Two weeks after the night Dave told Kay he loved her, he brought her to the airport. She was due out to New York on a two-day stopover and not having any business appointments until later in the day, he had offered to drive her. She gazed out the car window still a little shy of their new status and self-consciously avoided any physical contact beyond what was strictly necessary. So much had happened so quickly, she still didn’t know whether she was on her head or her heels.
She had rung Sally and cautiously explained why she wouldn’t be going with her to Spain after all. She felt a little guilty at letting her friend down but Dave had extracted a promise from her not to go back and, like him, she realised the importance of giving their own relationship a chance to develop. To her relief, Sally had understood at once.
‘Dave’s a lovely chap,’ she said sincerely. ‘I hope it will all work out.’
‘And you and Eulogio,’ Kay returned warmly. ‘Don’t forget to tell him I was asking for him... and Carlos too, of course,’ she added a little guiltily.
‘Poor Carlos! He’ll be heartbroken,’ Sally chuckled sympathetically down the telephone. ‘I’m not looking forward to breaking it to him you won’t be coming back.’
Kay felt a pang for her Spanish lover but she was as very conscious of Dave’s insistence that she should not even write to him. ‘You’re only prolonging the poor chap’s agony,’ was his opinion and she had no doubt he was right. Still, she hoped that Carlos wouldn’t be too upset at not hearing from her himself.
Kay thought how she would miss Sally. Florrie too. Before going to New Zealand she had called around to the house for a last chat and been delighted to hear Kay’s news.
‘Now that’s really romantic,’ she opined, before coyly confiding her own news. ‘Jimmy wants me to take the ring for Easter.’
‘Florrie!’ Kay exploded. ‘Are you going to?’
‘I don’t know. Perhaps I will,’ Florrie gave her limpid smile. ‘But nothing like as soon. I told Jimmy I’m not deciding anything until I get back from New Zealand.’
She spoke firmly but there was a softness about the way she said his name that was promising. As she told Kay, her grief at her father’s death having eased over the months, she no longer irrationally blamed Jimmy for her failure to get back to see him before he died.
‘I’m glad, Florrie,’ Kay hugged her friend.
‘Really it was my own fault, nobody else’s,’ Florrie admitted honestly but with a sad expression in her blue eyes. ‘I should have gone home more often. If only I had, I wouldn’t have felt so guilty when he died.’
When Florrie enquired after Molly, Kay spoke of her concern for her aunt. After a little hesitation she mentioned her trip to Kilshaughlin and the way Winifred had vented her spite.
‘She’s not worth wasting spit on,’ Florrie said simply. ‘I’m sorry about your aunt though - you know how fond of her I am.’ Her face brightened as a thought struck her. ‘This means you can come into a flat with me.’
‘Yes,’ Kay nodded enthusiastically.
‘Won’t it be great when we’re together again,’ exclaimed Florrie.
Kay thought again how she would miss Florrie, though not as much as she would have if she hadn’t got Dave. She gave a shy glance at his absorbed profile and wondered if he regretted not going to Germany. Although he had made light of it she was aware what the sacrifice must have cost him.
That Dave had given up his big chance for her greatly impressed Kay. She knew how ambitious he had always been. He really did love her, she thought awed. At the same time, she felt a bit worried that his career might be adversely affected because of her. She turned anxiously to him and said, ‘Dave, you’re really sure you’re doing the right thing turning down Germany?’
‘Absolutely.’ He met her concerned glance with a smile. ‘Don’t worry. There’ll be other opportunities.’ He squeezed her hand reassuringly and turned his eyes back to the road. And if there weren’t he’d soon make them, he told himself, feeling equal to anything when she looked at him in that melting way.
It was a beautiful spring day. The daffodils planted in clumps around the hostess section were stirring gently in the breeze as they returned from checking Kay’s case and pulled up in front of the prefabs. As she climbed out she was struck by what a perfect day it was for flying.
‘Can you hang on,’ she asked Dave, ‘while I see if the new rosters are out.’ There were a couple of functions coming up over the following weeks that he wanted her to attend with him. When she saw it, she would know better how she was fixed.
He glanced at his watch. ‘A few minutes anyhow.’ A smile in his grey eyes, Dave watched her skip up the steps, admiring her long slim legs in the sheer stockings.
She skirted the crowd of hostesses around the coffee machine and headed for the wire trays holding the rosters. Good! For once Bernie had brought them in early. She snatched one up, then scanned the noticeboard for messages.
Her heart lifted at finding a letter from Sally. She slipped it in her kitbag to read later, and was about to run back out to Dave, when she became aware of another note for her on the board. A memo from Judy Mathews about summer uniform. ‘Please drop into my office before your flight.’
Kay quickly presented herself at the new Superintendent’s office and after a short delay was admitted and had her measurements taken. She was conscious all the time of Dave waiting. What must he be thinking, she fretted, remembering her promise to be only a few moments. Oh but he would never have waited. Suddenly, it had become extremely important for her to see him again before she went away. But when she was released at last and hurried to the door, the path outside was empty. His car was gone.
Her disappointment was so acute, Kay could have cried. She was amazed at herself for caring so much. But there it was. She did.
She was about to retrace her steps when with a thrill of relief she realised he had not gone after all, merely parked his car more tidily between the huts.
Kay ran forward and, as she did, had the curious impression it was to Captain Pender’s white Alfa Romeo she was running. Then the image shimmered and dissolved in her brain and she became aware of Dave regarding her quizzically through the open window of the Volkswagen.
‘What’s up, Katie?’ he asked evenly.
Almost crying, she slid in beside him. ‘Oh Dave, I thought you’d gone. I thought you’d grown tired of waiting and g...gone.’
Dave looked with calm enquiry into her flushed upset face. ‘Don’t you know I’ll never do that,’ he reassured her. ‘What’s the matter? Got a trip to Russia, is that it?’
‘I... I never even looked,’ she confessed. ‘Aren’t you going to?’
‘Oh I don’t care. It can wait.’
‘Well, well, did I ever think to see the day,’ he murmured with a provoking grin. ‘Oh shut up!’
Kay laughed ruefully, feeling the tension begin to leave her. That was one of the things she really liked - no loved - about Dave, he could always make her laugh. Then in alarm she caught sight of the time.
‘Gosh! my flight will take off without me.’
A little shyly she looked up at him and waited.
Dave smiled into her eyes for a moment, then he bent his head and kissed her. A group of passing hostesses looked in at them, their expressions frankly curious.
He released her at last.
‘And I’d better be getting back to work,’ he suggested, ‘before someone thinks I’m molesting you.’ He nodded meaningfully at a rapt Bernie gawking at them through the prefab window.
With a giggle, Kay climbed out and slammed the car door. Her hand on the window, she paused to look back into his deep-set grey eyes.
‘Bye Dave, thanks for the lift.’
‘Bye Katie.’ He regarded her slim figure in the Atlantic uniform approvingly. ‘Come back safely. I’ll be waiting.’
She waved and walked away, conscious of his eyes on her, knowing instinctively he would stay until she was out of sight. As she crossed to where the huge aircraft sat majestically on the tarmac, his parting words echoed in her head. I’ll be waiting.
How comforting and deeply satisfying were those three little words, she thought, almost better than I love you.
Ahead of her two pilots went lithely up the steps to the cockpit. She glanced away reminded of Graham and at once, her face grew serious, her eyes sad.
But the memory of those three little words kept coming back to lift Kay’s spirits like the April sunshine sparkling on the wide cockpit window. And somehow despite her sadness, she felt as if her life was beginning to take-off at last!
THE END