BleachHouseLibrary.ie Exclusive
I am very excited to share this fantastic short story from one of Ireland's finest contemporary fiction writers, Fionnuala Kearney. I think there will be some major Cal-Crushes after this! Big thanks to Harper Collins in Ireland for donating a giveaway copy of Fionnuala's Irish Times Bestseller The Day I Lost You.
You can read my review of this gripping read here. To be in with a chance of winning your own copy of #TDILY, just enter via rafflecopter link below. Good Luck!
Flight of Fancy by Fionnuala Kearney.
Faye
watches the stewardess’s mouth move; sees her angled hands point left and right.
She pushes her earphones deep into her ears, blocks out directions to the emergency
exits. Silently, Faye counts backwards from ten a few times. She sits on her
hands, aware that the man in the aisle seat notices her doing it and she
blushes, heat flooding her cheeks. She feels the urge to explain; to tell him,
this stranger, that she doesn’t like flying and doesn’t trust herself not to do
something stupid with her hands. But she says nothing. Her eyes close as she
places her forehead on the back of the seat in front. Minutes later, Faye has no idea how high they’ve
ascended but its enough to make her ears want to pop and her hand want to reach
up and press the bell. She swallows the word ‘Help!’ and sits tight on her
upturned palms.
Adele
plays in her ears, singing of heartache, as only she can, and Faye feels a
gentle tap on her arm. She opens her eyes. The middle seat is empty so he’s had
to stretch across to reach her. He’s tall, even in the seat; is about her age,
she reckons. Earlier, she’d felt his eyes roam over her as he’d stood to let
her pass to her seat. She releases a hand, tugs her earphones free, doesn’t
speak but her questioning eyes widen.
‘You’re
singing,’ he says.
‘Oh,’
she replies, noting the American accent.
‘Rolling
in the deep,’ he confirms.
Faye
whispers, ‘I’m sorry.’
‘I
don’t mind,’ he smiles, ‘Sing away, I’m just not an Adele fan.’
She
grimaces as if this is an insult.
‘I’m
more a “Sweet Home Alabama” sort of guy.’
Faye
nods. ‘Is that where you’re from?’ she asks, immediately horrified at herself.
She has no idea where the question has come from.
‘No,
New York,’ he says.
Small
dark hairs curl on the back of the hand he offers. She shakes it, allowing
herself a proper look at his face, trying not to stare at what she thinks are
full lips under his trimmed beard.
‘Cam,’
he says.
‘You
can what?’ she asks. His eyes are green, very unusual, the colour of pine
needles, set under dark, neat eyebrows.
‘No,
Cam,’ he says. ‘Cameron.’
‘Oh,
yes, sorry. I’m Faye.’
‘Nice
to meet you, Faye.’
And
they talk. She talks and he listens, seems interested. He talks and she’s
interested and before she knows it, the short flight is coming to an end. The
captain has put on the fasten-your-seat-belt sign and Faye’s ears tell her that
the aircraft is descending. Automatically, her hands assume the butt position
and she sees him smile.
‘You
going to start singing again?’
She
shakes her head. In the thirty minutes spent talking in the skies from Dublin
to London, she has learnt that Cam is a New Yorker. His father is a doctor and
his mother, a librarian. He has one younger sister who’s travelling Europe and
has just spent an incredible Easter weekend with her in Dublin. He seems to
have crammed more into one weekend than Faye has in visiting the City regularly
for the last year. Cam has not learnt much about her except for she’s newly
single, shares a flat in Crouch End with a girl called Cassie and she has a cowardly
cat called Mouse. Faye has kept her feelings close to her chest and is as
surprised as him when she blurts out, ‘Adele helps. She’s the Queen of
heartache.’
‘Ahh,
heartache…’ he says. ‘”Expectation is the root of all heartache.”’
The
plane shudders so she closes her eyes, doesn’t respond.
‘Shakespeare,’
he adds. ‘I teach English to sixth form students. Not far from Crouch End
actually.’
