So Now You're Back by Heidi Rice Page B

over her whitening knuckles and his thumb stroked the small scar on her wrist left by the burn he’d noticed in Paris. ‘If we crash, you’ll bounce.’
    She wanted to tell him he was right, she was indestructible, because she’d had to be. But she didn’t feel indestructible. And she had lost the ability to talk, every single muscle and sinew in her jaw and neck having atrophied.
    â€˜I need a pill,’ she finally managed to squeak. ‘Please.’ The begging would have embarrassed her, but in the grand apocalyptic scheme of things, having Luke smirk at her while she died didn’t seem like such a big deal any more.
    â€˜Is everything OK, Ms Best?’
    Halle prised open an eyelid to find the stewardess looking down at their joined hands with a benevolent smile.
    â€˜I’m fine.’ Her whole body shuddered like an alcoholic recovering from an all-night bender. The stewardess didn’t look convinced. ‘If I could just …’
    â€˜For Chrissake, Hal.’ Luke’s grip on her hand tightened. ‘You’re freaking out. There’s no shame in admitting it. Loads of people don’t like flying.’
    â€˜I a-a-am not freaking out.’ She never freaked out. She happened to be a champion coper—even if her chattering teeth weren’t helping to emphasise the point.
    â€˜Let go of the chair,’ he ordered. ‘You’re about to break your fingernails.’
    â€˜If I let go, I’ll fall.’ The plaintive plea sounded childish, even to her.
    â€˜You’re strapped in, Hal. You’re not going anywhere.’
    â€˜You won’t fall, Ms Best. This is an Airbus 380, the newest and best-designed plane in our fleet.’ The stewardess’s soothing tone managed to be even more annoying than Luke’s condescension.
    â€˜You don’t know that,’ she whimpered.
    Luke’s thumb caressed the web of flesh between her thumb and forefinger. ‘I do. Now let go, I’ve got you.’ He massaged into the pressure point. And her fingers released instinctively.
    He threaded his fingers through hers and held on to her, just as he’d promised. ‘See, you didn’t fall.’
    She rolled her head towards him, which wasn’t easy given that the sinews in her neck had about as much give in them as steel suspension cables. And managed a small nod.
    â€˜Now breathe,’ he commanded.
    Air swelled into her lungs and gushed out as the plane’s nose dipped to level off to their cruising altitude.
    â€˜That’s it, keep doing what you’re doing,’ he prompted.
    She concentrated on taking deep, even breaths, willing her lungs to cooperate. But continued to cling to his hand. The seat-belt sign pinged off and the purser’s reassuring voice droned on about their cruising altitude and flight path.Her gaze drifted to the fluffed cloudscape floating beneath them outside the window. The panic settled to purr under her breastbone, like a sleeping tiger ready to snarl at the first sign of danger, but subdued enough not to bite off her head at the slightest bump.
    Luke squeezed her hand. ‘You OK?’
    â€˜Yes,’ she croaked, her throat sore as her neck muscles relaxed.
    â€˜You sure? You still look pretty spooked.’ He searched her face.
    She took another careful breath, sighed when it didn’t hurt. ‘The take-off’s always the worse bit. I’ll be OK now.’ The Xanax must have finally kicked in, because she was starting to feel pleasantly numb.
    Way to go, Xanax, only twenty minutes late to the party.
    Luckily, Luke didn’t call her on her euphoric state, because she wasn’t quite ready to give him back his hand.
    â€˜You look terrible,’ he said.
    Way to go, Luke. You sure know how to make a girl feel good about herself.
    â€˜I’ll look a lot better once I’m sure we aren’t going to get struck by lightning, hit a freak