How to Prepare for a Long Flight

"We're at thirty-five thousand feet, and climbing." The pilot's voice over the aircraft's PA system was calm despite the speed the plane was going. "Fasten your seat belts and please prepare for turbulence..."

Juliet Kidd sat very still. Her heart thumped wildly in her chest. Her hands trembled so much that she could hardly hold the jewelry box.

Juliet and Mark hadn't planned a wedding, but they'd been planning to move somewhere else when they'd first met five years ago. Juliet had been on a flight that was caught up in some sort of terrorist attack. She'd never talked to her family again afterward, because she went into witness protection.

So Juliet and Mark had been planning to go away again, to find a place to start a new life together.

Only Mark had been shot in the line of duty two days before they'd planned to take off.

Juliet was now trying to pick up the pieces. She managed to get a flight home for the funeral. No one would even tell her who Mark was. That was tough, because she'd met him when she was still at the bottom of the recovery spirals.

She'd read every article about him, and she'd followed his trials online. But somehow, she never could find any real information about Mark.

His family was certain that he was a good guy. But Juliet knew better.

He'd been escaping to see her. To tell her that he'd forgiven her for betraying him. Even though she'd never jeopardized his case or him before he'd been shot, he'd still gotten shot.

She'd warned him that her family was dangerous, as was his, but he'd stood up and promised to marry her.

That was five years ago, and she still missed him. She'd stayed in visitor's quarters at the FBI offices for months after he'd been shot, but when she couldn't find a clue that said he was alive anymore, she moved to San Francisco.

She'd worked for the FBI then. Her foster parents had seen that she was still on the right path, and so she'd gotten a lot of cases.

Every case she worked on though, she planned to close it by finding Mark.

She had the box in its plastic package, and she unwrapped it carefully. It was a simple silver band, and she slipped it onto her finger.

Maybe she needed to move on.

But she wanted to honor him.

Conclusion [writer's message]

This is my prequel to a full-length novel that will be coming out soon. We are always looking for new fiction to publish on Fictionpress.

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