(Jane’s POV)
The hum of the cabin settled into the background like static in a dream. Across the aisle, a toddler clutched a stuffed dog, babbling to herself as her mother tried to buckle her in. The overhead vents hissed their recycled chill. But nothing in that moment could match the freeze slowly spreading in my chest.
Some rows behind me, left side. I didn’t need to turn to confirm it—Dorris had spotted Jerry, and she didn’t miss details.
I had tried, earlier, to dismiss our brief conversation at the terminal, to focus instead on the work ahead. But his unexpected presence on board pulled my thoughts right back to him, unraveling the distance I’d tried to impose.
His words echoed now, more loaded than they’d seemed at the time:
“I stopped in for a quick political meet-and-greet—no
