Finally she pushed me away and turned me back. "It's a suitable trainer," she said.
"I already fly yours so well," I told her.
"I know. I'm so proud of you. But there is no way you are soloing a one hundred fifty knot airplane with retracts, honey."
I looked over my shoulder at her. "I suppose that would be foolish." I looked back at the Cessna.
"It's a trainer," she said. "You will learn to fly it. You will build hours in it. Once you are licensed, you can be my safety pilot for instrument practice." Then she turned me to face her. "You will make promises to me, right now. You will never fly in bad weather without me."
"I promise."
"Two thousand feet and five miles. Do you understand? Until you have your instrument rating."
I nodded.
"You will never engage in foolish stunts or fly close to the ground."
I nodded.
"You will never push your fuel limits. In this airplane, you will fly no longer than two and a half hours between fill ups. That does not mean two hours and thirty five minutes. Do I make myself clear?"
I nodded.
"At six gallons per hour, you can fly four hours with full tanks. Do you know why I put a shorter limit on?"
"Because I might burn more than six an hour, and it looks like it has small tanks."
She smiled. "Right. Two and a half hours and you better be wheels down, or I will take it away. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Moira."
"Honey, I almost ran out of gas once. In a 152. That's why I'm so paranoid. It was three hours and ten minutes, and the engine almost died when I turned to final."
"Oh god. I won't push it. That's conservative, but I won't push it."
"Good. Thank you."
She turned me back to look at my plane. "It's beautiful, Moira."
"I know." She paused. "It was inexpensive. It has a freshly overhauled engine. I bought it and had it overhauled. Eight hours since overhaul. But the panel is kind of crappy, and I don't want you ever taking this plane into instrument conditions."
I nodded.
"When it's time to get your instrument rating, you'll use the Mooney or we'll sell this for something with a proper panel."
"You bought me a plane." I kept staring at it.
"Yes, I bought you a plane." She paused. "Remember my favorite house?"
"The one on Lake Minnetonka?"
"Yes. They moved into a bigger house on Lake Minnetonka. I closed six weeks ago on both the sale of theirs and the buy of the new one."
I turned to her. "Right on the lake?" She nodded. "Oh shit, I bet that was a couple of nice checks." She nodded. "You didn't tell me."
"I wanted this surprise."
I hugged her.
"There are three more surprises."
"This wasn't enough?"
She reached into her purse and handed me a credit card. "That's for fuel and other expenses. It's not for anything except flying." The card had my name on it. "Should we take it up?"
"Yes!"
"I already pre-flighted," she said. "After this flight, it will be your responsibility. Do you think you can pull it out yourself?"
I nodded. She stepped back, and I stepped up to the plane and pulled it carefully from the hangar, turning it down the taxiway. Then I helped her close the hangar door. We stepped outside, and I walked to the right door.
"Uh uh," she said. "Other side."
"You hate flying from the right," I told her.
"Other side."
"That's the pilot's side."
"Damnit, Pamela. Other side."
"Sorry," I said meekly and walked around to the other side, but I was grinning by the time I arrived. I climbed in. She was at her door but wasn't in yet, and she explained how to properly close my door. I adjusted my seat and buckled up. Then she climbed in and did the same thing.
She handed me a piece of paper. I looked at it.
"What is this?"
"It's a pilot's license."
"I haven't earned one yet."
She laughed. "Whose name is on it?"
I looked at it. "Yours."
"Flip it over. What does it say?"
"Your name, your social security number, and your ratings." Then I stared at it. "Commercial pilot? When did you get that?"
"A few months ago."
"You've been holding out on me."
"What else?"
"Instrument. Oh shit. You're a CFI!"
"Welcome to your first official flying lesson. Ground school starts tonight."
"I love you, Moira."
"I love you too, Pamela." She paused. "Check list down by your leg. Key on the dash. Think you can get it started?"
It turns out I could.
About the author:
Julia P. Lynde is the pseudonym of a writer living in Minnesota.
Julia is older than most of the characters in her books. She has blue eyes and grey hair. She enjoys hiking in the mountains (difficult to do in the mid-west) and hosting dinner parties.
Julia can be reached via email as [email protected]. Twitter: @JuliaPLynde
Julia's other works include:
Novels
Rewind:
Emerging from traumatic events of her past, Shane is left dealing with newfound self-revelations until she seeks help from an unexpected quarter.
