He hated wasting time. If he had to run this kind of flight too often, he’d have to find a hobby. Learn how to sleep on his feet again. Or something. “The man does good work.”
Emily and Stone brought up the rear and all three of them left the airport and closed it down. Matt had just started toward San Jose when his cell phone buzzed. It was Sarah’s number.
“Hey.”
“Don’t worry about picking me up,” said Hunter. “I’m already at the house. Your girl—I mean, Sarah picked me up.”
“She did?”
“I called the airport, and she said she’d pick me up. No drama.”
“Did you thank her?”
“Like a hundred times.” Hunter sounded as though he’d moved the phone away from his mouth. “Hey, Sarah. Thanks for picking me up. Happy?”
“Yeah.” Matt grunted. “Should I get dinner?”
“Nah, Sarah got more of that pizza you had the other night. I think there’s some left for you. Better hurry, though.”
“Uh, yeah. Thanks.” Matt hung up, a little dazed.
Okay, what just happened?
Hunter had sounded human for the first time in a while. Matt supposed pizza could do that to a teenage boy, but then again it might also be Sarah. If she had even half the effect on Hunter that she had on Matt, it could happen. When he pulled up to the house, the lights were on in the kitchen and he could see Sarah through the window. Her head was bent over the sink. She turned around for a second, and when she turned back she was laughing. Then she must have seen his headlights because she looked outside, caught his eye and smiled. Her smile had a certain amount of heat to it, but what floored him was the something else he caught in that smile...her heart.
It had the double-edged-sword effect of making him hard and scaring him shitless. He couldn’t do this with her. It was too big with too much potential for massive damage. He couldn’t screw up. Not with her. Eventually he’d disappoint her and he couldn’t live with that outcome. He couldn’t lose her friendship and nothing would be the same after a breakup, no matter what they told each other. As much as he wanted her, the fact was he didn’t deserve her, so he was going to have to back off.
He shut off the truck and his cell phone buzzed. Joanne. “What’s up?”
“Just got done with damage control and it’s the first chance I had to call. How’s Hunter?”
“He’s okay. Insists he had nothing to do with that tweet.”
“His best friend did, and I can’t imagine why he would do that other than for Hunter. So stop defending him. Plus he had a part in it.”
“Still don’t think this was the right way to handle it.”
“What’s wrong, Matt? Did we disturb your little love shack plans this weekend?”
He stopped himself from swearing. “No.”
“I know about the girl. I hope you’re not letting her run around the house in next to nothing. Hunter is a teenage boy on hormone overload, so keep that in mind.”
This time, Matt did swear under his breath. “Not that this is any of your business, but that woman is my friend. Sarah Mcallister. And she doesn’t run around in anything but a T-shirt and jeans. Practically wears an overcoat on her way to the shower in the morning.”
Good thing Matt had long ago learned how to control his temper. He was long past giving a damn what Joanne thought, but he also couldn’t have her talking about Sarah.
“And another thing. I noticed he’s started to call you ‘Matt.’ He tried that with me once, too.”
“I don’t mind.”
“You shouldn’t let him call you by your first name. It’s a sign of disrespect. Or distance. But maybe that’s what you still want, no matter what you tell yourself.”
Matt shoved his response down. “Anything else?”
It was true that sometimes Matt resented that Joanne would forever be a part of his life based on one single mistake of his youth, but then immediate guilt would press down, accompanying the thought, then segue right back into anger at the situation. Same place he’d been in for years. Guilt, anger, guilt. It pushed down on him, and try as he might he couldn’t forgive himself. Joanne had rooted him to this spot for years.
You owe me. I had your child.
“That’s it. Now let me talk to my son.”
“Hold on. I’ll see if he’s available,” Matt said in his most annoying tone and opened the front door. “Hunter, it’s your mom on the phone.”
He was spread out on the couch in front of the television, remote in hand. “Huh.”
Matt threw the phone in Hunter’s direction. “Give her your new number.”
Hunter caught the phone in midair. “Not sure she makes clearance.”
“Smart-ass.” He stepped out of the room to give Hunter some privacy and found Sarah in the kitchen.
The cabinets missing their doors did their work of pissing him off all over again. He wanted to wring that contractor’s neck. But that reminded him he had to follow up with his connection this week. He would take Sarah to a warehouse where she could choose some new ones.
“Hey.”
Sarah shut the refrigerator door and turned to him. “Hey yourself. Your son eats like a racehorse.”
“Yeah? How much does a racehorse eat? More than a regular one?”
“I don’t know. A lot?” Her hand ran along the length of the countertop. “About today...”
They were going to talk about this afternoon, when he’d had his tongue down her throat and she’d had her hand down his pants. She wouldn’t want him to be sorry, and try as he might, he couldn’t say those two words to her. He was sorry for nothing that had happened this afternoon, as crazy as it seemed.
“Yeah.”
“I was hoping we could maybe resume—” She wouldn’t even look at him now, following her finger on the counter, glancing at the floor. “Sometime.”
