by Rachel Lee
“I am!” Kix said to no one’s surprise.
Telling herself she must have imagined some hidden meaning in the expression she’d seen on Garrett’s face, Maggie joined the others in line for birthday cake.
* * *
Kix’s grandmother and great-aunt efficiently distributed slices of strawberry cake topped with scoops of vanilla ice cream. While the five senior members of the party gathered around the table, Garrett joined his girls, Maggie and Jay in the living room. Kix and Payton sat cross-legged on the floor, using the coffee table for a dining table, while Maggie sat on the couch and Garrett and Jay in chairs nearby. Garrett had suggested moving the party out to the deck where they could enjoy the pleasant evening weather, but he’d been overruled by his grandmother and aunt, both of whom preferred to remain indoors.
There was little chance for the adults to talk during the desserts with both girls chattering, but everyone seemed to enjoy the girls’ enthusiasm. Garrett didn’t even bother to remind Kix to breathe during her jumbled monologues, indulging her on her birthday.
Somehow the conversation wound around to Garrett’s career. “Sometimes Dad lets me take the controls,” Payton boasted, far from the first time she’d mentioned her love of flying to Maggie. “I’m going to get my private pilot’s license when I’m fifteen, right, Dad?”
He gave a little shrug toward Maggie. “Payton’s obsessed with flying. I guess she got that from me.”
“I want to be an airline pilot,” Payton informed everyone firmly, though Garrett doubted there was anyone in the room who hadn’t already heard that aspiration. “Dad said the best way to do that is to get military training, so I’ll probably go to the air force academy like he did.”
Paulette was not at all happy with that plan and she never missed a chance to point it out. “There’s plenty of time for you to decide what you want to do, Payton. I still think you should consider medical school. You’re so good in your science classes and you’d be a wonderful doctor.”
Having heard that suggestion many times before, Payton merely shrugged and took another bite of her cake. Garrett might have described her expression as mulishly stubborn. He’d told his mom before that the most surefire way to get Payton to do something was to try to discourage her from doing it, but his mom still felt compelled to argue every time her granddaughter mentioned the military. He had mixed feelings about the idea himself—partially because he wasn’t ready to think about Payton growing up and leaving home—but he’d always said he would support his girls in their career goals.
“I want to be a veterinarian,” Kix announced. “I want to take care of sick cats. Dogs, too, but cats are my favorite.”
“Do you like to fly, Maggie?” Payton asked, proving her thoughts were still focused on her own envisioned future.
“I haven’t flown much,” Maggie admitted. “Just a few times on commercial airlines. It’s sort of a hassle these days, but I don’t really mind it too badly.”
Payton looked surprised. “You’ve never been up in a small plane?”
“No, I haven’t had the chance. Maybe I will someday.”
“You should take her up, Daddy,” Kix urged quickly. “It’s fun, Maggie. Daddy’s a good pilot, so you wouldn’t have to be scared.”
Garrett was caught by surprise at the sudden suggestion.
“I’m sure he is,” Maggie said lightly, her expression hard to read. “But—”
“You could take her up tomorrow, Dad,” Payton chimed in. “We don’t have any other plans for tomorrow, and Kix and I are going to help Grammy make cookies, aren’t we, Grammy? We have new cookie cutters shaped like tropical fish and sea horses, and Grammy brought food coloring and sprinkles and stuff to decorate them with.”
“I did promise to let you help with baking,” their grandmother agreed, her eyes lighting with anticipation of sharing that activity with her granddaughters. “Of course, there’s not quite as much room in this kitchen as there would have been at home, but we can spread out on the table.”
“So you can take Maggie flying while we’re cooking with Grammy,” Kix told her father in satisfaction.
“Take her up in the Cessna one-fifty,” Payton instructed. “You’ll love that one, Maggie. It’s a cute little two-seater and it’s a high-wing so you can see great.”
“Oh, well, I—”
“Maggie probably has to work tomorrow,” Garrett said with a repressive frown at his daughters. “It’s still a weekday, and it’s a holiday week, so you’ve seen how busy the resort is.”
