Under Grey Clouds (The Osprey Series Book 2)

by Kaylie Kay

  ‘Of course, just let me fill these and I’ll give you a tour.’ She looked up and smiled, making eye contact; no one would be ‘looking around’ without her.

  ‘This is the kitchen, obviously.’ Lucy showed the four girls into the room. Kate and Natasha had been here before of course, but were happy to be shown again.

  ‘Wow, look at that garden.’ The nameless blonde girl was peering through the window at the garden. It was lit up theatrically in the darkness, with carefully placed lighting showing off the pool and the summer house. ‘It must be wonderful in the summer.’

  ‘Oh, it is, we love it out there.’ She looked over towards the dogs who were lying on their beds at the far end of the room.

  ‘It must take a lot of keeping up though, do you have a gardener?’

  ‘Yes, a lovely lad called Luke takes care of it, he does an amazing job.’ Lucy wanted to add that she was his proud aunty but thought better of it.

  ‘Oh, we have a gardener called Luke too!’ she exclaimed, ‘I wonder if it’s the same one? Luke Wright?’

  Lucy heard her pulse in her head as her heart rate quickened; she had to think really quickly, this was a possibly really bad situation.

  ‘Oh no, it can’t be the same one, our Luke only works for us as he has a full-time job as well.’

  ‘Oh, well Luke is obviously a good gardener’s name,’ she quipped. ‘My Luke is quite talented in other departments too.’ She giggled, looking down at her glass, and her friend obviously knew what she was talking about as she was stifling a laugh too.

  It suddenly dawned on Lucy what she meant and she felt her cheeks flush. She could feel herself getting angry and tried to push it back, she would have to process all of this later when she was on her own.

  ‘Oh, well our Luke just does his job.’ She forced a smile, but inside she was seething, her nephew was clearly a complete slut who was sleeping with every lonely housewife that he worked for. Clearly Mrs Kennedy wasn’t the only one.

  ‘Can we have a look upstairs, Lucy, we didn’t get to see that last time?’ It was Natasha, exactly as she had predicted it would be, pushing things one step further out of her comfort zone.

  ‘Of course, but a couple of the rooms are off limits as they are where my husband works from home, and I’ve also got my nephew to stay so he’s in bed already.’ She had considered excuses to completely put the upstairs out of bounds, but as she had been getting ready in the Kennedys’ suite she hadn’t been able to fight the pull to show off this wonderful room as her own. The quick explanation about her nephew had her covered just in case Lewis came out of his room or made a noise, as much as she doubted that he would.

  ‘And this is where the magic happens,’ she winked. Such a comment was completely out of character for the real Lucy, but hey this one right here had everything, so she may as well have a great love life as well. She could feel the envy from them all as they looked around the room and the bathroom, making sounds of appreciation.

  ‘I’m afraid that’s all I can show you up here.’ She led them back to the top of the stairs. ‘Please, go on down and fill your glasses up. I’m just going to check the windows are closed in the study, be down in a second.’

  She stood at the top and ushered them down the stairs, before heading to Lewis’s room and quietly opening the door. As usual he was on the floor with his back to her, headphones on and controller in hand. She walked over and tapped him on the shoulder.

  ‘Into bed soon, young man.’

  ‘I’ll just finish this game,’ he said sweetly, turning and giving her a thumbs up. She gave him a thumbs up back, glancing at her watch as she did so. Nine o’clock, just two more hours to get through.

  Chapter 45

  As was often the way with the quiet flights, time could really drag. There was only so many times you could offer drinks, or check the toilets. The positive side was that the crew had been split in half and given four hours’ rest each, so at least she would be arriving into Miami nice and fresh. The pain in her ankle had subsided, thankfully, once the painkillers had kicked in, and she would not be going out in flats after all!

  ‘Is the crew food cooked?’ Sheena walked into the galley, surprising Susan. She had got on the plane in such a rush, and what with going straight into taking off and the dinner service, she had actually forgotten who the manager was until she saw her again.

  ‘Yep, in the first two ovens.’ Susan looked up from the magazine she had been flicking mindlessly through. ‘Don’t get too excited though.’

