Chapter Eighteen

After a ridiculously early start, all three were safely ensconced in the spacious first class cabin of the Boeing 747 headed for New York. Glancing out the window, Jenn fought back the tears as the plane steadily rose above the clouds until the last views of Dublin Bay slid out of sight. Sighing heavily she snapped the blind shut on the window and rested her head back. As much as she enjoyed working abroad, every time she had to leave her home country it seemed that much harder. She would always be a home bird at heart and right now her heart was aching at leaving behind her family and friends once more. Her parents were both now in their early seventies and it was becoming painfully clear to her that they wouldn’t be around for ever.

Pushing any further morbid thoughts from her mind before she burst into tears there and then, she reached into the pocket in front of her and retrieved the in-flight magazine. Beside her Steph was doing the same her ipod earphones plugged firmly in her head. Jon sat in the aisle seat in front of his daughter and Jenn could still detect the faintest trace of a scowl on his face. Smiling to herself she continued thumbing through the magazine. She knew the reason for his grumpy mood. When checking in she had made quite sure that she wouldn’t be sitting beside him for the flight. Jon had been less than pleased that his plans for his own form of in-flight entertainment had been scuppered. Jenn had known exactly what he would have been up to throughout the long journey and pleasurable as it may have sounded, there was no way in hell that she was chancing anything with Steph sitting less than five feet from them!

Once breakfast had been cleared away, she pulled out her laptop and started going over plans with Steph for the horses they’d bought. In four weeks time, barring no problems, the four horses should have cleared quarantine and be safely installed in the barn that Jon had leased from Paul. Steph was relatively inexperienced when it came to actually training horses, especially novice ones and engrossed herself in the schedules that Jenn had laid out. As it was now the middle of September, she hoped to have both Steph and the horses progressed far enough by January that they could head down to Ocala in Florida for the spring to start competing. Steph was giddy with excitement and after an hour of answering questions Jenn was mentally exhausted.

“Alright, alright! Lets see if you’re still so enthusiastic in two months time! I’m telling you now Steph, this is not gonna be an easy ride! You haven’t seen me in action yet and I can be pretty hard to please.” she warned her gently.

Steph calmed down and nodded, “I know! I just can’t wait to get started!”

Jenn smiled and stowed her laptop away. Steph reminded her so much of herself as a teenager, willing to do anything if it meant climbing the ladder. There had been a time when she too had never entertained a negative thought about anything - how things have changed she mused.

After a quick trip to the bathroom, she returned to her seat to find Steph fiddling with the personal t.v screen. Squeezing past her to drop back down in her seat, she leaned over to see what the problem was. A blank screen indicated a definite lack of power somewhere and Steph threw her arms up in frustration.

“Arrghhh! Typical!”, she muttered furiously. Before Jenn could offer any help, Steph leaned forward around the seat in front of her and poked a semi-sleeping Jon in the arm.

“Dad! Will you swap seats with me? My t.v’s busted!”

Quick as a flash Jon jumped up out of his seat;

“Sure honey!”, a broad grin plastered across his face as he flashed a victorious look at Jenn.

“Steph you can swap with me!!”, she blurted out quickly but Steph was already sidling past her father into his empty seat.

Jon flopped down beside Jenn and looked triumphantly at her, an impish smirk developing at the side of his mouth;

“Hey neighbour!! How ya doin?”

‘Oh God! I’m doomed!’, Jenn thought as she glared back at him. Just the way he was looking at her already had a warm flush creeping up her neck. She shot him a warning look and then smiled sweetly pulling out her eyemask;

“Time for a nap I think!” smirking herself as the smile vanished from his face, she snapped the elastic over her head and settled back to snooze.

Jon stared at her incredulously. ‘She can not be serious? Hmmph! She wants to play hard ball huh!’ Standing up, he retrieved a blanket from the overhead compartment and leaned over Jenn’s seat. Laying it lightly across her he fought back a grin as he felt her startle beneath him.

“Just making you comfortable Madam!”, he imitated in his best British accent. With a furtive glance about the cabin to make sure no-one was watching, Steph included, he leaned lower and blew gently on her neck. She stiffened instantly as the hairs stood up on her skin. Pursing her lips, she refused to let herself move, praying he would give up before someone noticed. Shivering she felt him tuck the blanket around her, his fingers discreetly brushing the curve of her breasts, pausing to squeeze only slightly as continued down her legs to her feet.

“Tut, tut!”, he whispered, “Madam should really not sleep with her shoes on. Not good for one’s circulation!”

Grasping her ankles, he eased off her trainers and lightly tickled the undersides of her toes. Jenn could contain herself no longer and squealed, jerking her knees up towards her chin. Unfortunately, Jon’s head didn’t quite get out of the way quick enough and her right knee hit him square under his chin with a loud crack as bone met bone.

“Fuck!”, he moaned as he slumped back on his seat, rubbing his jaw furiously.

“Shit! Sorry!” Jenn scrambled to sit up straight and tore off her mask, convinced she’d done serious damage. He waggled his jaw from side to side and found everything in working order albeit a bit tender. Seeing no harm was done, Jenn smirked and leaning towards him whispered in his ear;

“Serves you right asshole! Behave yourself and nobody gets hurt!” and winking at him, lay back and replaced her eye mask, grinning all the while.

Jon smiled to himself and shook his head ruefully. She was a live wire that was for sure! Resigning himself to the fact that he wasn’t going to get any action on this flight anyway, he closed his own eyes still massaging his bruised jaw. Might as well sleep if nothing better was on offer!