The Flight Attendant

by Chris Bohjalian

Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them. —Margaret Atwood

And she appreciated the sheer ordinariness of her sister and her family—the lack of drama—and the way the four of them knew each other’s rhythms so well. There was just such comfort in the predictability. Cassie understood that she would never feel anything like this: love born of certainty and ritual.

She thought of something her father had told her: a smart girl is nobody’s pushover and nobody’s foe. A smart girl is both sword and smile.