RICH BOY BRIT (A Bad Boy Stepbrother Romance)(31)

“I bet you will love it in St. Lucia,” Willow said as she playfully poked her daughter’s ribs.

“Come on, Claire,” Amy nudged. “Blue skies, white sandy beaches, crystal clear water. That’s got to put a smile on your face.”

Claire looked at the girl with a blank expression. “Perhaps.” It was hard to imagine anything fun when hurt weighed on her like an anchor. Her entire life was drifting by, and as far as she was concerned, she was just floating into oblivion.

The other women temporarily gave up any attempt at lightening Claire’s mood. They reached the airport and wheeled their luggage sets from the car. Luckily, the airport wasn’t crowded. They quickly checked their luggage and joined the other passengers as they waited for boarding.

Claire had the window seat once inside the plane, and she stared endlessly through its crystal partition, taking account of every cloud that passed. Amy had the seat next to her, and Willow had the aisle seat. Willow was busy doing a crossword puzzle, and Amy struggled to find something to watch on the small rectangular monitor in front of her.

“I don’t get it,” Claire said, to no one or to them both.

“That’s how these things operate,” Amy said as she continued pressing the control on her armrest. Then she looked over at Claire and realized she wasn’t looking at the television. “Oh, did you mean something else? What don’t you get?”

“Trent and I have been together for three years. Why would he do this now?”

“Men sometimes do stupid things, Claire. Chalk it up to that. It has nothing to do with you,” Amy told her.

“Yeah, but what if I drove him away? What if he was with that woman because she was sleeping with him?” She had guilt in her eyes, and she looked pleadingly at Amy. “Maybe I shouldn’t have been a prude.”

“That’s nonsense,” Willow intervened. “You did nothing wrong by waiting to marry him before having sex with him, or any other man, for that matter. A good man would have appreciated that.”

“Still, it could have been the reason. Men are more physical than women,” Claire defended. She wanted that to be the reason; nothing else made sense to her.

“If that was the reason, he wouldn’t have waited so long,” Amy told her.

“He wasn’t waiting. He was probably fucking the other woman throughout our relationship. No wonder it didn’t seem to bother him so much, and I respected him for it. Ugh!”

“Enough of this foolish talk, Claire,” Willow interjected. “Trent chose his path, and I am glad you became aware of it before you married him. Trust me, divorce is never easy. You know I went through that with your father. You need to move on. Whatever the reason, it’s already happened and you can’t fix it.”

At that instant, the aircraft dipped a few feet, surprising them and making Claire forget whatever response she had meant to give her mother. They looked at each other with horrified expressions. Some of the other passengers were whispering.

The plane started moving up and down haphazardly. The passengers were talking loudly and beginning to panic. The shaking continued, and some of the passengers began screaming as oxygen masks fell from the overhead compartments.

“What’s happening?” Claire asked as she looked out the window. She could see nothing but blue and white. Her heart hammered in her chest. The blood rushed to her head, and she could feel it flowing inside her as her palms grew clammy. She started hyperventilating. “We’re crashing!”

“Ladies and gentlemen, please make use of the breathing masks in front of you,” the flight attendant called over the microphone.

Claire tried to remember the instructions given before take-off.

“Come on, girls,” Willow told the girls as she began strapping on the device. Claire could see terror written all over her face, but her voice remained calm.

“Hey, what’s going on?” a man behind them shouted. “Is the plane going to crash?”

“No, far from it,” the flight attendant tried to reassure them. “We are experiencing some turbulence because of high pressure winds in the area. Please, remain calm and do as you are told. The pilot will issue an advisory shortly. Remain in your seats and fasten your seatbelts.”

There was a chorus of clicking as everyone on the plane simultaneously snapped their seatbelts. The plane rocked continuously, and Claire grabbed Amy’s sweaty hands as they clung to each other for support.

“She’s lying. This is it,” Claire said under her breath as she struggled to put the mask over her face. “I should have stayed home.”

“Calm down, Claire,” Willow said. Her eyes were closed and her head rested on the seat. She seemed to be breathing heavily as she held the mask over her nose.

The captain’s voice came over the intercom: “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We are experiencing major turbulence at the moment. We are going to make an emergency landing. Please remain seated and calm as we get you to safety. Everything will be okay.”

The tension did not abate after the cabin grew silent. The plane made a sharp swing to the right, and Claire swore everyone in the cabin screamed. The screams were unnerving as the aircraft battled against the pressure outside. For the moment, Claire was temporarily distracted from her brooding as she focused on her life flashing before her.