Airman to the Rescue

by Heatherly Bell

  Speaking of overreacting. He could be an ass. Too many years of being alone, guarded and untrusting. No woman had ever had the patience to stick it out for long. He’d have to call this mistake part of the perils of being relationship-obtuse. Of being the single dad of a teenager trying to manage life, and...deeply loving a woman.

  The realization astounded him.

  A little slow on the uptake, aren’t we?

  This wasn’t part of the master plan, but had anything in his life ever gone according to a plan? Other than the missions he flew on behalf of the United States Air Force, he’d have to say exactly zip. Never planned on having a son at the age of seventeen and yet it had been one of the best things to ever happen to him. Hadn’t planned on going into the Air Force, either, but he’d met his best friends in the entire world there. Stone. Levi.

  And hadn’t planned on falling for Sarah Mcallister, but she’d somehow entranced him with her pantsuits and her hair clips and her...heart.

  He loved the way she so obviously adored Stone and Emily. Had even made room in her home and her heart for Hunter, simply because she was a loving and brave woman, who despite feeling hurt and abandoned by both family and so-called friends in her past, had been willing to take a chance. On all of them. The entire town of Fortune. She’d slowly let go of the bitterness so that anyone watching could see inside her heart.

  Matt picked up Shackles near the front door and after the dog had tongued him a couple of times, Matt headed to Sarah’s bedroom door, not planning a damned thing he would say. This had to come from his heart. And with any luck, he wasn’t too late for the best thing to happen to him in a long time.

  The bedroom door was closed and when he tried it, empty. No Sarah.

  She wasn’t in the shed, either, but instead there was a sketch on her canvas which managed to both sucker punch him and take his breath away. He stepped closer, and picked up the canvas.

  The landscape of El Toro she’d started was no longer a landscape. She’d taken his advice and added people. Not just any people, but Matt and Hunter, standing side by side at the foot of the hillside. She had Hunter’s teenage “too cool to be bothered” expression dialed. His own rather muted and aloof look surprised him, and it killed him to think that’s what she saw in his eyes. Distance. A protective layer she didn’t think she’d reached because he hadn’t let her know that she had. Hell, hadn’t even fully realized it himself until tonight.

  Idiot.

  She was so talented that even he, knowing next to nothing about art, could see it. And whether she stayed in Fortune or went back to Fort Collins, as a real friend, he wasn’t going to be able to let her resume a life sketching criminals. Too big a waste of talent.

  He reached for his phone and dialed Sarah, who didn’t pick up her phone. Considered leaving a message, then hung up because he’d likely see her before she listened to it.

  He dialed Stone next. “Hey. Have you heard from Sarah?”

  “They got there all right. Emily checked in with me a few minutes ago.”

  “Got where all right? Where did they go? Wedding stuff?”

  There was a long pause on the other end of the line. “Fort Collins.”

  Matt nearly dropped the phone. “Colorado?”

  “Yeah. I thought you of all people would know. Don’t you two basically live together?”

  The long pause was on Matt’s end this time.

  Stone snorted. “What the hell did you do?”

  Emily would be back, that much was certain. But Matt wasn’t so sure about Sarah anymore. Once back in Fort Collins and her life there, she might decide to stay. She’d already called the damned Realtor, which should tell him something. He could give up on this whole thing between them right now and get back to his mundane and boring life.

  But he wasn’t going to do that.

  “Nothing. But I’m an ass.”

  “Ah, you poor sucker.” Stone laughed into the phone. “Now you know what it’s like. Finally. Is it something you can fix?”

  Matt pinched the bridge of his nose. The reality was that Sarah was far more important to him than he’d let her know. Yet. He could wait until she got back, if she returned, and tell her once and for all how he felt about her.

  Or he could do something he’d never done before and shock the hell out of both of them.

  “Matt?” Stone was still on the other end of the line, no doubt waiting for an answer.

  “Yeah. I can fix this, but I’m going to need a plane.”

