by A. E. Radley
“Why does it always have to come down to money? I told you before that I don’t think about money the way you do,” Olivia explained. “I’m sure I can resolve this. I’ll speak with your manager and then Henry can sit with me. It’s ridiculous to keep him cooped up in economy where I can’t look out for him.”
“And just how will you explain that one? Did everything I tell you about cabin crew not fraternising with passengers mean nothing to you?” Emily asked.
“I…” Olivia flustered. “Let me fix this. You’re being ridiculous.”
Emily stared open mouthed at Olivia before shaking her head and taking a deep breath.
“Miss Lewis,” Emily announced loudly. “Please return to your seat.”
Olivia opened her mouth to reply but noticed the curtain from the premium cabin open and watched as Iris Winter entered the corridor.
“Is everything okay, Miss Lewis?” Iris asked with a confused frown.
“I—I,” Olivia stuttered for a moment as she noticed Emily’s harsh glare. “I’m just returning to my seat.”
The rest of the flight was agony for Olivia. It wasn’t lost on her that Emily had switched her usual row with Kerry. She attempted to make eye contact and even pressed the call button a couple of times in the hope that Emily would answer but it was always Kerry.
When the aircraft finally touched down at JFK, Emily was nowhere to be seen and Olivia wandered around the terminal building confused, in the hope she would bump into her.
Olivia felt her heart fill with joy when she finally caught sight of Henry rushing across the terminal but it sunk again when she saw him hugging a short-haired brunette who had been waiting in the arrivals hall. Emily appeared from the customs area with their luggage and smiled warmly at the woman who Olivia assumed to be Lucy. Lucy and Emily embraced. Over Lucy’s shoulder, their eyes met and suddenly the warmth was lost from Emily’s gaze.
Oliva froze as Emily ordered Henry to stay with Lucy then stormed across the arrivals hall to meet her.
“Emily…” Olivia trailed off, realising that the hours of practicing what she was going to say had been wasted, and she could barely remember a thing.
“That was out of line,” Emily stood in front of Olivia with her arms folded.
“I know. I—I apologise but I—”
“No,” Emily shook her head. “No, I can’t do this. I can’t run the risk that you’ll do something like that again. Money may not be important for you but, unfortunately, for those of us who live in the real world, it’s essential. I cannot risk my job. I—I think we need to end this now.”
“What?”
“You repeatedly challenged me on how to look after my son,” Emily hissed. “You came into the galley, you got out of your seat while the seatbelt light was still on. My boss caught us talking. You don’t seem to understand how important my job is to me and how easily you could get me fired.”
“I was just thinking about Henry’s welfare.”
“You think that’s not my number one priority every damn day?” Emily shouted back, before taking a deep breath and looking around to check no one had heard her.
“You…promised that you would try,” Olivia’s whisper was almost inaudible over the background noise of the loud terminal. “You told me that it would be okay with you, that it would always be okay with you. That we’d find a way to communicate.”
“How was I supposed to communicate with you when you were so out of control? I’m sorry, Olivia. I…think this has to end. Thank you for everything you did for Henry and me while we were in London but…we can’t do this. I’m sorry.”
“But what about Henry. The park tomorrow?”
“I think it’s best if you don’t see Henry again. Or me for that matter.”
“But, Sunday. I’ll see you on Sunday night.”
“Then maybe I’ll move my schedule, or maybe you should think about moving yours? One of us needs to not fly route SQA016 anymore,” Emily said with finality. “Goodbye, Olivia.”
She turned on her heel and left Olivia rooted to the spot. As she watched Emily leave, she saw Henry raise his hand and offer a small wave to her. Olivia waved back and watched the three of them leave.
Olivia blinked and returned her thoughts to more pressing, more current matters. She looked down at the phone in her hand and checked the time before she jumped to her feet.
She stalked around the hotel suite in frustration, her eyes darting around to take inventory. Pulling a small side table away from the wall she looked at the electrical outlet and snorted a laugh before looking at the light switch with bitterness. She took a step back and slowly spun on the spot as she looked at the suite as if seeing it for the first time. After the second revolution, she picked up her handbag, opened the door, and marched down the carpeted hallway towards the stairwell.
