Chapter 1 Timing
Timing
The departure board glared down at him like a judge handing out a sentence.
Neon letters blurred slightly as he squinted up at it, the blue screen doing absolutely nothing for the jackhammer currently going off in his skull.
And then, just to add insult to injury, came the laughter—shrill, high-pitched, hyena-level cackling from a group nearby that clearly hadn’t gotten the memo that airports were not a place for joy.
He wanted to snap. Or at least throw a look sharp enough to make them rethink breathing. But then—
“Where are you headed?”
The voice cut through the chaos. Too close. Too loud. Too… something. Jaxon turned, ready to unload whatever sarcastic one-liner his headache could muster.
But the words got lost in his throat.
Green eyes. Sea-glass green, soft and steady like a tide just before it crashes. A brunette stood there, close enough to touch, with a kind of calm that didn’t belong in a place like this. Her voice had been louder than necessary, but her expression wasn’t demanding—it was curious. And kind.
Still half-asleep and all the way thrown off, he blinked and said the first word that came to mind. “Home.”
She laughed. Awkward. A little confused. “Well, okay then.”
And just like that, she turned and walked off with her group—gone in a blur of sunlight hair and laughter that didn’t give him a second glance.
Jaxon stood there like a jackass. Blinking. Processing.
Home? Really? That’s all you had?
He ran a hand over his face and shook his head. “Dumbass,” he muttered, dragging his feet toward his gate. “You could’ve at least tried to sound human.”
By the time he made it through the crowd and onto his 9:00 AM flight to Wilmington, the wheels of his carry-on were practically smoking.
He shoved the bag into the overhead bin and dropped into his seat with a sigh, pulling at his tie like it might give him back some oxygen.
A headache still pounded behind his eyes, and the promise of caffeine was nowhere in sight.
He leaned his head back and tried to zone out.
But then came the noise.
That same fucking group from earlier—laughter, chatter, energy that didn’t belong before noon—came flooding down the aisle. And with them? Her.
The brunette. The green-eyed calm in the chaos.
She stopped right beside him.
“So, this is your way home?”
Jaxon looked up—and for the first time that morning, really smiled. “It is.”
Claire. That was her name. She told him as she settled into the seat next to his.
“I’m Jaxon,” he offered, holding out a hand with the kind of charm he should’ve led with earlier.
“Claire,” she said, slipping her hand into his. Warm. Confident. Unshaken.
“I’m sorry about earlier. I’m not exactly a morning person. You caught me in full survival mode.”
“I figured,” she said with a smirk. “The suit and the death glare kind of gave it away.”
“I had a business meeting last night that went too long, ended too late, and involved way too many drinks. And then I had the brilliant idea to schedule a morning flight. So, here I am. Regret in a suit.”
Claire laughed. Soft. Real. The kind that made something shift in his chest, just slightly, like the tide brushing against something buried deep.
As the plane pulled onto the runway, he caught her white-knuckling the armrest.
“Nervous flyer?” he asked.
“Not really. Just hate this part—takeoff always feels like losing control.”
He nodded. “Yeah. I get that.”
She glanced over, her lips quirking. “Have you ever been to Wilmington before?”
“A few times. I don’t live too far from there. Just flew out for business.”
“I thought so. You had that 'I’m here to make a deal and disappear’ look.”
He chuckled. “And here I thought I looked approachable.”
She smirked. “Not even a little.”
“Guess I’ll have to work on that.”
As the plane lifted off the ground, something shifted—not in the air, but between them. Unspoken, subtle, but there. And even though Jaxon had boarded this plane wishing for silence, for solitude, for just a damn moment to recover—
He didn’t mind this.
Didn’t mind her.
Didn’t mind the sound of her voice over the dull roar of the engines, or the way she made the flight feel like something more than just a commute.
He’d been expecting a quiet flight.
But instead?
He got Claire.