“I don’t believe we’ve been formally introduced,” Lexi said, forcing a bright smile onto her face and offering her hand out to shake his. “I’m Lexi, as I guess you know.”
Silver’s dad paused for a moment, seemingly surprised by the sudden change of subject. But then he shrugged, and reached out to grasp her hand. “Anderson,” he said. “Silver’s dad.”
As soon as his hand touched hers, Lexi realized that letting any part of her body come in contact with his had been a mistake. She felt her knees go weak at his touch, as a jolt of electric heat seemed to pass from his hand to hers. She had heard before about sparks flying between couples, but she had always thought these expressions were dramatic exaggerations. She couldn’t ignore the warmth flooding her body right now, though, and she struggled to maintain her composure. She forced herself to maintain eye contact with Anderson, and, if his blazing expression was any indication of how he felt, she wasn’t the only one aware of the chemistry.
“Where’s your wife?” Lexi squeaked out desperately. “I’d love to meet her, too.”
She didn’t want Anderson to think she was trying to come on to him, and mentioning his wife was the best way she could think of to break the spell that seemed to have suddenly settled over them both.
“My wife is dead,” Anderson said. His voice sounded hollow and emotionless, and Lexi wasn’t quite sure how to respond. Luckily, Silver chose that moment to bound into the kitchen, breaking the moment.
“You guys are holding hands?” Silver asked, her eyes widening as she skidded to a stop next to Anderson and Lexi.
Anderson withdrew his hand so quickly that Lexi’s nails scratched the inside of his palm.
“We were shaking hands, not holding hands,” Anderson said. “That’s how adults introduce themselves.
Lexi held her breath, not saying anything as Silver looked suspiciously up at her father. “I’m not dumb, dad. I know what a handshake is. You guys weren’t shaking hands. You were standing there holding on to each other.”
“Don’t disagree with your father like that, Silver,” Anderson said. “It’s rude. Now, did you thank Ms. Shaffer for the beautiful reception?
Silver looked for a moment like she was going to continue to argue with her father, but she finally seemed to change her mind and clamped her mouth shut. “Thank you, Miss Lexi,” she said meekly.
“Yes, thank you, Ms. Shaffer,” Anderson said, using the most formal name he possibly could. Lexi could tell he was trying to overcompensate for the awkward moment they had just shared, and she was actually pretty grateful for that. She had no idea how she would have gotten out of that situation with a straight face.
“You’re very welcome, Silver,” Lexi said. “It was a pleasure having you as a student these past several weeks.”
Silver nodded, and then Anderson turned and quickly started walking toward the front door, dragging his daughter along with him. “Alright, well, we need to get going,” he said. “Thanks for the lovely program.”
Silver made a face but didn’t protest. She seemed to sense that her father was not in the mood for her to challenge him.
But Lexi couldn’t be smart and keep her mouth shut, too. A few moments after Anderson disappeared out the front door, Lexi was overcome with a fit of bravery and she chased after the pair.
“Wait!” she called out. “Wait, Anderson. I wanted to ask you something.”
Anderson paused and turned around slowly, looking at Lexi with an expression that said whatever she was about to say better be good.
Lexi took a deep breath and blurted out. “Your daughter is an amazing dancer. One of the best I’ve ever seen. I would love the chance to do some more in depth training with her. It would be a shame to waste a talent like hers.”
Lexi saw a shadow passing over Anderson’s eyes, and for a moment she half-expected him to yell at her that he wasn’t trusting his daughter with a drunken ex-celebrity. But he didn’t yell. He just stared up at the sky for a few moments, while Silver stood next to him looking at the ground. She seemed to know what his answer would be before he even said it.
“Her talent’s not being wasted. Thank you for your time, Ms. Shaffer, but I think this program was enough dance education for the time being.”
Silver’s face fell, but she obediently turned and followed her father as he walked off, her short legs nearly running to keep up with his long strides.
