Page 196 of Modern Romance Collection March 2025 (1-4)

“It is,” he agreed. “But I have had some time to reflect, as I lay here incapacitated. Perhaps my life needs to change.”

“Really?”

“Isn’t that what a near-death experience is for? Reformation? Transformation?”

“I don’t know about that. I’m going to go back to my life the way that it was. I have responsibilities. I have people to take care of. I can’t afford to transform. I mean, if you give me money… I guess there will be something of a transformation. But I’m going to go right back to work. I’m going to get another plane, I’m going to make sure that I’m operational as quickly as possible. That’s all I want. Stability.”

“Stability?”

“Yes. Do you have any idea what it’s like? Watching your bank account, watching the money evaporate from it. Watching the price of eggs go up, and knowing that there’s nothing you can do, because God knows you need eggs. I mean, I have chickens for that very reason. So the eggs didn’t hit me that hard. But I don’t have a cow. The milk really is a burden.”

“No,” he said. “I don’t know what any of that’s like.”

“I feel like I work so hard, and it just… Never seems to be enough. It’s disheartening. Because you would think… I do an honest day’s work. I have a family home, and that makes me one of the lucky ones. My dad is still alive, and that’s lucky too. But he has medical issues, and they aren’t all covered under his Medicaid. Sometimes there are really expensive bills. And then there’s my sisters. They all need things. All the time. Everybody always needs things.”

“And what about you?”

She shook her head. “I’m the one earning the money. If I needed things too, that would just be irritating. I don’t work for me. I work for them.”

“That hardly seems fair.”

“Fair isn’t a thing. Didn’t anyone ever tell you that?”

“No.”

“Well. I’m here to tell you, life isn’t fair. So consider that your first time.”

He stared at her for a long moment. “What would you do if you had all the money in the world?”

“I would make sure my family was taken care of. For a start. Then I would try to fix some of the things that are broken. Some of the things that make it so people like me have to work so hard. Work so hard and never dig out. It’s like spinning on a hamster wheel. I don’t think it should be that way.”

“I see. And do you have ideas as to how to fix it?”

“If I had all the money in the world I would consult with the smartest people. I would invest the resources that I had—the money—and I would educate myself. And then I would listen to those people. There are a lot of experts who talk to world leaders, and I assume they get money for consulting. It’s big business. I also think it’s big business to keep the problems, rather than fix them. Because if people need their problems to be fixed, then they’re more likely to care about what this candidate or that candidate is doing.”

“American politics,” he said. “I am blessedly unfamiliar.”

“All right. You’re not American. Well. I have a dim view. I’m out here working hard trying my best to make a living, and it’s never gotten me much.”

“I will fix that,” he said. “I swear to you.”

“Well. I appreciate it. And I’ll hold you to it. If we get out of here.”

She couldn’t even worry that much about the reward. They had to get to safety first. All of it was theoretical if this man died.

“I’m going to go outside and try to see if I can find what we need to start a fire.”

She looked at him one last time and found she had a hard time catching her breath. Then she turned and moved to the plane’s makeshift exit.

She blinked against the harsh light and let her eyes adjust.

It was beautiful out here, even though it was austere. Even though they were trapped.

It was quiet. In some ways, more restful than her life usually was.

But she had to make sure they had water. And it would be best if she could figure out how to get a fire going outside too.

She tramped into the woods, trying to shake off any of the fear that she felt. Any concern about wild animals. She was hell-bent on finding something to help her clear away some snow, and get some dry wood.

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