Chapter 12

"This is my second time on an airplane this year," Abigail told the flight attendant helping her settle into her seat. Nadia had gone straight to the bathroom after boarding, and Eva was roped into helping everyone around her get their carry-on bags into the overhead bin. Price you pay when you fly commercial at over six feet tall. Business class, too. It was the only way the three of them could fly together in one row, since Monica was adamant that someone always be with Abigail for every second of travel, and Eva wasn't about to not sit with her wife. She thought she could handle business class. That was until she discovered how much less room there was compared to First Class.

Or compared to flying private, for that matter.

"Wow." The flight attendant finished helping Abigail buckle up while Eva was handed yet another duffel bag to shove into the overhead bin. Do I get a tip for this? Her wife's red hair emerged from the water closet, but with so many people shuffling through with their roller bags, there was no chance for Nadia to get back to her seat promptly. "You're a well-traveled kid. You've gotten your wings, right?"

Eva sucked her stomach into the row of seats behind hers. A family with three small children stumbled by her, each one more haggard than the last. The sights and thrills of LAX.

"I got like five of them by now."

Eva peered over the back of the seats. Her niece's hair was perfectly brushed and pulled back into a pair of pigtails that rested atop her chest. When the flight attendant wasn't looking, Eva poked Abigail's scalp. Almost immediately Eva pulled back again before she was noticed by that head of blond whipping around looking for the ghostly culprit.

"Sorry," Eva mouthed to the flight attendant. "She's mine. I mean, she's my niece. We're related. Genetically." She gestured to her face. "If you couldn't tell."

Since getting married, Eva was a pro at annoying flight attendants. Could be that whole pesky pandemic thing that happened since I got married, too. Yet this particular woman batted her eyelashes at Eva before checking the overhead bins that a certain guest had filled to the brim with rolling suitcases, duffels, and laptop bags.

"Your niece is adorable." Eva took the opportunity to slip into her row. While Abigail flipped through the in-flight catalog, the flight attendant stepped right before Eva and said, "Her aunt isn't so bad, either."

"Ooh, you should see my wife." Eva pointed to the woman standing behind the flight attendant. "Prettiest lady on this whole plane. No offense."

A frown crowned the flight attendant's face as she turned around, clearing her throat and messing with the bun on the back of her head. She slipped past Nadia, who glared at Eva as if she were madder about having to sit in the middle seat for five hours than having caught her wife amid flirting.

"What?" Eva got out of the way so Nadia could have her middle seat. "I didn't start it."

Once they were settled in their seats, Eva tucked her elbow in while the throngs of coach passengers walked by. "You'd love to finish it," Nadia muttered.

"Like I finished things last night?"

Nadia was paler than ever as she gestured to the girl sitting to her right. Abigail was too entranced by Sky Mall to have heard anything her aunts said. "Really?" Nadia mouthed.

"Just finishing our trip to Malibu with a bang, babe. I bet we could do it again if we play our cards right with the flight attendant."

Nadia didn't deign that with an answer as she smacked her fingers against the touchscreen before her. Eva had no choice but to curl her body toward her wife so she wasn't blocking the aisle next to her. So, we meet again. This was the real reason Eva didn't like flying commercial. She was tall enough that any seat besides the front row of First Class was too constricting, and she was always in somebody's way. Like the elderly woman attempting to get to her seat. No matter what Eva did, she was in the way of this fragile lady.

You'd never guess we had the wildest night of our marriage last night. From the moment they woke up early that morning, Eva had been busy. She had thrown on clothes to escort Kenzie back to her car ten minutes away, which required lots of conversation and reassurances that a great time was had by all. Nadia completely missed the tears. Eva wasn't surprised that Kenzie broke down as soon as they made it back to her car. It happened more often than she liked to admit. You come into a girl's life, you rock her world, and then you bail. Eva greatly appreciated being married now. No more of that shit.

Usually.

"We've got a lot to talk about when we get home," Eva whispered into her wife's ear. "Because I don't think we've had enough time to process what happened here."

"Personally, I'm good."

"We've also got to decompress from dealing with my mom's shit."

Nadia lowered her finger from the touchscreen. "Don't bring her up right now."

"Soooo many babies, Nads." Eva shook her head. "Babies from your womb, babies from other women's wombs… babies from the overhead bin…"

"You're so obnoxious when everything goes your way."

"What are you talking about? What do you mean goes my way?"

"Last night? Like a whole year's worth of your machinations coming to fruition."

"Whatever you say, Mrs. Warren."

Nadia lightly jabbed her wife with her elbow.

Can I help it if my mind is still blown? Eva had no time to process everything from the night before, but she looked forward to spending the rest of the week at home thinking about nothing but her sexy wife taking control of two women. She'll kill me if I ask if we can do that every month. At least once a month.

Then again, maybe it was worth dying…

"Thank God." A familiar voice echoed through First Class. Nadia was the first to snap up her head while Eva stared right into the face of Adrienne Thomas, her sunglasses halfway to falling off her face as she pushed a small carry-on bag through First Class and into business. Eva could hardly believe it. She and Amber, who was right behind her, were gunning for the two business-class seats in the middle of the plane. "We're on the plane, sweetie. We've made it. We're going to make it home on time."

She did a double take at Eva as Amber searched for a place to stick their bags. Eva instinctively unbuckled her seatbelt and got up to help, but not without putting her arms akimbo and assaulting Adrienne with her eyes first.

"What a coincidence." Adrienne stood aside as Amber and Eva put the carry-on bags away. "I had no idea you all were on this flight back east."

"I'm more shocked that you guys are flying business class," Nadia muttered.

"Yes, well, there was a huge ball of confusion regarding the company plane. Wires were crossed and it turns out that the plane turned around and flew back to New England to take Ethan and Jasmine to Toronto for business this week." Adrienne cleared her throat before sitting down in her seat, which was directly across the aisle from Eva. "Nobody thought to tell us until last night, though. Had quite the ordeal trying to find a nonstop commercial flight that wasn't…" Adrienne sighed. "Coach."

"Not coach," Nadia whispered.

"I'm not asking for the impossible," Adrienne said. "Only for something somewhat comfortable for the five hours I'm trapped in the air in a metal tube."

"What are the odds?" Eva asked her wife, who was now nose-deep in her phone. "Stuck on a plane with Thomas, of all women. She's going to bitch the whole time about being stuck in business class."

"You mean like you do?"

"That's different. I'm freakishly tall."

Nadia rolled her eyes. "You'll live for the next few hours. She'll probably fall asleep in ten minutes."

"The company plane was rerouted from LA, babe," Eva said. "The horror."

"Says the woman whose family owns their own plane too."

"Which we've barely taken this year because it's always on loan to my mom." That was who had the Warren family plane now, and probably would the next time Eva and Nadia desired to go somewhere. I know you're used to flying commercial, Eva thought while trying to not pry into who her wife texted, but I'm still getting used to it. At least it was better for Abigail, who didn't need a childhood full of private flights like Eva had. She was spoiled enough as it was. "Technically, it belongs to the family estate. Henry is supposed to have first dibs if it's for work."

"Uh-huh."

The captain asked the flight attendants to prepare for takeoff. Eva crossed her arms like a petulant child. "Does our mother care, though? No."

"Uh-huh."

Eva lowered her nose to the top of her wife's head. "What are you doing?"

Nadia snapped her phone close to her chest. "When do you think we'll next be in Vegas?"

"Why?"

"No reason."

"You're talking to Lacey, aren't you?"

"No…"

"You totally are. You're already planning round two with some lucky lady I can't stand."

"You'd do it, too."

"Aha!"

"Shut up," Nadia sputtered. "It's not Lacey."

"Well, it's not Belle."

"Why would I be talking to your ex-girlfriend? I didn't even get along with her."

"She thought your ass was hot, though."

Nadia peeked at her phone but kept the screen far from Eva's prying eyes. When she realized she wasn't getting anywhere with her wife, Eva turned to Adrienne, who flipped through her tablet while Amber leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes.

"Don't tell them," Nadia said.

"Don't tell them what?"

"You know what."

Eva sighed. "You just don't want me to shout it from the rooftops. Fine. But what's wrong with gloating at Thomas? She needs some gloating in her face."

"No, she doesn't. I work with her. Stop it."

"I promise to not say a thing if you tell me what you're up to in your chat window."

"That's extortion," Nadia grunted. "Or blackmail?"

"Whoooo are you talking to? About whaaaaat?"

"Fine. I'm chatting with Lacey. About nothing salacious, you perv."

"Yeah, she wants you bad."

"Like you always do?"

"Half the women on this plane want your hot bod, Nads."

Usually, Nadia scoffed to hear her wife talk like that, but that afternoon? As they prepared to fly back to New England and return to their usual lives?

She was smiling like she had won the lottery.

"Hey…" Eva leaned across the aisle and got Adrienne's attention. "Did you ever get into contact with your agent friend?"

It took Adrienne a moment to realize what Eva was talking about. "Yes. Why?"

"Could you give me her number? I've scouted some undeniable talent that's wasting away in some diner in Malibu."

"I don't think she's interested."

"She will be when she hears it comes from me."

"She doesn't even know you."

"Not yet she doesn't."

Adrienne snorted. "She's not even queer, Warren. You can't shimmy your shoulders and shove your tongue down her throat to get your way."

"Would that work on you? Asking for a friend."

"No."

"Come on. Pass me her number and I'll make it worth your while."

"How? What could you possibly offer me in exchange for an old friend's number?"

"I've got friends of my own, Thomas. Friends who like girls like you two freaks."

Nadia nudged her again. "Do not give her Lacey's number. She doesn't deserve that."

"Who said anything about Lacey?"

"Me."

The plane detached from the gate and began its taxi down the runway. "I just want to help out a lovely lady we recently met. Don't you think she deserves a big break on the big screen?"

Nadia shoved her phone in the seat pocket. "You know I don't like it when you start plotting, Eva."

"My plots are legendary. Think of the life you live now. Now, imagine it without my plots. See? Sadness. Your heart is full of it."

"You are so weird."

"Just think of all the fun we're still bound to have before we enter the next phase of our lives. Think of all the women whose lives we can change."

"With your genitals."

"And yours!"

Nadia glanced at the girl sitting next to her. Abigail was glued to the window as Los Angeles flew by. "You are going to be the strangest parent on the planet."

"At least I'll have fun."

As the plane lifted from the ground, Eva swore she saw a small smile on her wife's face. Another year down for the record books. Eva leaned back with her hands folded in her lap. It was five hours until they touched down in New England, and she intended to spend the next three hundred minutes replaying every second from the night before in her head.

Who was smiling now?

THE END