than an astronaut boarding a spaceship to Mars. And in her experience, excited little boys liked to fidget. And talk. Considering she’d just spent the last ten hours zigzagging across the country, trying to get from Idaho to Maine, Katy feared her head would explode if she had to spend the final leg of this hellacious journey being nice. It would be too much for her, when she was barely keeping it together.
She groaned inwardly when, after eyeing the man next to the vacant seat, the woman nudged the boy forward once more. Katy looked back in hopes there were more empty seats behind her, but the duo stopped at her row.
“I wasn’t able to get us seats together.” The desperation in her eyes contradicted her congenial smile as she apologized to Katy. “But don’t worry,” she rushed on, her gaze dropping to the book in Katy’s hands. “Shiloh brought plenty of things to keep him busy.”
Two deep dimples punctuated the six- or seven-year-old’s bright grin. “I brought a book to read, too. Mine’s on raising chickens.”
How . . . weird. “Why don’t I just go take your other seat,” Katy said, bending to grab her own backpack from the floor in front of her.
“I already asked the flight attendant, and he said it’s too late to change seats because the passenger list has already been filed.”
Katy grabbed her backpack and straightened. “I’m sure they won’t mind if he at least takes the window seat.”
“I prefer Shiloh be on the aisle where I can see him,” the woman said, jostling her carry-on and large purse in order to slip off the boy’s backpack.
“Could you ladies swap recipes after we’re airborne?” came a male voice from a couple of rows back. “We’ve been stuck at this gate over twenty minutes waiting for you.”
The woman aimed her congenial smile in his direction. “And I greatly appreciate your patience.”
Only the kid ducked past her to face the man. “Our other plane was late, and we had to run across the whole terminal. But I needed to stop and use the bathroom, ’cause I don’t like the toilets on the planes, and I knew I couldn’t hold it all the way to Maine.”
Several chuckles and a loud feminine gasp drowned out whatever the man muttered. “People don’t want to hear about that,” the woman said, settling the boy down beside Katy, tucking an array of games, books, snacks, and other items into the pocket in front of him and then popping his backpack into the overhead compartment.
As she dug around for his seat belt, he said, “But I had to explain it to him, Mom, ’cause he thinks it’s your fault we’re late.” Shiloh leaned into the aisle, twisting to look back at the man. “Mom picked me up and ran like a cheetah so we wouldn’t miss the plane. And if you don’t know, cheetahs are the fastest land animal on the planet.”
That well-aimed salvo effectively put the grump in his place, and Katy found her first smile of the day. Because really, who wouldn’t want to sit next to a little boy willing to defend his mother at his own expense? In fact, Katy was afraid she was already halfway in love with the little warrior herself. More than that, she was relieved to have a distraction from the dark thoughts that threatened to consume her.
“You don’t gotta worry I’ll make you sick or anything,” the boy said as he twisted toward her to help his mother hunt for the other half of his seat belt. “Even though Mom told me to hurry when I used the bathroom, I made sure to wash my hands real good so’s to kill all those nasty public germs.”
“Thank you for that.” Katy fished the buckle out of the crack and handed the belt to Shiloh. Smiling at his mother, she said, “Go spend the next couple of hours relaxing. We’re all good here.”
Ignoring the heavy male sigh from several rows back, the woman leaned down and gave her son a quick kiss on the cheek. “Don’t go talking the lady’s ears off,” she reminded the boy over the soft whoosh of the jet’s front door closing.
“Let me help you stow your bag and get seated,” the flight attendant offered, taking the woman’s carry-on and walking up the aisle as the plane gave a slight lurch backward.
“I’ll be good, Mom,” Shiloh said as he pulled a book from the seat pocket. “I’m gonna study which breeds