Fireflies (Paperback)

Pages : 396
ISBN : 9781727607659
Weight : 377g
Dimensions : 203 x 22 x 127 mm

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- Sapphic romance
- Addiction
- Captain / purser
- Travel
- Light BDSM

A film of condensed steam settled on the glass divider of the shower when Mia turned on the hot tap in her small bathroom. She stepped into the tub making sure to keep her head away from the running water so her hair wouldn’t get wet. The extra half hour in bed had left her little time for a coffee and a blow-dry before she headed to the airport. Mia consciously checked her mood; she felt restless today. Nothing new there. Staying home for longer than a day never did her any good, and she was looking forward to the flight and seeing some of her favourite colleagues again after three very long days at home. But she’d made it through her weekend by reorganizing her walk-in closet, playing with the neighbours’ cat, who kept on letting himself in through her balcony door, studying for her ‘Arabic for beginners’ course, and by doing a bit of food shopping. It was hard to sleep at night when she wasn’t exhausted, and last night had been no different, with only a meagre four hours of rest. Today was a new day though, and every morning felt like a small victory, especially now that she was over the eight-month mark of sobriety.
“You’re doing well, Mia,” she mumbled to herself. Relieved at the prospect of going back to work, she raised her index finger against the steamed-up glass and wrote: ‘Day 248’.

“Hurry up, Mia. We’re five minutes behind.”
Mia collected her paperwork, grabbed her case and followed her colleague towards cabin crew security at Heathrow Airport.
“Relax, Lynn. We’ve got plenty of time.” She handed Lynn her clipboard. Over the course of thirteen years, Mia had done this thousands of times before and she knew exactly how long it would take to get to the briefing room. She unzipped her case, took her laptop out and put it in a tray, next to her liquids, before greeting her colleagues at the security gate. “Besides, I’m the one in charge so no one’s going to lock the door on us.”
Lynn sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. Thank God for that.” She giggled. “It’s never a bad thing to be friends with your boss.”
“I guess it isn’t.” Mia quickly scrolled through her phone, checking for her cabin crew members’ birthdays, before she tossed it in the tray with her laptop. There were none today, so she wouldn’t have to congratulate anyone in the briefing. “Who’s the new captain? Do you know him?”
Lynn glanced over the time-sheet and frowned. “Captain Alfarsi. Never heard of him. You?”
“No,” Mia said absent-mindedly. “I’ve never flown with him before.” She had more important things to think about than the captain. “I’m glad we’ll have some time in Dubai. At least I’ll be able to fit in a trip to the hairdresser.” She rubbed her temples and closed her eyes for a brief moment, slightly worried about the growing headache just before a long-haul flight. “I couldn’t get out of bed this morning, so I haven’t even washed my hair and it’s getting too long to handle without conditioner now.”
“You can fit in six hairdressing appointments tomorrow if you want,” Lynn replied cheerfully. “We’re not flying back until after midnight.” She held up a finger. “But just so you know, I’m not coming with you this time. Getting up at the crack of dawn this morning wasn’t easy for me either, and I’m seriously looking forward to a lie-in.” She adjusted her navy hat over her flaming red hair, making sure it balanced just a little to the left.
“Oh yeah? Heavy weekend?” Mia gave her favourite colleague a wry smile.
“Kind of.” Lynn took out her laptop too and put it in a tray before placing the clipboard and her handbag in another. “Hey, you should come out with us next week. We’ve got a three night lay-over in New York and we’re planning a big one.” She made a drinking gesture and laughed.
“Going out isn’t my thing, as you well know.” Mia raised both arms as she walked through the body scanner. She picked up her belongings on the other side and zipped up her case. “In fact, it’s probably my worst nightmare. I prefer to curl up with a good book and wake up fresh.”
“Oh, come on. You always say that.” Lynn lowered her arms and straightened her jacket as she joined Mia on the other side of the security gate. “I’m not going to keep asking you forever.”
“No need to.” Mia helped Lynn gather her things and led the way towards the staff quarters. “I’m not really a drinker.”
“Boring.” Lynn rolled her eyes. “You’re my favourite colleague and I can’t even get drunk with you.” She lowered her voice as they approached the briefing room. “Besides, you’ll never get laid if you don’t go out and meet new people.”
Mia chuckled. “I’m quite happy by myself, thank you,” she said, keeping her voice down. “And even if I wanted to meet someone, there are plenty of apps for that nowadays.” She turned to Lynn with a sarcastic smile. “But so far, women have been nothing but trouble for me, so I think I might be better off alone.” She swiped her card to open briefing room twenty-eight and walked to the front of the room before addressing the group of cabin crew members waiting for her.
“Hi everyone, sorry we’re a little late. My name is Mia Donoghue and I’m the Sr. Purser today, in charge of cabin crew and passengers for flight number CY3044 to Dubai.” She gave them a smile and a wave. “I know most of you already know myself and each other, but we have a couple of new faces here, so it would be nice if we could all introduce ourselves first.”
The thirteen cabin crew members, including Lynn, called out their names and positions, one at a time. Mia knew most of them quite well by now, but the airline’s recent expansion to three new destinations had meant that there were usually one or two new crew members she hadn’t met before. After the introductions, she passed on and discussed information regarding the flight, the passenger list, special diets or allergies, VIP passengers and disgruntled or risk-list passengers. Then she distributed the workload and the tasks to the cabin crew members and spent fifteen minutes discussing safety and first aid scenarios, testing them on their knowledge.
“Okay, is everything clear? Are there any questions?” she asked, after all topics had been discussed. “Nothing?” She looked around the room. “Excellent, we’ve got a little bit of time left, so help yourselves to a coffee before we board.”