Quiet steps into familiar spaces

A few minutes after I had settled back into my seat, Hector appeared quietly beside me. “Deppgrl, the pilots would like a word,” he said gently.

I raised an eyebrow but followed him without protest, curiosity nudging me forward. The aisle seemed narrower than usual with the cabin lights dimmed, and I felt a small flutter of unease as we approached the cockpit. Every subtle hum of the engines seemed amplified, the vibrations underfoot reminding me I was high above the earth.

Inside, Pierre and Markian looked up from their instruments, both wearing attentive but neutral expressions. Pierre spoke first. “Are you okay?”

I shrugged lightly, forcing a small smile. “I’m fine. Do you need anything?”

Markian shook his head. “No, we’re fine. We just worried about you and your quick departure/”

I nodded, feeling the tension in my shoulders ease a little. “Thanks but I’m fine.”

Pierre gave a small nod. “Good. We just wanted to make sure that you were ok.”

I offered a polite but annoyed smile. “For the third time, I am fine.”

Markian leaned back slightly, eyes flicking briefly over the instruments. “Understood. We just like to make sure everything is smooth up here.”

I turned toward the aisle. “Alright. Thanks again for checking.”

Pierre and Markian exchanged a brief glance and then returned to their instruments. “Any time,” Pierre said.

I gave a small wave and stepped back, Hector falling in step beside me. The cabin felt calm again, the soft hum of the engines a steady presence.

As I sank into my seat, I exhaled slowly, letting the quiet fill the space around me. I pulled my book from my tote bag, trying to immerse myself in the pages, but my thoughts wandered. Six weeks had passed since I arrived in New Zealand, and the memories of that time—the intensity, the work, the highs and lows—floated quietly in my mind. I set the book aside and closed my eyes, thinking about Mike. During my wandering thoughts, I fell asleep, restless dreams only bringing fragments of Ronan.

Both Ronan and Mike were good men, and I cared for both. Mike gave me butterflies, and Ronan was comfortable. Mike and I were both middle class, and we knew the struggle of making ends meet when unexpected bills arrived. Ronan was upper class and from old money—I felt so out of place in his world when we were out in public. I knew Mike would be there when the plane landed.

Suddenly, the plane hit turbulence, jolting me awake. I was thrown from my seat and landed in the aisle. Vince was tossed around as well, his head colliding with the seat in front of him. He jolted awake, groaning.

“Vince!” I called, steadying myself and checking that I had all my limbs. My heart was racing.

“I’m okay, I think. My head hurts as I was thrown into the seat in front of me,” he said, rubbing his forehead. “You?”

“I’m probably bruised, but I’ll live,” I said, trying to steady my voice as I got up and got back to my seat.

We buckled back in, gripping the seat belts as the plane rocked for the next thirty minutes. Once the turbulence subsided, Emily and Hector appeared, concern etched on their faces.

“You two okay?” Emily asked, stepping up.

“We’re fine,” Vince said, flexing his shoulders. “Once we land, we’ll consider getting checked out at the local hospital.”

I nodded. “Emily, would you go with Vince? I have a friend meeting me at the tarmac.”

“Of course,” she said with a warm smile. “I’ll be happy to go with him.”

“And you two? How are you both?” I asked Hector.

“We’re fine,” he said, giving a small nod.

“I’m glad to hear that,” I said.

Once Emily and Hector left, I unbuckled and made my way to the cockpit. I entered the code I had seen Hector use and stepped inside.

“Why didn’t you announce the turbulence?” I asked Pierre and Markian.

“We assumed you and Vince were buckled in,” Pierre said calmly. “Team policy is everyone stays seated and buckled unless standing or walking around.”

I blinked. “Do you realize Vince and I aren’t members of the All Blacks?”

“We do,” Markian replied.

“So how were we supposed to know the policy?” I pressed.

“We assumed Charlie and the owners would have informed you,” Pierre said.

“No one told us. Since we’re on the plane, you should’ve been the ones to tell us,” I said, my voice firm.

They both nodded quickly. “You’re right. Sorry.”

I left the cockpit, collected my belongings from the floor, and checked on Vince. “How’s your head?”

“My headache’s bad, but I’m glad we’re getting checked out,” he said.

I glanced at my watch. “We’ll be landing in about twenty-five minutes. Let’s get ready and then buckle up.”

Vince nodded, and we secured ourselves. We held hands for a few minutes, silently grounding each other, until we realized Emily might get the wrong idea. I smiled at him. “Thanks for being here.”

He nodded, smiling back.

Twenty-eight minutes later, Markian announced we were ready to land and reminded everyone to buckle up. I turned to Vince, grinning. “Now he tells us! Ha ha ha!”

