Beautiful Things

*Harper*

The plane tips its wing and the island slides into view, all blue water and scalloped beaches and mountains wrapped in soft clouds. I press my forehead to the window like a child who’s never seen the ocean before. Scott leans over me and I turn to see his jaw nearly on the floor.

“See?” I tease him. “Wasn’t this view worth the flight?”

“Worth every minute of the terrifying certainty that we’d fall out of the sky,” he agrees. “I feel like I just opened a door and walked into a postcard.”

He threads his fingers through mine on the armrest. We hold hands until the wheels kiss the runway and the cabin breaks into polite applause. It’s funny to me, especially with how accustomed to flying private planes I’ve gotten. But Scott insisted on paying for the trip, and refused each and every one of Damien’s offers to lend him the jet.

Outside, the air smells like salt and flowers, and it’s like I’m breathing for the first time in months. When we get to our resort, a woman in a pink dress