by Dylan Newton
Drake pulled into the driveway of a light gray house with black shutters and a brilliant red front door. The garage stood open, and Patty was inside, pulling Halloween decorations out of cardboard boxes. Kate waved as the woman tucked her bobbed hair behind one ear, grinning as she met their truck.
Then Kate spotted a tiny figure, huddled in a Buffalo-plaid blanket on a folding chair next to the tiny front porch. This woman appeared much older, her hair a cotton-candy puff of white around her head. Even at this distance, Kate saw the woman’s hand that came up to wave was thin and slightly shaky.
“Come on in while I drop Sasha off,” Drake said, grabbing the happy shih tzu, shoving his black glasses up when the pup’s ecstatic wriggling nudged them out of place. “I want to introduce you to my grandmother. She’s been asking to meet you.”
“Oh, okay.” Kate’s belly whirled with sudden nerves as she followed Drake over to the garage. She hung back, letting him have a moment to greet his mom with a kiss, then hand over Sasha. The dog went nuts, licking the older woman’s face as though it were covered in treats.
Then he approached the frail lady sitting in the metal folding chair, hovering over her and looking massive in comparison. He kissed the top of her head, then took her hands in his, chafing them together before wrapping the black-and-white plaid tighter around her body.
“Kate, it’s so nice to see you again.” Patty ambushed her with a fierce hug as she got closer to the garage and its spill of cardboard boxes on the driveway. “I’m a little late getting my decorations out this year, but I wanted to put something up. I mean, I have a rep to maintain as the mother of the nation’s nightmare-giver.”
Kate assured her the place looked great, noting with pleasure the skeleton Patty rigged to stand on the tiny porch. She’d somehow wired it to hold an open, plastic-wrapped copy of Drake’s book Scared Stiff, angling the head down as if it were immersed in the book. Propped next to the skeleton’s legs was a sign that read Drake’s biggest fan.
“That was clever.” Kate grinned, pointing to the skeleton. “Do you care if I borrow that idea for the launch?”
Patty’s cheeks lifted in a pleased smile as she set Sasha down. “Not at all. In fact, why don’t I just bring him with me that afternoon when I come with the cupcakes, and you can put him wherever you want?”
Drake appeared at Kate’s side. With no hesitation at all, he took her hand, leading her to the front porch.
“Nana, this is Kate Sweet,” he said, his voice louder than his normal tone. “She’s the fantastic event planner I was telling you about. Kate, this is Grace Matthews, my grandmother.”
“Nice to meet you, Kate,” his nana said. While her body was hunched with age, and her thin, white hair trembled with every breeze and movement, her voice was strong, and her eyes—the same arresting shade of golden brown as Drake’s—were alight with her smile.
“It’s lovely to meet you too, Mrs. Matthews,” Kate said, copying Drake’s louder pitch as she took the older lady’s hand and gave it a gentle shake. The skin under Kate’s touch was chilly and silky soft, showing every single vein traversing her hands and swollen-knuckled fingers. “I absolutely love your Victorian. Drake told me that you’re the one who procured most of the antiques in the house, and your collection is lovely. The tea cart is my favorite piece—that and the pink ladies’ chair in the front parlor. Exquisite!”
“Call me Grace,” the woman said, beaming to reveal a sparkling pair of what were likely dentures. She tugged Kate’s hand, pulling her forward, as if wanting to tell her a secret. “Come here so I can see you, sweetheart.”
Kate lowered her head until she was bent at the waist, like she was executing a deep bow to a royal. Then, Nana’s hands were cupping Kate’s face, smooshing her cheeks as she heaved herself off the back of the chair to lean forward and scrutinize her features.
“You’re so fair. And those pretty Irish eyes, and just enough freckles.” The woman nodded, as if finishing a final pronouncement, and then she released Kate’s cheeks with a final pat. “Do you know, Drake, that green is the rarest eye color?”
Drake chuckled. “I think I read that once, Nana.”
