"Would all passengers for flight AF 332 to Boston Logan International please make their way to gate number forty three. Boarding will commence in five minutes."

Lisa was already there.

Standing in the boarding queue behind Chitthip, her passport open at the correct page and her boarding pass clutched in her other hand, she swallowed hard as she heard the announcement. She didn't want to be at that boarding gate, she didn't want to be getting on that plane, and she didn't want to be going back to Boston.

She wanted to stay in Paris. More accurately, she wanted to stay with Jennie.

Jennie. Her mind had been full of Jennie ever since she had left the other woman that morning. She hadn't been able to stop thinking about her, hadn't been able to stop going over and over their time together...especially their time together the night before. She remembered every word, every kiss, every touch. Jennie's smile, putting her at ease and making her feel wanted. Jennie's laughter when Lisa had accused Kuma of watching, and putting her off as she kissed Jennie in the kitchen. Jennie's hand, so light and small in hers, leading her towards the sofa to watch a film, and the ill-disguised horror when Lisa had jokingly chosen the sports channel instead. Jennie's brunette hair, so soft in her hands and against her face.

Jennie's fingers, working their magic on her skin, slipping under her clothes and driving her slowly, deliciously crazy.

Jennie's lips, gentle and sweet on her mouth, on her breasts, tracing that line down her stomach and between her legs.

Jennie's name on her lips when she came, harder and more intensely than she had ever done before.

And then the feel of Jennie...Lisa would never, ever forget that. The way that Jennie's body fit so perfectly with her own, the smooth, creamy skin that smelled faintly of sugar and lavender, and the nipples that hardened to dark pink buds under her darting tongue. The slick, wet heat that her fingers tentatively explored before Jennie's gasps and moans of pleasure encouraged her to take it further. The way that Jennie came apart underneath her, shaking and shuddering and burying her cries in Lisa's shoulder. The way that they had fallen asleep hand in hand, and woken up with their fingers still entwined as the dawn broke through the shutters and the rest of the world began to come alive again.

"Lisa?"

But the departure lounge was really not the best place to be thinking about all of that.

Blinking, and looking up, she realized that she had reached the front of the queue, and that the flight official was waiting for her paperwork. Her mother had already gone through and was waiting for her on the other side of the desk, her concerned look prompting Lisa to hold out her passport and ticket. Still in a slight daze, she was waved through and moved, slowly, to join her mother in heading down the covered walkway to the plane.

She knew she had to go. But it was hard, horribly hard, when every cell in her body was screaming at her to stay.

After getting her act together enough to find their seats and safely stow her bag, along with her mother's, in the overhead locker, Lisa settled down into her window seat and checked her watch. She couldn't help thinking about what Jennie would be doing at that moment. One-fifteen. Most likely, she would still be in the kitchen - the chef's shirt had already been on when Lisa had left at seven. Furiously blinking back the tears that had been threatening to fall, Jennie had explained that she always spent Sundays in the kitchen, preparing for the first part of the week and that, today, it would help take her mind off Lisa leaving.

As she had kissed Jennie's face gently - forehead, cheek, nose, lips - Lisa had tasted a tiny drop of wet salt, and it was only through an iron effort that she had managed not to cry herself. She had saved that for later when, back at the hotel room, she had climbed into the shower and let the tears to stream down her face, mixing with the hot needles of water that ran down her body and soaked her hair. And now, as the plane began to taxi towards the runway and the safety demonstration began, she had to close her eyes and turn away, towards the window, so that no one else would see the wetness that had formed again on her eyelashes.

Her mother's hand on hers didn't register at first, but when it did, the comfort and warmth of the touch almost made those tears spill over. She turned round at the unexpected contact, and Chitthip smiled sadly.

"I might be old, but I'm not stupid."

Lisa blinked.

"Never said you were Ma."

She supposed that she shouldn't really have been surprised. She also knew that she shouldn't really be embarrassed or ashamed to have been caught with her emotions on such naked display, but she couldn't help it.

"She's a lovely girl."

Lisa swallowed. "Yeah, but Ma..."

"I wasn't born yesterday, Lisa. I saw the way you were looking at each other."

Lisa had no idea what to say to that. She could hardly deny it, even if she had wanted to, and besides, it was almost a relief not to have to broach the subject herself. She would rather not have had the conversation on a plane with a seven hour flight ahead of her...but still. She could always pretend to sleep.

But she wasn't sure how, exactly, to explain to her mother what she was feeling without it sounding a bit melodramatic - although Chitthip, she knew, wouldn't mind that. She wasn't sure how to say that even after just a couple of days, she somehow knew that Jennie was special. That this wouldn't have happened with just any woman.

That she had never felt this way about anyone.

Chitthip waited patiently.

"Ma, I..." She paused. "I'm not..."

Oh God. She really was hopeless at this and Chitthip's patience evidently had its limits.

"You're attracted to her...well, that's okay. And you didn't come back to the hotel last night. Did you sleep together?"

"Ma!" Lisa's eyes widened in shock, and she furtively looked around to see if anyone sitting near them had heard. "Do you have to? Here?"

But then she saw her mother's expression, and realized that she didn't really have a choice. "Can you at least keep your voice down?"

There was a pause before Chitthip spoke again, her voice quieter this time.

"So?"

Lisa took a deep breath. There was nowhere to run to, since the seatbelt sign was flashing and the toilets were closed for takeoff. And she knew her mother well enough to realise that she wouldn't be able to lie her way out of it.

"Yes. Happy?"

Chitthip nodded slowly, thoughtfully, her hand still covering her daughter's.

"And you really like her?"

"Yes. Can we please...?"

"You know, I knew I was in love with your father within a week of meeting him."

Lisa's eyes widened, and she spluttered in disbelief. Had her mother really just said that?

"Ma, not really the best example."

"Okay, maybe not, but..."

"And no one's talking about that, just, it's all new."

"New as in, because she's a woman?"

Lisa sighed, and closed her eyes - partly because of the headache that was starting to form behind her right temple, and partly so that she wouldn't have to see her mother's face when she answered her question.

"No." She forced the admission out through clenched teeth. "It's just never got this far before."

She had no intention of elaborating any further. She wasn't going to tell her mother about all the times that she had felt the buzz of attraction towards another woman but hadn't had the guts to do anything about it. And she certainly wasn't going to say that part of the reason for her reticence had been fear of the reaction from her colleagues and family - including her mother.

"Well, then, it's about time."

Lisa's eyes popped open.

"What?"

"And if she makes you happy, then..."

Chitthip shrugged, and Lisa felt her squeeze her hand. She couldn't think of a reply to that, as the plane turned on to the runway and began gathering speed, she leaned back in her seat and turned back to the window. Maybe it didn't actually need an answer.

If she makes you happy...

Lisa closed her eyes again, as the nose of the aircraft tilted into the sky and the ground fell away. She didn't want to see Paris getting smaller and smaller beneath them.

She didn't want to see Jennie getting further and further away.

Jennie did make her happy. There was no doubt about that.

It's about time...

Peeking through her eyelashes, she caught a glimpse of the Seine, glistening silver as it curved like a ribbon through the city that now looked like a child's play set. Somewhere down there was Jennie, and Lisa was missing her already.

Maybe, she thought, her mother was right.

To be continued in Chapter 9...