Authors: Tracy Cottingham
Cassie sat in her car, staring out the front windshield at the edge of the
McNary Field air strip. She refused to let herself look up, knowing all
too well the sights, and sounds of an air show. She only let go of the
steering wheel when her aching hands couldn’t grip it any longer. The
drive from Portland to Salem had been easy enough, but as she sat, motionless,
unwanted memories crept up on her.
She remembered looking up, as always with pride in her heart as her husband
flew by. He was a great pilot, with a license to fly just about anything,
but it was the little stunt planes he loved best. The way a plane
maneuvered and twisted in the midst of a stunt was far more challenging than
commuter flying. She’d never really understood it, but his confidence
always touched her, and made her feel more at ease when she watched. She
had absolute faith in his promise never to put himself needlessly in danger
just to pull off a difficult stunt. Her eyes welled with tears as she bent her
head bent forward to rest on the steering wheel. She never should have returned
to an air show and placed herself in such a vulnerable position. Earlier
today she was so sure she could handle it, that nine months was more than
enough time to forget about a crumpled heap of metal, bursting into flames, taking
the last of a lifetime of hopes and dreams away from her. She knew she
was lying to herself again, trying to force something that was never going to
right itself. She looked over at her purse as she started the car and
remembered the picture of her daughter. “Dammit.” She hit her hand
against the wheel and turned the engine back off.
This business is the only thing I have left. If I run now, what kind of
future will Abby have?
“I can do this.” She tried to give herself a pep talk, and wiped her red rimmed
eyes clear. “Andrew was right, I just need to focus on the work.”
She opened the door and walked quickly, not allowing herself any extra time to
change her mind. Her heart leapt through her skin when the show planes
did a sweep directly overhead, but she kept her eyes forward, glued to the
crowd for a sign of either one of her newly acquired partners.
Wes must have recognized her instantly, she decided, since she’d only just
reached the edge of the seating area when he showed up beside her. “Is
everything okay?” He asked casually, “I mean, are you sure you’re all
right with this?”
Cassie was familiar with his voice, but it didn’t stop her from jumping when he
touched her shoulder. “Of course, why?” She tried to play dumb but
it was obvious by his reaction that he knew about her husband’s accident.
“Okay,” she continued, more deliberate than before. “I guess if we’re
bearing our souls... if I felt I had any choice at all, this is the last place
I’d be.”
Wes looked around and shrugged. “Well, everything’s pretty much under
control for now, so there’s really no reason for you needlessly upset yourself
by coming here.” He paused, noting by the look on her face that she
wasn’t all that impressed by his new found concern for her. “What I mean is
that we could meet anywhere, at your convenience, but it doesn’t have to be
right now or here.”
At least he had the good manners to try and correct himself she thought
wryly. “I think enough things have been seen to without me being around
if you know what I mean,” she winked at him, letting him know she wasn’t about
to be put off. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you didn’t want me here,
now why is that?”
“I have no idea,” he threw his hands up, and flashed her that fake smile she
was so fond of using on everyone else.
“Enough small talk, where is he?”
“Up there.” Wes pointed to towards the sky, but Cassie wasn’t about to
look up.
She could tell by the spectator’s faces that the show was nearing its
end, and she knew in a matter of minutes each of the specific planes would do a
finishing trick, and land one at a time on the strip before her as if
taking a unique, final bow. It wasn’t until one plane after another
made a safe landing that she began to relax a little, but then she heard a
collective gasp that made the hair on the back of her neck rise.
“Oh God, no!” She flung herself against Wes, clutching his shirt, knowing
full well she would fall if he let her go.
“Cassie it’s okay,” She could hear the fear in his voice at how quickly she’d
unraveled, like he wasn’t really sure he could calm her back down.
“Gunnar likes to finish all of the shows with a little something extra, you
know, something for the crowd.”
She heard his voice, and she forced herself to lesson her grip.
“Something for the crowd,” she repeated without emotion. “How nice of
him.” She let go of his shirt and tried to smooth out the wrinkles she’d
made. “I’m sorry,” she breathed, tucking her hair behind her ears, and
hoping to regain at least a little of her lost composure.
“No, I’m sorry.” Wes continued to hold the back of her elbow,
acting as a brace in case she needed it. “I should have arranged a
definite meeting, instead of forcing you to come looking for us.”
His last words were drowned out by the wild cheers of the crowd as Gunnar’s
plane came to a stop on the tarmac. No one could possibly miss his plane,
with its splashy bright red and white colors shouting out their presence,
drawing every eye to the P
its Special SI-T
, a timeless classic among
airplane aficionados. She watched, nearly suspended in time as he lifted
himself easily out of the cock pit, and jumped to the ground.
“Gunnar,” she whispered, letting a slow, tender smile spread across her face at
the sight of him.
He took his time removing his hat and goggles, and when he
was finished he let his hands glide along the
smooth lines of his crisp,
black hair, rewarding the groupies that had formed around him with a blinding,
picture perfect smile.
The sweet smell of candies, a whisper in the dark, a thousand mermaids, and all
things magical,
she mused, re -living the way she’d always described his
beautiful, big brown eyes. It used to make
him laugh every time he caught
her staring at him, and he even went so far as to make her swear never to tell
another living soul, for fear he’d die of embarrassment if anyone
ever found the poem she’d wrote about him. A romantic goof is what
he’d called her after he’d read it, but he kept it tucked under a picture of his
father in his wallet, and there was nothing more precious to Gunnar than the
memory of his father. She knew she should move, or at least make
her presence known, but she couldn’t stop drinking in the sight of him.
