No Good Reason

by Cari Hunter

  Hugging her rucksack to her chest, Sanne rested her chin on it and tried to look on the bright side—two weeks of sea and sunshine, with a list of gay-friendly bars and restaurants that Meg had downloaded for her. As the people in the priority boarding group began to form an orderly line, she buried her face in her bag and wondered what the hell she had been thinking when she’d booked this holiday. She had never been on a plane before, she’d never even left the country before, and she didn’t speak a word of Greek.

  On the verge of turning around and fleeing back through Duty Free, she remembered the twenty Euro note tucked into her wallet, and the panicky sensation eased a little. Her mum had given her the money yesterday afternoon, a gift she must have rushed out to arrange the instant she heard about Sanne’s last-minute deal. All she’d wanted in return was a postcard and plenty of photographs.

  A woman with a fake tan to match the airline’s bright orange uniform announced the second boarding group. Sanne checked her ticket, even though she knew she should be joining the queue. The budget airline allocated its seats on a first come, first served basis. If she didn’t move soon, she’d end up squashed in the middle of a row. She inched to the edge of her seat but got no farther.

  “Are you going to sit here all day, or are you getting on the bloody plane?”

  The familiar voice made Sanne snap her head up. At first she thought she’d been mistaken. All she saw was a wide-brimmed straw hat and a pair of legs sticking out of rain-dampened shorts, but then Meg laughed and plonked down in the seat beside her.

  “What on earth are you doing here?” Sanne said. It came out more abrupt than she intended, but the last she’d heard, Meg’s request for leave had been denied.

  Meg proudly displayed her boarding pass. “Well, after I did all that research for you, I got to thinking that two weeks wearing my skimpies and drinking cocktails in the sunshine sounded like a lot of fun. I did a few swaps, called in a bunch of favours, and just finished”—she paused to do the calculation—“fifty or so hours of shifts. I’m quite tired. Could do with a holiday.” The toothy grin fell from her face as Sanne continued to gape at her. “Fucking shit. You’d rather go on your own, wouldn’t you? I’m going to be a complete cramper of your style. Bollocks.”

  Sanne shook her head so vigorously that her hair slapped in her eyes. “No! I just…” She paused and smiled. “I’m really glad you’re here.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yes.” She looked at the dwindling number of passengers in the line. “Shall we continue this conversation on the plane?”

  The flight was almost full, but they found a row at the back with two spare seats, one of which came with a window. Sanne cinched her seatbelt, unconvinced that it would do her any good in a catastrophe, but bound by the rules regardless. She squeaked as the plane began to taxi. “Shit, shit, shit.”

  Meg grabbed her hand. “Squeeze tight if you want to.”

  “I might.” Rain sluiced down Sanne’s tiny window. On the tarmac, she saw a man wearing headphones, guiding the plane toward the runway. “I phoned Josie yesterday,” she said, attempting to distract herself. “After the news broke.”

  “How was she?”

  Sanne hesitated, as a smiling flight attendant stopped to check their bags were correctly stowed. “Relieved,” she said, once the attendant had moved on down the aisle and they were assured of privacy. “I didn’t stay on long, but they’re doing better now they’re back in Edinburgh. We have an open invitation to visit.”

  Meg nodded. “Maybe give them a while, eh?”

  “I can’t imagine I’ll ever go. I’d only remind them of what happened.” Sanne rubbed her neck, trying to relax her muscles. The case felt like a constant weight, pressing down on her, no matter what. She didn’t want to keep thinking about it, but it always seemed to lurk in the background, and she’d been suffering nightmares for weeks.

  “San?”

  “Mmhm?”

  Meg waited until Sanne looked at her. “We’re on holiday. Leave it behind, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  The plane came to a sudden stop, and Sanne could see the runway stretching ahead of them. She clamped down on Meg’s hand and shut her eyes as the engines roared and the force of the plane’s acceleration pushed her back in her seat. Seconds later, a weird, floating thump in her chest told her they were airborne.

  “San, look.”

  Sanne shook her head, willing the plane to keep climbing.

  “You’re missing it all!”

  Steeling herself, Sanne peeked out of the window. Below them, the redbrick sprawl of Manchester’s suburbs and the plains of Cheshire spread almost to the horizon, the hills of the Peak District and Saddleworth rising gracefully beyond. The plane began to shudder as it rose into the thick cloud blanketing the region, and a grey shroud distorted and then obliterated the view.

  Meg interlaced their fingers, holding on to Sanne through the turbulence. “There you go,” she said softly, nudging Sanne toward the window again.

  “Oh.” Sanne caught her breath. Brilliant blue sky now surrounded them, and the clouds formed a pristine carpet of white.

  “Didn’t you know, San? It’s always sunny up here.”

  Sanne smiled, tracing her fingertips across the ice crystals forming on the glass. “No one ever told me that.”

  “It’s pretty, but it’s not as pretty as me in my new bikini.” Meg waggled her eyebrows.

  Sanne elbowed her in the ribs. “Do you mind? I’m trying to have a moment here.”

  “It’s red and black, and very flattering.” Meg shaped curves with her hands, making the man across the aisle cough and turn scarlet.

  Feigning a sudden interest in the inflight magazine, Sanne used it to hide her face. “I can’t take you anywhere.”

  “Apparently, you’re taking me to your Grecian villa.”

  The magazine pages rustled as Sanne started to laugh. “I might just leave you at the airport. You’d get into far less trouble there.”

  “You don’t mean that. You’d miss me.”

  “Maybe,” Sanne conceded. “A little.”

  The flight attendant paused at their row, and Meg ordered two teas and a KitKat. She broke the chocolate bar in half and raised her plastic cup. “Here’s to getting away from it all.”

  Sanne tapped her cup against Meg’s. “That sounds bloody lovely.”

  The End

  About the Author

  Cari Hunter lives in the northwest of England with her wife, two cats, and a pond full of frogs. She works full-time as a paramedic and dreams up stories in her spare time.

  Cari enjoys long, windswept, muddy walks in her beloved Peak District and forces herself to go jogging regularly. In the summer she can usually be found sitting in the garden with her feet up, scribbling in her writing pad. Although she doesn’t like to boast, she will admit that she makes a very fine Bakewell Tart.

  Her first novel, Snowbound, received an Alice B. Lavender Certificate for outstanding début. Her second novel, Desolation Point, was shortlisted for a Goldie award and a runner-up in the 2013 Rainbow Awards, and its sequel, Tumbledown, was a runner-up in the 2014 Rainbow Awards.

  Cari can be contacted at: carihunter@rocketmail.com.

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