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“Where are we?” I asked.
“Over the water,” Sandra said, turning on a switch on the instrument panel. “We’re slightly off-course. Florida is to the west of where we are, but it’s too far away. I don’t think we can make it there.”
As she spoke, another flash of lightning appeared, this one much closer to the plane than the last, and I couldn’t help gasping.
“What’s going on?” Hayden called out from behind me.
At least, he was still in his seat.
“We’re going to have to land,” Sandra said.
“Land?” I repeated incredulously. “Are you serious? You just said we were over the water!”
I could hear the panic in my own voice, which was a little embarrassing, but I couldn’t help it. I’d never been this frightened before and I’d been a flight attendant for years. Wasn’t flying supposed to be safer than driving a car?
“There’s land ahead,” Dale chimed in, looking at some kind of readout on a screen in front of him that made no sense to me. “It’s some kind of island.”
“It’ll have to do,” Sandra said, reaching above her head to start flipping switches and pushing buttons. “Strap in, Rylee.”
She didn’t have to tell me twice. Closing the cockpit door, I started to return to the back of the plane. I stopped when I reached Hayden. His brow was furrowed and his jaw clenched.
“We’re going to have to land,” I told him, struggling to keep my voice even. “There’s an island nearby that Sandra and Dale are going to aim for.”
“Fuck…”
There was a sudden lurch to the side, probably caused by an air pocket, and before I was able to steady myself, I went tumbling right into Hayden’s lap with a shriek of surprise. His strong arms came around me, and I didn’t even get a chance to right myself before he slid me over into the empty seat beside him.
“Oh no, I should go back—”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” he said, shaking his head with a scowl at my stubborn attitude.
The plane jolted again, rattling ominously, and I decided he was right. I’d probably get hurt if I got up now and attempted to walk to the back of the plane. Buckling myself in, I gripped the armrests and hoped for the best.
This was going to be my first emergency landing and I had no idea what to expect.
CHAPTERTWO
Hayden
I prided myself on being easy-going. There wasn’t much that got under my skin or shook me up, but this situation had me concerned.
The whole plane seemed to be shaking like it was close to being torn apart, and the sky outside the window was so dark that I could hardly believe it was mid-day. But what really struck fear into my heart was the look of panic in the flight attendant’s eyes.
If she was worried, there was definitely a reason for concern.
But I was glad she was sitting beside me. It gave me something to focus on other than the sense of impending doom bleeding into my bones. I looked over at her as the plane started to descend and saw that she was tense, her knuckles white where she was gripping the arm rests and her shoulders bunched up.
“You need to breathe,” I said, and she looked at me in surprise before letting out a lungful of air. I smiled a little. “Most people hold their breath when they’re anticipating pain or a jarring impact. Even if they don’t realize it.”
“So…you’re an expert on keeping calm in an emergency?”
Her words were abrasive, but I just grinned, chalking it up to the tense situation. “What if I am? Maybe I’m exactly the guy you want with you in a situation like this.”
I thought she’d laugh, but Rylee just rolled her eyes. I did notice her shoulder muscles relaxing a bit, but then the airplane jerked again, hard enough to send a jolt up my spine and make my teeth clack together.
“Damn,” I said, forcing a casual tone into my voice. “I haven’t had such a rough ride since the night I went to that bar with the mechanical bull. I went home with a blonde dressed as a cowgirl. Talk about wild.”
Rylee glared at me. “Are you making jokes right now?”