Turning to Kate, he explained in a lower voice, “Nana’s maiden name was Carney, or as the Gaelic say it, Kearney. Her parents both emigrated from Dublin, Ireland. You and your freckles just got the ultimate stamp of approval.”
Kate flushed, her finger brushing the spatter of freckles she’d had on her nose since childhood.
“Oh. Well, that’s good. I’ll take all of the approval I can get.”
After a few minutes of light conversation, Drake kissed both his nana and his mother, and explained they had to leave. Drake reversed out of the driveway, and Kate watched through the windshield as both Patty and Nana Grace waved madly until they pulled around the corner.
Kate sighed.
While she loved her parents, she rarely saw them, and when she did, the visits were conducted between texts, calls, or visits to resolve patient issues. If meaningful conversation occurred, it was invariably littered with veiled insinuations about her career choice. Or at least that’s how it seemed.
Drake’s small-town life seemed so Norman Rockwell-ian in its simplicity and goodness. In contrast, Kate flitted from city to city, planning someone else’s big day. While she loved her career, she’d never realized what she’d missed as she led her nomadic lifestyle. It might be time to reevaluate her goals and create her own life spreadsheet that had more to do with her needs, rather than a two-year, career-focused calendar filled with other people’s special occasions.
Something of her pensive mood must have shown on her face, as when Drake pulled up to his old bus stop, he paused.
“You okay?”
“I am.” Kate affixed a smile that became real as Drake grinned, his amber eyes lighting up in that expression she’d come to covet. “I’m excited for a night away from everything. But we’d better hurry, or we’re going to miss your dinner.”
“Oh, I don’t think there’s much chance of that.” Drake winked. “You’ll see.”
Ten minutes later, Kate saw.
They’d pulled into a small airport situated on what appeared to be one of the biggest hills in the area. “Small” was maybe too generous of an adjective for the Wellsville Municipal Airport. There was no main terminal, nor was there a security line, baggage area, or a single screen showcasing arriving and departing flights. The airport was a collection of hangars along a wide, paved tarmac. And not much else.
Kate squinted at the wind socks blowing here and there, but she spotted no control tower. She’d barely gotten her overnight things out of the cab when Drake appeared at her side, grabbing her rolling bag and hefting it along with the two suit bags thrown over his shoulder.
“Ready to go?”
“We’re flying? From here?”
At Drake’s delighted nod, Kate followed him into the airport’s tiny waiting area, which consisted of a few office chairs set against a wall covered from ceiling to floor by a detailed map of New York State. She’d barely glanced at it before entering the warehouse that acted as a hangar, with a few planes peeping out from under canvas covers. While she heard an engine in the distance, none of the planes here seemed likely to take off in the near future. In fact, it was so quiet inside the hangar, she heard her boots on the cement floor.
“Um, do I need to check my bag, or go through security or something?”
“Nope. But maybe I should frisk you before we board? Just in case you’re carrying contraband.” Drake winked, clearly enjoying her discomfiture as he led her across the warehouse-like hangar to the opposite side. He pushed through a metal double door, and the origin of the engine noise Kate had heard was apparent.
A large, sleek, red helicopter sat on a circular pad, its rotors whirring and its door standing open.
Kate gaped at Drake, who grinned back as she raised her voice to be heard over the chopper.
“I thought you were drivi
ng us to Niagara Falls?”
“If it were just me going up, I would have. But I promised you a VIP experience, and I always keep my promises. You ever been in a bird before?”
“Definitely not.” Kate gulped, following Drake across the asphalt to the edge of the concrete pad where the helicopter waited in the center of a painted yellow circle, the rotors whipping up the wind with such ferocity, she wasn’t even sure he’d heard her.
A man with a thick coat and a pair of bulky ear protectors approached Drake, smiling and shaking hands. Their words were lost over the roaring of the engine, but they seemed to have no trouble understanding each other as he took the bags from Drake and stowed them in the aircraft. The air buffeting her from the rotors was chilly, but the sky was cloudless and bright blue. Kate’s heart thudded in her chest as she followed Drake’s gesture and climbed into the aircraft while two men with clipboards and ear protection buzzed around the chopper, checking things off what she assumed was some sort of preflight list.
