"Have a great trip boss" my assistant said to me as I zipped up the outer pocket of my briefcase after checking for about the hundredth time to make sure that I had my computer, my travel headphones, my Ipad, my books and my work stuff. I grinned at her as I snapped my briefcase on to the strap of my roll-on suitcase and started wheeling it out of my office.
"Thanks Sherry and thanks for getting it all organized for me. I'll be sure to bring you back a boomerang or something I said to her with a smirk as I rolled on down the hall. Now that the work day was finally over and it was time to head out to the airport for the evening flight, I permitted myself to start actually getting excited. I was totally stoked about the meetings I was going to in Australia and about the fact that I had two free days before them and two after they ended. I couldn't believe my luck at being asked to go and represent our unit at the international security conference and was sure that someone in "the system" would wake up and say there was no way they were sending a senior manager like me and cancel my trip at the last minute. But there I was standing in line at the airport check-in line getting ready to go. It was really going to happen after all and I was pumped.
And then the reality of the transit set in on me. It was the start of what would be a mega-marathon of travel; a "short" five hours from Ottawa to Vancouver all the way across Canada, a three hour stopover there and then an 18 hour misery from Vancouver all the way to Sydney. I was about to spend the better part of a full day sitting in a plane. I was going Business Class which would help but holy shit it's a long haul I thought to myself. It was going to be nice to be able to relax with no one to bug me, no phones and no email and I hoped to sleep a while on the second leg but there was no two ways about it, it was going to be a long long run.
I got my boarding passes and headed down to the security area. As usual a long line up snaked back and forth heading into the screening area and I felt a small twinge of guilt as I skipped past all that via the express line for business class travellers. But I quickly forgot about all that as I turned my head back to pay attention to where I was going and noticed her for the first time. I guess I'd been too busy fiddling around with my blackberry as I headed into the line and not really seen her. But she had my full focus now. She was a only a couple of inches shorter than me yet somehow looked taller. Her long brown hair ended in curls and seemed to have some kind of streaky stuff in it without looking phoney like so many women's hair does these days. She had folded her winter coat over her arm and was wearing a red short jacket of some sort that ended just below her waist line. She was wearing a loose fitting pair of trendy looking jeans that did nothing to hide a beautiful ass that would have totally held my stare had she not sort of half turned to pull her bag forward and allowed me to notice that she obviously a pair of boobs that no amount of winter clothing could fully conceal. But it was her eyes that stopped me in my tracks. Deep brown pools that I could just lose myself in forever. I was done for!
She dumped her stuff on the conveyor belt and waited for the drone manning the scanner to push it all through. I quickly moved up and placed my laptop in the tray behind her and it gave me an excuse to get close enough to her to have an even better look. I guessed her to be about my age and by the looks of her bags, a business traveller too. Like me, she had that frustrated bored look that we all get as we go through the pain in the ass procedures of airport security. She gave me a half smile and we rolled our eyes together in mutual exasperation. And then the line moved, her bags went through the machine and by the time I got through and collected mine, she had picked up her things and moved on. I was saddened to think I'd never see her again. And then laughed at myself for even thinking that about someone I had not even exchanged a word with...
After a beer and a snack in the lounge, I settled in to my seat on the plane and waited for the tedious boarding process to finish β yes patience is not one of my strong suits! I had booked an aisle seat in row three β easy access to get out and go to the bathroom after a few beers, far enough back from the galley to avoid the noise and congestion and yet not back in last row of business class where the people behind me always kick me. I buried my nose in my book and did my best to ignore the people coming down the aisle even with they bumped me. And then I heard the words that changed my life!
"Excuse me sir, that's my seat, do you mind if I squeeze by you?" I couldn't believe it. It was her. I freely admit that I contemplated just staying in my seat so that she would literally have to squeeze by me with her butt up close to my face. But that would be rude and a bit obvious so I quickly jumped up to let her pass. I could smell her perfume though as she passed by me and I couldn't help stare at that butt again as she bent to stow a purse under the seat in front of her before settling in. I quickly looked away before she could burn me and sat back down in my own seat. She looked up and gave me that same small smile only this time to say hi. I smiled back and made a show of trying to look cool and ho hum as though she was just another passenger.
I flicked a few quick glances over at her as she settled. Of critical importance β no wedding ring. And then she pulled out a golf magazine and I was thinking "are you kidding me? A total super hottie, my age, no ring and she likes golf enough to read about it". I was in love already. The golf mag gave me an excuse to strike up and conversation and we quickly learned we shared a love of the game, had played many of the same courses and had many of the same frustrations. The drinks cart came and went a few times and after a couple of beers for me and some white wine for her, we were well and truly relaxed as we sat back and talked about this and that as I wracked my brain trying to figure out how to ask her if she had a boyfriend. Or worse, a husband. And then out of now where she ups and asks me if was married. "No" I replied. "My wife left me a little over a year and I am still single. Just married to my work" I said with an aw shucks look designed to earn her sympathy.
"Sorry to bring up painful memories" she said and put her hand on my arm as she did so. It felt electric on me and I didn't want her to move it. I leaned closer to her and looked into her eyes as I told the thumbnail sketch of how my marriage ended. Wife left me for another woman β yes a woman β miserable divorce process blah blah blah. Its not a topic I liked to dwell on so I just ended it quickly but used the excuse to ask the logical question...
"And how about you, any man on the scene?" Her face clouded over and I thought I'd blown it but she brightened up quickly and gave me a rueful chuckle.
"I have the same story, mine left me for a woman too! I came home and caught them fucking in my bed in the middle of the afternoon. It was our goddamn neighbour. A nice little stay at home mum who it turns out was doing my husband on a regular basis. I guess its not technically correct to say I caught them fucking β walked in to our bedroom and she was on her knees naked with his cock in her mouth and her hand playing with herself. She didn't even stop when I walked in and I'm sure my husband was more pissed at not getting to cum right away than he was at getting caught."