“Maybe she could take off a little early tomorrow afternoon,” Jay murmured with a grin, apparently enjoying the interplay.
Garrett gave him a look, then glanced at Maggie. “I’d be happy to take you up anytime you’d like, but don’t let these yahoos pressure you into it.”
Kix giggled at being called a yahoo. Jay chuckled. Payton, of course, rolled her eyes.
“Well, actually, I could probably take off an hour early tomorrow afternoon,” she said. “If I start a bit earlier than usual, I could be done by four, maybe.”
The words must have escaped her impulsively; almost as soon as she’d said them, she looked rather surprised to hear them. Or maybe he was projecting his own surprise onto her.
“Oh. So, um, want to go up for an aerial sightseeing tour of the lake?” he offered, feeling all eyes focused on him. “I can show you how the resort looks from fifteen hundred feet up.”
“That does sound like fun,” she admitted.
Maybe a little too much fun, he thought with a swallow. “You know, I can get a four-seater if you girls want to go up with us,” he said.
Kix started to say something, but he’d have sworn her sister poked her under the coffee table. “We go up all the time,” Payton said then with a casual wave of her hand. “We promised Grammy we’d help her make cookies. She’s going to teach me how to make the dough from scratch.”
“Me, too,” Kix echoed. “From scratch.”
“So you and Maggie go ahead,” Payton continued. “Tomorrow’s like a holiday. Both of you usually have to work weekday afternoons, so you might as well take advantage of having a little time off, right?”
Maggie’s laugh sounded a little self-conscious. “I’m not sure it’s time off for your dad to take up a sightseer. That’s pretty much another day at work for him, isn’t it?”
“Not if he’s doing it because he wants to and it’s not for pay,” Kix assured her. “Daddy likes to fly, don’t you, Daddy?”
“Yes,” he said. “I do. Um, Jay, want to come along?”
“I’d love to,” his friend answered promptly. “But I’ve got appointments tomorrow afternoon and a rehearsal dinner to attend tomorrow evening for a couple I’m marrying Thursday evening.”
“Thursday evening?” Coralee echoed. “That’s an unusual night for a wedding.”
Jay nodded. “Nice young couple on a tight budget and schedule. They’re having rehearsal tomorrow, a very small wedding ceremony Thursday, then taking a three-day weekend for a quick honeymoon in Galveston before Art has to return to his job on Monday.”
“A no-fuss affair,” Mickey said. “Best kind.”
“Honeymoons don’t mean as much these days,” Garrett’s grandmother commented dryly. “Most young couples have dinner before saying grace, if you know what I mean.”
Kix looked a little confused by the adage, but Jay quickly changed the subject. “This strawberry cake was delicious, Paulette. One of the best I ever had.”
Garrett’s mother beamed in pleasure, offering him another slice. Jay declined politely.
“Let’s play Uno,” Kix suggested, springing to her feet. “Maggie, Uncle Jay, you want to play a game with us?”
“Well, I—”
“I really should be—”
Kix interrupted them with her patented big-eyed look. “It would be a birthday party game. For my birthday.”
Garrett groaned. “Kix—”
“I could probabl
y stay for one game of Uno,” Maggie assured Kix with a quick smile.
Jay proved equally susceptible to a little girl’s blatant manipulation. “Sure, why not. One game.”
Kix was able to talk everyone but her great-grandmother into playing. Esther sat in the chair she’d claimed as her own and watched, occasionally cheating by warning the others about the cards she could see in Garrett’s hand. He didn’t really care if he won, but he started hiding his cards from her anyway, just on principle.
After the promised game—which Payton won, to her smug satisfaction—Jay and Maggie both insisted they had to leave, as did Garrett’s aunt and uncle. Amid the hugs and good-nights, Maggie drew out her keys.
“You want to meet at four tomorrow for our flight?” Garrett asked her at the door.
