A Reason to Fly...A single flight can change your life.

A Reason to Fly

Published: 08/07/2013

by: Aysel Quinn

Nate Thomas is sick to death of constant business trips and crowded airports. Then, before a customary Monday morning flight, Nate is forced to alter his carefully-arranged routine. His unplanned encounter with Annabelle, a confident and quirky kiosk clerk, permanently alters his worldview. Instantly, every trip is an occasion to anticipate, just to see Annabelle's smile as she hands him change and intrigues him with her peculiar philosophy on customer habits.

 

Over coffee and bagel breakfasts, clandestine observations of eccentric passengers, and occasional electric brushes of fingers, Nate realizes that his growing attraction to Annabelle is quickly turning into something weightier than he ever expected.

 

But after so many pre-flight hours in Annabelle's company, Nate arrives at the airport only to learn that Annabelle has quit her job as a clerk without warning. Can he muster the confidence to track Annabelle down outside of the airport bubble, or has he permanently lost his reason to fly?

 

Rating: Sweet

Page Count: 40

Word Count: 8263

978-1-61217-891-2 Digital

 

Excerpt:

 

I looked up from my hands to see her face. She was just a girl, a low-wage airport employee, but she had the most beautiful face I’d ever seen, with wide, blue eyes and bee-stung lips. Her profound words flowed from those lips for the second time, piercing my momentary stupor.

She smiled a kind, amused sort of smile. “Riddley’s or Zenith?”

That was the question, wasn’t it? The new or the old, the certain or the tentative. What I’d already had or what I had never tried. Go ahead, leap over the edge, be bold, be daring…

“Hard decision, right?” she asked, with no sign of mirth or condescension.

I could only nod in agreement, lost once again in her eyes.

“See, the thing is, Riddley’s is old-school, right? But old-school isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Zenith’s all shiny and modern in its little cigarette-case package. Life is all about the packaging, you know. Sadly, most people never really consider the crucial point.” She leaned on her elbows from behind the counter, staring as if she understood the weight behind my decision.

“And what is the crucial point?” I was surprised I found my voice.

“The taste. Does the packaging make it taste better or worse?”

I considered that for a moment. “It makes no difference, unless the company puts more resources into making it look better, emphasizing less on the taste.”

“Exactly. Wrappers are meaningless. It’s about what lies inside, the same as people.”