The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

Hadley feels herself relaxing in Oliver’s presence. A while later, however, she senses how dry the air is on the plane and holds her breath. Then she yanks down the window shade. Recalling a flight with her father years ago, she remembers him fussing with the shade, shutting and lifting it repeatedly until other passengers got irritated. He proceeded to pace the aisle for the entire two hours, stopping to check on Hadley periodically. Now, Hadley tries to remember if he has always been so restless.

Hadley asks Oliver if his dad has visited him at Yale, and he says that his mother has. He twists his seat belt into a knot while he tells Hadley how his mother insisted on coming out before his first year started. Hadley waits for him to say more or to ask about her family, but he doesn’t. Instead, Oliver picks up her copy of Charles Dickens’s novel Our Mutual Friend. She explains that her dad gave it to her. She has brought it with her because she intends to give it back to him at the wedding, unread. Her dad used to give her books all the time, and he gave this one to her on the ski trip last year.