"Sit down, please," Sloan said. "Jenna will look after you from here."
A young flight attendant with a neat brown bun glanced up from the cups she was arranging. Her name was Jenna Ortiz, and she had been flying for only two years. She accepted the white envelope Sloan handed over and read the first line before looking from the document to the two children. "They're assigned to two A and two B," she said. "Did the gate approve the change?"
"It's been handled," Sloan replied, already turning toward first class. "I approved it. I'll fix the paperwork later. Just keep an eye on them."
Jenna's fingers tightened around the envelope. The question she needed to ask was not complicated, but she could imagine Sloan's expression if she asked it loudly enough for passengers to hear. Sloan was the lead, nearly two decades more experienced, and known for making life uncomfortable for crew members who corrected her in public. Jenna had a new mortgage and a flight schedule she could not afford to lose.
"All right," she said, too quietly. "I'll take care of them."
Ruby sat by the window and pulled the purple backpack onto her lap. Pearl took the middle seat and kept her feet firmly together, afraid her shoes might touch a stranger. They stared ahead while the aircraft filled around them, both trying to understand how a birthday surprise had become something embarrassing. Up front, Sloan was offering the Ashfords another drink.
For a while Pearl said nothing. Then she leaned toward Ruby and whispered, "That man had Daddy's watch."
"What man?"
"The one wearing green. His watch had the little squares around the edge, just like Daddy's." Pearl touched one of her earrings while she spoke, an old habit when she was nervous. "Daddy told us his watch was special. He said there weren't others like it."
Ruby glanced toward the curtain at the front of the plane. "You probably didn't see it right," she said, but without conviction. She had noticed the man's watch, too. She remembered how the gold had flashed under the cabin lights when he reached for his glass.
"I did," Pearl said. "I counted the squares."
Ruby knew better than to argue with Pearl about noticing little things. Her sister remembered which neighbor had changed curtains, which classroom book was missing from a shelf, and where Grandma Bell had put her glasses after losing them twice in an afternoon. Ruby was better at speaking up, but Pearl was the one who watched quietly until the answer appeared. That combination made them good partners in the ordinary adventures of being children.
"Let's tell Daddy," Ruby said finally.
She held up the purple smartwatch he had bought for the trip, pressed the voice-message button, and waited for the little light to turn green. She wanted to sound brave. Instead, her words came out smaller than she expected, trembling at the edges as she explained that a flight attendant had given away seats 2A and 2B and put them near the bathroom.