Lexi sighed, and ran her fingers through her hair.
“Just think about it,” she yelled after him. But, if Anderson did hear her, he didn’t acknowledge her comment. He just kept walking away, his shoulders set in a broad, defiant line.
“Well, that went well,” Lexi muttered sarcastically to herself.
She’d made a fool of herself in front of her most promising student’s dad, and now she would probably never get the chance to teach Silver again.
Lexi trudged back into her house and paused for a moment in the kitchen to catch her breath before going to mingle with her few remaining guests.
She leaned her head against the smooth refrigerator door, and let out a deep sigh. The worst part wasn’t that she had lost the chance to teach an amazing student, though. Not by a long shot.
The worst part was that she couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that Anderson appeared to be available, after all.
Chapter Six
Anderson kept his eyes glued straight ahead as he waited for air traffic control to clear him for takeoff. Silver sat beside him in the passenger seat, uncharacteristically quiet. She knew he was angry, even though she didn’t fully understand why. Silver had a good sense of when it was not okay to push him, and she knew right now was one of those times.
Anderson knew he shouldn’t let his own anger and frustrations ruin Silver’s day. She had been so excited about her performance, and she had done an amazing job. He should be taking her out for ice-cream in Kodiak to celebrate or something. But he couldn’t bear to be in the same city as Lexi for one more moment. He had to escape.
His emotions about Lexi were so conflicted. He was drawn to her like the proverbial moth to the flame, and there was no denying her beauty. But he didn’t want anything to do with a woman who was a partier. Especially a woman who was sneaking booze when she was supposed to be watching kids.
Air traffic control cleared Anderson for takeoff, and he taxied his small airplane to the runway. He was in the Cessna 152 today, one of the smallest planes owned by the Frost Peak Tour Company. But he didn’t need much space when he was just flying Silver and himself back from Kodiak.
The plane lifted off the runway and quickly climbed into the sky. Anderson had been flying for a long time, and he knew that altitude was your friend. He had never been a fan of climbing slowly on takeoff. He wanted as much space as possible between him and the ground if he found himself in an emergency situation. Even a few seconds could be the difference between a safe emergency landing and a fatal crash. Anderson constantly reviewed emergency procedures so that he was always prepared. And, today, as Anderson reached three thousand feet above the ground, he was about to get the chance to put those emergency procedures into use.
It took him about four seconds after the strange noise to realize that something was wrong. He saw the oil pressure gauge dropping rapidly, and he cursed under his breath. Within moments, he was banking a sharp, one hundred and eighty degree turn to head back to the airport. Without pausing to warn Silver that they were in trouble, he got on his radio and contacted air traffic control.
“Be advised, Cessna N67322 is suffering a total engine failure. Requesting permission to initiate emergency landing procedures.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Anderson saw Silver whip her head toward him. He glanced at her, and her eyes had gone wide with terror.
“Dad?” she asked into the mouthpiece of her headset. “Are we going to crash?”
Anderson reached over and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Not if I can help it, sweetheart. The landing m
ight be a bit rough, though. Make sure your seatbelt is nice and tight.”
Silver did as she was told, and Anderson returned his focus to the task at hand—landing an airplane with no power. Luckily, the airport was still close, and Anderson had plenty of altitude to let the plane glide in to the runway. His heart was pounding, and adrenaline was coursing through his veins, but in his head he knew they were going to be just fine. He kept his expression as neutral and confident as possible so that Silver would remain calm.
Air traffic control had cleared the runway for him, and he landed into the wind, touching down smoothly and bringing the plane to a complete stop before turning to look at Silver.
“Are you okay, honey?” he asked, searching his daughter’s eyes and trying to make sure that she had handled the stress of the situation alright.
Silver looked up at him with a confused, almost skeptical expression. “That was a crash landing?” she asked, crossing her arms. “It felt the same as any other landing to me.”