  * * *

  SARAH HAD ONE more reason to be impressed with Emily Parker.

  First, she could fly a plane and the girl didn’t even look scared while doing it. But more significantly, she was the kind of friend who came running when called. No questions asked. Sarah had no idea what she’d interrupted on a Friday night—and didn’t want to know—but Emily had shown up to the house within minutes. Driven Sarah to the airport, filed a flight report and flown both of them to a small regional airport outside of Fort Collins.

  It wasn’t until after they’d landed that Emily asked her first question about the trip. “Are you coming back with me, or is Matt going to hate me for this?”

  “He won’t hate you. I have something to do, and I felt like I needed to do it in person.”

  Emily took her pilot’s headset off. “Does this have to do with another man?”

  “It has to do with living my life full tilt. Like you do. And like my brother always has. I just realized we don’t do any favors when we’re less than honest with the people we love.”

  “Gotcha! I’m so totally on board with this.”

  “And I have to do this if I’m going to be able to stay in Fortune with a clear conscience.”

  Emily gave a wide smile. “If? You’re thinking about staying?”

  Sarah nodded and Emily, who was such a hugger, reached across the pilot seat and squeezed Sarah.

  “Now don’t get too excited. I still have a lot to figure out. I don’t know where I’ll go from here, but the truth? I love Matt with all my heart. I just haven’t told him that yet.”

  “This is so great! I knew you two were a good match. I don’t want to brag, but I saw it right away. It took you a while.”

  Sarah would go ahead and let Emily believe that, despite the fact that Sarah hadn’t really stopped thinking about Matt since he’d first approached her at the bar and given her the “ready for anything” smile.

  “As long as this has a happy ending, I don’t care what you put me through,” Emily said.

  “It has a happy ending.” She hoped.

  “Should I wait for you here?” Emily asked, as together they walked off the airport tarmac.

  “I’m sure my mom would love to see you again.”

  Besides, Sarah needed reinforcements. Support. It was a good thing Sarah brought Emily along too, because once they took an Uber from the airport to Mom’s house, she wasn’t home.

  “Hello there,” Mom’s next door neighbor called out. “She’s at her friend Patty’s house. I think they’re having a wedding shower for Patty’s daughter.”

  “Thanks, Mrs. Rivers.”

  So Sarah would crash a wedding shower. Why not? The timing wasn’t perfect, and for the first time Sarah considered maybe she should have called ahead first. She could have prepared Mom for the seriousness of this talk. The Uber driver took them to Patty’s house on the other side of town, and when Sarah spotted Mom’s car parked nearby she let the driver go.

  “This is fun,” Emily said. “I’ve never crashed a shower before. Maybe I’ll get some good ideas for mine.”

  Sarah walked toward the sounds of the booming music. The closer they got to the house, the louder the music became. It was Justin Timberlake’s “SexyBack” coming through what sounded like surround-sound woofer
s. Five or six or possibly ten loud knocks later and the door was finally opened by a wild-haired woman with a flushed face.

  “We’re bringing sexy back!”

  Sarah did a double take, then swore under her breath. “Mom?”

  “Sarah!” Mom grabbed her in a bear hug and squeezed. “You’re back!”

  Then she practically shoved her aside to grab Emily. “Anyone else here? Stone?”

  “We came alone,” Sarah shouted to be heard over the loud music.

  Mom waved them inside, past the group of women in the living room ogling at a gyrating Channing Tatum look-alike taking his pants off.

  “I don’t think I can have a shower like this,” Emily stared, wide-eyed.

  No. Stone would have the guy’s nuts on a platter.

  Inside the relative quiet of a back bedroom filled with Elvis memorabilia, Mom shut the door and turned to Sarah. “So how was your trip?”

  Somehow she’d stepped into the twilight zone. Her mother was wearing jeans and a bright red top with a plunging neckline.

  Where to begin? “What the hell is going on?”

