Free Fall

by Karen Foley

  Carly snorted. “That wasn’t Phillip who did that—it was his new father-in-law.”

  The admiral.

  For just a moment, Maggie allowed herself to recall the events of that day, when she’d learned that Phillip hadn’t actually deployed for six months, as he’d told her. After his friend had dropped that bombshell, Maggie had fled the air base and returned home, nearly hysterical. When her mother had calmed her down long enough to get the story from her, Valerie’s face had turned hard. Maggie could still see the fierceness of her mother’s expression as she’d dragged her to the car. They’d driven to the base, and Valerie had refused to leave until she’d been allowed to speak to Phillip’s commanding officer, who had confirmed that Phillip had never actually deployed aboard a carrier, but had, in fact, married an admiral’s daughter.

  That had been all Valerie Copeland had needed to hear. She hadn’t asked for details, or even where Phillip was living. She’d simply packed Maggie back into the car and they’d driven home.

  “That’s it,” she’d told Maggie in a no-nonsense voice. “It’s over and that boy is out of your life. He’s married, and that’s not something that’s going to change. So now you need to make some decisions. You can’t stay here. Not with him living so close. He’ll only drag you down and ruin your life. You need to get away.”

  Maggie had agreed. While she’d wanted to confront Phillip and demand an explanation, her mother had finally dissuaded her. What good would it do? Her heart would still be broken, her life still turned upside down. Better to walk away with her dignity intact. Valerie had hoped that Maggie would finally go to college, but Seattle hadn’t been far enough away from Whidbey Island for Maggie. So she’d gone to Chicago, and she hadn’t looked back.

  * * *

  JACK GLANCED SURREPTITIOUSLY at his watch, just wanting the briefing to end. He’d been through this drill so many times before that he could practically recite the rules from memory. His squadron had just been notified that they would depart the following day for a three-day sea exercise. While not uncommon, Jack had never before received so little advance notice. This was a readiness test, to determine their capability to respond in the event of an actual combat emergency. Even now, the carrier that they would report to was hundreds of miles out to sea, and Jack and his squadron would join them tomorrow and spend the next day practicing carrier takeoffs and recoveries.

  He should be ecstatic. This was what he excelled at—what he loved to do. Instead, all he could think was that he didn’t want to leave Maggie, even for three days. He had hoped he’d be able to spend some time with her at the festival. He knew she was exhibiting some of her work, and he wanted to show his support. He didn’t know much about photography, but from what he’d seen of her work, he knew she had a real gift. She was able to combine her technical skill with an artistic eye to create incredibly compelling shots that drew the viewer in.

  Now he sat in the ready room with the rest of his squadron, knowing he wouldn’t get much sleep tonight. He’d have to cancel dinner with his architect, since he’d be staying late prepping for tomorrow’s departure. The level of excitement in the ready room—a sort of lounge area where the pilots could just hang out and relax until their next flight—was palpable.

  As the squadron commander detailed the mission, Jack looked around the room at the men in his unit. He’d flown or otherwise worked with most of them for years, and considered them all friends. Right now, they were all anticipating this new assignment. It might not be a combat mission, but it was a huge departure from the exercises they performed in the skies over Whidbey Island.

  He glanced beside him to where Will sat, listening intently. Will loved flying, and Jack couldn’t help feeling like a fraud because he didn’t share the other man’s obvious enthusiasm. Feeling Jack’s eyes on him, Will turned and gave him a subtle thumbs-up.

  “Man, this is great,” he whispered, leaning toward Jack. “I didn’t think we’d find ourselves on a carrier for at least another three or four months.”

  The USS Ronald Reagan was returning to its home port in San Diego, and the navy was going to take full advantage of the time spent cruising off the Pacific coast. While it was at sea, Jack’s squadron would use it to hone their flying skills.

  Jack knew he should be excited—and there was a part of him that definitely was—but not the way he would have been just a few short weeks ago. And that’s what bothered him the most. He returned Will’s thumbs-up, but even he knew it lacked enthusiasm.

  “Hey, what’s wrong?” Will asked.

  Jack shook his head and tried to look motivated. “Nothing. It’ll be great.”

  “Damn straight.”

  But Jack was aware that Will continued to give him sidelong looks throughout the remainder of the briefing. When the briefing was over, Jack grabbed his planner and followed the other pilots out of the ready room, hoping to avoid Will. He could fool most people, but Will knew him better than any of the other guys in the squadron. Sure enough, the other man fell into step beside him, and Jack could see he wasn’t going to be allowed to just leave it alone.

