Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
Zoe
We board the plane with no problem—him in the aisle and me in the middle seat.
“I hope you don’t mind that I took the aisle seat,” he says as he sits next to me.
I instantly chuckle, pointing out the difference between my knees, where I have a ton of room, and his, where he’s touching the seat in front of him. I’m not sure if he can even put the tray down fully.
“I’m not even five feet tall. I think you were justified, wanting to be able to stretch your legs.”
He smiles, and for the first time with me, I feel like it’s genuine.
I don’t question it or wonder what this feeling inside me is when I see him smile like that. Instead, I go back to getting myself situated and put my bag under the seat in front of me.
“Do you fly much?” he asks, and I shake my head, making him turn to me. “Are you afraid to fly?”
I nod, then whisper, “A little.”
He looks forward again. “Don’t be. My mom always says flying is safer than driving.”
“Yeah, but your odds of surviving a car crash are higher than a plane crash.” I state the fact, but it only makes my stomach turn more.
“But how many plane crashes have you heard of? Whereas car crashes happen daily, hourly even.” He makes his point as he keeps his focus straight ahead.
I turn to him, my panic starting to rise even more. “You do realize on Septem—”
He holds up his finger. “Don’t go there.” He turns in his seat to face me, leveling his eyes with mine. “You’re going to be just fine.”
He raises his eyebrows, silently asking if I’m going to say anything else. With a huff, I sit back in my seat.
“Here.” He reaches in his pocket and pulls out a pair of earbuds in a package. “I never used these on my last flight, so I brought them today. You can use them now to get your mind off of things.”
I narrow my eyes in question. “I have earbuds.”
“Yeah, but do they have this old-school plug that hooks up to the TV screen?” He points to where he’s talking about.
“I booked Delta because they offer the best in-flight TV options, which you can watch as soon as you’re seated.
” He clicks on the screen, which shows options of movies, series, and even live TV.
“Find something to watch, and that should help get your mind off of things.”
I take the earbuds from him, and he leans back in his seat with his head against the rest and his eyes closed.
“Won’t you need a pair?” I ask, slightly confused as to why he’s being so nice to me.
He keeps his eyes closed, almost like he’s preparing to take a nap. “They’ll hand them out shortly. I’ll get a pair then.”
I can’t believe he can be so calm in this situation!
I inhale a breath, trying to feed off his energy, when I see the flight attendant walk by. Knowing they do this every day for work makes me feel a little better.
I take the earbuds out, plug them into the hole provided, and click through the new releases provided on the screen ahead of me. Once I make my selection of a fun rom-com, I sit back in my seat and try to focus on only that.
As the plane starts to roll back from the gate, I grip the armrests, close my eyes, and breathe.
A warm hand wrapping around mine makes me jump in my seat. When I open my eyes and look at David, he doesn’t move his hand; no, he keeps it there, comforting me but still keeping his eyes shut and his head back.
My fear of flying instantly shifts to panic over David touching me and just how much I like that he’s doing so.
I tell myself to move my hand, but my body won’t listen to my mind because I know, right now, this is giving me the exact comfort I need to make it through takeoff, and him holding my hand is better than me screaming out.
I inhale a deep breath and try to go back to focusing on the movie in front of me.
The plane taxis for a little bit, turning right, then left. Each second that ticks by, bringing us closer to taking off, makes it harder for me to breathe. We make one last turn, and before I can think, we start going faster and faster down the runway.
I place my head back in the seat, and as the plane lifts off the ground, I turn my hand to grip David’s. He not only grips my hand back, but he also takes his other hand and cups my hand in both of his, comforting me in a way that no one else has before.
“Just breathe,” I hear him say, so I turn to look at him, keeping my head against the headrest.
Our eyes meet, and we both stay like that for a few seconds before I blink and look forward again. My heart is pounding for a very different reason now.
He squeezes my hand once more, then releases it now that we’re in the air and leveled out.
My movie cuts out when the flight attendant comes across the PA system, welcoming us aboard and talking about the offerings available on this flight. When she mentions adult beverages, I sigh in relief.
I’m definitely going to need one of those, stat!
We make it through the flight with me watching two movies while David works a little on his laptop, then watches some sports.
I feel bad about not pulling out my laptop to get some stuff done, but there is just no way I can focus on any task that doesn’t involve me freaking out about having David right next to me—or the fact that we’re currently floating through air for that matter.
The movies do a decent job of helping me forget, so I decide to keep with that, and I’ll work some when I get back to the hotel.
As we prepare for landing, my heart sinks again. The thought of the pilot purposefully bringing us down out of the sky, almost like we’re falling, makes me panic even more internally.
David turns to me, leaning down to whisper, “Air Force or Navy?”
“Um, what?” I ask, having no clue what he meant by that.
“Do you think the landing will be like an Air Force landing or a Navy one?”
My eyes meet his, and the playful way his eyes crinkle at the sides makes me smile, so I decide to play along. “How would we know?”
“A pilot from the Air Force is going to land smoothly, like they have all the time—and runway—in the world. Whereas a pilot from the Navy is going to land hard and fast, like they are landing on a battleship with very little room to get it right.”
I take in his explanations, which make sense, but I wonder if any of it is true.
I shake my head, trying to hide the way he’s making my smile want to come out even more. “I have no clue.”
“I’m hoping, for your sake, it’s Air Force.”
He sits back in his seat while my smile goes from there to gone in a millisecond.
“Why would you say that? Is Navy bad? Should I be worried?”
A grin tugs on his lips. “I’m kidding. Even the worst Navy landing is still spectacular, and you want to know why?”
I bite my inner lip in thought. “Why?”
“Because you’ve landed and you’re secure on the ground,” he whispers, leaning in.
I push him away, making him laugh at his own words.
With my head back against the headrest, I hold on to the armrests again and wait for the landing, wondering if it will be an Air Force or Navy one.
When David covers my hand with his again, I feel all the fear and tension release from me.
How can one small touch affect me this deeply?
I don’t move my hand, and neither does he. Instead, I let myself sink into the quiet protection he offers.
Knowing he’s right there next to me if anything were to go wrong comforts me in ways I didn’t know were possible. I’ve heard others talk about the security a man can offer, but I’ve never understood it until now.
I close my eyes just as we touch down in the smoothest manner, the tires only skidding once before the brakes are applied and we slow down, hearing the force of the plane fighting against the wind on the ground.
I turn to David, who gives me a crooked grin.
“Air Force,” is all he says, and I can’t help but laugh.
Thank God for the Air Force.