Page 18 of Wishing for Christmas
Janie’s face softened. “Look, I understand you’re nervous, and you’re new to all this. But just try to relax a little. You’re getting yourself all spun up.” She pointed a perfectly manicured nail at something in front of them.
Clara looked over to see the taxiing plane coming closer. She couldn’t blink. She took in a shaky breath and held it, trying to figure out what was going on.
“Everything will be okay once you see him get off that plane,” Janie whispered.
Clara wasn’t sure if she was talking to her or to herself. All she knew about Janie at this point was that she wasn’t making any sense.
Clara grabbed her phone from her purse to make sure she had the time right. Yes, it was 10:15 a.m. on December 5—as it should be.
Suddenly, the memory of the night before at her grandmother’s house barreled into her mind. The wish she had made on that ornament! Clara stood motionless, her body completely paralyzed with fear. She stared at the people around her, having no idea where to set her gaze.
“No . . .” She said it out loud to nobody in particular. It couldn’t be—could it? She couldn’t possibly have skipped a whole year. That would be impossible. Right?
She quickly opened the calendar app on her phone and saw December staring back at her. December of next year.
Clara put a hand to her cheek. That didn’t mean anything. She’d been looking at next year’s calendar last night when she’d been thinking about Brent. She probably never closed it properly.
She needed to know. She could ask Janie point-blank, but she’d displayed enough of her cluelessness in front of this woman already. The last thing she needed was for her to think she was completely nuts.
Clara noticed Airman Peck standing off to the side. He was reading something on his tablet. As much as he intimidated her, she felt she could trust him. Someone like him wouldn’t goblabbing about the crazy lady who didn’t know what year it was, would he?
Her heart hammered in her chest as she approached him. “Excuse me, sir.” She cleared her throat. “I know this is a strange question, but . . .” She bit her lip. “What year is it?”
He looked up from his reading, a deep frown under that thicket of mustache. He simply shook his head to indicate he didn’t have time for her silliness. He pulled a piece of paper from a folder beneath his tablet and handed it to her, then walked off without answering the question.
Clara studied the paper. Her hands were shaking so violently it took a moment for her to realize what exactly she was looking at.
52nd Air Squadron Homecoming Schedule
Below it was the date in small bold letters. It was today’s date, except—NO! The year was wrong. Her jaw dropped. She felt dizzy and fluid as she entered some weird state of shock, as if her feet couldn’t quite sense the ground. She was practically spinning in complete and utter disbelief.
It was next year’s date.
“It actually worked,” Clara whispered, her eyes unblinking. She took in a long breath and then let out a bark of laughter, before quickly covering her mouth with her hand.
She couldn’t believe it. Her wish had come true.
She had skipped over the entire year.
CHAPTER NINE
BRENT
Brent looked out the window as the plane made a slow taxi. He was back.
He let the relief sink in after what had felt like the longest flight of his life. It hadn’t helped that he’d been a passenger for the past twelve hours. He would have much preferred to have been piloting the plane to distract him from his nerves. He shook out his hands. Flying was the last thing on his mind now. He was focused on a different, much more terrifying, mission. His heart pounded.What was taking them so long to bring this plane in for a stop?
Brent got out of his seat, then realized he couldn’t go anywhere. He sat back down. He couldn’t wait to take in a breath of that clean New Hampshire air. Mostly, he couldn’t wait to see Clara.
“So, you ready for this?” Will leaned over Brent from his seat to get a better view out the window.
“Sure am. No doubt in my mind.” It was true. Brent had complete faith in what he was about to do. He had been planning it out for months now and had spent the last several hours going over it in his mind. Now, he needed to get it right.
“There are my girls!” Will pointed outside.
Brent looked onto the tarmac below. He recognized Will’s family from the pictures he’d seen.
And there she was, beside them. He had to do a double take. Seeing Clara in the flesh after all this time made his head jerk back into the seat. Brent closed his eyes and felt his smile widen. It had beensolong. A year of video calls just wasn’t the same.