Her mobile phone rang and she took the device out of her handbag and answered it with relief. “Nicole.”
“Hey. Sorry I missed your call earlier,” Nicole apologised. “How are you?”
“Everything is wrong!”
“Where are you? You sound like you’re in a tunnel?” Nicole asked. “And what do you mean everything is wrong?”
“I’m in the stairwell at the hotel,” Olivia replied as she angrily thudded her way down the stairs, mentally counting them as she went.
“Don’t they have an elevator?”
“Yes but it’s the same, exactly the same!” Olivia said in distress.
“I’m lost. What do you mean?”
“The elevator, the room, the damn furniture, it’s all exactly the same!” Olivia announced as she paused on the sixth floor and looked at the painted number on the wall. “The only difference is the stairwell. The stairwell looks different.”
“Are you saying that the hotel in New York looks the same as the one in London?” Nicole sought clarification.
“Yes!” Olivia cried.
“Well, it’s a chain, they’re bound to have a certain design specification to keep costs down and create a brand,” Nicole reasoned. “Why is it a problem? Surely you’ve noticed before?”
“No!” Olivia exclaimed. “I just saw it. Why did I only just see it? It’s literally the same save for the light switches, the faucets, the electrical sockets, and the air conditioning panels. I checked.”
“I bet you did,” Nicole whispered.
“What? I can hardly hear you,” Olivia said as she continued walking downstairs.
“Did you call me to tell me that the rooms are the same?”
“Yes!” Olivia snapped before sighing. “No…I don’t know.”
“Why is it bothering you?” Nicole asked softly.
“I didn’t notice,” Olivia said sadly as she paused on the fifth floor and leaned against the wall. “I’ve been living in these hotels for years and today I noticed they were identical.”
“You like things to be the same,” Nicole pointed out. “That’s probably why you chose them.”
“I had a bad day,” Olivia admitted quietly.
“What happened? I thought you were looking forward to more time with Henry during the flight?”
Olivia sighed deeply and sat on the concrete step, not caring about the dust that would be visible on her black Armani skirt. “I messed it up.”
“Ah.”
“It all started so well,” Olivia said with a small sniff. “But I ruined it. As usual.”
“What happened?”
“When the airline realised the seat was a noshow, they sold the seat to someone else.”
“Ah. And Henry didn’t get to sit with you after all?”
“Exactly.”
“But you saw him afterwards?”
“Not exactly.”
“What happened?” Nicole asked. “I know you’re holding back something.”
With a deep sigh, Olivia relayed the story of the journey verbatim, having been running the conversations over in her mind for the last few hours, she found it easy to repeat.
“I…” Olivia struggled. “I was so stupid; I see that now. But at the time I just…I…”
“Wanted to fix things,” Nicole sympathised. “I understand.”
“I—I had a lot of time to think,” She stood up and slowly walked down another flight of stairs as she explained how she had initially been angry towards Emily and given evil sideways glances to the man in Henry’s seat. Soon she became all consumed with wanting to check on Henry and see if he was okay.
The truth was that she was enjoying being a part of a family and she felt like a part of her was missing. She missed him and enjoyed his company, even when he was throwing a tantrum and crying and confusing the hell out of her, she still enjoyed his company.
“Is it normal to grow to love a child so quickly?” Olivia asked her best friend. She felt pensive as to what the answer would be.
“Wow, that’s a tough one,” Nicole admitted. “Kids are lovable, so I suppose it is easy to fall for them.”
Olivia nodded to herself before explaining that she had come to the very same conclusion, that she loved and cared for Henry and Emily, despite having spent relatively little time with the two of them.
“Oh, Liv,” Nicole said sadly. “I am so sorry.”
“I don’t think I can fix it,” Olivia said. “She was rightfully angry at me. She wouldn’t even let Henry say goodbye to me. She left him with her.”
Nicole let out a laugh. “Who is her?”
