From Glowing Embers

Chapter 3

  Gray stalked down the airplane aisle to his seat. The flight attendant who had been talking to Jody shot the little girl a smile and moved away so that Gray could take his seat. His fists were still clenched when he sat down and buckled his seat belt. He rarely miscalculated anything, but in the last half hour he had made two serious errors. One, he had not realized that Julie Ann—he grimaced—Julianna might be on the flight. Two, he had not anticipated the extent of her bitterness. He had expected her to be shocked when she saw him, even cynical, perhaps. But he had never expected hostility.

  Ten years was a long time to be that bitter. But why should he have believed it would be any different?

  “Are you scared?”

  Gray turned to the wide-eyed little girl beside him. He had been so deep in thought that for a moment he didn’t know what she was referring to. Then the plane seemed to drop out from under him, lurching as it recovered, and he realized she was talking about the flight. “There’s nothing to be scared of,” he reassured her as the plane continued to fight its way through the winds buffeting it from every side

  “I’m scared anyway,” she confided.

  “This is a very big plane. It’s made to fly in this kind of weather. We’re going to be fine.”

  “That lady gave me headphones.” Jody held up an orange plastic headset that looked like a stethoscope. “She said listening to music helps if you’re afraid.” Jody plugged the headphones into a connection on her seat and settled them over her ears.

  Gray was almost sorry to have the little girl’s attention diverted. With nothing to distract him now, his thoughts returned to Julianna. But it wasn’t the adult he remembered. It was Julie Ann, eighteen and frightened and head over heels in love with him.