxis,” Henry explained.

  “Oh, I see,” Olivia said looking at Emily blankly.

  Emily smiled. “Henry’s been looking out of the window religiously but he hasn’t seen any yet. We think that maybe there aren’t any giraffes who work around here.”

  Olivia seemed to catch on that it was a joke of some sort and nodded. Emily watched her thinking about the statement and could see the wheels turning in her mind.

  “Quite right,” Olivia said tentatively, “They work around Saint Paul’s Cathedral.”

  Emily smiled at Olivia’s playing along. “Oh that makes sense, because Saint Paul’s has high ceilings,” she said.

  Henry looked at both of them in awe at the idea of the cathedral being filled with giraffes busily working. “Mommy, can we go?” Henry asked.

  “Not now,” Emily answered easily. “They’re all on vacation at the moment.”

  “In Madagascar?”

  “Yes, in Madagascar,” Emily confirmed.

  Henry nodded thoughtfully at the information before turning back to his lunch.

  “We found a hostel, a good one this time,” Emily said lightly.

  “Oh.” Olivia frowned. “But I thought you liked it here?”

  Emily was confused. “Well, yes, of course we do but you’re back now…”

  “Oh,” Olivia said, looking down at her plate and scrutinising a crouton.

  “What are you thinking?” Emily asked softly.

  Olivia picked up her fork and speared more salad. “I had made a foolish assumption, it’s quite all right.”

  “What assumption?” Emily pressed.

  Olivia hesitated for a moment, a thoughtful frown covered her face before she finally spoke. “I didn’t think you had need for a hostel,” she said.

  Emily considered this for a moment before realisation hit. “Oh! I see. We couldn’t intrude. You’ve been so kind as it is.”

  “No intrusion,” Olivia said. “It’s a large suite.”

  Emily looked at her thoughtfully for a moment. In truth, she had already been in close quarters with the woman, preparing her airline bed, seeing her in her pyjamas, and without makeup. And Olivia was clearly good for Henry’s well-being, not to mention the fact that while the hostel was undoubtedly good, it was also expensive. Emily considered what Simon would advise and knew immediately he would tell her to stay in the suite, enjoy the luxurious surroundings, and save the money. Besides it was only four more nights.

  “Are you absolutely sure?” Emily asked. “It wouldn’t put you out in any way?”

  Olivia shrugged. “I had already, mistakenly, assumed that was the plan. It seems silly that you would uproot yourself again, never mind spend money you can’t afford to waste.”

  Emily took a deep breath and held it in for a second as she attempted to calm herself from Olivia’s bluntness. Silently, she counted to five in her head and pushed down the rising anger, reminding herself that Olivia didn’t mean to call her silly.

  “What’s soltancee?” Henry suddenly asked. He looked angrily at a small leaf of lettuce that had fallen onto the table near his plate.

  Emily could see that Olivia was confused as to what Henry meant. “Insolvency,” she translated for Olivia’s sake before sounding the word out for Henry who repeated it back.

  Olivia paused and Emily assumed that she was considering exactly how to explain the complexities of business insolvency to a five-year-old with his giraffe hoodie on backwards.

  “It’s when a business doesn’t have any money and can’t be a business anymore,” Olivia finally said.

  “Why?” Henry asked.

  “Why do they not have any money or why can they not be a business anymore?” Olivia replied.

  “Both.” Henry shrugged.

  “Well, they don’t have any money because they made mistakes or people didn’t pay them money. And they can’t be a business anymore because they need money to be a business,” Olivia said.

  “Why?” Henry asked.

  “Because they need to pay their bills,” Olivia replied.

  “What are bills?” he probed.

  “Bills are requests for money.”

  “Why do we need businesses anyway?” Henry asked with a dramatic sigh.

  “So people have jobs.”

  Emily looked up from her lunch in surprise, she had felt for sure Olivia was going to say that businesses were needed to make money.

  “Why do people need jobs?” Henry asked.

  “People need jobs so they can pay for places to live and food to eat,” Olivia explained. “Businesses give them jobs so they have money to pay for things. If we don’t have businesses, we don’t have jobs and then people don’t have money.”

  “And then they have no house and no food,” Henry said with some basic understanding.

  “Exactly. Which is why I need to try to save this business. Because if I don’t, then a lot of people won’t have jobs.”

  Emily picked over her lunch thoughtfully, she knew that jobs would be at stake if the company was declared bankrupt but she hadn’t considered the human side of the issue.

  “Save the business, Olivia!” Henry cried out excitedly.

  “I will try my best,” she smiled at the boy.

  “Mommy, can I look for the giraffes again?” Henry asked as he fidgeted on his chair.

  Emily looked at what he had eaten and nodded. “Okay, Henry.”

  Henry rushed off and Olivia watched him go. Emily noticed that the pensive look was back on her face. She stood to clear the table and as she picked up Henry’s plate she noticed Olivia was pinching the skin between her thumb and forefinger.

  “What are you thinking?” she asked.

  “Oh, it’s nothing,” Olivia said, far too quickly for it to be true.

  “Nice try. What are you thinking?”

  Olivia hesitated a moment before placing her hands flat on the table. “Why are we lying to Henry?”

  Emily blinked and laughed. “About what?”
>
  “About giraffes on buses? And working at Saint Paul’s?” Olivia looked confused.

  “It’s just a joke,” Emily pointed out.

  “You’re making him look silly,” Olivia replied.

  “No,” Emily said gently. “It’s playing and imagination. Henry is five-years-old, he thinks a thousand unbelievable things every day. It’s an important part of his growth and development.”

  While Olivia took that in, Emily continued, “Making things up, joking around, playing with his imagination is good for him. I’m not trying to trick him.”

  Olivia nodded in realisation. “So he wouldn’t be annoyed if he went to Saint Paul’s and there were no giraffes?”

  “No,” Emily smiled. “He’ll probably forget about that by tomorrow, not to mention that he won’t be going there on his own any time soon.”

  “I see,” Olivia replied and Emily could see her filing away the information for later.

  “Didn’t you ever imagine wondrous things when you were a child?” Emily asked.

  Olivia chuckled. “No, when I was a child I was preoccupied with organising my teddy bear’s life.”

  Emily put the plates on the kitchen worktop and smiled. “Oh yes?”

  “Yes.” Olivia smiled at the memory. “He had a job at the factory and then he came home and went shopping to get groceries.”

  “And how is that different from Henry’s giraffe buses?”

  Olivia paused as she thought about it. “Well, my teddy bear was being practical, he had a job. And a family.”

  “The giraffes are going to work,” Emily pointed out. “It’s just as practical. And just as ridiculous. What was your teddy bear’s name?”

  “Edward Bear,” Olivia replied and Emily laughed.

  “Okay, so maybe Henry is a little more imaginative than you were when you were a child but it’s the same principle.”

  “At least I didn’t call him Teddy.”

  Emily cleared the rest of the plates away and asked Olivia if she wanted anything else.

  “No, thank you. It was delicious.”

  “You’re welcome. And thank you for letting us stay here,” Emily said.