Back home at her apartment, Moira spent the evening ironing and folding clothes, gathering up toiletries and arranging outfits on the end of her bed. She went into her storage cupboard and wheeled out the biggest suitcase she had before hauling it up onto the bed and filling it with everything she could possibly need to see her through the next fortnight.
Before she had time to think, it was almost 10:00 pm, and she was getting tired. She flopped down on her bed and looked at her cell phone. In horror she realized that she had a missed call from Jack an hour earlier. To see his name come up on the screen made her stomach churn. A week or so before she had wanted nothing more than for him to call her and apologize, to tell her it was all a big joke or misunderstanding. But that phone call had never came and she knew that it would all be a lie, anyway. She covered her face with her hands as her heart raced in her chest. Could she even contemplate calling him back?
Deep down she knew the answer, and so she rolled over and shoved the phone underneath her pillow. She didn’t want to or need to know what he had to say. He had done enough damage to last her a lifetime.
She got up and crossed her bedroom to her desk. She opened the top drawer and pulled out her passport and her Scottish pounds. She flipped through them with a childish smile on her face, as if she couldn’t believe it was all real. She had never thought that she would have the nerve to travel across the world on her own, with no one meeting her at the other side, but it was all so liberating.
After she dressed for bed and set her alarm for 5:00 am, she climbed underneath her duvet and hoped for a safe journey. She had never needed a break more in her entire life, but she had never been a confident traveler. As she drifted off to sleep, scenes of rolling green hills and historical castles swirled through her head. She was finally going to see what her parents and grandparents had told her so much about and she couldn’t wait.
***
At 7:00 am the following morning, she was climbing out of the taxi at the airport and walking through to the check-in desks. The buzz around the place even at that time of the morning was intense and it made her feel all the more alive.
As she handed her passport over to the girl at the desk, she looked up and saw her flight number and GLASGOW in big letters on the board above her head. Her skin tingled in anticipation, and as she left for security and departures with her boarding pass, she repressed the urge to do a little celebratory dance on the way through.
As the plane taxied down the runway and she nursed a small glass of wine to calm her nerves, a grin was fixed firmly on her face. She had never left the US before, and it felt like the beginning of something big for her. In her own way she was marking the occasion as a beginning of a new her. She was going out on her own, and she was leaving all the bullshit of her humdrum life behind.
As she plane accelerated up into the air, her stomach dipped and she turned to the woman beside her and smiled.
“This is so exciting,” she said. “I’ve never traveled alone before.”
“Me neither,” the woman said with a nervous laugh. “Maybe we should look after each other.”
“Good idea,” Moira smiled.
Throughout the rest of the flight, Moira spent her time sipping red wine, flicking through magazines and cuddling into the airline blanket. As she drifted in and out of sleep, once again her dreams were wild and vivid and a man with a shock of red hair and a tall muscular frame was with her the whole way. They were running along untamed lands, up and down rolling hills and around the outskirts of a loch as the sunlight shone on it and made it look gold. The man was strong but gentle and his voice echoed around her subconscious. His accent was deep, gruff and very sexy.
The countryside turned to darkness and he was playfully chasing her down the ancient hallways of an incredible castle. He caught up to her and pushed her gently up against the stone wall and kissed her powerfully on the lips, so hard that it made her weak at the knees and floppy in his arms. As their bodies collided, even in the dream, it was the most amazing sensation and Moira’s heartbeat thumped loudly in her ears. The man pulled back and stared at her deep in the eyes before his hand moved down between her legs and he rubbed her gently before slipping her panties to one side. Moira threw her head back and gasped, ready to give herself to him, when suddenly a loud BING brought her back to reality…
She woke with a start as the seatbelt signs illuminated and the captain announced that the plane was preparing to land. Her cheeks were flushed, her whole body tingled, and she was sure she could still taste the man on her lips. It had been so vivid and real.
“You alright, dear?” the woman next to her asked as Moira flattened down her hair and did a double take of her surroundings.
“Yes,” Moira smiled, “I was just having this crazy dream.”
“They’re usually the best,” the lady smiled.
“Yes,” said Moira. “Yes, it was.”