Her thoughts raced as she planned what to say to him, how to appear friendly and not scare him off. ‘Maybe a joke about the food, or a comment about how long the flight is?’ she thought, trying to come up with the perfect icebreaker.
The cabin’s steady hum of noise, from the chatter of passengers to the occasional ding of a call button, filled the background, yet Carole barely noticed. Her focus was entirely on the boy and the woman seated next to him. Who was she to him? And what was making him so nervous? Every time the woman took a sip of her wine, Carole watched closely, hoping she would decide to get up.