  ‘Oh, I won’t!’ Sheena knew what Susan was getting at, the crew food not being the most interesting of menus. She pulled out each of the drawers, looking for inspiration, before taking something out. ‘Baked potato.’

  ‘I know, it really is dire today. Was there nothing left at the front?’

  ‘Nope, we ran out of everything except the fish, and I didn’t fancy that. New menu.’

  ‘Aaah.’ Susan knew what she meant, the ratios were never right when there was a new menu. ‘Baked potato it is then!’

  ‘Oh, the glamorous life of a flight attendant,’ Sheena laughed, peeling back the foil from her veritable banquet, putting it into a bowl. ‘Are you going out with everyone tonight?’

  ‘Probably not, are you?’ It was the usual ‘what are you doing this trip’ question, but worded in a way that suggested that she wasn’t either.

  ‘No.’ She had her back to Susan as she prepared her dinner on the galley side. Susan was surprised that this glamorous young thing wasn’t going out in Miami, but everyone had their own agendas. ‘I’m with the first officer, between me and you, so we are just going to go out for dinner.’

  ‘Oh, I didn’t realise, that’s nice.’ She gauged that not everyone was privy to this information by how she had said it, that they were keeping it to themselves for whatever reason. Susan hadn’t had a chance to get up to the flight deck, what with arriving so late, and now with so few crew on duty it wasn’t sensible to leave the cabin unattended, so she hadn’t seen who the first officers were. In fact, she realised that she didn’t even know the name of the captain, which was pretty poor, and would have been frowned upon by higher powers.

  ‘Yep, it’s only been a few months so we’re keeping it a bit quiet, but it’s nice to get on a flight together.’

  ‘Of course,’ Susan agreed. She had never had anything meaningful with a pilot, not that she couldn’t have done if she had wanted, but she had always preferred to have her beaux across the Atlantic permanently.

  ‘Anyway, I’d better go back up, let me know if you need anything.’

  ‘Thanks, I think we should be okay though,’ she said dryly. It was like a ghost ship in economy and she was pretty sure she and Dani could just about manage. ‘Dani’s just popped to the loo.’

  ‘Well you know where I am.’ Sheena gathered up her food and covered it with a napkin.

  ‘Thanks,’ Susan said just as her colleague walked back into the galley.

  ‘Sorry I was so long, a lady up by the toilets isn’t feeling too good.’

  ‘What’s up with her?’ Susan asked, Sheena stopping in her tracks.

  ‘I’m not really sure, she just feels a bit queasy. I’ve given her some water and told her to press her call bell if she starts to feel any worse.’

  ‘Okay, well keep an eye on her, and call me at the one-doors if you need me,’ Sheena said.

  ‘Will do.’ Dani didn’t seem worried by the situation at all.

  ‘Shall we take turns to watch a movie?’ Dani asked with a mischievous look, once Sheena was out of earshot.

  ‘Hell yeah,’ Susan didn’t need persuading, ‘first or second?’

  ‘First if it’s alright with you?’

  ‘Of course, I’ll hold the fort and keep a look out.’ Not that she thought Sheena was likely to come back any time soon.

  ‘Perfect, I’m just going to slip into the last row.’ Dani took her bottle of water from the side. ‘Oh, it’s row 48 by the way, just in
case she presses her call bell.’

  ‘Perfect, I’ll check on her in a bit,’ Susan assured her, glad to have something to do, regardless of how small, to pass some time.

  The poor lady didn’t look well at all, and Susan instantly took pity on her as she passed her with a tray of drinks.

  ‘Madam, how are you feeling?’ she asked as sympathetically as she could.

  ‘Terrible, I think it’s something I ate.’ She rubbed her stomach.

  ‘Why don’t you lie down?’ There were countless empty rows for her to move into.

  ‘I tried, but it was too uncomfortable with the armrests.’

  She was a bigger lady and Susan supposed that although the armrests went up, they would still dig into her back.

  ‘Oh dear, you poor thing.’ She looked like she wanted to cry and Susan’s maternal side just wanted to hug her.

  ‘I’ll be back in a minute.’ She turned and walked quickly to the front of the plane.

