Perfect Christmas [2016 Edition]

2. Daniel

[ D A N I E L ]

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god," Alex says, one of her hands clutching the handle of her seat tightly and the other on mine, her fingers digging into my skin so hard that I wince.

    I would point it out to her, but with her nerves at an all time high, she'll probably lash out and gauge my eyeballs out if I dare speak against her at a time like this.

    From the window, the airplane begins to pick up speed, accelerating across the compound. The faster it goes, the harder Alex grips my hand. I wish there was any way for me to calm my wife down.

    Typically, when she's sad or angry, it's nothing a little serenading or sweet loving can't fix, but this situation is different. I highly doubt she'll want me to go down on her right now—not while she's both scared and nervous at the same time.

    "Hey," I lean into her, pressing a small kiss on her bare shoulder. She merely jerks away. Dammit. "It's going to to be fine."

    Alex glares at me. "How the hell do you know that? Do you know how many plane crashes we've had this year alone? Fifty-four. Anything could go wrong—engine failure, bad weather, not enough fuel—"

    "Okay, sweetheart, you need to relax," I tell her. "You're only freaking yourself out. Nothing bad's going to happen."

    "You just jinxed it," she groans, her head falling back to her seat. "You just fucking jinxed it, Daniel. I hate you—"

    I groan. Alex has had a phobia of flying since I've met her. I've found out about it only last year, when we had to travel to Colorado for a Christmas getaway with our friends. She refused to go on the plane at first, and it had taken two hours of me convincing her to realize it was just all in her head.

    By the time she was ready to get on the plane, we had missed our flight and had to catch another one. Fortunately for us, we arrived right on time before dinner.

    This time, I made sure we got on this flight. I carried her, kicking and thrashing, into the plane. She hates my guts for it right now, but I know she'll thank me later when we arrive

    "Shhhh." I place my finger on my lips. "There are children on board." My eyes dart to the two kids in the opposite seats who are both looking right back at us—all wide-eyed and curious.

    "Sorry," she mumbles. "I just—I don't like flying."

    "I know, sweetheart. I know," I say, frowning. My hand cradles her cheek and angles her face so she's looking at me. Her lip trembles with distress, her hand still clutching mine. I want nothing more in this moment than to kiss her fears away and make her realize that I'm the only safe space she'll ever need.

    Yeah, I know. Some sappy stuff. But I can't help it, Alex brings out that side of me. And I like it.

"Why don't you just work on Atlas for a bit? Your manuscript's due in two months," I tell her soothingly.

Atlas is the sequel to her debut middle-school fantasy book, Blankets. She initially wanted for it to be a stand-alone novel but it was such a huge hit that her editor demanded that she should make it into a trilogy. She's been working on the second book for months now and as much as I really think she should take a break from it and rest, I also want to get her mind off the fact that we're on a plane so I guess I'll go with whatever benefits her—and me—the most in the next seven hours.

She shakes her head. "No, I can't work on it now. I'm too distracted."

Oh well, it was worth a shot.