The Heartbreak Factor - Part Four

Opening my eyes gradually, I realised I wasn’t asleep in my bed back at home - sadly. I was sprawled out on the chair aboard the airplane heading back to London Heathrow. Katy was snuggled up beside me with her hand draped over my baby bump. Pulling the blanket back over us both, I settled back into the chair, trying to find the comfortable place for my back to rest but it was proving an absolute impossibility. Airplanes weren’t the most comfortable of places to sleep at the best of times, especially when I had a billion and one things on my mind. 

The sun was just making a slight appearance as we flew back over land and down England towards London. It was still stupid o’clock in the morning and even though I had managed to grab a few hours sleep, I still felt like I hadn’t been asleep at all. In my mind I was having a countdown as to how many hours it was until I could climb beneath the covers of my own bed and sleep. So long as the plane landed fine and there wasn’t any hold ups with luggage, I would be in my own bed in less than three hours. Three hours. One-hundred and eighty minutes. Ten thousand and eight-hundred seconds. Ten thousand and seven-hundred and ninety-nine seconds. You get the picture? 

*

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to London Heathrow Airport. The local time is 5.34am and the temperature is twelve degrees,” the woman’s voice announced as the plane made its way down the landing strip of the airport. 

The shaky landing of the plane had woken Katy up in shock. As I cradled her, trying to calm her down, I looked out the window at England. It didn’t look much different to when we left two weeks ago. It was still pretty dark outside so I knew I’d have a struggle trying to drive back to the house with little sleep. I didn’t really want to leave George with no car at the airport either so I decided it would be best to get a taxi home. 

“Please check around your seat for any personal belongings you may have brought on board with you and please use caution when opening the overhead lockers as heavy articles may have shifted around during the flight,” the woman continued as the whole airplane cabin erupted with the sound of hustling and bustling as people grabbed all their stuff.

“It’s okay,” I hushed to Katy as I wrapped my arms around her and held onto her. 

She didn’t usually cry now, unless she was scared or hurt. But the plane’s landing must have startled her so much from her sleep that she didn’t know how to react. I didn’t mind though. It was nice to have her want me instead of George since she hadn’t stopped asking about him since we left the hotel yesterday morning. 

“On behalf of Virgin Atlantic and the entire crew, I’d like to thank you for joining us on this trip and we look forward to seeing you on board again in the near future,” the woman said, finally finishing the usual airline speech that I’d heard a billion times before. “Have a nice day.”

As soon as the seat belt sign turned off, it was like a Mexican wave was going off in the plane as everyone seemed to stand up and grab their belongings from the overhead locker. Nobody seemed to be taking notice of the announcement saying to be careful when opening them - doors were flinging up in the air and bags were dropping out all over the place. I wasn’t one for rushing when a plane landed. I didn’t mind sitting down on the plane without having my personal bubble invaded by other holidaymakers grabbing their bags or pushing past me down the aisle as they made their way into the airport terminal. We’d all still be waiting inside at customs and the luggage reclaim anyway. 

After we had managed to get out of the plane, Katy and I were filed into the US customs area along with everyone else whom we’d just spent the last twelve hours with. Katy had settled down and was resting her head on my chest, looking up at me through her sleepy eyes.