Anderson resisted the urge to laugh. Typical Silver. Upset that an emergency hadn’t been exciting enough. “If it felt the same as any other landing, that means I did my job right. Looks like we’re going to be stuck in Kodiak for at least the night, though.”
Silver didn’t say anything in response, but Anderson could tell she was pleased at this turn of events. Leave it to his daughter to find the positive side of an aircraft engine failure. Anderson couldn’t help but smile as he unbuckled his seat belt and jumped out of the cockpit to pull the disabled plane off of the active runway.
He didn’t even want to think about how spunky his girl would be once she hit her teenage years.
* * *
Several hours later, Anderson had checked into a hotel for the night. It had taken a while to get everything with the plane sorted out, and it was nearly nine p.m. by the time Anderson dropped off Silver’s and his bags in their room. The plane was going to need some serious repairs, and likely wouldn’t be flying anywhere for quite some time. In the meantime, Anderson could either rent a car and make the long drive back to Frost Peak, or he could wait two days until Sawyer had a free moment to come pick him up in another aircraft. Anderson didn’t feel like making a long drive, and, besides, Silver was excited to spend time in Kodiak. Maybe this was the universe’s subtle way of letting him know he needed to pay more attention to what his little girl was asking for.
Even though the hour was late, Silver could hardly contain her excitement, and Anderson decided to do what he should have done for her in the first place—take her out for dinner and ice-cream. He changed into a fresh shirt and pair of blue jeans, thankful that he at least had a change of clothes with him, and then took his daughter to his favorite steakhouse.
Anderson ordered the largest prime rib on the menu, but Silver, as usual, ordered a shrimp dish. Anderson shook his head in mock horror, and repeated the same thing he always said to Silver when they went to a steakhouse together.
“You’re just like your momma, you know. Bring you to a fancy steakhouse and you order a bunch of fancy sea bugs.”
Normally, Silver laughed and beamed with pride at being compared to her mother. But today, she stared down at her bread plate without answering. Anderson’s heart clenched up at her sad expression.
“What’s the matter, pumpkin?” he asked.
“Am I ever going to have a mom again?” she asked, not looking up at him.
Anderson sat back in surprise. Silver frequently asked him to tell her stories about her mother, but this was the first time she had ever expressed wanting another mom.
“I don’t know, baby,” he said. It was the only honest answer he could really give. He often felt guilty that Silver didn’t have a mother to look up to. Anderson did his best, but some things he knew a mother would do so much better. Like picking out dresses for school pictures, or answering questions about how to put hair up in a ponytail properly. Anderson knew the questions would only get harder as Silver got older. Silver’s Auntie Grace helped with some of those things, but the old woman wouldn’t be around forever. Anderson needed help, and he desperately wished he could give Silver a mother. But he couldn’t just marry someone he didn’t love to solve the problem. In the end, that would only make everyone miserable.
“All the other girls in the dance program have moms,” Silver said quietly, pushing a shrimp around her plate with her fork.
Anderson exhaled slowly. “I’m sorry, Silver. Trust me when I say I wish more than anything that your momma was still here. I don’t know if I’ll ever marry again, because I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to love someone as much as I loved your mother. But I promise you that I will help you find women to be there for you when you just need a momma. What about Uncle Sawyer’s wife, Auntie Amanda? I know she’s busy with a newborn right now, but she adores you and you adore her. I’m sure she’d be happy to be there for you any time she can. Why don’t we try to set up some more time for you to spend with her? I bet you could even help her take care of baby Ella. You love babies, and Auntie Amanda would love the help.”
Silver brightened momentarily, but then frowned again. “Auntie Amanda is nice, but I want someone who lives with us. And you need a woman, dad.”
Anderson almost spit out his iced tea. He couldn’t believe his six-year-old had just told him that he needed a woman. “What in the world makes you say that, Silver?”
Silver shrugged and finally looked up at Anderson. “You’re not happy. And all the other guys who have wives seem happy. Maybe if you had a wife and I had a mom things would be better.”