She glanced toward the girls, who were bidding good-night to Jay. “You’re sure they didn’t persuade you to do something you’d rather not do?”
“No, it’s always fun to take up a small-plane newbie. You’ll find that it’s quite a bit different from flying commercial.”
“I’ve always wanted to go up in a small plane,” she confessed. “Just never got around to it. I’m looking forward to it.”
“So am I.” A bit too much for comfort, actually. “So I’ll meet you in front of the main building at four?”
“I’ll be there.”
Jay joined them at the door. “I’ll be honored to escort you to your car, Ms. Bell,” he offered Maggie teasingly.
“It’s a golf cart, but I’ll still accept the escort,” she replied, her tone equally light. “Good night, Garrett.”
“Good night.” He watched as Jay gallantly held out an arm to assist Maggie down the front steps. She accepted with a laugh. Garrett closed the door with a sharp click, unreasonably irked at the sight of Jay and Maggie laughing together.
“Taking Maggie flying will be fun, won’t it, Daddy?” Kix asked, just a little too artlessly.
Suspicious, he looked from one of his daughters to the other, his eyes narrowed on their too-innocent expressions. Speaking in a low voice so as not to be overheard by his mother in the kitchen or his grandmother, who’d already gone back to her room to get ready for bed, he asked, “You girls aren’t up to anything, are you? Like trying to match up me and Maggie? Because if you are—”
“You and Maggie?” Payton snorted dramatically. “Yeah, right, Dad.”
“Yeah, right,” Kix parroted.
“Actually,” Payton added, “we were thinking Maggie and Uncle Jay make kind of a cute couple. Don’t you think?”
“No, I don’t think.” He’d answered a bit curtly; he couldn’t quite explain even to himself why the very suggestion was so disturbing to him.
“Why not?” Payton demanded, as if sensing his thought.
Because Jay was only a year younger than he was, he could have retorted, which also made him too old for Maggie. And because Jay’s relationship status was complicated, to say the least, though Garrett wasn’t at liberty to discuss what he knew of his friend’s personal life. And because...well, just because. But all he said was, “You girls don’t need to be playing matchmaker with anyone. Just mind your own business, okay?”
Payton shrugged. “Whatever.”
A shrug was her second favorite nonanswer, right after an eye roll. He sighed. “Kix, go start your bath. I’m going to check email.”
“Okay, Daddy. Thank you again for the kitten I’m going to get. I hope the shelter has a white kitten. Or maybe a gray one. Or a calico. Calicoes are pretty, too. What do you think, Payton? I’ve already picked out a name. Misty. Or maybe Breezy. Or Ariel. What name do you like? Maybe—”
“Kix,” Garrett said wearily, reaching up to rub his forehead.
She sighed. “I know. Bath.”
Satisfied that she was following through on his instructions, Garrett headed for his room to check his email. Not that he was expecting any important messages. He simply needed a few moments of peace and quiet in which to wonder what he’d gotten himself into when he’d agreed to this family retreat.
Chapter Four
It wasn’t a long drive from the resort to the airport, so Maggie and Garrett were able to fill the time with talk of last night’s birthday party. They kept the conversation light and humorous, focused on the girls. She’d worried a bit about this being awkward since she and Garrett had never actually been alone before, but she was quite comfortable with him and he seemed to feel the same way.
She still wasn’t entirely sure what had made the girls suggest this outing. Garrett had offered her a way out when he’d reminded his daughters that she had to work on weekday afternoons. All she’d have had to do was say that she was much too busy now—which she was, actually—and they’d have vaguely agreed to get together some other time. That most likely would have been the end of it. But it had sounded like fun, so she’d been honest about being able to take an extra hour off. She hoped Garrett hadn’t felt obligated to follow through, though he’d seemed sincere when he’d told her he would enjoy taking her up.
The small airport was busier than she’d expected on a weekday afternoon. Garrett parked in front of a blue metal building in a space marked with a Reserved sign. “The clientele here is mostly general aviation—private owners with small planes. It’s a little busy this afternoon because many of the owners are leaving town for the holiday weekend, and others are coming in to spend the Independence Day weekend with relatives in this area.”
