“Oh, yeah, but what if she doesn’t uphold her end of the bargain?”
“And what if you don’t? It’s all about trust. But the first step is making that decision to love each other. My advice? Let yourself fall madly in love with Dr. Daisy. Have I mentioned your good taste in women, by the way? Enjoy every minute of it. And should you decide she’s The One—and if she’ll have your sorry ass, as you so delicately put it—then remember those in love feelings will fade away eventually. So it’s your job to try to keep them alive.”
“Hell, yeah, I like that part about rekindling. I love to rekindle.”
“And remember this too. Just because those original feelings may fade away, don’t ever forget them. You want to hold on to them, so you can bring them out now and then, like a photo album, and savor the memories. Even when you’re a grizzled old man like myself.” George beamed.
“Yeah, I see how that would be like looking at pictures.” Sky pulled on his beer, the game forgotten. His forearms rested on his knees.
“And one more thing, son. Daisy’s one of the finest young women I’ve ever met. Don’t you dare break her heart.” Mirth glittered in George’s blind eyes. “Or I’ll grab one of her dogs and we will track down that sorry ass of yours and kick it into next week. You take good care of her.”
“Yes, sir.” Man, it was as if the old guy had given him the secret to the universe. The Holy Grail. Now if Sky could get past the dreams and the fear that he, too, could leave her a widow, he might find himself...engaged? He shivered. Scary, but cool.
There must be some magic to what George was saying, because here he was, Sky Crawford, king of the skies and the bedroom, actually contemplating marriage. And with a woman he’d never even had sex with.
Wasn’t the world filled with wonders?
George broke the silence. “I’m guessing you’re pretty lost in thought there, son.”
“Yeah?” Sky looked up at him to see George grinning.
“Navy just scored a touchdown and the extra point and you didn’t even notice.”
Sky jerked his head toward the TV. “They did?”
“Yup. Now get down and give me seven push-ups, sailor.”
Rotorwash. That was a word Daisy never thought she’d hear again in this lifetime. She gathered the children to her, shielding her face from the rotorwash spewing up from the YMCA soccer field. Funny that a term like rotorwash should still hold a place in her active vocabulary. Sky wasn’t just a pilot, but a helicopter pilot, like Jack had been. She had once learned to understand Rotorhead lingo. Funny that it should be a part of her life again.
And could she handle it? Not sure.
In the meantime, she cuddled several children, encouraging them to cover their ears from the cacophony of the blades as they whipped up the air around them. She noticed Sky brought the helo right in and landed. Never pull into a hover over dirt, people, or anything that might be flipped upside down by the one-hundred-mile-per-hour winds emanating from the rotor system. Jack had told her it kicked up too much rotorwash. There was that word again. A word she’d always associated with Jack. Who knew? Maybe God had brought her another helo pilot to exorcise her demons and heal her life. All she knew was every beat of the powerful blades was stirring up more than rotorwash.
Daisy had spoken with the small crowd who had gathered on that Thursday afternoon. She warned them to remain in the bleachers with their hands over their ears, posted the counselors as guards to ensure no one ran out onto the field, and then cautioned them that the experience might be a tad frightening. And definitely loud. Fortunately, many of the children’s parents had joined them, along with all the staff and the Navy ROTC students from the nearby high school. Also Sky had sent some aircrewmen from the base ahead to cordon off the field and ensure everyone’s safety.
While the roar of the helicopter’s jet engines faded, she remembered Sky’s warning that no matter what happened, no one was to set foot on the field until the rotor blades had fully stopped and she saw him disembark and wave to her. That was their signal. She watched the ground crew place chocks on both sides of each front wheel. There was another word she hadn’t thought of in a couple of years: chocks.
She could only assume the rest of the afternoon would be full of more verbiage from the past: cyclic, collective, hover, hoist, tail rotor, pitch, yaw, and “In the trap. Trapped!” That’s where she currently resided: in the trap. And how had she managed to get there? Oh, yeah. That’s right. Mr. Persuasive, the hot pilot who was grinning at her from the cockpit, had pulled her into the trap and then all but yelled, “In the trap. Trapped!”