  “It’s Tutti’s wedding shower. And we never thought she’d get married, you know? Because of the irritable bowel. You know, all that uncontrollable farting. But now that she stopped eating wheat, no more gas! Patty just went all out. The Channing Tatum look-alike just sort of happened.”

  “I can see why that sort of ‘happened’ but isn’t this a little much?” Especially for you, Sarah wanted to add. What about her raging blood pressure? Male strippers could not be good for a sixty-year-old’s blood pressure.

  “Not at all. Tutti deserves it. You should see the cake from the erotica bakery. What a hoot! Plus it’s chocolate.”

  Emily giggled behind her hand.

  “Okay, who are you and what you have done with my mother?”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  SARAH’S MOTHER SMILED and patted her hair, done in a new style, which made her look a little like a Cher retrospective. Every gray hair dyed. And were those hair extensions?

  “All right, so maybe I’ve had a little too much to drink.”

  “A little?”

  “It’s the mimosas. They taste like sparkling orange juice. I can’t resist.” She patted Emily’s lap. “Would you like one, honey?”

  “No thanks. I’m flying.”

  Mom thought that was hilarious, apparently, given by the way she slapped her knee and snorted. “How many people can say that?”

  “I need to talk to you. I’m staying in Fortune for good,” Sarah said.

  “Then why are you here?”

  “I wanted to tell you in person.”

  Mom frowned. “Honey, have you checked the price of gasoline lately?”

  “Emily offered and this is important!” Sarah took a seat in a blue velvet chair, and removed the large gold lamé Elvis-shaped pillow.

  “Okay,” Emily said, “I’m going to go out there and see about that chocolate cake.” She shut the bedroom door.

  “You’re not coming home. Just as I suspected. I knew it. It’s because of Matt, isn’t it? And I’ve got all these great possibilities lined up for you right here in Fort Collins. I really hadn’t thought of you as the girl who chases the guy anymore. You’re too pretty for that.”

  “I’m not chasing him.”

  “But you’re moving to Fortune because of him.”

  “Not just because of him.”

  Mom cocked her head, but didn’t say a word.

  “Okay, maybe it’s mostly because of him, but there’s a lot more to it.”

  “Has he asked you to stay?”

  “No, not exactly, but that doesn’t matter.”

  “Oh, Sarah.” Mom sighed and tsk-tsked.

  “Look, you’ve got to stop thinking of me as that teenager that messed up. I’m grateful for everything you did for me back then, believe me, but something happened today that made me realize that sometimes we just get stuck in old patterns. We get an opinion about who we are, what we deserve, and it’s tough to move past that.”

  “But—”

  Sarah held up her hand. “It’s even harder when the people we love can’t trust us to make better decisions. I’ve been making better choices for years now, but sometimes I think you still see me as that promiscuous teenage girl.”

  “Shhhhhhh. My Lord, Sarah, do you want everyone to hear?”

  “Over that music? I don’t think so.” Sarah shook her head. “It was a long time ago, and I’m not that person anymore. I made a mistake because I so desperately wanted someone to love. But it’s been many years since I confused love and sex.”

  “But I don’t see what any of this has to do with you staying in Fortune. It’s the weather, isn’t it? California weather wins again!”

  “Let’s talk about why I wouldn’t stay. The only reason I wouldn’t stay in Fortune is because of you. I always felt so guilty about wanting my own life, even about wanting to spend time with my father. I don’t blame you for this, because it was my decision, but there were times it felt like calling my father, visiting him, would be disloyal to you.”

  “Honey—”

  “Let me finish. You don’t need me here like you think you do. Like I thought you did.”

  “Just because I’m having fun here today doesn’t mean—”

  “I’m glad you have a life and friends. That’s how it should be. I’m a grown woman, and I happen to be in love with a man who has a teenage son.”

  “I never thought I’d see you settle. You’ve waited this long for the right one, why throw in the towel now?”

