Page 3 of Planes, Trains, and Candy Canes

He’s cute, sure, but I’m not the rebound type.

Am I?

Stop thinking like that. You’ll never see him again after you get off the plane—maybe even after you get out of this terminal. He looks like a first-class type, and you’re strictly economy.

“OH, HELLO, AGAIN.”Derrick squeezed into his window seat as a blinding flash of neon pink came level with his cheek.

“Oh, hey! I’m so sorry about your email! Did you manage to save it?” the woman asked, collapsing into the seat next to himwith a startled cry. “Sorry!” she called to the person behind her—or maybe she was apologizing to him. Or to the man she’d just bumped intoandhim. Without even knowing her name, Derrick felt like he could bet a twenty on the fact that this woman went through life jumping from one series of minor mishaps to the next.

And she’s sitting next to me. On an airplane.

If this was a movie, the scary music would start just now.

The man on the aisle seat clicked his seatbelt into place, pulled an eye shade over his eyes, and started snoring almost at once. Across the aisle, the woman who was presumably his wife pulled out an identical eye shade and did the same thing.

“Wish I could do that. On the other hand, I didn’t take two Sleepisoms thirty minutes ago,” Cute-but-Chaotic whispered.

“Oh, are you traveling with them?” Derrick asked, breaking his rule not to engage strangers on long flights in conversation.

“No, no. I—I’m traveling home for Christmas. For good. Alone.”

She’s going to start crying again, Derrick thought with panic as he shoved himself over as far as he could, watching the lady blink and take deep breaths while wrestling with her bag, purse, laptop case, and a wad of paper napkins. “Um—family in Buffalo?” he asked, purely for distraction purposes, dodging a paperback that flew from the bag as she finally seemed to settle.

“Hm? Oh, no. Pine Ridge, New York. It’s like an hour away from the PA state border, up in the mountains.”

Well, I started—and now I can’t stop. Derrick, you idiot, this is why you don’t engage in conversations.“That’s crazy! I’m from Pine Ridge, too. I would normally have flown into—”

“Binghamton, but all the flights were booked?” Her tearful eyes widened as she beamed at him like a long-lost friend.

Shit, I like that feeling.His whole chest seemed to fill with bubbles of light when she grinned at him, excitement and hope in her eyes.

“Exactly! I have to travel for work a few times a year, and this trip was scheduled just a week ago. All flights were already booked.”

“Tell me about it. I had to pull this together in tw-twenty-four hours.” The edge of a tremor came back into her voice. “My boyfriend—ex-boyfriend, I guess, threw me out. Changed the locks and everything. I didn’t even get to say goodbye to my spider plants.”

“That sucks. Right at Christmas, too.”

“Uh-huh. He was leaving today to drive to Tahoe to be with his family for Christmas. I was going to go with him and meet them for the first time. We were packing together yesterday morning for the trip. Then I went out to pick up a gift I’d special ordered, and when I got home last night—not only were my bags packed for the week—but he’d packedeverything.”

“Oh, my God. That’s crazy. What a jerk.” Derrick uttered the polite phrases one was expected to say upon hearing about scummy break-ups, but he actually felt a tide of anger rising in him, bursting all the excited bubbles she’d created with her smile.

“Yeah. Sorry. Chronic oversharer when I’m dealing with drama. Or trauma. It keeps me off the hard stuff,” she forced a laugh and finally noticed he was holding her paperback. She gently retrieved it from his outstretched hand. “Candy?”

“No, thanks.”

“Are you sure? I’ve got chocolate and peanut butter, and chocolate and peppermint?” she started rummaging in one of the bags.

The need to stop her from pulling out one more thing and adding to the little puddle of chaos next to him wasoverwhelming. “No! I’m good, really. So—Pine Ridge? It’s not really atinytown, but I feel like I know almost everyone—or I know someone who knows them. I’m Derrick. Derrick Walters.”

“Oh, my gosh. Are you Chrissy Walters' brother?”

“Her cousin!”

“I went to high school with her! We graduated together!”

“Ohhh, that’s probably why we didn’t bump into each other. If you were in the same class as Chrissy, I had already left for college.”

“I’m thirty-two.”

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