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Chapters (48)
  1. 1. One
  2. 2. Two
  3. 3. Three
  4. 4. Four
  5. 5. Five
  6. 6. Six
  7. 7. Seven
  8. 8. Eight
  9. 9. Nine
  10. 10. Ten
  11. 11. Eleven
  12. 12. Twelve
  13. 13. Thirteen
  14. 14. Fourteen
  15. 15. Fifteen
  16. 16. Sixteen
  17. 17. Seventeen
  18. 18. Eighteen
  19. 19. Nineteen
  20. 20. Twenty
  21. 21. Twenty-One
  22. 22. Twenty-Two
  23. 23. Twenty-Three
  24. 24. Twenty-Four
  25. 25. Twenty-Five
  26. 26. Twenty-Six
  27. 27. Twenty-Seven
  28. 28. Twenty-Eight
  29. 29. Twenty-Nine
  30. 30. Thirty
  31. 31. Thirty-One
  32. 32. Thirty-Two
  33. 33. Thirty-three
  34. 34. Thirty-Four
  35. 35. Thirty-Five
  36. 36. Thirty-Six
  37. 37. Thirty-Seven
  38. 38. Thirty-Eight
  39. 39. Thirty-Nine
  40. 40. Forty
  41. 41. Forty-One
  42. 42. Forty-Two
  43. 43. Forty-three
  44. 44. Epilogue
  45. Afterword
  46. Also by
  47. Acknowledgments
  48. About Author

His smile was warm and charming, inviting me in like a warm heater on a cold, rainy day. I shook my head, snapping myself from the trance his handsome face had put me in, and said, “I’ve been there plenty of times. Trust me, I will be fine.”

He raised his eyebrow curiously but didn’t respond. When the flight attendant returned with our drinks, the stranger happily took them from her and pulled down both of our trays.

“I didn’t get to introduce myself. I’m Finn.”

He extended his hand, and I reluctantly shook it. The warmth of his firm grip spread through my palm.

“Olive,” I quietly introduced myself, more anxious about talking to him and less about the flight and my destination.

Finn poured our drinks into the tiny Styrofoam cups and held one out to me. I grabbed mine, but before I could chug it in a hopeful buzz, he lifted his cup in a toast.

“To the red-eye.”

2. Two

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I was always blessed with good luck, which is how I ended up sitting next to a pretty girl on a long flight with a Jack and Coke in hand. I was also blessed with good looks (plenty of thanks to my personal trainer Josh at Workout 24/7 on that part), but I couldn’t help but notice that Olive was seemingly immune to my flirtation. It was disappointing but also refreshing, no point in wasting my time trying to charm the pants off this one—she was making it completely obvious she was not interested. Shame for her, I was what some of my mom’s friends considered a “catch,” according to her Facebook posts.

I relaxed in my snug seat and took a sip of the rather strong drink brought to me by the tiny flight attendant. Meanwhile, it was obvious that Olive didn’t want to talk, but her bouncing leg and shaky hands picking at her shorts told me she needed a distraction.

“So, you said you’ve been to Aspen a good bit?”

She puffed out a breath. “I grew up there. Haven’t been in a while.” Her tone was brief, signaling me to not ask further questions. A hint I clearly did not care about.

“I see. So, you’re going to visit family? They’re probably excited to see you.”

Olive sipped on her drink and looked out the window before answering. “I guess so.”

I wanted to chuckle at the girl's poor spirit. I couldn’t remember the last time a woman had been so annoyed to be in my presence. Maybe never?

The familiar ding came over the speakers in the plane, signaling everyone to take their seats and buckle up. After a few minutes, the plane slowly pushed back from the gate.