Sparks - Wendy Higgins Page 0,23

his eye the remainder of the flight. And when everyone got off, I let Marcelle say the good-byes to passengers while I kept busy tidying up. Talking to Shawn Fowler, even looking at him, was like playing with fire. I wasn’t the type of person to set myself up for pain or failure, and I definitely didn’t want to be the type of female who went after another woman’s man, regardless of their “situation.”

I silently said my good-byes to Shawn and his soldiers with my back firmly to them. The last twenty-four hours were fun, but I really, really needed to get him out of my head, and fast.

I felt a strange sort of emptiness and sadness as I got off the plane and walked with Silas to the crew room. Our Newark base had a giant hidden area in the Omega Skies terminal where flight attendants and pilots hung out. There were locker rooms for anyone who didn’t live nearby and needed to shower, like Silas. And a huge room filled with tables, sofas, recliners, and a kitchenette area. At any given time of day there’d be at least one person curled up sleeping with ear plugs.

To all of us, it was a second home on those long days when there wasn’t time to go home between flights or at the end of the day. Some days, with the smaller regional flights we’d have eight legs in a day, getting in close to midnight, and then have to start over at four in the morning. A “leg” in the airline world was a single flight from one destination to another. We could do up to eight legs in a day for the smaller regional flights. I hated eight-leg days. I called them Spiders. But regulations wouldn’t allow FAs and pilots to have a stringent schedule like that more than a day or two in a row. We had strict rest policies.

Two of my roommates, Holly and Cheryl, were at a table in the crew room playing cards with another flight attendant, Bryant, who lived with his boyfriend in New York City and commuted over. They all three set down their cards when they saw us. I practically skipped, happy to see them.

“Well?” Bryant demanded of me. “How many dick pics do you have for us?”

I groaned and everyone laughed. Bryant stood and kissed my cheek, then kissed Silas’s cheek, giving him a lingering look and pinch on the cleft chin.

“Hello, Bryant,” Silas said.

“Hi, handsome. Sit with us.”

We sat and I got a whiff of peppermint oil. I glanced at Cheryl with her pinched forehead. She was a few years older than me but had a few premature gray hairs mixed in with her natural dirty blond. Cheryl was a naturalist—never wore makeup but didn’t need it anyway—and was huge on essential oils and herbal treatments.

“Headache today?” I asked her.

She gave me a weak smile. “So hungover.”

“Oh, my gawd,” Holly said, laughing. “You should have seen Cheryl. She climbed out on the fire escape in just her panties and boots and danced. All the dudes coming out of the Latin dance club got a major show.”

I was floored and let out a giant laugh, which caused Cheryl to cover her eyes and moan.

“It was not my finest moment. I will never drink tequila again. I’m sticking to weed.”

“I always miss the fun stuff,” I pouted.

“You were definitely having fun.” Silas leaned back in his chair with a grin and I scowled at him.

“Um, yeah,” Holls said. “It sounded like you were at a club when we talked. There’s no way that happened in a hotel lobby.”

“Oh, it happened,” Silas assured her. “And Harlow was one of the few females in attendance.” He waggled his dark eyebrows as I continued to scowl.

“Do tell.” Bryant leaned toward me. “And don’t make that look. You’ll give yourself wrinkles, honey.”

I relaxed my face. “I had a few drinks and talked and danced. I didn’t take anyone to my room.”

“He would have gone if you’d asked him to,” Silas stated.

I shook my head wishing he’d shut up. “No, he wouldn’t have.”

“Who?” Bryant, Holly, and Cheryl asked at once, staring at me with big eyes.

Before I could respond, Silas answered. “The officer in charge of the troop on our flight. He was all about her.” Why did his voice sound weird?

“Shut up,” I said. “He was not. I mean, he was, but only as a friend. He’s engaged.”

All three of the others sat back, disappointed.

“He was