  “What’s up with you? You’re acting like you’ve just been grounded, not asked to fly to California and spend a couple of days playing on a carrier. I don’t get it.”

  “Forget it,” Jack said tersely. “You wouldn’t understand, and I’m not going to explain it to you.”

  No way was he going to try and describe to Will how he was feeling right now. Will didn’t have a wife or even a serious girlfriend. He’d made it clear that as long as he was a pilot, his flying came first. He always had women he could call for a good time, but he’d never committed himself to any of them. Jack had been like that when he’d been younger—when he’d been fairly new to flying and had been overly impressed with himself. But he realized he’d moved away from that kind of lifestyle. Maybe he was getting old, but the thought of banging some chick that he barely knew simply because she had a nice rack and was available no longer appealed to him. When he thought of the kind of woman he did want to be with, he saw Maggie’s face. He liked the kind of man he was when he was with her.

  They had reached the pilot’s shack where he and Will each had a desk. Although, they rarely used them unless assigned as the squadron duty officer for the day, which entailed manning a desk and answering inane phone calls. Now the small office space was empty.

  “Does this have anything to do with Maggie?” Will asked. “I mean, it’s fine if it does, but you need to get your head in the game.”

  “I’m fine,” Jack growled, tossing his hat onto the desk and throwing himself into the chair. But when Will left him alone in the small office, he bent his head into his hands and silently acknowledged he was far from fine. He was, in fact, completely screwed up.

  14

  MAGGIE WAS UP early the following morning, and her first instinct was to peek out her bedroom window at the cottage.

  “Damn it,” she muttered, seeing that Jack’s Land Rover was already gone. Did the man ever sleep? She’d gone to bed, exhausted, at ten o’clock, and he hadn’t yet returned to the cottage. Now here it was barely six o’clock, and he’d already left.

  Sighing, she took a quick shower and dressed in white shorts with a green tank top and a matching pair of green sandals. On impulse, she borrowed a floral scarf from Danielle and used it as a headband to keep her hair out of her face. She didn’t know if she would see Jack today or not, but wanted to look nice for him in case he decided to make an appearance at the festival. Running lightly downstairs, she made herself a cup of coffee and checked her cell phone for messages. There was one, from Jack, from the previous night. He must have called right after she went to bed, and now she kicked herself for not staying up to wait for him. But as she listened to the message, a nagging sense of unease gripped her. There wasn’t anything in his words to indicate anything was wrong,
only that something had come up and he needed to talk with her.

  Setting her coffee mug down on the counter, she quickly punched in his number and waited impatiently until he answered.

  “Callahan.”

  “Jack, it’s me. Maggie.”

  “Oh, hey.” His voice grew warm. Intimate. Maggie could actually see him smiling. “How are you? I missed you last night.”

  “Mmm. I missed you, too. I tried to wait up for you, but by ten o’clock, I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore.”

  “Nah, I’m glad you didn’t wait,” he said. “I didn’t get home until after eleven, and I needed to head out first thing this morning. I know you have a busy day today, so I definitely didn’t want to disturb you.”

  “Oh.” Maggie paused. “You said you needed to talk to me?”

  She willed her racing heart to slow down. This didn’t have to be bad news, she told herself. Sometimes people wanted to talk to you because they had good news. Or because they simply missed you, not because they wanted to destroy your world.

  “Uh, yeah. I did want to talk to you.” Jack’s voice sounded so cautious that Maggie’s imagination immediately jumped to conclusions. She held her breath. No matter what he said, she wouldn’t cry. “Listen, sweetheart, I won’t be able to see you for a few days. My squadron is flying to California to conduct some carrier exercises.”

  Whatever Maggie had expected him to say, that wasn’t it, and she felt the air leave her lungs in a relieved whoosh.

  “Okay, that’s fine,” she assured him. “When do you leave?”

  “Today, actually. We just found out yesterday, or I would have said something sooner. I’m sorry.”

  “No, no, it’s okay. Trust me, I understand how the military works. You guys aren’t in control of your own destinies. I get it.” She drew in a deep breath. “So when will you be back?”

  “I should return on Tuesday, definitely by Wednesday.”

  “Wow. That’s a long flight for just a few days.”

  “Not when you’re flying at six hundred miles per hour,” he said, and she could hear the grin in his voice.

  Maggie felt herself smiling in return. “Will I see you before you leave?”

  He hesitated. “Unlikely. My gear is already stowed in the aircraft, and we’re going wheels up before noon.”

