Page 7 of The Christmas Catch
“More hair?” Ali raised an eyebrow. “Less queer?”
Morgan laughed. Yes, the last time she’d seen Ali, she’d had chestnut locks halfway down her back. Not that you couldn’t be queer with long hair, of course. But Morgan totally approved of this new look. “You looked fabulous before, but you look doubly fabulous now.”
Ali gave her a broad smile. “Smooth. I’ll take that from you, Morgan Scott.”
Morgan beamed. She liked the way Ali said her name. Like she was someone famous. “I feel like I should have changed a little more now.” She smoothed down her blonde hair. Still the same medium length as when Ali had seen her last.
“You’re fine as you are.” Ali held her gaze, then dropped it abruptly. She grabbed the food card from her seat pocket and studied it.
“Have you been home much lately?”
Ali shook her head, not looking at Morgan. “Not since summer.”
“I’ve only been back once this year. Work’s been crazy.”
They stopped talking for a few minutes as the plane got busier with passengers boarding. Morgan’s brain churned with all the information that had just been dumped in her lap. Her friendship with Nicole had a once-a-year catch-up vibe, and that suited them both. She’d mentioned Ali had gone to Edinburgh uni, but nothing more.
Morgan waited for the captain to tell her staff boarding was complete before she restarted the conversation.
“How come you’re in Glasgow?”
Ali put her menu back in the seat pocket. “I live here.”
She did? This was news. “Me, too. How did you end up here?”
“I went to university in Edinburgh, but fell in love with Glasgow. I mean, there could be more sun, but you can’t have it all, can you?”
“Especially not sun.” Morgan got up to let a person in her row into his seat. The man didn’t say thank you. “What do you do in Glasgow?”
“I work for a software company that makes apps for hospitality. I saw a gap in the market and wanted to make my parents’ lives easier. Then I got hired to create it.”
Morgan hadn’t expected that. “Anything I’d have heard of?”
Ali shook her head. “Industry things. Solving problems in business.”
“Sounds clever and worthwhile, like you’re making a difference.”
Ali gave her an embarrassed smile. “What about you? You and my sister used to be as thick as thieves when I was growing up. I always thought you’d become a DJ or a film star.”
Morgan snorted. “Really?” She had no idea why Ali thought that.
Ali nodded. “You used to host the school radio, didn’t you?” Her cheeks turned pink. “Plus, you were always hosting school assemblies. Nobody could shut you up, so I assumed you’d get a job that involved a lot of talking.”
“I did, in a roundabout way. I work with companies and people sorting out their relationships and business issues. A communications specialist.”
“I wasn’t far off.”
“I guess you weren’t.”
The plane taxied down the runway, and Morgan settled back in her seat, giving Ali a ‘we don’t have to talk the whole way if you don’t want to’ smile. She rummaged in her backpack for her headphones—there was a podcast she’d been meaning to listen to about relationships, and she’d downloaded it especially for the flight. Would it be rude to plug in now she and Ali had reconnected?
She couldn’t feel her headphones, so she lifted her bag into her lap and peered in. The flight was almost an hour and a half. Even though it was nice to see Ali, they might have used up their conversation starters already. They both lived and worked in Glasgow. She wasn’t sure where else to go.
Although, she really couldn’t find her headphones. At this rate, she’d be forced to engage in chat for the entire flight.
“Ladies and gentlemen. This is your captain speaking. We’ve got a slight technical hitch with the plane, so we’re going to be grounded here for a little while until it can be fixed. It shouldn’t take too long.”
Damn. She really needed her headphones now.
