Falling Again

by Kathryn Kelly

  Samuel put on his own headset so he could listen in. “We’re not going,” he said after the negative confirmation came through.

  Noah turned in his seat and looked pointedly at Samuel. “We will go.”

  Samuel shrugged and sat back in his seat to prepare for a long wait.

  After about ten minutes of silence from Noah, the rain began to slow, and it looked like the storms were moving away.

  Noah sent in an emergency request to take off.

  Samuel closed his eyes and tried not to think about Danielle. He tried not to wonder what she was doing right now. Three months pregnant. She would be starting to show a bit now. A baby bump. Danielle was adorable. He imagined that now that the nausea had subsided, she was already getting that glow that only expectant mothers got. They would say it was too early for her to be glowing, but Samuel had seen it. He saw it in the glint of her eyes when she smiled at him.

  When she hadn’t thought he was watching her work on a design.

  “Go ahead, Skye Flight 23. Ready for take-off Runway 31 right,” the controller said in his headset, knocking Samuel out of his reverie. “No way.” He straightened in his seat.

  Noah grinned as he flipped switches bringing the aircraft to life. “You have to have faith,” he said.

  “Determination is more like it.”

  “Semantics.” Noah guided the plane down toward the runway. “Let’s go see our girls.”

  Samuel kept his focus on the controls and ignored Noah’s words. He would think about that later. For now, it was going to be interesting to see the famous Noah Worthington at work. All he had to do was keep his mind off anything Danielle-related.

  Once they were in flight, however, there wasn’t a lot of distraction to keep his thoughts in check.

  Noah wanted him to go to Savannah’s graduation reception with him, even knowing Danielle would be there. He had a sick feeling in his stomach when he thought about seeing Danielle. It had been about four weeks. Would she be with someone else? Probably not. Since Noah had brought him along, she must not be seeing anyone else, at least not seriously.

  She would probably be showing now. How was she coping with being pregnant? He thought that by now, he’d be rubbing her feet, at least on the weekends. He knew now that anything beyond weekends would have been a challenge. He was usually up at six, flying all day, then just time for a quick happy hour before falling into bed. Only to get up and do it all over again the next day.

  He’d spent the weekends at home, mostly with his family. With the holidays coming up, his mother had kept him distracted with decorating the house. But despite her efforts, it made Samuel even sadder that he didn’t have Danielle to do things with.

  He kept a picture they had taken together the Friday before he left. They’d had a nice dinner until her ex had shown up. Samuel hoped the guy hadn’t followed her to L.A.

  He wasn’t opposed to tracking him down if he thought Joey was harassing her.

  He had lots of other pictures of them, too, from the photo shoot. Though they hadn’t started seeing each other at that point, those pictures conveyed intimacy. An intimacy that had begun growing even before they knew it was there. Looking back, Samuel was enchanted from the moment he met Danielle.

  She had never returned any of his phone calls or texts. If Noah knew that she’d moved, he hadn’t said anything to Samuel. In fact, they rarely talked about Danielle at all.

  Samuel was trying to let her go. But being around her father, working with him, even now flying with him, left the wound open. Sometimes, he’d say something or make a facial expression that reminded him of Danielle. He thought about her all the time.

  He glanced over at Noah, who was checking the radar again. Noah knew. He knew Danielle had gone back to L.A., Samuel would put money on it. There was no way his daughter moved across the country without her father knowing about it. Noah was just being respectful of Samuel’s feelings by not bringing it up.

  It was a little odd, though, that he sometimes acted like they were still together. Like today. Let’s go see our girls.

  One day. One day he would have the chance to talk to her again. To straighten things out between them. Probably not today, though, since today was about Savannah and family.

  It was time though. Time to put this misunderstanding behind them.

  Chapter 53

  Danielle sat on the sofa surrounded by family at Savannah’s house on Lake Martin near Auburn, Alabama. Her mother, Claire with her new husband, Grayson were there. Her stepmother, Savannah, was there of course, with her baby, Aria. Danielle’s grandmother, Emily, was there, too.