Hadn’t it been enough that Sky was in the military? And he was a pilot? But to fly helicopters? She wasn’t even going to look into the cockpit, let alone climb in. That was all there was to it. She flashed back to the time she and Jack had made out in his cockpit after he’d received his wings. And she’d tried to climb onto his lap, but the cyclic stick had gotten in the way. No way was she looking inside. What was she even doing here today?
There was the reason. Sky Crawford. A helmeted, grinning Sky Crawford waved to her. She hadn’t noticed the blades had stopped, she was so busy tripping down Memory Lane, getting turned on thinking about making out in a helicopter. Daisy eased her way down off the bleachers, gathering the children around her and waiting for the aircrewmen to give her the go-ahead.
Sky and a very tall, young pilot, who had to be Mikey, approached them. “Hello, Dr. Daisy. Hi, guys.” Sky removed his helmet and waved to all of them.
“Hi, Lieutenant Sky!” cried the children.
“This is my co-pilot, Lieutenant Mike. Can you say a big Boys and Girls Club hello to Lieutenant Mike?”
Again, they screamed out their welcomes.
“Hey, Lieutenant Sky,” Cory called out. “Did you have fun on your date with Dr. Daisy?”
The children giggled. Daisy hoped he didn’t do something stupid like go into detail. Or worse, kiss her in front of them.
“I did. Thank you very much. And now here’s my part of the bargain. When I say, ‘Go,’ I want everyone to get in line—hey!”
The children scrambled to line up. Sky put two fingers in his mouth and whistled sharply. “I didn’t say ‘Go’ yet. You have to follow directions. Wait until I say the magic word and then you’re going to get in a straight line.” He paused, waiting to make sure they were listening and not jockeying for position. “Okay, first you’ll get in a line. Next we’re going to walk you over to the helicopter. Everyone will get a chance to sit inside and—Daisy, did you bring your camera?”
She held it up for him to see.
“Dr. Daisy will get your picture. First we’re going to walk over—no way—not ‘til I say ‘Go.’ Remember? We’re going to bring that line over and put you into a couple of rows so we can explain how the helo works first. Then you’ll each get to climb in. And when you’re in the cockpit, don’t touch anything, okay? We wouldn’t want you taking off in the air.” The children giggled at the thought. “Get it?” he yelled.
“Got it!” they screamed back.
“Good! No, really, it’s okay. Don’t be afraid. You can’t go anywhere. I’ve got the keys.” He shook a set of keys that Daisy recognized as the keys to his truck.
“Go!”
The children scrambled to get into line, Daisy and the other adults guiding them. Sky walked the newly formed line over to the helo and organized them so everyone could hear about the basics. The adults and high school students who brought up the rear appeared as excited as the children.
“Now I’m going to turn this show over to Lieutenant Mike and he’ll tell you all about my Little Girl here. That’s what I call her.” He leaned over and kissed the helicopter, to the children’s delight. “I only call things I truly love ‘Little Girl,’ like my cat and my helicopter.” He kissed the Romeo one more
time, patted it, and cried, “I love you, Little Girl!” The children squealed over this.
Daisy felt her face grow warm. She’d heard him call Daisy Mae “Little girl,” but he called his helicopter that too? Only things I truly love. Wasn’t that what he’d called her that day on the tumbling mats? She’d assumed it was a sexist remark, but had it meant that he cared for her?
“Okay, Lieutenant Mike, she’s all yours.”
“Hi, boys and girls. Ladies and gentlemen. This here is a Navy Seahawk MH-60R helicopter. We call her a ‘Romeo’ for short because of the ‘R’ in her name. She’s used for anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare. Along with search and rescue and vertical replenishment. That’s when we carry cargo and deliver it to a ship or maybe to a place that’s had a natural disaster, like an earthquake or hurricane.”
Sky interrupted, “Did you have a question, Tanya?”
“Yeah. Is it a Romeo like Romeo and Juliet?” All the children giggled and the little girl at Tanya’s side made kissing faces.
