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When I glanced over at my seatmate again, she offered an explanation. “I’m a flight attendant on this airline. Flying standby and was lucky enough to get the big seats.” She smiled.
I’d only had my wine for less than five minutes when the captain came over the loudspeaker and said we were going to push away from the gate. Needing something to calm my nerves for so many reasons, I guzzled down the full glass knowing the flight attendant would be by to collect it any second.
The woman next to me sighed audibly. “What I wouldn’t give to do what you just did.”
“Guzzle a full glass like a sailor and hope no one notices?”
She patted her belly and grinned. “Exactly. I’m four months along.”
“Wow.” I looked down at her practically non-existent belly. She was barely showing. “I would never have guessed. You’re so tiny.”
“The bulk of the weight seems to have gotten confused and swung around back. My ass is tremendous already.”
“I doubt that’s true. You look thin all over. But even if it is, big butts are in now, so you’ll be in style.”
“I’m hoping I gain some up top eventually. My boobs are so small, and this little guy’s daddy is a boob man.” My mind wandered to my own body. Would my breasts be big when I was pregnant? Carter had always said he liked my perky B cups, but something told me he wouldn’t be upset if I had a little boob gain myself.
After the flight took off and leveled out, Cass, which I found out was short for Cassandra, took out a pair of Beats headphones and instead of putting them over her ears, slipped them over her small baby bump. She was playing music to her stomach. When she caught me looking, she said, “I read somewhere that babies might be able to hear in the womb, so I started to play him classical music.”
“Him? It’s a boy?”
“I’m not sure yet.” She rubbed her belly. “But I really think it is.”
There was so much I was going to have to learn. Since I didn’t know this woman, I decided to let her in on my little secret. “Can I ask you a personal question?”
“Sure. Go ahead.”
“Did it take you a long time to conceive? I mean were you trying for long? I’m asking because my boyfriend and I…” I hesitated before admitting it out loud for the first time. “We decided we’re going to try to get pregnant.”
The woman gave me a genuine smile. “That’s great. Congratulations.” It was the first time anyone had seen anything positive about my plan to have a baby. And it felt good. Everything was starting to fall into place.
“Thank you.”
“Actually…it didn’t take us long at all. I got pregnant the second time we were intimate.”
“Wow. That’s amazing.”
“It is, isn’t it? This little guy was definitely not planned. But I think he was meant to be. He’s the glue that is going to bind the three of us together forever.”
“Will you be able to work much longer? The airlines have rules against flying too far along into a pregnancy, don’t they?”
“Yep. Another twelve weeks or so, and then I’m going to be grounded. Most of the airlines won’t even let passengers fly after twenty-eight weeks, no less their flight attendants. Too much risk for early labor. They’ll give me a desk job. Probably checking people in and out or working the gate. I’m hoping I can transfer to Florida anyway, so the change will be good timing.”
“You live in Texas now?”
She nodded. “I live in Allen. But I’m originally from Florida, and most of my family is still down there. Plus, the baby’s dad lives in Florida, so I’m probably going to relocate.”
“Do you think you’ll go back to work after the baby’s born?”
“I hope not. All I ever wanted to do was get married, have a bunch of kids and stay home. It’s not easy these days to make it on one salary. Gotta make sure you snag yourself a good one like I did.”
Her intonation soured me a bit. Snagging a good gravy train. It was probably because it was something my mother would say.
After my second glass of wine, I started to come down from my adrenaline high, and exhaustion was beginning to creep in. Knowing Carter was going to be insatiable when we reunited, I figured I would get some sleep while I still could. I didn’t wake up again until the captain was speaking overhead telling us that we were going to be landing in just a few minutes.
I stretched in my seat. “Wow. I was really out.”
“You were. Had to take the headphones from the baby to drown out the little snore you had going on.”