  “Because I’m not settling! He’s the best man I know and he’s the right one. For me.”

  “Don’t kid yourself. He might be perfect in every other way, or at least you think so now. But the teenager is a deal breaker. He’s going to come first. Always. He needs his father, especially now.”

  “I know that, and he’s a great kid. I love him too, as a matter of fact.”

  “I don’t think you realize what you’re getting yourself into, sweetie. He already has a child. He’s not going to care about your eggs.”

  “I don’t even care about my eggs!”

  Mom wagged her finger. “You say that now. But this is going to cause you both a lot of grief. Believe me, the teenage years aren’t easy. And the kid already has a mother.”

  “I’m not trying to be his mother. I only want to be a part of his life.”

  “The bond that Matt and his ex have over their son is unbreakable.”

  Mom said this with a straight face.

  “You mean like yours and my father’s bond? Like that?”

  Her upper lip curled. “We’re not the best example.”

  Sarah opened her mouth, then closed it. Why was she arguing with her mother over this? The whole thing was pointless.

  Mom, as always, filled the silence. “What do you love about him? And you better not tell me it’s the color of his eyes.”

  Surprisingly, for a woman who prized color, it wasn’t color that drew her to Matt’s eyes. That honor would go to how expressive they were. His eyes could tell her in a matter of seconds whether he was pissed, happy, exhausted, confused, irritated...or horny. And if she’d thought she’d seen flashes of love and tenderness in them too, she only hoped she hadn’t fooled herself into finding what she wanted to. The important thing is that he was worth risking her heart. More than worth it.

  “I love the way he cares for his son. The way he takes care of his friends. I know he’d do anything for me. When I was so angry with Stone over the estate, Matt wouldn’t let me get away without trying to work it out with Stone. He’s kind and even sweet at times, but he’s also strong. He won’t back down from a fight and... I kind of love t
hat.” Yes, she’d been surprised by that herself.

  “Oh...well then,” Mom said, momentarily speechless.

  The door opened and Patty poked her head in. “Tutti’s getting a lap dance! You have to come and see this. Her face is turning purple. I’m not kidding. Hi, Sarah. Welcome back, hon. We missed you.”

  Mom stood up. “Come and get your own lap dance.”

  “No, thanks.”

  “But it’s Channing Tatum!”

  “That man out there is not Channing Tatum.”

  “Oh, who cares! Close enough.”

  Sarah sighed. She wasn’t in a position to argue with a room full of women who were acting like this was more of a bachelorette party than a wedding shower. And frankly, she’d said what she wanted to say.

  Sarah followed Mom out of the bedroom where she spotted Emily, trying to get away from Channing Tatum’s look-alike. When he attempted to hump Emily’s leg, she ran around the living room, bumping into chairs, couches and women. She finally landed, stomach down, sprawled over Tutti’s lap.

  Sarah pulled a shaken Emily back to her feet. “Congrats, Tutti. Great party, but we’ve got to run.”

  “So soon?” Mom said from behind Sarah. “But we still have the penis cake to cut.”

  Penis cake. Two words Sarah never thought she’d hear come out of Mom’s mouth together.

  “Wow. Sorry to miss that, but yeah. Stone is waiting for this one.” Sarah patted Emily’s shoulder. “You know how it is.”

  “I hope you can make it to my wedding shower, Mrs. Mcallister. It’s not going to be anything like this,” Emily huffed, shoving hairs back into her ponytail holder.

  “Darling, you know I will!” Mom hugged Emily. Then she grabbed Sarah and stage whispered into her ear, “Don’t forget what I said!”

  From the safety of the great outdoors, as the loud music continued to reverberate through the middle-class suburban home, Sarah used her phone to order an Uber. She’d done enough to scare her future sister-in-law from the Mcallister genes forever. Sarah might be worried if she didn’t already know how much Emily loved Stone.

  “Sorry about my nutty Mom. She’s usually not so...” Sarah searched for the right word. “Unhinged?”