Sky deferred to Mike. “No, Romeo is the word for the letter ‘R’ in the military alphabet, that’s all.” Mikey continued, “Now the Navy’s Seahawk is actually the same basic design as the Army’s Black Hawk helicopter, except it’s designed for shipboard landings and it’s gray to match the ocean.” Mike indicated the fifty-four-foot diameter rotors. “Believe it or not, these rotors can disconnect and fold back along the fuselage and the tail section can fold back so the length of the helo can be cut in half. This makes it easier to stow a Seahawk in a hangar aboard ship.”
One of the high school boys called out, “You mean you can fold up a helicopter?” Mike looked at Sky for help, but he raised his palms in surrender. Maybe he had already warned Mikey there would be all kinds of questions. Daisy was delighted by how flustered this giant of a man seemed to become around children. “Yes,” he answered simply.
Mike patted a large bump on the nose of the helicopter. “This is our FLIR system. FLIR stands for: Forward Looking Infrared Radar. It’s a thermal imaging camera that enables us to zoom in on targets. Even on the blackest of nights, we can identify people and fairly small details from distances you could never see otherwise, even while wearing night vision goggles. We aim the FLIR at whatever we want to see below and the video is displayed inside the cockpit and back to screens on our ship. This system also contains a laser for targeting laser-guided munitions, including Hellfire missiles we can carry.”
“He said a bad word!” cried Cory. The kids that weren’t laughing, were looking wide-eyed at the very thought. Sky whistled them quiet and Mike continued.
Daisy watched as Sky played Vanna White to Mike’s explanation. She knew Sky was the senior pilot—the HAC—so she was impressed he allowed Mike to be the center of attention. She didn’t think Sky often allowed someone else to take the glory. He continued to act silly around the kids, dramatically waving his arms to show them the features Mike described. Sky Crawford had been made for the stage.
“The Romeo has two jet engines, although it’s designed to be able to fly on one if something should happen to the other. The engines drive the transmission that turns the rotor head and that, in turn, spins the blades.
“And this,” he said as he and Sky walked to the tail end of the helo, “is the tail rotor. It’s actually larger than it appears. It may look small next to the main rotor, but it’s eleven feet across and turns at eleven hundred RPMs. It turns in the opposite direction of the main rotor and keeps us from spinning in circles.”
Sky opened the door to the cockpit. Daisy looked away.
“The two seats and their flight controls are identical.” Mike continued. “As well as the tactical displays and controls. That means both pilots can operate the mission equipment and fire weapons. But the one who actually fires the weapons is known as the Airborne Tactical Officer—or the ATO.” Mike reached outside and patted the weapons pylon. “If we were carrying torpedoes, and our sonobouys—which are underwater microphones—detected enemy submarines, the ATO could drop as many as three torpedoes on them. We also might be carrying up to eight Hellfire missiles, in which case the ATO could use our laser system to lock onto a target and take out a small boat or a tank. And now I’m going to turn this back to Lieutenant Sky to take your questions.”
Sky beamed at the kids as their hands shot into the air.
Mikey walked over to Daisy and introduced herself. “Mike Nikolopoulos. Pleased to meet you, ma’am.”
She offered him her hand, “Daisy Schneider. Thank you, Mike. That was an excellent lesson. And thanks for bringing the helicopter here for the kids today. I know everyone is enjoying the experience.”
“Aw, that was all Sky, ma’am.” A slow smile tipped up a corner of his mouth. “I understand he needed to uphold his end of some kind of bargain.”
“That’s correct.” She nodded toward the helicopter. “So that’s his Little Girl? He really calls it that?”
Mikey chuckled. “Yes, ma’am. And more.”
“Let me guess. Sweetheart? Darlin’? Honey? Sunshine?”
“Well, I’ve never heard him call her sunshine, but that’s a good one. Yeah, he talks to it just like a woman.” He sobered. “Um, sorry, ma’am.”
Had this mammoth of a man actually blushed? “Don’t give it a thought, Mike. He talks to his cat like that too. I truly think he means it as an endearment. Especially if he calls this—what? Thirty-five million dollar…?”
“With the new Romeo technology, more like forty-five mil.”
“Well, apparently ‘Little Girl’ is some kind of badge of honor, but I’m not falling for it. Ask him sometime how I reacted when he called me that.” Daisy smiled at the memory of flipping him on the mat and moved on. “Nice to meet you Mike. Again, thanks for doing this.”