Faye
opens one eye and peers at him. ‘I somehow assumed you were headed home.’
‘Home
is where the rent is paid. North London in fact.’
Faye
is suddenly lost in her thoughts. She thinks of the quaking plane; thinks of
the man next to her and the fact that she’s enjoyed talking to him; of the
reality check that she quite fancies him and that if the plane were to go down,
at least she could hold Cam’s hand. She thinks of Shakespeare, wonders if he
was right; perhaps she’d expected too much from Brian, or vice versa. He lived
in Dublin, she in London – they’d tried but in the end… While Cam and his
sister had partied, Faye and Brian had drawn an amicable line under their
year-long relationship.
The plane tilts, turns sharply above Heathrow.
‘Holding
pattern,’ Cam says. ‘We’ll be down soon.’
And
she realises in a eureka-moment that she’s been stuck in her own holding
pattern; awaiting permission to be happy. She realises that her ‘heartache’ is
simply regret, sadness at something being over. Her heart isn’t actually
aching. A smile forms on her lips.
‘You
have a lovely smile,’ Cam says.
‘Thank-you,’
she says. ‘Not often seen at thirty thousand feet.’
‘It’s
much lower now,’ he reassures her.
‘Would
you –’ she says.
‘Yes,’
he replies, ‘definitely.’
She
turns, faces him. ‘You have no idea what I was going to say.’
‘No,
but the answer is yes.’ He laughs; a deep throaty sound which she likes, before
shrugging his broad shoulders.
And
through the rain splattered oval window Faye sees the ground approach, watches
airport buildings speed by as the wheels bounce once before touch down. She
sighs, relief coursing through her veins.
‘Friday
works for me,’ he says.
And
she remembers how in Dublin airport she had dreaded Crouch End and her cat
called Mouse. Friday, she thinks. Could be a complete flight of fancy. Could be
a drink. A meal. A chat. A disaster. She looks towards the heavens, tosses a
prayer of thanks to Shakespeare, because for the first time in a long time - she
has no expectations…
The Day I Lost You is published by Harper Collins and is available in TPB and ebook format. You can order your copy, with Free Worldwide Postage and 13% discount, here. The ebook can be ordered via amazon link below:
Tough decision but I think it would have to be Idris Elba ;)
ReplyDeleteMy lovely husband of course (though I wouldn't mind Bryan Ferry on the other side!)
ReplyDeleteThink it would be Chris Hemsworth. Lx
ReplyDeleteOh, Tom Hardy, without a doubt!
ReplyDeleteCheers xx
Think it would be Alexander Armstrong.. keep me laughing
ReplyDeleteJohnny Depp but my husband first hehe
ReplyDeleteDifficult decision but probably Hugh Jackman
ReplyDeleteWell my husband is always good at holding my hand as I'm a nervous flyer like Faye! However, if he wasn't available, Colin Firth would do!
ReplyDeleteBillie Joe from Green Day :)
ReplyDeleteWell, most likely my husband would be on a plane with me. If, for some reason, I was traveling alone, I wouldn't mind sitting next to James Norton or Colin Firth.
ReplyDeletebluedawn95864 at gmail dot com
Roberto Martinez, the Everton manager
ReplyDeleteMy mum, I reckon, or perhaps my dad - he can talk politics with me!!
ReplyDeleteDavid Beckham
ReplyDeletehmmmm C.ronaldo :D
ReplyDeleteabout me i live Mohamed 6 The King of Morocco
ReplyDeletejohnny depp lol
ReplyDeleteBear Grylls :-)
ReplyDeleteChris Hemsworth would be perfect
ReplyDeleteThe actor Paul Rudd who played Phoebe's husband in friends
ReplyDeleteThe actor Paul Rudd who played Phoebe's husband in friends
ReplyDeleteGot to be Rowan Atkinson, so i could laugh through the flight
ReplyDeleteIt would have to be pop star PInk
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete