The Sky's The Limit (WLW)

1

When Emily stepped onto the plane on a chilly, misty morning that threatened rain, holding her carry-on and using her gloved hand to adjust the gold Spartan Airways pin on her 3/4 sleeve burgundy blazer, two thoughts surfaced in her mind: Trafalgar Square and a glass of sweet, red wine.

"Em? Boarding in 5."

Emily nodded and smiled widely at Melissa, one of her fellow stewardesses and a close friend, as they stowed their luggage in the staff cabin just behind the cockpit, getting ready for their passengers to start boarding the plane. She watched Melissa and Caitlin doing a routine check down the centre aisle to make sure all of the seats were clear of any litter or forgotten items from the previous flight, as well as to ensure that each seat was in the correct position for take-off.

"The new Captain arrived today." Jasmine said, opening the last of the passenger overhead luggage compartments. "I'm so glad they made Ford resign."

"Amen." Emily's lips turned up at the corner with a roll of her chocolate brown eyes. "He was such an arrogant, entitled son of a bitch."

"Right?" Melissa joined the conversation after carrying out all her pre-boarding checks. "When Mr Wallace found him guilty of adultery and I watched him disembark the plane for the last time, I swear I heard fireworks going off somewhere."

"It shouldn't come as a surprise that a man like that would cheat on his wife with a different woman in every state and country we landed at." Caitlin joined the rest of the stewardesses at the front of the plane. "Word has it Mrs Ford Herman had divorce papers waiting for him when he got home to Missouri."

"If the new Captain is just as brash and arrogant as he was, then we're in for just as much 'fun' as last time." Emily made air quotes with her white-gloved fingers.

"Morning, ladies." A silver voice came from behind the group of stewardesses, and all four of them turned to see a young woman standing at the doorway to the cockpit. "You wouldn't happen to be talking about me, would you?"

Emily had to work hard to contain her mild fluster. The woman couldn't have been older than about 27. She was wearing a white long-sleeved button up shirt and black tie with a gold Boeing tie pin, matching gold cuff links and the gold embroidered Spartan Airways badge sewn neatly above the left breast pocket. The shirt was tucked into a belted pair of black slacks that were perfectly fitted to the wearer, coming to rest at just the right length on a pair of shiny, black leather kitten heels. It didn't take Emily long at all to notice the shirt's epaulettes with four distinct gold stripes across the thick black material.

"Good morning, Captain." Jasmine leaned forward to shake the young woman's hand. She was slightly taller than the stewardesses, standing at about 5'7 and she shook Jasmine's hand with a megawatt smile.

As Jasmine was leaning forward, she gave Emily a gentle nudge in the side to snap her out of her stupor.

"Emily Reinhart. Head stewardess." She smiled softly and shook the woman's hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Captain."

"Likewise." The other stewardesses shared knowing glances as they noticed their head stewardess holding onto the new Captain's hand for longer than was necessary.

They couldn't blame her. The Captain had long, sleek brown hair framing her slightly tanned complexion, mesmerizing blue eyes decorated to perfection with subtle eye makeup, a jawline that was discreetly sharp, and small, pink lips tinted slightly darker with mauve plum sheen lipstick. She really was quite a specimen.

Behind her, First Officer DeMarcus Williams was finishing off conducting the last of their initial flight checks just before the passengers boarded.

"Boarding starts in one minute." The Captain stated after glancing at her gold Police watch. She looked at the team of stewardesses with a warm, genuine smile. "I'll see you all in a bit."