Vince chuckled. We landed without issue. As the plane pulled up, our bags were unloaded first. Vince and I grabbed our carry-ons, and he disembarked with Emily by his side. They shook hands with Hector but Vince ignored Pierre and Markian. I waited a few minutes before disembarking so I could give Emily and Vince some privacy. As I disembarked, I hugged Hector, thanking him for taking care of me, ignoring Pierre and Markian as well.

Mike was waiting at the tarmac, holding my luggage. I ran over and hugged him tightly.

“Vince told me about the turbulence. He asked me to get you to the hospital to be checked out,” Mike said.

“I’ll do that after customs and converting my money,” I replied.

“You don’t make anything easy, do you?” he said with a grin.

“I don’t,” I admitted. “I tend to be rather difficult.”

“Clearly,” he said as he chuckled.

Once we pulled back from the hug, we collected my things, passed through customs, and converted my NZD to the currency of our home country. Mike helped me into his SUV as I was sore from being tossed from my seat during the turbulence. As he drove, I drifted to sleep.

He woke me when we arrived at the hospital and helped me inside. I checked in, remembering my insurance card, and was called back a few minutes later. Mike went to follow but I waved him off. “I got this.” He looked slightly annoyed but sat back down.

My vitals were taken, and the doctor examined me carefully.

“Nothing seems broken, thankfully,” the doctor said. “You do have bruised ribs, a mild concussion, and a black eye forming from hitting the armrest as you hit the floor.”

“I thought I might be pregnant,” I said. “There have been signs.”

“What are some of the symptoms that you’ve been experiencing?” the doctor asked.

“Heightened sex drive, my tits are super sensitive, fatigue and mild nausea,” I said. “My sex drive was so bad on the fifteen hour flight back home that I had sex with two of the four pilots....separately."

“Any protection like condoms?” he asked.

“Of course not,” I said. “They would’ve nutted hard enough to break the condoms.”

“Let’s get you tested as a precaution.”

“Sounds good.”

They ran a urinalysis and bloodwork, which confirmed the pregnancy. When the ultrasound revealed it was ectopic, I said, “Please terminate the pregnancy. There’s no chance of saving it.”

The doctor nodded. “We’ll handle it quickly and carefully. You’ll be fine.”

A few minutes later, the abortion was done. I thanked the medical staff and walked back into the waiting room, where Mike was sitting.

“How bad is it?” he asked.

“Bruised ribs, mild concussion, and clearly the black eye,” I said.

He stood, grabbed my hand in his and we headed outside. He signaled the valet to bring the SUV around. “Let’s get you home.”

I nodded, and we climbed into the vehicle. I settled in, sore and exhausted, and fell asleep again. Mike woke me when we arrived at my house and helped me out.

“Thanks for being here,” I said softly.

“Always,” he replied, giving me a supportive squeeze of the shoulder.

Mike helped me get out of his SUV, careful with my sore body. He carried my bags inside while I fumbled with my house key. “Got it,” I said, letting him lead the way. Once the door closed behind us, we headed upstairs with my things.

Inside my house, I set the bags down. “Thanks for helping me get in,” I said, wincing slightly as I moved.

“You’re welcome. You sure you don’t need to sit first?” he asked.

“I’ll be fine,” I replied. I stripped off my clothes and stepped into the shower, letting the warm water wash away the tension and lingering soreness.

Mike’s voice called gently from the open door. “I was wondering if I could join you.”

“Yeah,” I said as I stuck my head outside of the curtain. “Better get your ass in here before all the hot water is gone.”

“Fair enough,” he said as he stripped then joined me

The water ran over me, and for the first time since landing back home, I was grateful that I was home and thankful that Mike was my neighbor.

As I rinsed the conditioner from my hair, Mike’s hands kept finding me. It felt good, his touch gentle and reassuring, but I wasn’t in the right mindset to have sex with Mike at the moment no matter how much I truly wanted to. Between officially ending things with Scott, dealing with Patrick and his death, the hurt of Vic always choosing his wife despite his unhappiness, and Ronan pushing for a relationship, my mind was too tangled and raw for sex, no matter the desire nor with who.

“Mike,” I moaned. “I can’t….”

“Tired?” he asked as he kissed me.

“That among other things,” I said. “After I get some sleep, I’ll fill you in, ok?”

“Ok, babe,” he said.

We finished our shower, tried off and I put on an over sized shirt. Mike kept his towel around his waist so he could run home to get dressed.

“Mind if I return the towel after you’ve slept?” he asked.

“You can stay and sleep over. We can wash your clothes in the morning,” I said sleepily. “Unless you have the kids.”

“You want me to sleep over?” he asked with a twinge of hope in his voice. “Marjory has the kids. It was supposed to be my couple of days but when I told her that I was coming to get you, she offered me to switch.”

“That was nice,” I said. “Do the kids know about the switch? Are they ok with it?”

