“I’ve been on a lot of flights, some with turbulence worse than this. We’re going to be fine.”
“I don’t believe you. That’s what you tell a stupid kid, so she doesn’t know she’s about to die.” She looks at me, tears in her eyes. “Tell Gentry I’m sorry. I don’t hate her. I just wanted to livemy life, and now I’m going to diiieee. I miss my mom and my dad. Why did they leave?” For the first time, she actually sounds like the kid she is, and my heart aches for her.
She drops her head on my shoulder and starts to sob.
“Oh, my God,” Sophie calls back from one row up. “You’re so freaking dramatic, Em. It’s just turbulence, like he said.”
How much of our conversation has she been able to hear?
“She’s right.” I rub Emily’s back as the plane continues to rock.
“I’m too young to die,” Emily says through her tears. “I haven’t even had sex yet. Or driven a car. Or—”
“This is your captain speaking.” The voice comes out tinny through the speakers. “We’ve hit a bit of turbulence, but that should be the worst of it. We’re looking at smooth sailing the rest of the way to Denver.”
Emily sits up, her face damp, her eyes red. The plane is flying evenly now, and everyone around us is calm and chatting or reading or sleeping.
“We really aren’t crashing?” she asks.
“Duh,” Sophie calls back.
Emily’s smile dawns slowly. “I’m going to live?”
“You’re going to live,” I say.
She lets out a sigh of relief so deep I feel it in my bones. I also feel it in my nostrils because the scent burns.
“I’m not going to waste this second chance,” she says. “I just need a plan to get Gentry off my back. She needs to be distracted and have a life of her own. She needs…” Emily stares off into the distance. “She needs…”
“A boyfriend?” Sophie calls back.
“Yes!” Emily grins and bounces in her seat. “She needs a boyfriend.”
“Okay. I’m in,” I say.
Her brow crinkles in confusion. “What?”
“I’ll be her boyfriend.” There’s no way in hell Gentry will date me, but I definitely don’t want Emily trying to fix her up with anyone else.
She frowns. “But I don’t like you. All you’ve done is yell at me and call me names.”
I shrug. “You got any better options?”
She studies me, her smile returning, and I don’t like the calculating look in her eyes. “You love her.”
“I wouldn’t go that far.”
“You love her and you want to marry her,” Emily says. “So, if I set her up with you, I’ll be doing you a huge favor. You’ll owe me.”
“That’s not how this is going to work, kid.”
“So ask her out,” Emily says, far too energetically for someone who’s supposed to be hungover. “If you want her, you shouldn’t need my help.”
“Gah,” Sophie calls back. “Don’t you pay attention to anything? Gentry hates him. She says he’s an egotistical player.”
Emily’s shoulders drop and, for an instant, she looks exactly like Gentry. It makes my chest ache. “I guess we can find someone else,” she says.
Sophie gets up and comes over to us. She kneels next to my seat. “If we get you together with Gentry, you have to promise to get her off our backs.”
