by Kaylie Kay
‘Come on, let’s get a selfie,’ he called to her as he pointed the camera at himself with the prison behind. Susan shook her head; that would not be a good idea, why would he even suggest it? What if his wife saw it? He laughed and took the picture of himself, and she was relieved to see that it was just a joke, that he wasn’t that indiscreet.
As they sat on the veranda at the back of the restaurant that perched over the water, small waves lapping underneath them, conversation came easily. Susan regaled him with the comedic version of her day yesterday, which was much easier to laugh at now than it had been when she had arrived, almost delirious, the night before. Mark managed to make his job in Silicon Valley sound interesting too, despite it probably being quite boring. He was a people watcher, he saw people’s characters and could dissect them, make them funny even if they were the most boring person in the world. He could also read people, which sometimes unnerved her; she didn’t want him to see past Susan Harrison, but she suspected that he did, not that he said anything to give it away. The late breakfast turned into lunch, and they both drank champagne. The breath-taking views of the bay were enough to keep them there for hours, getting more and more merry as the afternoon went on, wrapped up in each other’s company.
They laughed together on the ferry back as the sun set, and took a taxi to her hotel. Mark knew the rules and followed her in a few minutes later, Susan didn’t want to have to explain to anyone who her companion was if she was to bump into any of her crew. Also, it gave her a brief moment to freshen up before the knock came, and she was transported to the realms of pleasure that Mark took her to.
She woke the next morning in Mark’s arms, surprised to find that he was still there. Usually he would have left at the crack of dawn, either because he had work, or like today, because it was the weekend and he had family stuff to do, and hadn’t he stayed the extra night already?
‘Don’t you need to get back?’ she asked as he put the phone down from ordering room service.
‘No, it’s Saturday, no work today.’
‘What about family stuff?’ She hated having to ask, to bring it up.
‘Oh,’ he hesitated. ‘Yeah, we broke up, last month.’
Susan processed what he was saying quickly, trying to decide whether it affected them, this, at all. ‘Oh,’ was all she could say, pulling away from him and excusing herself to take a shower; was he going to want more from her now?
He was dressed when she came out of the shower, he had obviously felt her shift in energy and seen that it was time to go, clearly not wanting to scare her off.
‘Don’t worry, I’m not going to go all serious on you, it doesn’t change any of this,’ he said, looking around him. ‘I just like being with you, whenever I can be.’
She smiled at him, relieved, she liked being with him too, every couple of months. She let go of the towel that had wrapped her body away from him. There was no need for him to leave just yet, breakfast was on its way and she had hours until checkout!
Chapter 15
Well that was close! Susan was pacing up and down in the summerhouse, needing a moment out of sight, trying to get on top of her panic.
Her phone had rung, that was all, but it wasn’t her normal phone, noooo, it was the other phone, the one that she had forgotten to switch off when she had left San Francisco. Bless him, Lewis had thought he had been doing the right thing when he had dug it out of her bag where she had left it in the hall, and run into the kitchen with it.
‘Your phone, Mum, it was ringing,’ he announced, waving it in the air as she stood telling Jeff about her flight, the edited version.
‘Oh, thank you, darling,’ she had said calmly, relieved that it had rung off just as he had handed it to her, and that he hadn’t noticed that it was a different phone. She had put it down quickly behind the fruit bowl, where Jeff wouldn’t see it, wouldn’t see that it was a different model to the one he had given her. Thankfully he was just pouring her a landing day fizz so he was distracted, but he had heard the ring tone.
‘Who was that?’ he asked casually. Susan didn’t get many calls on Susan Kennedy’s phone.
‘Oh, probably someone trying to sell me something, I don’t recognise the number.’
‘You’ve changed your ringtone though,’ he remarked as he passed her the glass, making small talk; she couldn’t detect any suspicion in his voice.
‘Yes, a moment of boredom. I don’t like it though, can’t get used to it. I think I’ll change it back. So, how’s the diet and exercise going?’ She had noticed that he was in his workout clothes so he had obviously been at it already this morning, and seized the opportunity to change the subject.
‘How do you think?’ He smoothed his stomach and flexed his muscles to show her his results.
‘I think it’s going pretty well.’ She nodded approvingly, he was definitely getting leaner, his face was getting more defined. ‘Keep up the good work.’
‘I will have a beach body for Dubai if it kills me,’ he declared. Maybe he had had no reason not to stack on the weight before, perhaps she needed to keep the holidays booked to help him stay motivated. It was possible that she had been a bit selfish; just because she was having enough little breaks, perhaps he needed some too. Not like hers though, no, not like hers.
‘Right I have to go and send some emails quickly,’ he said. ‘I’ll be in my study if you need me.’
‘Okay, love, perhaps we can all go out this afternoon, take the dogs for a run on the downs?’
‘Sounds great, get yourself a couple of hours’ sleep first though, we don’t want you dozing off in the car.’ He kissed her forehead and left her sitting there with a pretend look of indignation on her face.