She buckled herself into a bench-like seat, copying Drake, and put on the headset she’d been given, immediately muting the ear-splitting whine and thud of the helicopter engine. She pushed the wayward strands of hair behind the headset, feeling like a crazy troll doll, with her hair standing up all over her head.
“This will allow us to talk to each other and to John, our pilot,” Drake said, gesturing to the Black man in the thick coat outside who wore an identical set of headphones almost lost in his mass of curly hair. He finished signing some sort of paperwork on a clipboard, and then swung into the cockpit, securing the door behind him.
Introductions were made, and Kate shook John’s hand, licking her dry lips in an attempt to put some moisture in her mouth.
“It’s my first time in a helicopter.”
“Mine too,” John said, the skin next to his eyes crinkling as he grinned. Then he faced forward, hit some switches, and adjusted his mouthpiece, rattling off numbers on gauges and checks for various controls.
Kate’s eyes widened, and she looked at Drake, who patted her knee.
“He’s joking. John’s a graduate of the Army’s Flight School program at Fort Rucker, and has more medals for valor than he has a chest to pin them on. He’s been a private pilot since he retired from the military, and he’s done some work as a medevac pilot for some regional hospitals.”
“Yep, if I’m not flying dying people, I’m flying this deadbeat in the back,” John said, hooking his thumb toward Drake. “What do they call you? The Master of Morbid?”
“Something like that.” Drake chuckled.
John flashed Kate a smile. “I never get to do these fun jaunts, though. Having you aboard is a real treat. Sure you don’t want to ditch this guy and head to the falls with me instead?”
Kate murmured something about this being a work night for her, and John returned to his gauges and preflight, saying only, “Drake’s a lucky bastard.”
Kate raised an eyebrow, wondering if Drake would disabuse the pilot of the notion that this was anything other than work, but the writer just shrugged in a what-are-you-going-to-do gesture.
“We are a go for takeoff. Ms. Sweet, you be sure Tall, Dark and Twisted keeps his hands to himself. There’ll be no mile-high club inductees in my bird.”
The helicopter’s engine took on a lower, thumping noise, as the whine increased outside of her headset. Kate gripped the edges of her seat, as the thing lifted off the ground with barely a lurch. It felt nothing like a plane—there was no taxiing down a runway to gain speed before the physics of aerodynamics lifted the machine. It was just a sensation of being gusted up in the air by something huge and powerful.
“Look up—it’s going to be a beautiful ride,” Drake said, and it was only then that Kate realized she’d been staring down at her feet.
They gained altitude quickly, and Kate saw that they were not on top of the largest hill in Wellsville, but one of many tall hills surrounding the town that was tucked in the valley between, nestled in like something from an old Currier and Ives print. She thought briefly about taking out her cell phone for a picture, and then the chopper bobbed left, and she decided her hands were best gripping the seat sides.
Drake, however, was not troubled at all by the rapid rise in elevation. He reached into a cooler secured to the floor, revealing a chilled bottle of champagne, two flutes, and a covered tray of goodies—the latter of which bore the sticker logo of Pattycakes Café on the lid.
Popping open the food container, he offered her a selection of finger sandwiches, along with some bite-size cupcakes. As Kate shook her head to refuse, he gave her a faux-stern look.
“My mom made these especially for you,” he chided, and pulled out his cell phone. “In fact, I have strict orders to feed you as soon as possible, given the late hour we’ll be eating. And she wants proof.”
Reluctantly, Kate unlatched each finger from the seat bottom, her hands shaking as she reached out for what looked like her favorite mini Cubano sandwiches. She’d no sooner gotten it close to her lips than Drake snapped a picture, nodding happily.
The helicopter did a small up-down dip, and Kate stuffed the entire sandwich into her mouth so her hands were free to grip the seat once more. He snapped another picture, chuckling as her eyes bulged at him in warning.