How he still used his hands to emphasize a point when he spoke, the way his
eyes lit up when he told the worst of all possible jokes, and how much
confidence he seemed to have gained over the years. He was nothing short
of gorgeous, she marveled, something she hadn’t fully noticed when they were
younger. In fact it was just her luck, she reasoned, eight years after he
cut off all contact with her that she was going to have to face him now.
She
was going to have to be the one to take the initiative, with him looking
better than any man had a right too, and her looking and feeling like
absolute...dirt.
Suddenly she was painfully aware of how her hair, wet and sweaty from the hot
sun, stuck to the side of her face like some overcooked strands of spaghetti,
and how she’d managed to dress herself this morning as if she didn’t have a
clue how to put two colors together.
“Do you really want to do this now?” Wes gave her hand a quick squeeze
and brought her back from her private reflections.
“Oh yes,” she tried to sound sure of herself, but she wasn’t.
“In that case,” he relented like a man who knew he’d been beat. “What are
we waiting
for?”
“Oh I don’t know.” She watched one of the many females around Gunnar
practically drape herself against him like a second shirt and winced. “Maybe a
makeover, a pair of four inch heels, or a slinky black cocktail dress.”
“What?”
“Oh nothing.” She patted him on the shoulder, ignoring the- my new
partner’s a raving loon, stare he was giving her. “It’s now or never, so
lead the way.” She motioned for him to go first, but stopped him as soon
as he took a step. “Wait. I have one more question.”
“Yes?” His voice was odd, a bit more strained than before.
“Does he always have this many...admirers,” she did her best to be vague.
“You mean does he always have this many women crawling all over him?” He never
did let her gloss things over.
“Ah, yeah.” She scratched the back of her head. “I guess
that’s what I meant.”
“Always.” He shook his head and laughed. “I don’t know what the
grand attraction is, but ever since he got his pilot’s license and started
booking shows, women just can’t get enough of him. I know he keeps
himself more fit than he used to, but really, you’d think women would see past
that macho fly boy thing, and be more attracted to the brains behind the
operation.”
“I see.” She played along. “And just who might that be?”
He bounced his brows twice in reply, before putting his arm around her and
forcing her to go that last little bit. “Come on you, quit
stalling. You said it yourself. It’s now or never.”
She wasn’t sure, but he sounded as if he was dreading this moment almost as
much as she was.
“Hey buddy.” Wes pushed his way through the crowd, and stepped in front
of Cassie, blocking Gunnar’s view. “You are never going to guess who I
ran into today.”
After naming about ten people, some of which were old friends sooner forgotten,
Cassie got annoyed and stepped forward. She might have been able to
speak, but she was barely able to breathe under the scrutiny of his loaded glare.
A chilled, black silence hung around them as he stood motionless, his eyes
hitting her again and again. First with curiosity and confusion, then for
the sheer pleasure it gave him to size her up. The smirk on his face when he
was done was enough to show everyone how thrilled he was to see her looking so
lousy.
“Hi.” She finally managed, making a mental note that this day would go down as
one of her all time worst.
“Cassandra.” He finally acknowledged her. “What’s the matter did
you run out of old friends to look up? Need a shoulder to cry on?”
His voice dripped with a heavy dose of sarcasm.
The verbal attack drove Cassie right out of her distraction over his good looks,
and pricked her anger. She forced herself to remember him as the boy who
used to follow her around like a lost puppy, not the other way around.
“No need to be purposely cruel,” she boldly met his gaze. “I humble
myself before your obvious greatness.” She returned with a little sarcasm
of her own.
“That’ll be the day,” he conceded, and then dismissed her as if she was too
insignificant to waste any more of his precious time on.
She was too angry to take the hint and just leave it. He was probably the
one person in the world who knew how much she hated being ignored, and the fact
that he was using that as a weapon in front of at least a dozen onlookers made
it even more obnoxious. “Excuse me,” she cleared her throat after a few
minutes. “I really do need to talk to you, it’s- it’s about our business,
and I’m sure if you could force yourself to play the adult for just a few
minutes we could clear some things up.”
He was still trying to act as if she didn’t exist when the meaning of her words
sunk in. “Did you say business?”
“Yes, I’m talking about the business of mine that you forced your way
into?” She could almost believe he didn’t know what she was talking
about. She stole a quick glance at Wes, but he was looking the other
direction, avoiding Gunnar’s eyes as well.
“He’s the pilot, and I’m the brains, remember.” Wes was barely audible
but Cassie heard him loud and clear.
“Lady, you must be out of your mind if you think I would ever
force
my
way into anything you had to offer.”
“Are you kidding me?” She bent forward enough to make eye contact with
Wes. “This is classic,” she started to laugh, feeling like a giant weight
had been lifted from her shoulders. “Wesley, did you forge your partners
name on the legal documents, because if you did,
we are soo
done
here.” She waited for a reply that didn’t come.
A cry of relief came from her lips, “Yes!” she hissed, and pointed at Wes.
“No wonder you didn’t want me to meet with you yet, your partner didn’t even
know what was happening, and it looks to me that if he had, none of this would
have gone down in the first place.” She placed a stiff hand to her head, and
saluted Wes first, and then Gunnar. “Well gentlemen, it’s been fun,” she
turned on her heel and headed straight for her car. “You’ll be hearing
from my lawyer,” she called over her shoulder on her way out the gates.
Finally,
she breathed a sigh of relief as she left the air show and that arrogant,
preening bully behind. Something had finally gone right!