Page 3 of A Secret Crush Valentine's

Icicles of tears in the heart of the snow.

You disappeared on the cusp of tomorrow.

She shook her head. Somehow, no matter what she wrote, it ended up being about that day, abouthim.

Sixteen years, and you still can’t get him out of your head,she thought with a mirthless chuckle.Good going there, Julia. Next, you’ll be writing books about him.

Daphne was right. Leopardsdidn’tchange their spots.

A figure moving in the corner of her vision made her look up. It wasn’t Daphne, she realized. A flight attendant had paused in the aisle to speak to the arguing passengers. A moment later, the git with the buzz cut and headphones got up and followed the attendant along the aisle.

At least that’s settled.

Julia looked away, settling back into her thoughts.

Now, I’ll travel through this frozen expanse

Of my heart, and someday I’ll dance

To the fading echoes of our love’s song

I’ll remember you, forever gone.

It wasn’t like she hadn’t loved anyone sincehe’ddisappeared. She’d dated a couple of guys at Oxford, one of whom was the most perfect gentleman she’d ever met. When she returned to the States and settled in Vegas, she’d gone steady with someone else for a little over a year.

Okay, to be honest, they were all really nice guys, but what she’d felt for them had been platonic. There had been dates, of course, but she’d never actually let any of them into her bed because she’d never been able to picture any of them gettingthatclose to her heart. In fact, whenever she thought about it, onlyoneperson came to mind.

It made no sense that she couldn’t get him completely out of her head.

Then again—

Before she could complete that thought, she was jolted in her seat as a violent shudder rocked the plane. Julia’s fingers found the armrests of her seat, gripping them for dear life as the realization swept over her: This wasn’t turbulence, not like the previous tremors. Something was wrong.

A series of gasps swept through the cabin, informing her that other passengers shared her sentiment.

“What the hell just happened?” exclaimed someone.

She glanced toward the window just in time to see flames streak past. The sky was still mostly clear. Her gaze dipped, and she took in the sight of the trees and snow-covered mountain peaks and—

Wait, what in the world…?

“We’ve lost our wings!” someone else yelled.

“Oh, God, we’re all going to die!”

Julia barely had time to process the statement before the plane shuddered once more and dipped. They were going down, she realized. Andfast.

What was supposed to be a vacation for her had turned into a nightmare in the wink of an eye. Amid her panic, she swept her gaze about and saw that the other passengers felt the same way. Some were holding hands, eyes shut in prayer. Others simply braced themselves in their seats as if in acceptance of their fate.

Overhead, lights flickered, which did nothing to relieve the terror that engulfed her. She shut her eyes as a beeping filled her ears, almost drowned out by the screams of the passengers. She braced herself, opting to accept the inevitable fate that awaited her on the ground. She was going to die. What was more, she was never going to get that vacation she’d been so excited about.

She heard a series of deep groans like the metal hull of a plane slowly coming apart. Like the icy surface of a lake slowly giving away beneath the weight of two bodies.

But she knew it wasn’t the lake. This wasn’t ice cracking.

When she heard the explosion a moment later, she didn’t hit the water. She didn’t drown.

She spun into nothingness.

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