FREQUENT FLIERS main characters, Lanie Turner and Ridley Aronsen, sit for a brief interview.
How would you describe your family or your childhood?
RIDLEY: (pauses) Fine.
LANIE: It was just me and my mom, but during the summers, there were lots of people: my grandma and my cousins, Gem and Les… extended family, friends and neighbors. Mine was a small but very happy family.
RIDLEY: That. Happy.
LANIE: silence
RIDLEY: Okay, maybe a little less supervised than hers, less structured or I suppose, supervised, but still happy. I had three older siblings and there was always some adult around to sort us out…eventually.
What is your greatest talent?
LANIE: I can tie a cherry stem with my tongue.
RIDLEY: (chokes) Well, then. Um, I can…
LANIE: (nudges him): Say it. Come on, say it, say it, say it!
RIDLEY: Alright, alright. I can wiggle my ears. I also have perfect pitch but for some reason, people are less impressed by that.
LANIE: Because he doesn’t play an instrument! You don’t play an instrument and you refuse to sing.
Significant other?
LANIE: (thumbs his way)
RIDLEY: This beautiful woman beside me.
Biggest challenge in relationships?
LANIE: He refuses to drink coffee! So, he won't buy any.
RIDLEY: Won't touch it. She wants it, she can get it herself. But truly, to answer the question, communication, I think. I tend to be introverted.
LANIE: The word, kids, is “taciturn”. He broods.
RIDLEY: Don’t make me seem grumpy. I'm not. I prefer “stoic”. And truth is, she’s the grumpy one. You should see her in morning.
LANIE: Because I require coffee.
RIDLEY: It’s called a caffeine addiction.
LANIE: And I wear the badge proudly.
RIDLEY: (shakes head)
Where do you live?
LANIE: Currently? No spoilers, I thought?
RIDLEY: Yes, we're keeping mum. Next question.
Do you have any enemies?
RIDLEY: silence
LANIE: Ridley…
RIDLEY: silence
LANIE: Ridley, don’t do it.
RIDLEY: Absolutely, and his name is Gav-
LANIE: (laughs covering his mouth) Next question, please!
Do you have children, pets, both, or neither?
RIDLEY: I have a wonderful daughter named Beatrix.
LANIE: Yes! Bea is a mood and a moment. Love her. Oh and no pets…yet.
What do you do for a living?
RIDLEY: I'm a nephrologist.
LANIE: (sigh) That means he’s a kidney doctor. I work in a university.
RIDLEY: (quietly) That's all you're saying?
LANIE: Yup.
Greatest disappointment?
RIDLEY: Is that your final answer, truly?
LANIE: Fine, fine. Since the last two questions are related, I guess, my greatest disappointment is that I never finished my Ph. D. But I still work at a university, anyway. Just not where I expected. It’s not a big deal.
RIDLEY: (mouths) It IS a big deal.
What is your greatest personal failing, in your view?
RIDLEY: I have a lot of regrets about how I handled things surrounding the death of my first wife.
LANIE: You did what you thought was best…at the time.
RIDLEY: I did, but there was a lot of room for improvement. How about you?
LANIE: I have to work on my self-confidence. I’ve been accused of being a door mat.
RIDLEY: You’ve never once been a pushover for me. I actually find that quite attractive. Your confidence.
LANIE: And that’s why you’re the right guy for me. (winks)
What do you do to entertain yourselves or have fun?
LANIE: We watch TV. GBBO, Housewives, Drag Race. I’ve turned him onto all of it.
RIDLEY: I watched Drag Race before we met. (raises hand) Big Ru fan over here.
LANIE: We also like taking walks, wandering around, exploring. We travel. A lot.
RIDLEY: Too much.
LANIE: Only when it means we’re apart.
RIDLEY: True.
What keeps you awake at night?
RIDLEY: My daughter. Worries about her: Is she happy? Is she safe? How is she going to get into Stanford when I can’t always convince her to do her math homework.
LANIE: (Laughs)
RIDLEY: But I think any parent would answer the same way.
Greatest source of joy?
RIDLEY: Same answer.
LANIE: I think most people would expect me to say the guy next to me, here. And they’d be right, but it's also bigger than that. It's my family, everyone. My love and devotion to them and theirs to me. We have issues, like everyone. Have big blow-out fights and sometimes harbour some simmering resentments. Still, at the end of the day, they're mine, I'm theirs and we love each other. There’s nothing we wouldn’t do for each other. THEY- him included (thumbs at Ridley)- are my source of greatest joy.
RIDLEY: (watching her) Well said, I concur. (whispers) Love you.
LANIE: Aww, love you too. He can be quite mushy.
RIDLEY: I believe I did say I wasn't a grump.
LANIE: You did.
Her life is up in the air—literally… From the author of Long Past Summer and perfect for fans of Bolu Babalola, Preslaysa Williams, and Jill Santopolo, Noué Kirwan's next novel is a jetsetting treat for every armchair traveler.
Lanie Turner has some loose ends:
- A nearly complete PhD.
- A job she basically enjoys.
- And a lifelong crush…that she’s almost gotten over.
On a trip to reunite with her family in England—and said crush, Jonah—Lanie intends to take care of one of those items. Her favorite cousin, Gemma, is engaged…to Jonah. And they want Lanie to be both their maid of honor and best "mate" at the wedding. It’s the perfect opportunity to prove the pitying gazes wrong: she’s over Jonah. Really.
As Lanie travels between New York City and London to help with wedding prep, she befriends her handsome seatmate. Dr. Ridley Aronsen—a widower and single father—who is prickly at first, but feisty Lanie reminds him of a more carefree time in his life. And after a steamy layover in Iceland, the pair take a direct flight from seatmates to lovers. Ridley even agrees to be her plus-one for the wedding. For once, everything seems to be falling into place.
But Lanie’s used to getting hurt, and Ridley finds opening up difficult. How will a long-distance relationship even work once Lanie’s back in NYC permanently? It’s easy enough to let one more loose thread unravel…after all, life’s problems seem tiny from thirty-five thousand feet in the air.
Multicultural African-American | Romance Multicultural [Canary Street Press, On Sale: August 13, 2024, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781335427458 / eISBN: 9780369722195]
Noué is a Bronx, NY native, raised bicoastal. A UMass-Amherst grad, who currently lives in Harlem, New York. When she's not consuming copious amounts of media: binging TV shows, devouring movies, hoarding comic books, and inhaling romance novels, she's writing, dreaming up all sorts of interesting lives and passionate loves.
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