“Yeah,” he sighed. “They do. At first, they were upset but once they knew it was for you, they were fine with it.”

“They don’t know me, Mike,” I said.

“They know that I like you but you weren’t the reason for Marjory and I divorcing,” he said.

“Glad that both they and I know,” I sighed. “I am so tired and ready for bed. What time is it?”

“Time here or time there?” he asked.

“Here,” I replied.

“It’s 4 pm….on a Sunday,” he said as he hugged me. I could feel his erection but didn’t have the energy nor full desire.

“Let me see if I have any sweats you can wear until I wash your clothes,” I said as I pulled away from him. I wanted to have heated passionate sex Mike at least once more in our lifetime but with the jetlag, hunger, emotional exhaustion and running from Scott, Charlie, Vince, Ronan, Vic and Patrick’s ghost, I just couldn’t even consider it. “Want me to heat up food that Aqeel shipped to Vince in order to stock my fridge or should we place an order through Aditi?”

I left the bathroom and headed to my room before he could answer me. I opened up my one dresser and found some old – but cleaned! – clothes that belong to Vic but Mike’s close to182.88 cm tall and Vic is closer to my height and as a slightly bigger/muscular built. I went into my closet and found sweats that belonged to Matteo. Matteo and Mike were of a similar height but again, Mike has a skinnier build. These were the best bet. I brought the sweats into the bathroom where I left Mike.

“Here,” I said giving him Matteo’s sweats. “They might be a little bit big around the waist but at least they’re about the long length. Does the inseam count in sweats?”

“Who is Aditi?” Mike asked as he took the towel off and put on Matteo’s sweats. “No, inseam really doesn’t count for sweats. At least not for me.”

“Aditi is a dear friend of mine and owns an amazing restaurant,” I said. “Do you like Indian food?”

“If she is a friend of yours, I am sure I will like her!” he said. “I’ve never had Indian food before.”

I nodded, left the room, and grabbed my phone. Crap. It was my New Zealand phone. I fumbled for my phone that I use here in my home country, but it was dead. I set it on the charging pad and waited for a few minutes. Once it had enough of a charge, I dialed Aditi and put her on speaker.

“Hello?” Her voice sounded surprised.

“Hey, Aditi.”

“I thought you were still in New Zealand!”

“I was but I just got home about an hour ago. Everything I needed to handle there is done,” I said. “I was hoping to order some food from you.”

“Oh! Of course! What are you thinking?” she asked.

“Well,” I said, “my neighbor has never had Indian food before, so I thought a mix of everything. Whatever else you want to add—surprise us.”

Aditi laughed softly. “Just your usual but mix it up?”

“Something like that ha ha ha,” I said. “And could you call me when someone’s on the way? You may have to call twice. I may be asleep!”

“Will do,” she replied. “Sleep tight, and I’ll let you know when the delivery’s heading your way.”

“Thanks, Aditi. I really appreciate it,” I said. “Thank you!”

“You’re very welcome, my dear,” she said. “And welcome home.”

We hung up. I turned to Mike and said: “There’s no point in you using the guest room for a nap. You can join me in my bed. No sex or any other hanky-panky!”

“I appreciate it,” he said. “I promise to behave myself.”

I gave him half a smile as we climbed into my bed

Within minutes, we were both out cold. The exhaustion from travel and everything that had happened caught up to me and his switching things around with his estranged wife with the kids. The room was still, save for our quiet breathing, and it felt like the world had paused around us.

An hour later, I was startled awake by Aditi calling my name. “Deppgrl? Are you up?”

I blinked against the sunlight filtering through the curtains. “I’ll be down in a minute, Aditi,” I called back, my voice still groggy.

I slipped out of bed, ran to the bathroom to quickly rinse my mouth with mouthwash as I didn’t have time to brush properly. Once I felt slightly more awake, I ran downstairs to greet her.

Aditi smiled warmly, her eyes lighting up. “There you are! I was starting to wonder if you’d want to sleep through the rest of the day.”

I laughed softly. “I really needed it. It was a long flight and a bit of turbulence…I was out cold.”

“Well, it’s good to see you up and moving, friend,” Aditi said. “Let’s get this all of this unpacked.”

We worked in silence while Mike was still asleep. I knew that she was looking at my black eye and wanted to ask me questions but she knew that I needed a few days to adjust before grilling me about my eye. Once I had the kitchen counter peninsula set up with plates, bowls, utensils and glasses, I asked Aditi how much I owed her.

"It's not about the money, friend," she sighed as she hugged me. "I just want the story of why your job was so short and what caused that black eye. It better not have been anyone."

"I'll tell you tomorrow, my friend," I sighed and sank into her hug. "I need to eat some amazing food and get some sleep."

"You got it," she said as we released each other from the hug. "Be careful with that skinny neighbor of yours. He's in love with you but you are hurting right now."