Turbulence

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 1

T minus 3 hours 57 minutes

“Thanks for the ride.” Kennedy gave Dominic an awkward smile.

He stepped forward. It would be the perfect time for a hug, but she knew better than to expect something like that. He cleared his throat. “Merry Christmas.” He glanced at Kennedy’s roommate Willow, who ran her fingers through her dyed hair. “Nice to meet you,” he said.

“Yup. Thanks.” Willow picked up her two bags without looking back and walked into Logan Airport.

Kennedy hesitated before turning away. “I better go.” She shuffled from one foot to another, hating herself for feeling as foolish as a seventh-grader at her first boy-girl dance. She glanced up.

Dominic smiled again. Over the past semester, she and the police chaplain had gone out for coffee twice, dinner once, and a picnic lunch on Boston Common, but they never used words like dating or girlfriend. Everything about Dominic was slow. Peaceful. Sometimes Kennedy wished she could be as relaxed as he was. Other times, she was certain the deceleration would drive her insane.

“Well, have a great Christmas.” He shut the trunk, and with his car effectively shielding them from any hint of physical contact, he gave one last wave. “Enjoy Alaska.”

Her roommate was already halfway to the electronic check-ins before Kennedy could catch up. Willow adjusted her braided fabric carry-on over her shoulder. “Say good-bye to lover boy?”

Kennedy unbuttoned her leather coat. “I’m kind of hungry. Let’s find our gate and then grab something to eat.”

Willow typed into her cell while she walked. “Whatever.” Her phone played a short electric guitar run. She stared at her incoming text. “Oh, my dad’s wondering if you’re a carnivore or not.”

Kennedy didn’t know how to answer. She’d never met Willow’s parents before, and as excited as she was for the chance to spend Christmas break with her roommate’s family in rural Alaska, she wasn’t sure how well she’d fit in. “How do the rest of your family eat?”

Willow scrolled down on her screen. “Dad’s a carnivore. Mom’s like me, basically vegan except we’ll have dairy if it’s from our herd. You can choose. Meat or not?”

Kennedy shrugged. “Sure. I guess.”

“All right. He’ll be glad to hear that.”

They were halfway to their terminal when the Guns N’ Roses riff sounded again. Willow stared at her screen. “Ok, now he’s asking how you feel about moose.”

Growing up, Kennedy had never paid much attention to the kind of protein on her plate. Meat meant any animal that wasn’t poultry or fish, but she was pretty sure moose had never made it on her palate before.

“I guess that’s fine.”

Willow wrinkled her nose. “I should warn you, it’s probably roadkill.”

Kennedy wasn’t sure she’d heard correctly. “Road what?”

“Roadkill. You know. Driver hits a moose, moose bites it, and nobody wants to waste that much meat.” She pouted at Kennedy’s raised eyebrows. “You’ve got a lot to learn about Alaska.”

Even though Willow was still typing into her phone, Kennedy had to hurry to keep up. “Maybe it’s best I don’t know where it’s coming from.”

Willow shrugged, but Kennedy thought she detected a smile hidden under her roommate’s rather bored expression. So far, she and Willow had enjoyed their second year together as Harvard roommates. Kennedy had gone into her sophomore year so terrified of falling behind that she actually ended up ahead. She’d finished her final paper for her Shakespeare class the week before Thanksgiving and handed in her fruit fly lab report to her biology professor a few days later. That freed up the last few weeks for her to spend extra time with Willow, who was never busy with anything unless it was memorizing lines for a play or attending theater rehearsals. The two of them had gone to the movies twice and even grabbed tickets to watch Mama Mia at the Boston Opera House as a fun way to kick off the Christmas season.

Or holiday season, as Willow and nearly everyone else on campus insisted on calling it.

The two girls found their gate and decided to kill time at a small coffee shop around the corner.

“Wait ’til you try Kaladi Brothers,” Willow told her. “It makes all the coffee from the Lower 48 taste like melted snow.”

Kennedy crinkled her nose at the comparison and breathed in the frothy steam wafting from her hot chocolate. She warmed her hands on the red and white cup, relishing the heat that coursed up her veins to her core, remembering how anxious she’d started out this semester. How terrified she’d been at the prospect of taking two lab classes at once. As it turned out, organic chemistry wasn’t nearly the nightmare she’d come to expect. Sure, it was a lot of memorization, but you’d do all right as long as you didn’t fall behind.

And if there was anything Kennedy learned at Harvard so far, it was how to stay on top of her work, no matter what was going on around her. Kidnappings, panic attacks, race riots, murder investigations — she had survived them all. And now she was about to embark on a brand new adventure in Alaska, land of ice and moose and glaciers. Willow had told her they might even get to see the aurora borealis. Kennedy had never witnessed the northern lights before and hoped they’d come out at least once on her trip.

While Willow texted, Kennedy stared around at all the people, the hustle and bustle of the crowded Logan terminal. So many people going home, visiting family, reuniting with loved ones. Last year, she’d spent Christmas break getting chased by a murderous stalker. Not the most festive way to get into the holiday spirit.

Now, her heart was as cheerful as Scrooge’s magnanimous nephew Fred. She’d made it through another semester with only one or two minor panic attacks on her record. She had every reason to expect a good report card, with all As except for a possible B-plus in organic chem lab. She’d worked hard, and now she was on her way to Alaska, which felt even more foreign than far-east China where her parents lived as missionaries.

The hot chocolate nearly burned her tongue as she took another sip.

She deserved this vacation. And she was going to enjoy every single moment of it.