As soon as he was out of sight Susan grabbed the phone and left by the back door. Only when she reached the summerhouse did she look at it. She had never turned it on here before, it was an American phone with an American SIM, for American use! She planned her liaisons from one trip to another, she didn’t need to speak or communicate with anyone unless she could see them imminently.
The missed call was from Mark, what the hell? What was so important that he needed to speak to her now? He knew that she didn’t contact him unless she was coming to San Francisco; she probably hadn’t mentioned that she never turned her phone on at home, or indeed that she had two phones, but surely he would have worked that out? Surely, he was equally as careful? Was she overreacting? It was landing day, after all. There wasn’t a voicemail though so she switched it off quickly. There was no way in the world that she was calling him back, he wasn’t in her life for the foreseeable, if at all now, she couldn’t see someone that was so dangerous, however much she liked them.
As she calmed down she noticed her surroundings, jumping up from the cream couch, remembering the last time that she was in here, with Luke. Had she been naive these past few years to believe she could keep her two lives so separate? Was she walking a dangerous line?
The children ran with the dogs across the downs and they both laughed at them.
‘Is it a pack of dogs or a pack of kids?’ Jeff asked. Susan held on to his arm as they walked slowly. She loved these days, just them and the open air. It didn’t matter right now if they lived in a big house or a caravan, it wouldn’t have changed this picture. Oh, perhaps the dogs may have to be a bit smaller if they lived in a caravan, she thought, amused at her deduction.
‘I really can’t decide whether the dogs are like kids or the kids are like wild dogs.’ Jeff was still musing over his question.
‘I think either is true,’ she said as she squeezed his arm.
Maybe she was kidding herself when she thought that she stayed mostly for the material things, because that somewhat justified her other life. Maybe she actually stayed because she loved this bit too, the family bit, her children, her husband. All of the other stuff was just what it was, another life, someone else’s.
Chapter 16
It had been a long time since Susan could reme
mber going to work with no one waiting for her at the other end. It made her feel a bit strange, deflated maybe, unexcited. Yes, that was it, there was no excitement, no knowing that she was going to have a marvellous encounter with someone she knew, no gorgeous man or amazing sex. It was only because she had been on standby that she hadn’t been able to choose her flight today, make sure that she was going somewhere worthwhile. What on earth was she going to do in Chicago?
Perhaps it wasn’t such a bad thing, she thought on the drive to the airport. She had started to wonder if she had some kind of addiction, or at least if Susan Harrison did. She only flew now to places where she knew she had a ‘companion.’ It was what gave her that buzz when she got in her car and made this drive. But was it stopping her from finding fulfilment in her real life, as Susan Kennedy? When she had a flight lined up she would be distracted, almost wishing the days away until her next ‘break’, but with only standby looming she hadn’t felt like that this week.
She had had a lovely time at home, and now that Jeff was starting to look after himself again he was beginning to stir up her old feelings for him. She would have been quite happy in fact to have stayed at home and not gone to work at all.
She would go out with the crew when she got there, she resolved, do what she used to do before all of the flings had started. She thought back, trying to remember how long ago this had all begun, how it had come to take over her work life. The first had been shortly after she came back from maternity leave, a pilot, but it hadn’t lasted long. Others had come and gone, but now she had a steady set, all of whom were very different, and all of whom she liked very much. Despite the deep thoughts and soul searching she wasn’t ready to give them up yet, she enjoyed them far too much, and it wasn’t hurting anyone as long as everybody stuck to the rules.
As she walked out to her car with her case, Luke was just walking across the front of the house.
‘Morning,’ he said, stopping her in her tracks.
‘Good morning, Luke, how are you?’ She didn’t really want to know how he was, but she couldn’t be rude.
‘Not too bad thanks, and thanks for the recommendation.’
Susan had to think for a moment, and he must have seen the puzzled look on her face.
‘Laura Mansfield, she said she got my number from you at the gym.’
‘Oh, yes.’ She had completely forgotten about that. She made eye contact with him briefly, it wasn’t like her to be shy. ‘I’m glad she called you, will she be keeping you busy?’ She was hopeful.
‘Yes, but don’t worry, I’ll still have time for you, I mean here,’ he said cheekily.
Oh, my word, she felt the heat rising up her neck, she didn’t remember the last time she had felt embarrassed. She had thought that things had been forgotten, that it would never be mentioned again!
‘Anyway, got to go, I‘ve got a flight to catch,’ she said hurriedly. He was grinning at her and she couldn’t bear it, throwing her suitcase into the passenger seat and jumping into the car. As she drove down the drive she caught sight of him in the rear-view mirror, just standing there, watching her; it made her feel uneasy. She would have to talk to him when she got back, put him straight on a few things.
The crew check-in area in Heathrow’s Terminal 4 was a hive of activity as crew arrived one by one through the glass doors. They would leave through the same doors a short while later, in their new teams, walking to the aircraft together to take their flight. Susan sat relaxed on the sofas in the lounge area, amused by the horrified look on Emma’s face as she told her about her last flight and the diversion to Goose Bay.