“I’ll delete that. As soon as you let go,” he said, his face more vibrant and thrillingly alive since the day at the festival. “You’re the Queen of Happily Ever Afters, for God’s sake, and you’re acting like this copter is going up in flames at any moment. You’re buckled in, you’re in a top-of-the-line bird with a decorated pilot. It literally doesn’t get any safer than this. Enjoy, and leave the nightmares and disaster scenarios to me—it’s what I’m built for.”
Glaring, she loosened her death grip on her seat, edging closer to the window. The view beneath was all rolling hills and forests, the trees bright with fall colors. It was like staring at a giant red, orange, and yellow quilt that had been laid over the Earth, stitched together by the rural roads and dotted with houses. Between the forested squares lay larger, rectangular swatches of green fields, plowed brown farmland, and lush evergreen forests. Not for the first time, she recognized what she’d missed, living so close to New York City for so many years.
She managed to finally chew and swallow the mass of sandwich. “This is so incredible. I can’t believe you set this whole thing up for me.”
John interjected: “He did. Lock, stock, and barrel of wine—all for you, Ms. Sweet.”
Drake smiled and handed her a glass of champagne.
“You’re always working on crafting amazing memories for everyone else. I thought it was high time you had one of your own.” Drake raised his own glass of champagne. “Here’s to…what do they call this in a romance novel? A happily-for-now moment!”
They clinked glasses, and Kate flushed. He’d done all of this…for her? She still had too much to do to pull off the launch to allow herself a distraction…but she had to admit, she’d fallen for this guy who was so full of contradictions. On the outside, he was like the hard shell of a chocolate-covered candy, but when you got to know him, cracked open his defenses, he was all warm, sinful, gooey sweetness. While she knew at least some part of him must feel the same about her—no man could kiss that well without passion hiding somewhere behind those dark glasses—she was at the place to take the next step, but wasn’t sure if he was there with her. The same question she’d asked on her ill-fated speed-dating night with Imani still pestered her.
Was he the type of guy who could handle a woman whose career meant she wouldn’t be available most weekends or holidays for the foreseeable future? Or would he expect her to give up her dreams for his? If so, this whole thing was only a happily for now. Could she be okay with that? Was it worth putting her heart at risk?
But now was not the time to ask those questions. Instead, as they rode, Kate helped Drake polish off the bottle of bubbly in addition to the small tray of PattyCakes goodies
, and the pilot interrupted their laughter and talk to intermittently point out a landmark in the autumnal-tinted world rushing beneath them. Yet it wasn’t until an hour had passed and they were passing over a particularly dense cluster of houses and neighborhoods that John made an announcement.
“This is Buffalo, and we’ll be landing in Niagara Falls International Airport in about five minutes. We’re awaiting clearance for a pass-over of Rainbow Falls, so get your camera ready, Ms. Sweet.”
Kate fumbled in the purse she’d put at her feet, eager to obey.
“Give her the million-dollar view, John,” Drake said.
“Roger that.” John banked the copter, turning toward Kate’s left, bringing a wide, brown river into view.
“That’s the Niagara River,” Drake said, indicating the flow of water winding through the city below. “The force of its water churns out millions of kilowatts in the hydroelectric plants, powering the whole region, all the way down to Wellsville and up through Canada.”
“It looks so calm and lazy.” Kate noted the muddy, brown water. “Why is it so filthy? Pollution?”
“Mostly it’s run-off from the hills and the rain we had a few days ago that created a lot of silt in the water. The Niagara looks a little like a mud puddle right now,” John said, and then nodded toward the front. “But in a second she’ll look as white as snow.”
Chatter came over the radio.
“Okay, we’re a go to buzz the falls,” John said into his mouthpiece, flashing a grin back to Kate and Drake. “Here’s the best way to view one of the natural wonders of the world.”
The helicopter rocketed forward, and Kate gripped her phone tight as they raced the river below, following the Niagara as if it were a road.
“We’re getting awfully close to the water, aren’t we?” Kate asked Drake.
Drake smiled. “You’re in good hands, I promise.”
Kate nodded, unconvinced.
“And there’s the money shot.” Drake nudged Kate toward the cockpit windshield.