Page 4 of Planes, Trains, and Candy Canes

“Thirty-six.”

“Just missed each other! I didn’t move to Pine Ridge until middle school.”

“Yeah, so we would have missed each other there, too.” Derrick smiled and waited for the woman to realize that she hadn’t introduced herself.

“Oh! I’m Reese Brittijn.”

Nope. Never heard that last name in town growing up.“That’s a new name for me.”

“It’s Dutch. Or did you mean the first one? It’s like the candy,” she winked.

He had to laugh. “I meant the last one. Brittijn?”

“Very good! Pronounced it right on the first try!” Reese beamed at him, and those silly bubbles came back. “So, you have family in Pine Ridge?”

“Mhm. Lived there my whole life—except for college.”

“That’s so funny, because I actually went to college in town, at NYU Pine Ridge, obviously, and then I left and only come back around the holidays—unless my family travels. My dad still has family in Holland and Belgium, so sometimes we just fly there.”

“Cool, cool. Yeah, that’s funny. I’m a homebody. I have to travel for work, but I plan everything out so nothing interferes with my schedule at home. My family time.”

Was it his imagination, or did her eyes dim a little when he said family time?

Well, duh. She just lost her boyfriend and his family, whatever they meant to her.

“Well, I bet your kids will be glad that you’re home in time for Christmas,” Reese said, voice slightly thick even as she tried to hang onto her smile.

“Well, my nieces and nephews, sure. I’m not the ‘fun uncle,’ but I’m the uncle who gives money and gift cards to the toy store.”

“Hey, that sounds like fun to me. Everyone needs that uncle. I’m the wacky fun aunt. You know, the one who still gets involved in the pillow fights and takes my nieces to see the gingerbread building competition at the high school, even though it’s way past their bedtime.”

Derrick smiled. “Now Iknowyou’re from Pine Ridge. My mom used to force my sisters and me to compete in the junior division until we got smart and started eating all the supplies as soon as she gave them to us. To this day, I can’t see a red or green gumdrop without thinking of being grounded.” Derrick shook his head and smiled ruefully. Reese was very easy to talk to. He might not mind the six-hour flight...which really needed to get moving.

Other people on the jam-packed flight had noticed, too. A veteran of work-related travel, Derrick sensed the shift from “getting settled muttering” to “impatient muttering” and observed the uptick of anxious neck-craning. Next to him, Reese’s smooth brown brows were sliding into a vee of confusion. “Is it actually almost eight?”

“Eight?” Their departure time was seven.

A member of the flight crew stood in front of the seats. The muttering calmed as people expected her to begin giving out the safety instructions. Instead, she began, “Ladies and gentlemen...There’s a problem with the plane ahead of us. The captain is requesting everyone deplane until further notice, but stay in the terminal. We may be able to take off by midnight.”

“Midnight?” Reese gasped.

“Midnight!” Derrick winced at the onslaught of noise around them.

“This is crazy. Tow the other plane off the runway!” someone yelled behind them.

“I have a connection in Buffalo to London!” another tearful, over-stressed voice rang out.

“This is bad,” Reese murmured, her hand suddenly in his, her eyes wide. “What do we do?”

“Do?”We? Since when is there a we?

But he didn’t let go of her hand.

“All of my stuff is on this plane, and I—”

“If you have a connecting flight, someone at the Flightlife desk inside the airport will be able to—”

The flight attendant stopped speaking abruptly as a loud “ding” came from overhead. “Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for flying with Flightlife today. This is your captain speaking. Unfortunately, we’ve just heard from the tower that a sudden severe weather pattern has blown up over the Rockies that is grounding all flights to the northeast. This is unrelated to the previous delay. Due to the severe storms, this flight is canceled. Your luggage will be returned to the baggage claim within the next few hours, and the friendly staff at the Flightlife counter will help—”

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