Page 89 of The Fallen Man
“Where’s mine?” asked Jackson, when she stepped back. He got a hug too and then Dominique smiled at them and wiped her cheeks.
“I’m going to go on the plane and I will not crawl under the chair.”
“I don’t know why you would,” said Aiden, “but thank you for not doing that? I really am going to have to stop missing out on these conversations. I end up completely lost. But yay, plane?”
“Yay plane,” said Dominique.
Jackson could tell Dominique was nervous boarding the plane, but Aiden cracked jokes, and Evan offered tips on breathing and basic statements of safety, and she made it into her seat and through take-off without panicking.
“Evan’s right,” she said when he took the seat next to her for check-in. “It’s a lot easier to face something when I have people I trust with me. Do you know how much that would have killed me to say when I was twelve? God, I hated when Evan was right. I just plain hated him, actually. Now I can’t imagine him not being here. It scares me—how close we came to losing him.”
“He’s come through all right,” said Jackson, although he understood her fear.
“Yes, he did. We all have. Our family has changed so much, Jackson.”
“Well, I’m here for one thing,” he joked.
“Yes,” she said, but her expression was serious. “That’s what changed everything. You’re a goddamn miracle.”
Jackson laughed. “Not a miracle, just Pete’s sleuthing skills and Grandma being stubborn about collecting the full set of kids.”
Dominique nodded. “If you say so. But still, thanks for sticking with us. I love that you are part of our family now.”
Jackson knew he blushed. He didn’t know what to say.
“And I love being part of the family,” he said at last.
“Good. Now, go away. I’m going to take a nap.”
Jackson laughed. “Yes, Nika.”
He returned to his own seat and tried to settle in for the remainder of the flight. He checked his phone again, knowing that there wasn’t any point. Katie hadn’t called the day before and she wasn’t going to call today either.
“Miss Nice still hasn’t called?” asked Aiden without looking up from the tablet he was looking at.
“What?” asked Jackson, even though he knew exactly what Aiden meant.
“You’ve checked your phone three times in the last half-hour without an alert. You talked to Pete an hour ago and agreed that he would call if there were news. So, it can’t be Pete. That means it’s someone you would like to call, but that someone has not called.”
“Stop prying,” said Jackson.
“Not so fun when it’s you, is it?” Aiden finally looked up, his eyes dancing. He was enjoying this far too much.
“Shut up.”
“What are we talking about?” asked Evan dropping into the seat on the plane across from Aiden.
“The girl that Jackson is dating.”
Jackson glared at Aiden. Did he have to blab everything to everyone? Evan was going to think is sounded even worse than Aiden did.
“We’re not dating!”
“Ask him why they’re not dating,” whispered Aiden.
“Why aren’t you dating?” Evan whispered at Jackson. They both stared at him, waiting.
“She doesn’t want a boyfriend,” Jackson repeated, twisting awkwardly in his seat. It was a private plane. How were the seats still uncomfortable?