  It was interesting that Noah’s ex-wife and current wife had become friends of sort over the years. Danielle supposed that she was the link holding them together. Mother and stepmother. They were similar in many ways. Very cultured. Neither one of them would be caught yelling or slamming a door. They probably wouldn’t run away from a relationship like Danielle had, either.

  The only person missing from today’s gathering was Noah – Savannah’s new husband.

  And Samuel.

  Danielle hadn’t known that she could miss someone quite so fiercely as she missed Samuel.

  She knew that Noah and Samuel were flying in together. What she didn’t know was whether or not Samuel would be coming to the graduation party.

  It didn’t keep her from watching the door.

  The rain was falling in torrents now. She shifted her gaze toward the windows along the back of the house and watched the storm roll in across the lake. Someone had turned on the electric fireplace. That and the lights from the Christmas tree reflected in the window. The tune I’ll be home for Christmas played in the background.

  Danielle checked the cell phone she held in her hand. Even now, after a month, she missed the frequent texts she’d become so accustomed to from Samuel.

  Savannah sat on the other end of the sofa, also staring at her silent cell phone.

  “No word from Noah?” Danielle asked.

  “No. You?” Danielle heard the anxiety in Savannah’s voice.

  Danielle shook her head. Samuel would have stayed in touch.

  “They must be in the air.” Savannah was known for her optimism.

  “Probably,” Danielle agreed. Still, a tendril of anxiety slithered up her spine. Her father had done a one-eighty since he’d been married to Danielle’s mother. He stayed in touch now. His marriage to Savannah was nothing like his marriage to Claire.

  Still. Danielle maintained her conviction that once a man was away, it was far too easy to lose touch and for a relationship to fall apart. The current circumstance was a case in point. Her father had missed Savannah’s graduation. Without a single word.

  “Did you text Samuel?” Savannah asked.

  “We broke up,” Danielle responded automatically, though she knew that Savannah was well aware of this.

  “Right,” Savannah said.

  Danielle tapped her phone. Looked back toward the window.

  “Still,” Savannah insisted, “he’d probably answer you. Then we’d at least know that Noah is okay.”

  Danielle frowned. Damn Savannah for invoking the fear and anxiety that she had learned to live with regarding her father’s flying.

  Noah was a good pilot. “No,” Danielle said. “He’s late because of the storm. He’ll be here when the weather clears.” She took a deep breath and reached out and touched Savannah’s arm. “I’m sorry he missed your graduation. I can’t imagine what a huge disappointment that must be.”

  “It’s part of the package. I knew that going in. I trust him. I trust him with every fiber of my being.”

  “He’ll be here.” Danielle ignored Savannah’s comment about trust. They weren’t talking about trust. Everyone knows. Everyone had to know that she broke up with Samuel because she didn’t trust him. Maybe Savannah thought it was unjustified.

  “You’re right,” Savannah said. Waited a beat. “I guess it was a little strange to think about ma
rrying someone so much like your father.”

  Danielle didn’t want to talk about Samuel. She missed him so much it ached. The fact that he was like her father wasn’t strange. One of the things she liked about Samuel was that he was like her father. It was the thing that she most liked and most feared.

  She feared days like today. Days when he didn’t call. Just like Noah hadn’t called.

  “I met him a couple of weeks ago. He seemed like a nice guy, but then… you would know him better than anyone else.”

  Danielle fought the urge to walk away from her stepmother. She turned away from Savannah, her chin trembling, as she considered her words.

  Yes, Samuel was a nice guy. And yes, she knew him better than anyone else. She was the one who knew just how kind he was. How generous. And how much he had cared about her.

  Savannah’s mother, Emily, walked over, Aria on her hip. “I think we should go ahead with the cake,” she said.

  Savannah nodded. “Of course.” And took her child from Emily.