He cracked a smile because he’d had his mouth on her nipple and she couldn’t look at him. “Maybe that’s not such a good idea.”
That did it. She met his gaze, heat flaring in her green eyes. “You’re sorry?”
“Hell, no.”
Her eyes softened. “Neither am I.”
“It will change everything.”
And, dammit, there’d been women in his past, women he liked just fine. Just six months ago, he’d been excited about a beautiful woman whose name he could barely remember now. But there was only one Sarah. Stone’s sister. His good friend. Only one woman he found he couldn’t resist, even while his mind told him he should.
The question was how much was he willing to risk? Because if things went south, as they often did for him, they might never salvage their friendship.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for a change,” Sarah said.
“Hey, Sarah, do you have HBO On Demand? What channel is it?” Hunter yelled from the living room. “I might as well get caught up on Game of Thrones while I’m here.”
“I’ll be right there,” Sarah called back.
As she passed by him on the way to the living room, Matt squeezed her hand. She squeezed back, giving him a heartbreaking smile.
An evening of watching cable TV with his son and Sarah lay ahead of him, even if he would rather finish what he’d started with Sarah this afternoon.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
JUST WHEN HUNTER thought he’d seen enough stupid and sad adults to last the rest of his life, he had to spend another day with the saddest one of all: Grandpa.
Hunter saw Grandpa Conner about once a year at Christmastime, even when Matt hadn’t been around. Joanne would bring him over, or he’d come over to their house. When he was little, Grandpa Conner was always the kind to bring the “good gifts.” No clothes or new underwear, for instance, like he always got from hi
s other grandparents. No, he brought cool shit like remote-controlled airplanes and monster trucks, PlayStation and all the other expensive stuff. He also always brought a big check in an envelope and made a big show of giving it to Joanne “for the college fund.” Of course, Joanne was all over it. But Christmas was the only time he really saw the man.
But holy crap, this guy was depressing now. He spent all his time in his super-exclusive condo or playing golf. The condo was pretty cool but mostly because there were all kinds of awesome gadgets in really weird places. Yesterday, when Hunter had found an old Apple computer in the closet, he figured he could take it apart and put it back together. That was how bored he was.
“What are you doing over there?” Grandpa asked from his favorite chair.
He was watching a soap opera. A soap opera!
“Looking for a screwdriver.”
“In the kitchen?”
“The junk drawer.” Joanne kept all the tools, the few she had, in one.
So far Grandpa had gum and loose change in his junk drawer.
Grandpa got up. “You’ll find a screwdriver in the toolbox, where it belongs.”
He shuffled over to a utility closet and brought out a big yellow toolbox. “Every man needs one of these.”
“Thanks,” Hunter said and went back to taking the thing apart.
“Back to that again, huh?” Grandpa was still standing here.
“What else am I going to do all day?” He had a phone like something from an ’80s movie. It had no texting. Who talked on the phone anymore? His friends would laugh at him.
“What’s wrong with you, kid? Don’t you like Windows? I’ve got a PC.”
“Yeah, but—” But nothing. There were advantages to hanging out with an old man, after all.
Once he had his password, Hunter hopped on Grandpa’s computer and brought up Twitter. He sent Trent a private message. When he didn’t reply, Hunter sent a message to Caleb, and a few minutes he’d replied back that Trent had been grounded, too. Which, come on, was only fair since he’d been the one to get Hunter into this mess. Hunter couldn’t find the meme, either, which was a good thing. He didn’t want any more trouble coming to him this summer. There was a chance that when Joanne got back from seeing Chuck she’d be in such a good mood she’d forget the whole thing.
Already he could see he was a big fat imposition on Matt and Sarah, who had been making goo-goo eyes at each other last night while pretending to watch Game of Thrones. Which meant that both of them had lied to him. He didn’t see what the big deal was that his dad had a girlfriend, or why no one thought it was okay to tell him. Sarah was cool and Hunter liked her. Anyone would. Plus she had a supercool job.
Maybe she wouldn’t move back to Colorado after all. Maybe she and Matt would get married and Matt could go focus on being husband of the year instead of father of the year. Hunter thought she’d be a great stepmother and would help get everyone else off his back. But hell, it probably wasn’t going to happen. Joanne had been engaged three times and never once been married. From time to time she said that she should have married Matt when she had the chance. She didn’t know Hunter could hear her talking to her mom late at night on the phone, but he could. Still, he couldn’t imagine two people on earth who would be worse together.
Hunter switched to Facebook and went into the “Call of Duty” group he belonged to.
Hey, I heard what happened.
It was a PM from Megan Miller, who had to be the prettiest girl at his school. Hunter didn’t even know she was in the group. Usually Megan didn’t give him the time of day, so what now?
Sucks, but I’m at my grandpa’s and he doesn’t mind me getting online.
Actually, I was going to go dark for a while myself. I thought it was cool you were doing that, too.
Why?
It’s a challenge. Haven’t you ever heard of a challenge?