“Does that make it inconvenient for us to go up this afternoon?”
He unbuckled his seatbelt. “Not at all. Our office is closed today, so our training planes are available. I called my partner just to be sure, but she’s not coming in.”
The sign over the entrance door of the metal building read Cowherd-McHale Aviation. Maggie raised her eyebrows. “I didn’t realize you were a partner in the business.”
“I bought in after I got out of the air force last year. My plan had been to serve another four years minimum to qualify for retirement pay, but I thought the girls needed more security than I could give them in the service. I’d already done two short tours in the Middle East and there was always a chance I’d get sent back or reassigned to another base. Sherri Cowherd is an old friend of mine and we figured we could make a decent living giving private lessons and flying charters. We bought out a couple of guys who’d decided to retire, so we had an existing client base to start with, and we’re able to swap off hours to give us time with our families. It’s worked out well enough so far.”
She couldn’t help wondering what his relationship was like with his partner. She hadn’t heard the girls mention Sherri Cowherd, so apparently she wasn’t a big part of their life. When Garrett had mentioned Sherri’s family, did he mean that his partner was married or had kids of her own? Not that it was any of her business, of course.
“Do you like your work now?” she asked, tagging after him toward a group of small planes secured to pads.
“Do I like it well enough to enjoy coming to work every day? Sure. Do I sometimes wish I was still in the military? Yes. But my girls come first.”
Once again she found herself hoping his daughters would eventually understand the sacrifices he had made for them. They were too young now, and more focused on the rules he set for them than the things he’d given up for them.
She watched in fascination while he did the preflight check outside the little high-wing two-seater. She wasn’t really worried about going up in it, but she had to admit it looked awfully tiny sitting there on the tarmac. And then Garrett smiled at her, slipped a pair of aviator sunglasses on his nose and asked, “Ready?”
Feeling her knees melt a little, she thought it was entirely possible that she’d follow him just about anywhere. She cleared her throat. “Um, yes, sure.”
He opened the passenger door for her and helped her in. Did his hand linger a bit longer than necessary at the small of her back, or was that just her overwrought imagination? Whichever,
it certainly took her mind off her nerves about takeoff.
She couldn’t stop watching him as he went through the preflight check inside the plane, taxied onto the runway and accelerated into takeoff. He kept her informed about what he was doing, a hint of the flight instructor in his voice. An air of confidence surrounded him, making it clear that this was little different to him than driving a car. And he looked so darned sexy that her toes curled in the sandals she’d worn with slim-fit jeans and her prettiest top.
He glanced at her when they were in the air. “Doing okay?”
“It’s great. The girls were right, the scenery is so much prettier from a small plane than a big commercial airliner.”
“I should take you up in an aerobatic plane sometime. Show you the view from upside down.”
She laughed, though she wasn’t entirely sure he was joking. “Can you fly aerobatic planes?”
Slanting her a crooked smile, he drawled, “Sweetheart, I can fly anything that lifts off the ground.”
Seriously. Was the man trying to seduce her? Because she was one quirk of his lips away from begging him to park this thing somewhere and fly her instead.
“So, do you want to try it?”
She blinked. “Um—what?”
“The controls.” He nodded toward the wheel in front of her. “Want to drive?”
“Oh. Yes, I’d love to.”
For the next half hour, he demonstrated what a skilled and patient instructor he was. By the time she turned the controls back over, sat back in her seat and contented herself with admiring the view of the lake and the surrounding area, she felt as though she had a good idea of what went into piloting the little craft. Certainly she couldn’t do so on her own after that one brief lesson, but it seemed like something she could conceivably learn to do—with the right instructor, of course. She wondered how much she’d have had to pay for that lesson he’d just given her. Maybe she should consider getting her license, she mused half-seriously.
“You’re a good instructor,” she told him, speaking over the growl of the engine.