The only challenge on this flight was normally to stay awake. I was preparing for a nearly empty redeye flight, with only a minimal service. There was no other reason for me to be so nervous. It was the reason that my hands weren’t quite steady. I’d had the passenger list tucked into my leather menu sleeve. “We already have five seated in first class.

When I heard the word family, I thought of only one person, and that person was Stephan. There was no question that he was the most important person in my life. Yes, we were codependent, there was no question, but we’d been partners for too many years to operate any other way. There were times when it felt like he was more of an extension of me than an actual separate person. He was also my inflight buddy-bid partner. Constant companion, confidante, partner, former roommate, and currently, my neighbor. He had earned those rights with me over many years of being my best friend. And certainly the only one I would permit to touch me, even in a casual manner. He was by far the most affectionate person I knew. And bobby pins meant that my smooth, pale blond hair would behave itself perfectly.īut Stephan liked to fuss over me. This meant that we got to bypass security completely. Since we were departing from our hometown of Las Vegas, we had taken a shuttle from our airline’s headquarters directly to the plane. In spite of his fussing, I knew it was smooth.

I felt him tucking errant blond hairs back into my sleek chignon. I felt more than heard my best friend, Stephan, sweep into the curtained galley behind me. My whole body hummed nervously as I pulled a chilled bottle of champagne from the large drawer of ice at the bottom of my liquor cart. My hands trembled slightly as I prepared my galley for the first class, pre-board service.

Up in the air series by rk lilley