Going Gone by Sharon Sala

slightly and leaned forward, bracing herself for impact.
    Cameron frowned. He didn’t know what was going through her mind, but he could tell it was bad. Her knuckles were white and her body was shaking.
    “You’re okay, baby. You’re okay.”
    She could hear voices. People were talking and laughing, nothing like what she’d heard before. No praying. No crying. She took a breath and finally looked. There was a family of three in front of them: a man, a woman and a small child in a stroller. It cleared the emotional confusion but not the fear.
    The closer they got to the plane, the colder the air became. When they reached the end of the ramp, she had to stand up. The attendant stood aside with the wheelchair while the family in front of them folded up the stroller and tagged it for baggage. These were all simple ordinary tasks. She could do this.
    And then she glanced toward the plane, saw tiny flakes of snow blowing in through a small gap by the open door and grabbed Cameron’s arm, her voice mirroring the panic she felt as she said, “It’s snowing.”
    Cameron nodded. “Just tiny little flakes. Look, there’s nothing on the ground. It’s okay, honey. Just take my hand.”
    “You go first,” she begged.
    He stepped into the plane and paused, waiting for her to step across. He could see the horror in her eyes as she looked down.
    “Look at me, honey. Don’t look down. Look at me.”
    Their gazes locked, and she stepped in.
    “Is everything all right?” a flight attendant asked, eyeing Laura.
    “It will be,” Cameron said.
    He’d gotten tickets in first class, knowing she was going to need all the pampering and room she could handle just to make the trip, then led her a few steps to their seats.
    The flight attendant took their coats as Cameron got Laura settled in the window seat and buckled her up.
    “You’ve already taken your pills, so you’ll feel easier soon,” he said, then gave her a brief kiss of reassurance as he settled into the seat beside her.
    His lips were warm and gentle. He was familiar. She was safe. It was going to be all right.
    She glanced out the window at the ground crew loading luggage and remembered opening all the suitcases inside their plane and using the clothes she found to stay warm. If it happened again, she wouldn’t be able to get to the luggage this time, because it was in the belly of the plane. Maybe there would be enough clothing in the carry-on bags. And then she caught herself.
    What was she doing? The plane wasn’t going to crash. She had already had her plane crash and lived through it. Surely God didn’t let things like that happen twice.
    A flight attendant stopped by their seats.
    “Can I get either of you something to drink?” she asked.
    Startled, Laura almost jumped, then focused on the question.
    “Coffee? Could I have coffee? I can’t seem to stay warm today.”
    “Certainly,” the attendant said, then looked at Cameron. “How about you, sir? Anything to drink?”
    “Coffee is fine,” he said, and then turned his attention to Laura again as the attendant walked away. “It will be a while till they finish boarding and we pull away from the gate, but the meds will kick in before then. Do you want to go to the bathroom before we take off?”
    She nodded and unbuckled her seat belt.
    Cameron stood up, then helped her back up the aisle.
    “She needs the restroom,” he said.
    As Laura went in and locked the door, the flight attendant glanced at the bathroom, and then at him.
    “Is she okay? Is she not feeling well?”
    He flashed his FBI badge and then dropped it back in his pocket.
    “She’s not sick. She’s scared.”
    The attendant acknowledged the badge as she smiled sympathetically.
    “Ah, is this her first flight?”
    “No, but this is her first flight since a crash.”
    The pilot was standing in the doorway to the cockpit, listening. When he heard that, he frowned.
    “What crash was that?” he asked.
    “Two weeks ago. A private jet