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Everything looks normal.

I sit there, fingers still curled loosely in my lap, like they haven’t quite caught up with the rest of me.

That didn’t just happen, did it?

Yes, it did.

I turn my head slightly.

Torin is watching the aisle, not me. One hand braced against the armrest, the other resting on his thigh, thumb brushing absentmindedly over inked skin again. Like he’s grounding himself the same way I did.

Like that moment mattered… or maybe I’m projecting.

That would be more comfortable.

“Guess this is where we pretend that was turbulence-induced insanity,” I say, aiming for dry, landing somewhere just short of it.

His mouth tips slightly at the corner. “Was it?”

I hate that I don’t have an easy answer.

“Yes,” I say anyway, because that’s the version that fits into my life. “That’s the only explanation that makes sense.”

He studies me for half a second longer than most people would. Long enough that I feel it. “Right.”

He doesn’t agree with me, but he doesn’t argue either, which is worse.

The plane comes to a full stop. The overhead bins start popping open, people shifting, grabbing bags, stepping into the aisle like they can force the process to move faster.

I stand when it’s my turn, reaching for my bag with a little more force than necessary.

Control.

Reclaim it.

This is simple. We get off the plane. We go our separate ways. This becomes one of those strange, isolated moments that doesn’t attach to anything else.

I'm very good at compartmentalizing.

I don’t look at him as I pull my bag down.

“Take care, Laurel.”

“You too,” I say, a little too quickly, my heart balled up in my mouth.

And then I move, past him, into the aisle, into the forward shuffle, into the safety of distance. I can’t look back, because if I do, this becomes something else.

I don’t have room for more or have time to think I’ll never cross his path again, reminding me of the one wild moment of my life.

Not right now.

Not with everything waiting for me on the other side of this airport.

CHAPTER TWO

Torin

Ink settles best when the hand is steady, that’s the first thing I learned.