Ally attempted one final peek behind, when the line once again stopped abruptly and she collided into a taller man in front. His plaid sports coat felt soft again her cheek and she was close enough to see the slight wear in the leather patches at the elbows.
Assuming he was older based on his style of clothing, when he turned around she was surprised to find that he was in fact, much younger - likely in his early thirties, just like her.
And cute.
“Pardon me,” he apologised gently, his blue eyes laser- focused on hers and normally, the intensity of such a gaze would make Ally uncomfortable.
But this gave her time to study his face. She could see that his eyes also had specks of green, his nose was straight and his square jaw line was covered with light stubble. He looked like the kind of guy who would normally be clean shaven, but for some reason had skipped his morning shave for a day or two.
“No, my fault,” she mumbled. “I wasn’t paying attention.”
Ally was almost sorry when he broke their eye contact as the line began to move again, leaving her to stare at the back of his head once more.
Maybe boarding last wasn’t so bad after all.
Chapter 3
Afew more minutes passed before Ally was finally able to board the aircraft and locate her seat.
The sight of the narrow, cramped coach class seat after traveling primarily in the comforts of first class was a rude awakening, and deflated her spirits yet again.
The seat appeared to be only about two feet wide, the armrests were narrow and metal and it clearly didn’t have a footrest.
Even at only 5’ 3” she still had to crouch down and scoot her legs sideways to fit into it. Though at least she was seated in the aisle and could possibly stretch out her legs a bit that way.
She spent the final minutes before take off on her phone trying to get through all unread work emails that had come in since she’d exited the taxi.
One was from a client confirming a conference call for the 23rd and Ally updated her calendar. She would be in Maine for that one. Lara surely had to have a spare room or some private space she could take the call from, so this shouldn’t be a problem.
She made it through another seven or so emails before she heard the dreaded announcement.
“Ladies and gentleman, please switch all cellphones to flight mode, power down computers and other electronics equipment and safely stow them.”
Ally harrumphed. How much more pleasant the flying experience would be if someone could figure out a way for passengers to use their phones while in flight?
Not that airlines seemed at all concerned these days with their customer’s comfort. The small seat and lack of overhead storage space on this one were alone a testament to that.
Loss of productivity was certainly an inconvenience, but on the bright side at least she could use this time to unwind and read. About the only time she got the opportunity to indulge in reading just for pleasure. So at least there was that to look forward to.
A couple of minutes after take-off, the drinks cart pulled up along side Ally’s seat before she even had a chance to unfasten her seat belt.
She brought her elbow in towards her body to prevent it from inadvertently being bumped with the sharp edges of the metal cart. The arm rest was way too narrow for even her elbow to comfortably rest.
“Can I get you a drink ma’am?”
Ally smiled, thinking how a chilled glass of wine would be just the thing to help her relax for the almost two hour flight. “I’ll have a glass of chardonnay if you have it.”
“Sure. That will be $8. Cash only.”
It has been such a long time since she had flown coach that Ally had completely forgotten that drinks were extra! She reached for her purse, but already knew she didn’t have any cash on her. Carrying paper these days was like lugging around a stone and chisel, outdated to say the least.
Was this airline the final frontier of the digital revolution?
“Actually, maybe just some water.”
“Sure. That will be $2.”
Water was no longer free either?
