Page 6 of Planes, Trains, and Candy Canes

“Lou, this is silly.”

“Quiet, Hannah.”

“I willnotbe quiet. This is a sign! First, you lose your keys. Then, our flight is delayed until eight. Now, it’s eleven! Eleven, Lou, and they still haven’t pre-boarded.”

Reese knew she had many faults. After all, Jeff had spent twenty minutes loudly proclaiming them to her through a locked apartment door.

Nosiness and impulsiveness were high on his list.

Idiot. He’s an idiot. Why didn’t I see it before? I’m not nosy and impulsive. I’m quick on my feet and inquisitive. Like a cat. Or an investigative reporter.

Shamelessly “investigating,” Reese sidled closer to a plump older woman with unnaturally black hair who was in the process of prying a shoe off of one swollen foot. Beside her, a man kepttaking out an unlit cigar and then his cell phone, pacing around her in a circle.

“I don’t want to spend Christmas with Hank Meyer. You haven’t seen him since your twentieth high school reunion, and all he did was tease you about your beer gut and your hairline. You sulked for two months after we got home. I don’t care if he is renting a fishing boat next week—I don’t want to spend Christmas with that man. I want to spend it here with the kids!”

“The kids? The same kids that you say never call?” Lou chomped on the end of the cigar, made a face, then shoved it back in his pocket.

“They don’t call enough, but they were all disappointed when we said we wouldn’t be home for Christmas.”

“Well... We can’t host it now!”

“But we could go to Sarah’s house! It’s only an hour away. If we’re in Pensacola all week, we won’t get to see the boys when they come in from Fresno.”

“Pensacola!” Reese whispered, hand to her mouth.

“Sorry, what?” Derrick came to stand beside her.

She whirled to face him, eyes bright. “That couple has tickets to Pensacola. The wife doesn’t want to go. She wants to be with their kids for Christmas, not his old high school buddy.”

Derrick’s eyebrows slowly climbed. “Uh... That’s rough? Are you like—a marriage counselor?”

“Me? Oh, no, I work as an urban planning consultant for sewage and water infrastructure.”

“Then I don’t know what you expect us to do about their problems.”

“Get their tickets. A flight from Pensacola to New York is only around three hours.”

“How did you figure—”

“Shh! Geography and urban planning stuff. Ready?”

“Huh? Ready for—”

“To get them to give us their tickets!” Reese whispered urgently, mind working faster than her mouth. She knew that would be a problem. Derrick would probably run off screaming.Definitelyrun off screaming. If you were going to pull off a hare-brained scheme, you really needed to have both people aware of what was going oninsaid hare-brain.

“Put your shoes back on, Hannah. Look, we’re at the top of the list now, see?” Lou adjusted a faded orange and white ball cap and pointed toward the sign showing pre-boarding, boarding, and departure status.

“Shit, this has to be good. And fast.” She dragged Derrick toward the couple as Hannah reluctantly began to wedge her shoes back on.

“Whathas to be good and fast?” Derrick balked, pulling back against her, lean frame surprisingly strong. “You’re not a mugger, are you?”

“Are you kidding? I’m too clumsy,” Reese hissed, yanked hard, and collapsed into a seat right across from the older couple. Channeling all the angst of the last day and the frustration of trying to fly home for Christmas, Reese tipped her head back and let out a dramatic wail.

All around her, people stopped. Stared.

Good. Let them look.

“Uh... Reese. I...” Derrick fumbled his lines, but he came and sat beside her, looking panicked.

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