Page 149 of Planes, Reins, and Automobiles

---

Happy day after Boxing Day, Scottie Quinn.

Scottie

That’s not a real holiday.

Lucas

Ah, you’re clearly not half-Canadian like I am.

Scottie

You’re telling me Canadians celebrate the day AFTER Boxing Day?

Lucas

No, silly. Half-Canadians do.

It’s a thing.

Scottie

Uh huh.

Sure.

Lucas

You know, tomorrow’s the day after the day after Boxing Day.

We should celebrate.

Scottie

I don’t celebrate.

Lucas

Your loss.

It’s epic.

I could come out to Cleveland and show you.

Scottie

Oh, right. You’d just hop on a plane and celebrate a made up holiday?

Lucas

Is that an invitation?

I laughed when he sent that, not that I’ll ever let him know that.

I should text him about Jake. Explain myself. Give him some hint of what and why.

Instead, I shove my phone back in my pocket and stay on the porch swing, staring at the icicles hanging from the rafters, thinking thoughts even darker than the night sky until my sister-in-law comes to get me.

Because if Lucas Fischer stops looking at me like I’m the only person in the room, I don’t know what I’ll do.

And that scares me more than any headline.

---