“Lucy Kent,” Olivia said with disdain. “Really Nicole, you’ve never seen such a smiling, simpering, cardigan-wearing sap!”
“And who is she?” Nicole asked.
“Emily’s friend. They live with Lucy and her husband,” Olivia sighed.
“Ah, I see,” Nicole said. “I wish I was there, I’d come over.”
“My hotel rooms are the same,” Olivia muttered. “What kind of person doesn’t notice that?”
“Someone who’s being going through the motions for years, someone who was recently pushed out of their safety bubble and into the real world.”
“What do I do?”
“Well, you can’t hang out in the stairwell all day,” Nicole pointed out.
“I’ve never been dumped before,” Olivia mused. She paused and looked around the stairwell. She came to the obvious conclusion that being there was not productive and turned and walked back up the stairs again.
“Can you really be dumped when you’ve never been on a proper date?”
“I’m not sure. I feel dumped.”
“I’m sorry. And I’m sorry you had a bad day.”
“It’s okay,” Olivia sniffed.
“Can I do anything?”
“No,” Olivia opened the door from the stairwell and walked back along the carpeted hallway towards her room. “I just needed someone to talk to.”
“Well, I’m always here if you need me,” Nicole replied.
“You’re a good friend,” Olivia admitted as she opened the door to her traitorous hotel room.
Nicole let out a small sigh.
“What?” Olivia asked with a frown.
“I don’t know. I may be wrong about this but I just have this feeling. Emily and Henry were good for you and I know you can be good for them. You reacted the way you did because you care so deeply.”
“What good will that do me now?”
“I just don’t think it’s over yet,” Nicole said softly. “I think this is something worth fighting for.”
Olivia considered the matter as she walked around the room and found herself entering the rarely-used spare room. Unsurprisingly, even that room was the same and she looked at the bed, so similar to where she had read Henry bedtime stories, before shaking her head and exiting the room.
“What do you suggest?” she asked.
“Oh, that’s not up to me to say,” Nicole said. “Sadly this has to come from you.”
“Then I’m doomed,” Olivia said quietly as she fell back onto the sofa and stared glumly at the coffee table.
“I know it sounds corny but listen to your heart and then I’m sure things will come right in the end.”
“I don’t know, I acted appallingly.”
“But you recognise that,” Nicole said. “Fight for what you want, Liv. You know there’s something to this or we wouldn’t be having this conversation. When have we ever spoken about the end of one of your relationships?”
“Never.”
“Exactly. They mean something to you, and when something is important you need to fight for it. Don’t just give up. I know it seems impossible right now, but you can fix this.”
Olivia heard the call disconnect and looked at the phone with surprise. She stared at the device in her hand for a few moments as she replayed Nicole’s advice then let out a deep sigh.
She sprung up from the sofa, tossed the phone onto the cushions, and started to pace the room. While it was true that she had a terrible track record with relationships, she realised that she couldn’t let this go easily. She couldn’t go back, couldn’t turn her brain back to a time before she had met them.
Emily and Henry had jumped into her life and turned everything upside down in a matter of days. Her outlook was transformed and she felt as if a veil had been lifted and she could finally see clearly again.
She looked out of the window towards the skyscrapers of New York City and started to form a plan. She was at the top of her game, restructuring businesses worth billions, working with the rich and famous, never backing down from a challenge. In her heart she knew that she could salvage what she had, repair what she had mistakenly destroyed.
There was simply too much to lose to not try.
###
The story of Olivia and Emily continues with the sequel Grounded, coming in late 2016.
About A.E. Radley
A.E. Radley is an English company director with surprisingly zero interest in reading, despite being married to a qualified librarian. Writing for pleasure and often simply to quell the tedium of long train journeys, she was surprised to discover a receptive and even captivated audience.
When not writing, Radley can be found working or buying unnecessary cat accessories on a popular online store for her two ungrateful strays whom she has threatened to return for the last six years.
A former pensions expert, she has only ever been invited to a dinner party once.
CONNECT WITH A.E. Radley:
Website: www.a-e-radley.com
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