Page 31 of Planes, Trains, and Candy Canes

“Sounds good.” Reese leaned over and kissed his cheek, fingers lacing with his.

A love story? Is it really love? Or just the thrill of some madcap adventure? He is a good actor—and so am I. What if we fooled ourselves?

Chapter Seven

Derrick woke up to a soft laugh beside him. “I asked the conductor on her last walkthrough. We just crossed into New York. We have one other stop at Binghamton, and then we hit the Pine Ridge station, which is what she called a ‘flying stop.’ I think that means she only expects a few minutes to get on and off, and knowing Pine Ridge’s station has literally two platforms, two benches, and a roof to keep the rain off, I get why she thinks that. Um... Oh, so about forty minutes, I guess, to account for the Binghamton stop. Can Dad come pick us up? No, he doesn’t need to borrow Julie’s minivan. I did have a ton of luggage, Mom, but it’s scattered across the US at this point. It’ll catch up, or I’ll be doing a lot of secondhand shopping at Chloe’s Curiosities.”

Derrick blinked a few times and turned his head. Reese was smiling as she looked out the window. The afternoon sky was gray, and flurries whipped past the window, streaks of white against the high speeds of the train.

“Hm? Yesss, put my baby girls on!” Reese suddenly sat up straighter and leaned forward, her tired face transformed with an ecstatic smile. In a second, she cooed, “Hi, Eva! Hi, Raylyn! It’s Aunt Reese. Yes, I’m on my way home, finally!Finally!Hm? You saved the presents I sent to open when I get there? Oh, you're sweetie pies. Tell you what, you give me a huge, big, rib-squasher of a hug when I get there, and then you won’t have to wait another second. Mommy told you I was bringing a what? An uncle? Oh, mommy is a goofy goose, isn’t she?” Reese turned to face him and jumped a little in her seat when she caught himlooking at her. Her cheeks turned pink almost at once, and she awkwardly turned back toward the window to finish talking to her nieces about the dollhouse they'd gotten.

She’s gonna be an awesome mom.

The thought hit him so hard that his knee jerked, sending his glasses flying from the tray table into the aisle, and instinctively, as nearsighted people do, he rushed after them, knowing he’d be blind as a bat without them.

Reese turned with a gasp, watching him crawl down the aisle past other startled passengers. “I’ve gotta go, babies,” she whispered. “But I’ll be home in time for dinner!” She hung up and turned to him as he clumsily sat back in his seat, glasses in hand. “Leg cramp?” she whispered sympathetically.

“Something like that.”

No. A mental spasm. In thirty-six years, twenty of them spent in the dating pool, Derrick had never thought about a woman being his wife or a mother in an attractive way. But seeing Reese smiling at him with the ring he’d slid on her finger and her faux baby bump made his insides go gooey and his brain short-circuit. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her, couldn’t keep from pretending that the ring was truly one he’d picked for a proposal, that the bump was really the start of their family.

“Do I have something between my teeth? Are my lips cracking? I’m so dehydrated right now.” Reese rummaged in her bag for her water bottle. She shook it, and only a faint splash could be heard.

“I was thinking you’re gorgeous and you’re going to be a great mom. And that I’m so lucky they canceled our flight. If they hadn’t, I wouldn’t have met you.” Derrick leaned over and kissed the soft spot behind her ear that made her sigh.

“You’re sweet—and maybe a little delirious. Jeff said I could barely keep myself on a schedule and if I ever tried to be a mom, the kid would be a holy terror.” Her face went from amused tosad. “I love being the fun aunt, but I’m in my thirties. I was hoping he might change his mind before it was too late for me to try...”

“I think we’ve already established Jeff is an asshole. So what if you’re not great with schedules? I bet you meet your project deadlines.”

“Religiously.”

“And your plans might be unconventional, but they work, don’t they?”

“Yeah, but they work better with you,” she leaned to the side, and their foreheads bumped gently.

“What Jeff should have said was, ‘You’ll be the awesome, fun mom who always makes things okay in the end, and I’ll be the responsible, boring dad who keeps baby on a schedule and helps organize whatever needs to be organized.’ That’s what he should have said. That’s what therightguy would say.”

Reese’s eyes bloomed with light, looking into his. “Is that what you’d say?”

“Yep.”

He expected her to finish their sweet exchange with a big kiss or a bigger smile. Instead, she pulled back, a tight, worried look across her features.

Derrick groaned internally.I’mnotthat good of an actor. I tried to act brave and suave and smooth—and I sounded like a pushy creep. Reese looks miserable.

“I’m sorry. I never even asked if—if you were thinking about that these days. Of course, you wouldn’t be. With me. Right now.”

Reese suddenly slammed her fist down onto his knee.

“Ow! God, I’m sorry I put my foot in my mouth. No need for violence!” Derrick hissed, cradling his leg as he protectively pulled it to his chest.

“You’re not a dream,” Reese muttered, almost as if talking to herself.

“I know that!”

“You seem like a dream come true, my dream man, everything I wished for. But it could be just... circumstances. I guess that’s what I’m afraid of. In thirty-two years—”

“It’s never clicked like this? So fast, so hard, so perfectly imperfect? Like you find yourself staring at her thinking she’s going to be a great mom, and that turns you on instead of freaks you out?” Derrick hazarded.

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