Anderson felt his heart sinking. “Honey, what makes you think I’m not happy? I’m very happy. I have you. I have a job I love. I’ve taken on leadership in a clan of amazing shifters. I have a lot of friends. Life is good.”
Silver gave him a doubtful look. “You always look tired, and you always look sad. It’s gotten worse since Chance moved away, but even before that you seemed sad.”
“Well, I’m sad that Chance moved away, sure. He’s one of my best friends. But I have a feeling he’ll be back at some point. And I’m tired because I’m busy. But I am happy. I don’t need a wife to be happy,” Anderson said. Then, gently, he added, “And you don’t need a mom to be happy, Silver. It would be wonderful if you had one, yes. But happiness has to come from within yourself. If you can’t be comfortable and happy in your own skin, it doesn’t matter what else you have. You’ll never be truly happy.”
Silver looked at him with a confused expression, and Anderson decided that maybe a deep discussion of happiness was a bit much for a tired little girl.
“Tell you what,” he said. “I can’t promise you you’ll ever have a mom again, but I can promise you that as long as I’m around, you’ll always have a daddy who loves you and would give anything to see you happy. And, on that note, why don’t we order a big brownie fudge sundae for dessert? I know it’s your favorite.”
Silver smiled. “Okay,” she said, shoving the last shrimp from her plate into her mouth. But, although she dropped the subject, Anderson could tell that her mind was still mulling over what it would be like to actually have a mother.
Later that night, after Silver had passed out in exhaustion on one of the double beds in their hotel room, Anderson sat wide awake in an armchair by the window. He stared out at the dark night sky and realized only then that he could have lost his own life or Silver’s life today when the plane’s engine failed. He spent so much time mentally preparing for emergencies that when one had happened, he had almost reacted on autopilot. It hadn’t even seemed like a big deal to him. But as he glanced back and forth between his sleeping daughter and the glittering stars, the full force of the day hit him.
He didn’t know when his time would be up. And, although he hoped with all of his heart Silver would live a long, happy life, the truth was that he didn’t know when her time would be up, either. No one was guaranteed anything beyond the present moment. The least he could do for his daughter
was to sacrifice his own happiness to ensure her own. If that meant letting her continue to study dance in Kodiak, then so be it. He couldn’t promise her a mom, but he could promise her a dance instructor.
He sure as hell wasn’t going to let her study with Lexi any more, though. Tomorrow, Anderson would use the day that they were stuck in Kodiak to find another ballet teacher. There had to be someone else who would be willing to take on a young ballerina as talented as Silver, and Anderson was going to find that person.
Chapter Seven
The next morning, Anderson took Silver out to breakfast. Over a giant plate of waffles, he broke the news of his plan to let her study ballet in Kodiak. Silver was, predictably, ecstatic. She bounced up and down in her seat so excitedly that she almost sent her orange juice and an entire plate of waffles flying off the table. She seemed slightly disappointed that Anderson didn’t want to consider Lexi as a permanent teacher, but she was so excited at the prospect of studying with anyone that she didn’t push for Lexi.
As it turned out, though, finding a ballet teacher willing to take in and privately tutor a six-year-old was more difficult than Anderson had thought. Kodiak was relatively small and didn’t have a ton of ballet schools, and the few that Anderson visited looked at him doubtfully as he described his daughter’s exceptional level of talent. No doubt, they thought he was just a doting father. He offered to let them watch Silver dance, but they all said that wouldn’t be necessary, because regardless of the level of talent, they did not do private tutoring. Feeling defeated, Anderson decided to take a break and take Silver to lunch. He didn’t tell his daughter that there were no ballet studios left in Kodiak to visit. He was too busy trying to figure out a way to keep from sending his daughter to Lexi’s dance school.
Grizzly Flying Free (Air Bear Shifters Book 2) Page 4