  ‘Have you seen Sheena?’ she asked the crewmember that she was seeing for the first time now, in the galley. She was flicking through the same magazine that Susan had been earlier.

  ‘No, babe, I presume she’s on the flight deck, she seems to like it in there.’ She gave Susan a knowing look. Susan wondered why Sheena had chosen to share that information with her and leave other crew to speculate. Maybe because she was older, or not working in the same galley.

  ‘Okay, thanks.’ She walked quickly through the almost empty first class cabin, the whole plane was deserted it seemed. Just as she was about to put the code into the keypad and request access to the flight deck, the door to the pilot’s crew rest area opened to her side. Sheena looked surprised to see Susan standing outside and appeared embarrassed.

  ‘Is everything okay?’ she asked, failing at acting casual, shutting the door quickly behind her. Susan thought she had seen another figure in the small room behind her, and coupled with Sheena’s slightly unruly hair, made the pretty safe assumption that she hadn’t been in there alone.

  ‘Um yes.’ She tried to compose herself, to not show the amused shock on her face or in her voice. ‘I was just wondering if I could bring our poorly lady up and put her in a bed, she is so uncomfortable down there and I think she’ll be better off lying down.’

  ‘Yes, yes, of course.’ Susan suspected that Sheena would have agreed to most things just to end this awkward moment.

  ‘Fabulous, I’ll go and get her and pop her in 8K.’

  As Susan put the very sick but very grateful lady to bed a few minutes later, she glanced up the cabin to see a familiar figure quietly leaving the pilots’ rest area, the same one from which her manager had just come. Ray, him from Chicago, with the red-hot abs, was running his fingers through his hair and fastening his tie. Well, well, well, Susan thought, doing the maths quickly, he’s definitely not one for monogamy. Poor Sheena, she hoped she wasn’t as naive as she looked.

  Chapter 46

  This was harder than she thought it would be, Lucy thought despairingly as the time seemed to stand still. The girls were all very merry on Mrs Kennedy’s expensive champagne, and being the only sober one just wasn’t helping the situation. She kept the smile on nonetheless, making sure that she was a perfect hostess and that they would have no reason to criticise her when they left.

  ‘Selfie time,’ squealed Natasha.

  Everyone squeezed in behind her, grinning with their perfect teeth.

  ‘And you, Lucy, c’mon.’

  Lucy reluctantly took her place behind them, wincing at her image in the camera screen. All the others seemed to know exactly which way to tilt their heads, and how to show just the right amount of teeth and gum, but Lucy was clueless in the whole thing, and didn’t have the luxury of experimenting now.

  Click.

  ‘Perfect,’ said Natasha as they gathered around to see how they would look on whichever social media account they were going to be put on. ‘What’s your Instagram name, Lucy?’

  ‘Um.’ Lucy wondered what she was talking about for a moment, before the penny dropped. ‘Oh, I don’t have any of that,’ she said, and wasn’t that a good thing, she thought. Everyone had gone quiet and they were looking at her as if she was mad.

  ‘Erm, why not?’ Natasha obviously couldn’t fathom it, there needed to be an explanation for her abstinence.

  ‘I just never bothered,’ Lucy said matter-of-factly. She was sober enough not to let the increasingly drunk Natasha bully her now.

  ‘Christ, if I had all of this I’d be putting pictures of it up left right and centre,’ she said, waving her hands around at the room.

  Lucy was hugely grateful that she didn’t have any social media now, that would really have added to this whole problem. She was tiring of the whole act, and just wanted the night over so that she could distance herself from them all again and go back to her quiet, peaceful life.

  ‘Oh, I’m getting ever so tired,’ she yawned and looked at her watch; it was only ten o’clock but maybe they would take a hint.

  ‘Any more bubbles, Luce?’ Kate asked, tipping the last dregs from the bottle she had only just opened into her glass.

  ‘Oh yes, of course.’ Lucy got up, relieved to have a break from their giggling and childishness for a moment.

  Luce? Nobody called her that ever! She took another bottle from the chiller. She had bought two bottles but this was now the fifth, and she would have to replace them before anyone noticed they were gone. She really wasn’t enjoying the evening anymore.