  Emily served cake and punch. Danielle ate a few bites, but barely tasted it. Savannah also barely touched her cake. Danielle’s heart went out to her, despite her irritation with her stepmother’s accurate observations. Savannah was in obvious pain, and it was her graduation party.

  Danielle stood next to the Christmas tree, facing the front door - she couldn’t help herself. Besides, it wasn’t strange to be worried about her father. In fact, she was worried about both of them – her father and the man she still loved.

  After Savannah tossed her plate into the trash, she picked up her daughter, who’d crawled behind her into the living room.

  With the exception of the Christmas music in the background, the room was quiet. Waiting.

  The doorbell rang. As far as Danielle knew, no one else had been invited to Savannah’s small celebration. Noah wouldn’t ring the doorbell. It could be Samuel coming in before Noah. Samuel would ring the doorbell.

  Danielle and Savannah reached the door at the same time. Danielle realized what she was doing and stopped to stand back. It was Savannah’s house.

  Savannah opened the door to two men wearing black suits. That little tendril of fear was more like a full-blown fire now.

  “Mrs. Worthington?” The older of the two asked.

  “Yes,” Savannah said, handing Aria over to Danielle. Danielle took the cooing baby and cradled her close, but her eyes were locked on the men at the door.

  “We’re with the FAA. You’re listed as next of kin on Noah Worthington’s contact record.”

  Savannah grabbed the edge of the door and fell to her knees. “Noah,” she said, just as Danielle reached her side.

  Chapter 54

  About thirty minutes out, Noah gave Samuel control of the plane. “There’s a thunderstorm just north of Auburn Airport,” he pointed out. “We’ll go in from the south and land on runway 36.”

  They began their descent to Auburn Airport. “We’re in the correct position,” Samuel said, but even as he said the words, the plane shifted.

  “We’re in a microburst.” Noah said.

  “Descending…” Samuel gave the plane full power, but the descent continued.

  Altitude warning alarms began beeping. “What the--? Give me the controls.”

  “Landing gear!” Samuel flipped a switch.

  Noah pulled out of the drive with full power. “Something’s wrong with the system,” he muttered.

  “We’re gonna stall.”

  “I’m going to do a controlled descent.”

  “We’re too high.” Samuel held onto his seat, his knuckles white.

  “I switched off,” Noah said. “We’ll recover out of it.”

  “Yes,” Samuel agreed. “We’re leveling off. Everything’s fine now.”

  Noah exhaled. Gauges indicated the runway ahead. They were on path. Samuel blew out his breath. Everything was good.

  “We made it.” Noah engaged the thrust reversers to start slowing them down.

  The plane was set in full reverse, but they were going too fast, and the end of the runway was getting close. Seeing the end of the runway was something he never wanted to do.

  Noah hit the brakes, but the plane started sliding on the wet runway.

  They checked the antiskid. Engaged.

  System failure.

  Something wasn’t right. Noah checked the annunciator light to see if there was system failure, but it was on.

  Samuel gripped the edges of his seat as they slid off toward the end of the runway. “We’re gonna crash,” he said through his teeth.

  They were going too fast. Much too fast to stop now. They braced themselves as they went into a full skid off the runway.

  The last thing that flashed through Samuel’s mind was an image of Danielle smiling up at him and the feel of her lips on his.

  Chapter 55

  They made it to East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika in record time. Grayson drove Emily’s SUV with everyone else packed into the seats, Aria included. There had been no time to think. Someone, Emily and maybe Grayson, had grabbed all their handbags and ushered them out the door.

  Savannah had known where to go and what to do. Everyone else just followed. Danielle was in a daze. The men from the FAA had said Noah was alive, but that they needed to get to the hospital.

  They hadn’t said anything about Samuel.

  Noah was in surgery, so the whole family was sent to a waiting area to sit. And pace.

  Her father had to be alright. Though she’d dogged Savannah’s heels and listened to every conversation, no one had indicated that he was very bad off.

