‘Look at me,’ Jenna says. ‘Open your eyes.’

Erica shakes her head again. Jenna waits. One second passes, two, three, then Erica opens her eyes and turns to look at her.

Jenna smiles. ‘Good. Well done. Do I look scared?’

The younger woman’s eyes rove her face. ‘No.’

‘That’s because there’s nothing to be scared of.’

It’s a lie. But only a little one. There’s plenty to be fearful of but dying in a plane crash is no longer on her list.

She gives Erica’s hand a little squeeze as the plane levels off. ‘That’s the worst bit over. Now you get to relax for three hours.’

‘Relax?’

‘Read, watch a film. You can borrow my iPad, if you want?’

‘Could I?’ Relief floods Erica’s face. ‘Have you got anything funny? I don’t think my heart could cope with anything scary.’

‘Sure. It’s in my bag.’ She checks that the seat belt signs have been switched off then unbuckles her belt and shuffles past Erica and the man sitting in the aisle seat.

She hands Erica the iPad then glances across to seat 4C, where Tom was sitting. It’s empty. Her gaze flits towards the front of the plane. The toilet engaged sign is lit up. Abandoning her bag, she moves down the aisle and hovers outside the toilet. One of the flight attendants, preparing a trolley with snacks, catches her eye and smiles. Jenna returns the smile then turns to look out of the window. Clouds. Miles and miles of white, fluffy, picture-book clouds. As a child, she told her mum that one day she was going to jump out of a plane just so she could lie on one. She was going to float around the world, she told her. She couldn’t imagine anything more restful and—

‘You’re not planning on opening that, are you? I’d quite like to get to Malta in one piece.’

Jenna twists sharply. Tom is standing beside her, a smile playing on his lips.

‘The door.’ He looks meaningfully at her hand, gripping the handle of the exit door.

‘I … I didn’t even realise I was …’ She snatches her hand away.

‘It’s okay, I was joking.’ He strokes her arm from the shoulder to the elbow and back again. The warmth of his fingers on her skin pulls her back from the clouds and into her body. ‘I’m sorry I startled you.’ He drops his hand but his gaze lingers. He looked at her in the same way the first time they met – his head slightly tilted to one side, his body relaxed, his pupils wide and dark, his attention so completely focused on her it was as though the rest of the room didn’t exist.