“Henry looks over the horizon in search of …” He read from his book in a dramatic tone, while the passenger seated next to him shot a stern look, clearly not amused.
“Guess he’s not a radio fan,” Ally leaned across and whispered. “But don’t worry - I’ll be fine. Enjoy yours in peace. And thanks again for the water.”
“No problem.” He winked. “But maybe next time you should rethink your reliance on digital.”
Ally smiled. She didn’t have the heart to tell him that digital was not only her job, but pretty much her life.
She didn’t know what she’d do without tech. As it was, missing her iPad on this flight was like missing an arm.
Instead, she turned back and closed her eyes, suddenly exhausted by her hectic day.
And before Ally knew it, she’d relaxed into a deep and peaceful slumber.
Chapter 4
The next thing Ally felt was someone patting her arm. Startled, she sat up in her seat and looked wildly around, trying to remember where she was.
“Must’ve been a nice dream,” the flight attendant who’d just woken her teased, “flight’s landed.”
Ally scrambled to get up, only to find her neck stiff and her legs heavy. Further adding to her confusion was the fact that she seemed to be the very last person on board.
She looked around, wondering how the passenger sitting next to her in the window seat had made it past without her waking. And then instinctively she glanced at the seat across the aisle where the helpful guy had been sitting, and found herself wishing it weren’t empty.
It would have been nice to thank him again before they parted ways.
Then her cheeks felt hot at the thought of him seeing her fast asleep while making his way off the plane. What if her mouth had been wide open with a line of drool down the side of her mouth? What if the altitude made her snore?
She shook her head in an attempt to rid her mind of these embarrassing thoughts.
Hopping up, she automatically opened the overhead bin out of habit to retrieve her case, forgetting that it wasn’t in there. It was only when the flight attendant returned with her garment bag that she remembered she would have to wait for it at the carousel.
As she exited through to the terminal, Ally was greeted by the sound of tinny Christmas tunes in the background.
She couldn’t understand for the life of her why an airport would play background music so loudly, let alone the old festive favourite that was currently blaring. A shame no one could come up with any new original holiday tunes anymore. Hearing the same songs year after year was a bit depressing.
As she approached the quiet carousel, she realised that at least one advantage to being the last person off the plane was everyone else had already picked up their stuff and she wouldn’t need to fight for her spot.
Her case was the only one left on the carousel, and cut a lonely sight, wandering round and round the circuit.
Ally grabbed it by the handle and hoisted it up, noticing that it felt a little heftier than she remembered.
She really was exhausted.
As she set off to exit the terminal, she quickly powered her phone back on to figure out where she was meeting Lara, frowning a little when she realised how little battery it had left.
Her best friend answered after one ring, and she strained to hear over the background music. “Hey, I’ve just landed, you here?” She heard a baby crying on the other end of the line.
“Almost there sweetie,” she cooed, in a tone Ally had never heard before. “Be right there!” she yelled back into the phone then, sounding much more like the Lara she knew.
Outside the building, almost as soon as the phone disconnected, Ally spied a mini van pull forward to the curb.
One hand was still on the wheel, but as soon as she spotted the messy heap of dark blonde hair pilled on top of the driver’s head, she knew it was Lara.
Her friend’s hair had been the first thing Ally noticed about her when they first met back in college.
She was sitting behind Lara n an art history class, and while the professor was showing slides of Hagia Sophia, she was memorised by the way her soft curls bounced each time she moved her head.
Ally had always wanted to be able to do her own hair the same way, but hers was poker straight. Her mom had been the only one who was able to get it to cooperate in any way.
