Page 9 of Planes, Trains, and Candy Canes

She held out her hand and hopped in her fur-lined boots, letting out a little squeal before colliding with his chest in an off-balance hug. “We did it!” she squealed.

He hugged her back.Maybe thiscouldbe something more!

Chapter Three

“Ididn’t even have time to text my parents that I actually got on another plane.” Reese tapped her front teeth nervously with one short, burgundy-colored nail.

“It’ll probably be okay. I texted my parents while you were getting in your seat, and I mentioned I was with you. By name. Knowing my mother, she’ll somehow know your mother, and she’ll put them in the loop. If not, they’ll have answers in under four hours.”

“Oh. Good.” She sat back, relaxed for the first time in over a day. Unlike their previous doomed flight, this plane understood the assignment. Within minutes of boarding and the flight crew securing the door, they were taxiing out of San Francisco and climbing into the air. If her math was right, they would arrive in Pensacola around six in the morning—local time.

“Flights are going to be booked solid. We might be able to get a standby ticket,” Derrick said, his voice weary and hesitant.

He means single seats. Long shots.

Not traveling together anymore.

The peace she’d had was replaced with a double helping of misery. First, Jeff. Now, Derrick.

You can’t even compare them. One was your boyfriend for a little over a year. Derrick isn’t even a friend. I don’t know if he’s a friend. Do adults just go up to one another like little kids on the swing set and ask, “Will you be my friend?”

“I am! I mean—we are. I thought. I think in this situation, yes, we’re friends.”

“Holy shit, did I say that out loud?” Reese turned her head to look at him, still flopped back in her seat.

Derrick laughed softly, patting her hand. “Yes. You did.” He sank back in his seat, too.

The flight attendants were already going around, offering to dim lights and handing out eyeshades. The little 737 they were on had two rows of two seats.

“This is kinda fun. A flying sleepover,” Reese sighed, snuggling into her seat and trying not to shiver. The long, chaotic day was washing over her. She was afraid she was going to start crying again, out of nowhere—maybe out of relief. “I’m so glad to be going home. To people who love me. I thought he loved me... When he threw me out, he made it clear there was pretty much nothing he liked about me but my—never mind.”

Derrick said nothing for a minute, then pulled out a square of faded yellow fabric from his laptop case. He unfolded it so many times that Reese stopped counting and just watched as it expanded into the size of a small throw blanket. He draped it over her and took a third for himself, scooting close to her. She reached between them and folded the armrest away, jumping slightly in her seat when their legs pressed together.

“He sounds like a liar to me. You’re really likable—even if you do things I don’t like.”

She winced. “I’m so,sosorry about dragging you into the whole performance back there. I’m usually not like that. Well—not that much like that. I just act fast.”

“Oh, that. No, I meant being a little bit...disorganized? Impetuous? I’m not good at that. Even as a kid, I had to know what was going to happen. I’m probably the only second-grader who asked for a day planner along with his Crayolas, light-up sneakers, and glue sticks for back-to-school shopping.”

“Oh, honey... That’s adorable and a little sad,” Reese couldn’t help the words that came out of her mouth—or the face that she made. “Did I mention I have no filter?”

“I figured that out,” he said dryly, pulling a face of his own. “But you’re right. Being that worried about details can be a little sad. Sometimes a person organizes themselves right into no social life and high blood pressure.”

“That sounds like an antacid commercial and a hospital bill waiting to happen.”

Derrick’s face slackened into a thoughtful frown.

To stop him from going down whatever mental rabbit hole he was considering, she blurted. “I’m organized at work. I just suck at managing my own life, apparently.”

“Well, we’ll be on the east coast in a few hours. That’s pretty good management if you ask me.” Derrick’s voice dropped to a hush as the cabin around them settled to sleep.

Reese squirmed closer, butterflies bursting into form in her belly as their hands brushed, then clasped under the blanket, and their legs moved to press more tightly together. “I’d rather get there in time for Christmas dinner than Christmas morning if it means I can have you with me,” she whispered.Another impetuous thing. A risk, making some stranger so important.

He doesn’tfeellike a stranger. And I have nothing to do but get to know him for the next day. Unless he freaks out.

Derrick wasn’t freaking. He was yawning. When he stopped, he smiled sleepily, face smushed into the side of the seat, glasses crooked. “I was thinking that, too.”

A shared smile. A beat where the butterflies flourished, but her heartbeat slowed.

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