  And no one mentioned Samuel.

  Danielle paced across the waiting room floor a couple of times. Emily had gotten Aria to sleep. Savannah was on the edge of her seat. Claire sat with Grayson, their attention on his iPad.

  Without a word, Danielle went out to the nurse’s station. “Can you tell me where Samuel Johnson is?”

  The nurse looked at her over her glasses, typed on the computer, and shook her head. “We don’t have anyone by that name.”

  “Maybe he came in without a name. He was with Noah Worthington. In the crash.”

  The nurse shook her head. “The ambulance only brought in one person.”

  “That can’t be,” Danielle said, turning on her heel and running back to the waiting room.

  “Savannah, are you certain Samuel was with Dad? The nurse said he isn’t here.” Her words came out in a rush. What if he hadn’t survived?

  Savannah’s brows furrowed. “Yeah. When I talked to Noah this morning, he said they were both coming. He said Samuel was excited to see you.”

  “He knows we broke up.”

  “Well, either way, he was bringing Samuel with him to graduation and to the party.”

  “The ambulance only brought in one person. Where is he?”

  Savannah frowned. “That airplane is rated for two pilots. There was another pilot on that plane.” She was out of her chair and on her way to the nurse’s station.

  “Danielle,” Claire called.

  Danielle stopped in her plan to follow Savannah and instead went to sit next to her mother.

  “Are you okay?” Claire asked, placing a hand on Danielle’s arm.

  Danielle shook her head, feeling the tears gathering in her eyes. “No one knows where Samuel is. He was on the plane with Noah.”

  Claire glanced at Grayson. “How can that be?” Her voice trailed off with an unspoken realization.

  Grayson shook his head. “Not necessarily,” he muttered.

  Danielle stood up, took a step, and came back to stand in front of them. “I have to find him.”

  Savannah rushed back. “They took him to Birmingham - UAB.”

  “Oh no!” Danielle said. That could only mean the worst. “How is he?” She bit her lip even as she asked.

  “She didn’t know,” Savannah said. “But they flew him straight to UAB by Lifeflight.”

  Danielle felt the bottom
fall out of her stomach. No. No. Not Samuel. Not sweet, kind, loving Samuel. “I have to go. I have to go to him.” She turned to Claire and held out her hand. “I need the car.”

  “Danielle, honey, we flew. We don’t have our car.”

  Danielle put a palm on her forehead. “Right.” She couldn’t think straight. She needed a car.

  Emily stepped forward and held out her keys. “Take mine,” she said.

  “Mom! How will we get home?” Savannah asked.

  Emily raised her eyebrows at her daughter as Danielle took the keys from her hand. “We’ll figure it out.”

  Keys in hand, Danielle raced from the room toward the front of the hospital. Did she even know which car belonged to Emily? It was an SUV. I’ll find it.

  She dashed out into the cold and looked around the parking lot for an SUV. Fortunately, there was only one in sight.

  Getting into the driver’s seat, she put her head on the steering wheel and took deep breaths. She had no idea which way to go.

  “I’m the daughter of a pilot,” she told herself. “I’ve lived in L.A. and Houston. Surely, I can drive to Atlanta.”

  If only I had an airplane. I could navigate myself there.

  GPS.

  With sudden inspiration, she used her phone to map her way to the hospital in Atlanta.

  The SUV felt huge in her hands. She knew how to drive. She just didn’t like to drive.

  Within minutes, she was on Highway 280, and it looked like a straight shot from here.

  She relaxed her hands on the wheel for the first time since she’d put the vehicle into drive.

  Maybe she should have waited to see how her father came through his surgery. But surely, he was going to be okay, since they’d kept him there in Auburn. Or maybe he was too critical to leave.

  No. Samuel’s words came back to her. Take a deep breath, Danielle. Everything is going to work out.

  Remembering how Samuel had held her hair while she threw up, her eyes teared up, and the road in front of her blurred. She blinked back the tears to be able to see better.