Veronica is a stunning and powerful businesswoman who knows what she wants and lives for the seduction involved in getting it.
Complicated doesn't begin to describe the results.
Rewind features graphic sex between consenting women and some light BDSM.
Pulled to the Dark: The Siriena Series Volume 1:
Felicia Conner begins having recurring dreams of the woman who gave her a great new job. Night after night, Petra appears in her dreams. Petra begins to teach Felicia the wonders of the dream world she inhabits while Felicia begins to wonder how she can have such lifelike dreams night after night.
Petra welcomes Felicia to the world of Siriena, where the world may just very well be as it seems.
This complete novel of 95,000 words contains swords, magic, intriguing characters, an easy-to-hate villain and graphic sex scenes between Felicia and Petra.
Novellas
Unwilling
Alexandra and Melissa are coworkers who entirely hate each other, each for her own reasons. One Friday night, Melissa desperately needs Alex to save Melissa's job.
Alex gives Melissa an offer: be her servant for a month or join the unemployment line, believing Melissa would rather take her chances than bow to Alexandra. Instead, Melissa accepts.
This 30,000 word novella (about 100 printed pages) features domination, submission, bondage, and just a touch of some hot sex.
Paying the Price
Princess Meorie is kidnapped from the Norinian capitol, finding herself aboard a warship of Tendaria, a victim of treachery and dishonor. She discovers her captor is Dareena, daughter of the Tendarian queen, who intends to return Meorie to Tendaria to stand trial for war crimes of four years ago.
Dareena promises justice, but Meorie knows she will only receive vengeance. She is offered the choice of spending the voyage trussed like a turkey with an equally undignified delivery to the Tendarian palace, or she can accept a magical slave collar of obedience, to be removed upon delivery. She accepts the collar, binding her to obedience to Dareena.
As the voyage progresses, Meorie attempts to defeat the collar while learning how deep the treachery towards her has extended. She also finds herself falling in love with her captor.
This novella of 43,000 words, about 130 printed pages, is the darkest story Julia P. Lynde has written.
Northern Proposals
Jade and Jessica are co-workers, scheduled to complete a project on Monday. When Friday rolls around, the proposal isn't completed, and Jessica's weekend of fun is spoiled by getting dumped, Jessica invites Jade to come along for a weekend at a beautiful cabin on the lake. Once at the cabi
n, Jade discovers love isn't as simple as she once thought.
Northern Proposals is a simple, lovely tale of self-discovery. It is filled with two complicated characters and some hot, D/s sex between our two heroines.
This novella is 51,000 words, or about 160 printed pages.
Shorts
Bound in Arrogance
"You wouldn't last two hours of my attention," Penny told me, turning it into a wager. Foolishly, I rose to the bait.
Bound in Arrogance features Veronica and Penny several years prior to the events in Rewind. It features light BDSM.
Emily's Gift
Succubus Volume 1
Emily's daughter has taken a bad path, and Emily turned to the fae succubus, Anita, for her own brand of help.
This short story of 9400 words features intriguing characters and some steamy female on succubus sex.
Snow Bound
First in the 5-part Snow Bound Series.
After a near experience with a deer, Allison is pulled from her car by Sarah, troubled twenty-five-year-old photographer. Sarah drives Allison to Allison's secluded cabin on a lake, where the two become snow bound.
Allison finds Sarah deeply attractive. Will Sarah's troubled past interfere with a possible future?
This short of 10,000 words contains graphic sex, light bondage, domination, and a mind game or two.
Holiday Escort
Madeline Burnet is out of work after ten years as the highly-skilled personal assistant to the owner of a luxury travel agency. During a job interview, she meets Karen Green. The job requires skills Madeline doesn't have, but Karen offers an unexpected alternative arrangement.
She needs a fake girlfriend to help her get through the holiday season. Madeline's affections are not aligned towards women, but she accepts for the money and the chance to make more contacts.
It turns out that being a fake girlfriend can be a very confusing job.
Holiday Escort is a delightful tale involving two very different women. This story is sure to bring pleasure to the reader.
Bidding War
Copyright 2013 by Julia P. Lynde
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the publisher. You must not circulate this book in any format.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, businesses, characters and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, actual events or locales is purely coincidental.
* * *
License Notes
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