  ‘Here goes, ladies,’ she announced merrily, but truth was she was getting exhausted with the acting now. ‘I’m afraid I’m going to have to make that the last one though as I have a really early start in the morning, as much as I’d love to carry on all night,’ she said in mock disappointment.

  ‘Lucy.’

  The little voice coming from behind her confused her for a moment, being unexpected. The girls were now all looking in the direction of the door at little Lewis, who looked back at their drunk faces with a nervous smile. He was holding a tissue to his nose.

  ‘Lewis,’ she said a lot more calmly than she felt. He was supposed to stay in his room, they had a deal! ‘What are you doing up?’

  ‘I’ve got a nosebleed.’ He tipped the tissue forward to show the blood he had collected.

  ‘Oh dear,’ she said kindly, ushering him out hurriedly. ‘I’ll be back in a minute.’

  She was so grateful she had laid down the nephew story so that she didn’t have to explain, but she just hoped that Lewis wouldn’t mention her guests to his parents. Oh well, she thought, trying to stop herself from overreacting, I am sure they wouldn’t mind if I said they just popped in for ten minutes.

  ‘Let’s sort you out.’ She had a real soft spot for the little boy and couldn’t be annoyed with him for coming down, he wasn’t responsible for her mess. In fact, he had given her another reason to get them out of here.

  ‘I’m really sorry, ladies, but I’m going to have to wrap things up, the poor boy’s not feeling too good now and I’m going to have to settle him down.’ She wondered if they were buying her fake disappointment, but she realised that actually she didn’t care. She needed this friendship, or whatever it was, to end now, so she couldn’t be too nice. ‘Shall I call you a cab?’

  ‘Yes please,’ Kate said sensibly.

  ‘Just one more bottle for the road,’ slurred Natasha.

  ‘I’m afraid not,’ said Lucy, not apologising. She looked at Natasha and wondered why she had cared so much what she thought; she was nothing special, just a sad bully who had never grown up.

  ‘Goodnight,’ she called from the door as the taxi drove off, before running back indoors to restore order before Mr Kennedy came home.

  Chapter 47

  Miami had been just what the doctor had ordered, and Susan Harrison had the spring back in her step when she came down to check out the next day. Mario, Mario, Mario, she thought dreamily, remembering the night before in every dreamy detai
l. It would keep her going for quite some time.

  ‘Did you have a nice trip?’ Sheena’s voice interrupted her thoughts, and she realised she had managed to arrive in the hotel lobby from her room without taking any notice of the journey whatsoever, so caught up she was with her reminiscences.

  ‘Oh yes, lovely thanks.’ She couldn’t contain the broad smile that was spread across her face. ‘You?’

  ‘Yes, it was really nice,’ she smiled, looking over her shoulder to where Ray stood with the other pilots. To any of the other crew they were just casual work acquaintances, only Susan knowing different. Ray looked back at them both before quickly returning to his manly conversation with the captain. Susan knew he recognised her, for all she knew he recognised other girls on the crew too for the same reasons. It was easy for crew though, she had seen it many times before, to just act like nothing had happened in front of the others, nothing but a passing glance of mutual understanding between the perpetrators.

  ‘I’ve changed your position on the way home, I’ve put you up the front, do you mind?’

  ‘No of course not, is there an aircraft change?’ That was usually the only reason why their positions would be changed.

  ‘No, same aircraft.’ She stepped closer to Susan and lowered her voice. ‘One of the girls was just really getting on my nerves on the way out, flirting with Ray, and without telling her about us I can’t say anything. I just don’t know if I can bite my tongue so well on a night flight!’

  ‘Oh.’ Susan understood Sheena’s reasoning, but the irony wasn’t lost on her. She knew that Ray would never say anything about their night together though, and she was well practised at pretending nothing had happened. ‘No problem.’

  The flight was easy, a few more passengers than the way out but still less than half full, and they fell asleep quickly once they were fed. She would have been naive to have thought she could avoid Ray all flight, and when he walked into the galley to make a coffee, she couldn’t help but be amused by the awkward look on his face.