She walked around the helicopter, smoothing her hand across its gray skin and thinking deep thoughts. Except for the color, Sky’s Seahawk didn’t differ all that much from Jack’s Cobra. It was a helicopter. It had a blunt nose, a rotor head, rotor blades, and a smaller tail rotor. Probably the way Sky felt about a dog. “A dog’s a dog,” he’d say. But upon closer inspection she realized they were radically different. Jack’s Cobra was much smaller and narrower. The pilots didn’t sit side by side as they did here. And there had been no cabin or room for aircrew in the back of Jack’s aircraft.
With a shudder, she realized the Cobra had been designed for one purpose: combat. This Seahawk had multi-mission capabilities. Besides defense, it was intended to help people. Maybe this thing with Sky could be just as different.
She walked past the open door and gave in to the urge to look inside. The sheepskin seat covers practically undid her. She’d given Jack a sheepskin cover for his co-pilot’s seat for Christmas right before he left for Iraq. She assumed it traveled to Afghanistan with him too. Never in a million years would she have guessed when he unwrapped the package that Christmas morning, his eyes shining with delight, that it would serve as his shroud. She turned away from the helo and walked back to the bleachers to sit down for a few minutes.
What was it Sky had said the other night? “Maybe you’re afraid if you fall in love with someone else and move on with your life, you’d be forgetting Jack, like he didn’t matter any more.” Was that it? Was she clinging to the memories of Jack so he wouldn’t be forgotten? Of course she’d never forget him, but did the memories need to rule her life? Did she need to be tied to them? Or could she take another chance on love? Daisy shivered when George’s words came back to her: “How do you know Jack was The One? How do you know Sky isn’t?”
Daisy took a deep breath and pulled herself together. She glanced up at Sky, who was laughing at something one of the kids had said. His white teeth, with that sexy gap in the middle, flashed her a smile that made his eyes crinkle up. His tired eyes, she noticed. He did seem tired a lot lately. Probably from them tryin
g to sleep together without having sex. Poor guy. She knew how hard it was for him. And she could tell just how hard every time he spooned her in bed. She so wanted to arch her back and wiggle her butt into him. Get things started. But she had to admire why he was holding back. It had surprised her beyond belief, but apparently he was a man of honor. And she respected that.
And wasn’t he funny about having his cat in the bed with them? Daisy Mae had almost completed her medication regimen and could go home soon, but he definitely liked cuddling that cat along with Daisy. She was surprised Daisy Mae even let her sleep in the same bed with him, she was such a jealous cat. Oh, well. Daisy would be glad when the kitty went home. The dogs were not exactly crazy about having her there.
“Earth to Dr. Daisy. Hey, quit your skylarking over there, Doc.” She realized Sky was calling her, snapping her out of her reverie. “You got your camera ready? Wanna come get some shots of the kids in the cockpit?”
As she approached, Sky met her halfway and probably wasn’t even aware that he put his arm around her waist, giving her a squeeze as they walked to the helo. It was such a small gesture, but it felt good. It felt damn good. It felt natural.
As she snapped the kids’ photos, she watched Sky interact with the children. He lovingly lifted each child up into the pilot’s seat, then stepped back and grinned as she snapped the pictures. Suddenly she envisioned him lifting his own children up to sit in “Daddy’s Helo.” The unexpected image blew her away. She was still convinced he was a player at heart, but she knew he was going to be an awesome daddy to somebody’s kids someday.
Which was something she had no business thinking about.
“Shit, Sky, you got it bad,” Mikey said as they prepared Little Girl for takeoff from the soccer field of the Boys and Girls Club.
“Shut up, Studley.” But Sky smiled broadly as he addressed his crew. “Okay, guys, we’re going to do an Obstacle Clearance Takeoff to clear those lights around this ball field. Normally we wouldn’t care about how fast we climb, but with all these people around, we need to execute a no-hover takeoff, to minimize the rotorwash. Mikey, I want you to fly us out of here, while Quinn and I make damn sure you don’t hit anything.”
Forget Me Not (Love in the Fleet) Page 17