“You want the window, or the aisle?” Even talking to Abby was strained. As if they were speaking a different language. As if they had nothing in common at all.

Abby stilled at Jordan’s words. “I’ll take the aisle.” She sat, and stared straight ahead.

Jordan stowed her hand luggage, then sat beside her. She fiddled with her phone, ignoring the texts from Karen asking how it was going with her ‘hot bride’. Jordan wanted to respond with a scream emoji, but then she’d have to explain it to Karen. Better to leave it until she got home and could unravel the full extent to her best friend then.

That she’d done the wrong thing. That she wasn’t sure how to fix it. That she wasn’t sure she wanted to fix it.

Jordan put her phone on flight mode, then put it in the pocket on the wall in front of her. She stretched out her legs, wriggling her toes. The silence between her and Abby was deafening. After all the chats they’d had. All the laughs.

Then one kiss.

Now, there was nothing.

Emotion swelled inside Jordan, taking her by surprise. She already missed what they’d had. What they’d built between them this weekend, however brief it had been. Because it had been something. Even before the kiss, they’d had a rapport, a frisson. A connection. After the kiss, that had only increased. Except it couldn’t.

Jordan’s heart was in pieces. There was no lotion or potion she could use to make herself feel better. That was the thing with heartbreak, whatever size. You had to feel it. There was no cure.

Sitting beside the person who’d just wrecked you was definitely not the thing to do. But Jordan didn’t have a choice.

Michelle made the announcement they were ready to leave, and the plane began to taxi along the runway.

Jordan glanced Abby’s way. Her face was pale, her gaze glued straight ahead. She was clutching her armrest so hard, her knuckles were white. When they’d flown over, Jordan had taken Abby’s hand at this point. But now there was an invisible barrier between them, it wasn’t so easy.

However, Jordan was still on the clock. She was still getting paid to make Abby’s weekend as good as it could possibly be. She’d already overstepped the mark on that one. Perhaps she should overstep their invisible barrier now and make Abby’s flight that little bit more bearable. They might not be talking to each other, but they could still communicate.

Jordan took a deep breath, and wrapped her fingers around Abby’s.

Abby’s head jerked, and she went to pull her hand away.

Jordan let go. She wasn’t going to force her if she didn’t want to.

However, seconds later, Abby glanced at Jordan and their eyes locked.