‘Well let’s not have any of that today, I’m looking forward to a few drinks at RBs tonight,’ said Emma. Susan had flown with her years ago, when they were new, and was relieved to have someone on the crew that wanted to go out and have a good time. The thought of spending the trip on her own had made her feel quite depressed when she had thought it might be a possibility this morning.
‘Me too, shame we have to work first,’ Susan grinned, and picked up her handbag as their flight was announced, looking around the room as others stood up, obviously their allies for the next few days.
As they came out of the briefing room twenty minutes later everyone was in good spirits. A flight manager could make or break a flight from the offset, but fortunately today Eric was hilarious, bonding them all in their hysteria, line after line of jokes that made Susan’s stomach hurt from laughing. They walked out of the door back into the terminal, a new team, chatting excitedly, everyone making their plans for the trip. She glanced behind her quickly to see the smart hats of the three pilots that were joining them. She recognised the captain, with his grey beard and friendly face, walking alongside another nondescript one who would probably turn out to be a nice guy but wasn’t attracting much of her interest. The tall, gorgeous one behind them, however, now he had her interest, and he was looking straight back at her.
‘Check out our first officer,’ Emma nudged her. Susan obviously wasn’t the only one who had noticed. ‘I wouldn’t say no.’
‘No, I wouldn’t say no either,’ Susan replied absentmindedly.
‘Shame you’re married, hon. I hope I don’t have any other competition amongst these.’ Emma signalled to the other girls walking ahead of them. Susan glanced down at her hand, realising that she had forgotten to take off her rings. Plenty of girls would take theirs off for the flight to stop them getting dirty, so she wouldn’t be judged for it, and she reached in her bag for the black pouch.
Susan smiled, she wasn’t sure whether she was even up for being with anyone this trip anyway, so Emma was probably welcome to him, but being married certainly wasn’t a problem, not for Susan Harrison.
Chapter 17
It had been niggling at her since the other day, and as much as she wanted to ignore it, she couldn’t help wondering why Mark had phoned her. She waited for the phone to switch on as she slipped out of her uniform, glad after the long flight to be getting ready to go out, eager to get to the rooftop bar before the sun set. She needed to text Tony, to let him know that she would be in New York shortly anyway, so it wouldn’t hurt to see whether Mark had tried to contact her again.
Ping
There it was, a message from Mark on her screen. She tried to remember if she had definitely explained the rules to him when she had first met him? Perhaps, having met him in the bar she had forgotten, or he had, and it wasn’t like there was a written contract after all, she reasoned.
Call me when you can xxx
Ummm, no.
Susan tried not to let her curiosity get the better of her. If it was urgent surely he would have said, and besides she wasn’t in San Francisco anytime soon so she didn’t need to speak to him. Perhaps now he has split up from his wife he wants more, she thought, hoping that that wasn’t the case, as it could never happen. She wondered for a moment if she should just block his number, end it there, but then she pictured his handsome face and decided against it. No, she would give him the benefit of the doubt and just explain the rules to him again next time, whenever that would be.
I’ll be arriving on the OS665 on the 15th :) xx, she texted, giving Tony two weeks’ notice; that would be all the information that he needed. She turned the phone off, lest she forget, not wanting a repeat of the last time she did.
‘What was going on with immigration and you?’ asked Alice, who had been working in the other galley all flight.
They were sitting on deep white sofas on the roof terrace of the bar, just off Michigan Avenue. Chill-out music was playing, cocktails were in hand, and the sun was still warm despite the late month. Susan had long forgotten about immigration, about the vile officer who had looked at her like she was some sort of criminal and sent her to secondary inspection.
Now she thought of it, she wondered what it was that he had seen on the screen when he had swiped her passport, or if he was just in a foul mood and wanted to ruin somebody’s day. In all of her years she had never
been sent to secondary, and as she had sat there amongst the diverse mix of people she had hoped that she never would be again.
‘I have no idea, a random check I guess,’ Susan shrugged. ‘Maybe he didn’t like the look of me.’ It wasn’t as if no one ever went there from the crew, but they were normally expecting it, like they had a strange passport, or the same name as a criminal. She couldn’t help thinking at the time though that they had been looking for something, pulling everything out of her case and checking it thoroughly, even her underwear. She wondered if the others had the same treatment, having a newfound sympathy for them if they did. Anyway, it was what it was, and she had come out unscathed, so she wasn’t going to let it ruin anything.
‘Anyone for drinks?’ The handsome first officer, Ray, who looked equally as lovely out of his uniform, stood in front of them, shrouded in sunlight.
‘Oh, I’m okay, I’ll get my own,’ said Alice. ‘Thanks though.’
Susan suspected that she was one of those girls who worried that accepting a drink meant more than that, or that she would be dragged into expensive rounds that she couldn’t afford.
‘Mojito please,’ Susan said, without such a second thought.
‘Same here please, Ray,’ Emma smouldered next to her.
‘Coming up,’ he said assertively, walking off in the direction of the bar.
‘Do you think he’s single?’ Emma asked as they all watched him. He was attracting a lot of attention from a group of American girls that stood around, and Susan already found them irritating.
‘Does it matter?’ she asked her with a straight face, which soon broke into a grin. Emma looked at her in mock horror.
