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Oliver looked at the ant cars, now bumper to bumper on the freeway below.
“Sorry about the short notice, but you know… we didn’t want Felicity catching an Uber after she’s flown all that way.”
“I totally understand,” Oliver soothed. Aaron was sounding frazzled. “I’ve got your back.”
“Thanks bro, you’re a star.”
“Just remind me what she looks like.” Alice had shown Oliver photos of her newfound family after her trip to the UK to meet them all, but he hadn’t really taken in the details.
“You can’t miss her.” Aaron had a smile in his voice. “Red hair. Always wears bright colours.”
“Right.”
“It’s kind of her ‘thing’.”
Oliver felt his lips twitch. “Hard to spot then.”
“Yeah, wear sunglasses. We’ve left a message on her phone telling her to look out for you.”
For some reason he found himself asking, “And what did you say I looked like?”
“Tall, dark and handsome. Alice’s words, mate, not mine. I think you’re ugly as shit.”
Oliver couldn’t help a smirk. “Feeling’s mutual, bro.”
As he said his farewells and pocketed his phone, his smile lingered. A year ago, they wouldn’t have joked like that. They would have been lucky to exchange a few words without rubbing each other the wrong way. There, see? When you chose to see the positives they were all around you.
The afternoon light on the windows reflected his image back at him. Flimsy, yes, but there was still an upward tilt to his mouth as he straightened his collar and flung his jacket over his shoulder. Oliver flicked his fingers through his dark hair, rubbed at his jaw. He still looked okay, despite feeling like he’d been shattered into a million pieces.
For a moment something warmed inside his frozen chest.
Red hair.
Bright colours.
Ridiculous that the thought could lighten his mood, but somehow, strangely, it had.
* * *
Baby Alfie’showls almost drowned out the intercom message. Air turbulence, the flight attendant announced, which meant a bit of a bumpy descent into Perth. Please return promptly to your seats, she said in her chipper Aussie voice, and fasten your seatbelts.
As Alfie’s mum, Mandy, tried to wrestle the seatbelt around his squirming little body, Alfie’s screams challenged the sound barrier.
Bump. Bump.
Mandy’s eyes flew to Felicity’s. “Is that normal?”
“Absolutely.” Felicity nodded sagely. “It’s just the wheels getting ready for landing.” She felt so sorry for Mandy, she looked absolutely wrung out. “Do you need a hand there?” she volunteered. Maybe she could charge the airline a fee to top up her kindy teacher salary.Toddler tamer, available for long-haul flights.
Mandy cast her a grateful look. “Could you? I think he’s sensing my anxiety.” Felicity leaned over and jiggled her beads in front of Archie, making cooing noises. Within seconds his face went from tightly scrunched to tear-drenched wonderment, and one pudgy little paw stretched out and grabbed her necklace. Seizing the moment, Felicity clicked Alfie’s seatbelt in place.
Now all that remained was to find his teddy, which Mandy had hidden after Alfie had gleefully used it as a missile to terrorise the man in front of them. Her movements hampered by Alfie’s stranglehold on her beads, Felicity finally located teddy wedged down the side of the seat. A quick game of peek-a-boo and she was able to swap her beads for the toy. With Alfie now contentedly sucking on his teddy’s ear, Felicity settled back into her seat, clipped on her seatbelt, and gingerly straightened her left leg. A sharp pain migrated from her knee up her thigh.
Pressing her back into the seat, she closed her eyes and breathed. Focused on the air in her nostrils.Don’t fight it.No matter how often she stood and stretched and walked the aisles, there was no avoiding it: after flying halfway across the globe, it was going to play up.
As the passengers filed out, she remained seated and waved Alfie goodbye as he grinned from over Mandy’s shoulder, and they disappeared.
When the plane was empty, Felicity retrieved her bag from the overhead locker and made her way down the aisle. By the time she reached the terminal the pain had receded, replaced by bubbles of excitement in her belly.