Duh. I challenge myself every day.
Oh yeah. You want to be a Marine so you probably work out all the time.
Word.
He was going to get started on that this summer. But he needed a membership to Gold’s Gym and the way things looked right now it wasn’t about to happen.
When are you starting this challenge of yours? Coz you’re online right now.
So are you.
Yeah, going dark wasn’t my choice.
Okay. But would you do it with me?
What was the catch here? One of the prettiest girls at his high school wanted to go dark with him? How exactly were they going to go dark together anyway? How would Hunter know if she was really offline unless he was online to check up on her? He was no techie genius but he could already see a lot of holes in this plan.
That doesn’t make sense.
Sure it does. We can meet at the library every morning it’s open.
Yeah, and they have computers there to get online.
There’s a long line for them. And don’t you have any self-control?
Dude, who’s asking for help going dark? I’ve been doing it for four days now on my own.
Too bad, you broke your streak.
If I hadn’t, would we be having this conversation?
Good point.
“What would you like for lunch?” Grandpa asked from the kitchen. “Is a tuna sandwich all right?”
“Sure.”
We could always go to The Drip and hang out. They don’t even have Wi-Fi.
Good idea. I need to bring my phone in case my mom wants to get ahold of me.
I have a flip phone now. Like the kind the drug dealers have.
???
Never mind. See you there tomorrow. Nine o’clock.
Hunter logged off the computer and went to have lunch with Grandpa. Tomorrow he’d ask Matt to drop him off at The Drip in the morning, or if worse came to worst he’d walk over there himself. It was only a mile. Because one thing was for sure—he wanted to know why anyone would choose to go offline.
* * *
SARAH STARED AT the giant warehouse. It looked like a large barn from the outside, but inside, the rafters were up to forty feet or higher. There were displays everywhere of wood, window frames, doors and cabinets. And yes, even kitchen sinks.
“The mother ship,” Matt said as he strode inside. “Best-kept secret in Fortune. Jack used to be a contractor, one of the best in the business. But he retired a few years ago. Now he owns this discount outlet for contractors and opens it up to friends and family, too.”
Sarah wondered if Satan had been in here to get materials recently. Had he stiffed Jack, too?
“Have I told you how sorry I am that I didn’t ask you to help me with the remodel in the first place?”
“Believe me, I’m sorry, too.” He pulled off his shades and slid her a look that said she’d been silly not to assume he was an expert in...everything.
She melted a little bit from the heat in those eyes. “How was I to know you were a jack of all trades?”
“Ask around.” He quirked a brow.
Too late now. She’d already seen his work firsthand, and without a doubt Matt knew what he was doing. It might take him longer to get the work done, between all his other obligations like working, and raising a teenager and, oh yes, sleeping, but he’d do it. What’s more, he’d do it with class if she let him. His tastes often ran on the expensive side, but while she wasn’t footing the bill she didn’t want him to waste any more of his money.
“What do you think of these cabinets?” Matt tugged on her hand, taking her down the aisle.
What she thought was that this place was like the local home improvement store but without all the charm. There were piles of sawdust everywhere. A sawhorse sat in the corner of the aisle.
“Those look too expensive.”
Matt had pointed to cherrywood cabinets. She’d priced those out once before and discount or not, she understood they were more expensive than a simple oak finish.
“Price is not an issue. Quality is.”
Except Sarah would beg to differ on that point. They were running out of time and her father’s house would have to be fixed to the lowest common denominator. And yes, the artist in her was cringing at that statement.
“We don’t need quality. We’re on a budget and on a timeline.” She kept moving down the aisle until she found serviceable, sturdy, plain oak-finished cabinets. “What about these?”
Matt scowled, then pulled Sarah to the side and spun her toward him, one hand on each hip. “Let me explain something to you. Your father’s house is a Craftsman. Do you know what that means?”
She squinted. “It’s old?”
“Try again.”
She threw up her hands. “I give up! What does it mean?”
“It was built at a time when people cared about quality. When a builder put his heart and soul into the house. No skimping. No cutting corners to save a dollar here or there. Quality.”
She snorted. “And I’ll bet milk was twenty-five cents a gallon.”
“These homes are unique. Special. One of a kind.”
She didn’t speak, too entranced with how passionately he’d just spoken about a house. He kissed just as passionately. Of course, she’d wondered often how many other random things he did with equal passion as he’d kissed her. Because if she ever got to find out, she might spontaneously combust from the heat before all was said and done.
“If you’re worried about money, don’t be. I’m—”
She placed her hand over his mouth. “Do not say ‘good,’ Matt.”
He grinned and lightly bit her finger before she drew it away. “I’ve got this.”
“You know how I feel. It was hard enough for me to let you do this in the first place. Now you want to overspend. I guess I could see doing that if I was staying.” She didn’t like to bring the unhappy fact of her departure up, but it was true.
Why spend money on a perfect house, suited for her in every way, when she would have to let it go?
Airman to the Rescue Page 13