  “I understand. I’m not sure how this works, but do they let family and friends come onto the base to see your squadron off and say good-bye?”

  “They do if it’s for a long sea deployment, like six months, but not for one that only lasts a couple of days. I’ll try to give you a call tonight, okay?”

  “Okay. Fly safe, Jack.”

  “I always do. Be good,” he said. “I’ll be home before you know it.”

  He hung up, and Maggie stood holding the phone in her hands, going over their conversation again in her head. He was leaving, but only for a couple of days. He’d said he would be back no later than Wednesday, but she missed him already. Unbidden, she thought of Phillip, when he’d told her he would be deployed for six months, but it had all been a lie. She’d never confronted him about that, and she wondered now if that might not be the reason why she’d had such a tough time putting it behind her. She’d simply walked away, refusing to talk to him or to hear his side of the story. She’d believed he’d been deployed, but in actuality he’d been off getting married to another woman.

  She’d been so naive.

  She had no idea when he’d been planning to tell her. Maybe he’d hoped to keep both a wife and a girlfriend. She knew there were guys out there who managed to do just that, but she’d never thought it would be the guy she was in love with.

  Had been in love with.

  Any feelings she might have had for Phillip Woodman had been destroyed that afternoon in the squadron commander’s office. Giving herself a mental shake, she told herself she wouldn’t think about that anymore. It no longer mattered. As Jack had told her, it was in her past. She had the future to think about now. Maybe a future with Jack, if she hadn’t misread him.

  Glancing at her watch, she realized she needed to scoot if she was going to make it to the shop before it opened and help Carly with the last-minute setup. She’d already decided to walk to Coupeville, as parking would be extremely limited and she didn’t want to get hung up in any traffic jams. The walk was invigorating, taking her along the shores of Penn Cove and past the floating mussel farms. Seagulls wheeled and shrieked overhead, and Maggie kept an eye out for harbor seals, identifiable only by their small, dark heads bobbing in the waters. All in all, she decided, as she reached the outskirts of Coupeville, life was very good, and she had so much to be thankful for.

  * * *

  THE ARTS-AND-CRAFTS festival was chaotic and loud and bustling, and Maggie loved every minute of it. She recalled all the years she’d spent as a child helping her mother prepare for the festival, and how her mother had always let her place her own artwork up for sale, as amateurish as it had been. Maggie had loved the frenzy of getting ready, the people-watching and wheedling money out of her mother or her grandparents—usually both—for a sticky treat from one of the food vendors.

  Today was no different, except that her mother wasn’t there, and Maggie had decided to resist temptation and not sample any of the delicious food, despite the aromas that wafted through the streets. She was surprised and gratified to have sold three of her photographs within the first few hours of the festival, although she would have been content with the many compliments she received for her work.

  “You see?” Carly had beamed in satisfaction. “I told you that you had a gift. My prediction is that you’ll sell out well before the end of the festival.”

  Maggie didn’t know if that was true, but she certainly hoped it was. Despite how busy she was, she found herself continually looking at her watch, wondering if Jack had left yet. She didn’t think she would see the jets leave unless the pilots did a deliberate flyover of Coupeville, and she knew they were restricted from doing so.

  It was getting close to noon when she looked over and saw Carly looking a little wilted and frazzled. She had to remind herself that the other woman was in her fifties, and despite the fact she seemed to have the energy of a woman half her age, she’d taken on a lot of responsibility since Eric had left.

  “Carly, you look as if you could use a break,” she said during a lull, when the tent was nearly empty of customers. “Why don’t you go get something to eat and sit in the shop for a little bit? At least it’s air-conditioned in there.”

  “Oh, no, I’m absolutely fine,” Carly protested, but when Maggie simply continued to look at her, the older woman’s shoulders sagged. “Okay, you’re right. I could use a break. I almost forgot how crazy these fairs can be, and I didn’t get much sleep last night. But are you sure you can handle it?”

  Maggie swept an arm around the now empty tent. “I’m sure. I’m just going to sit on this stool and smile. If any good-looking men come into the shop looking for me, you know where to send them.”

  “I sure do,” Carly said, giving her a wink. Maggie watched the other woman until she disappeared into the shop, and then pulled out the paperback she’d tucked into her tote bag just in case business was slow. Several tourists meandered into the tent, but left again without buying anything. Nearly thirty minutes later, she heard her name being called and looked up to see the girl they had hired to help out in the shop. Maggie recalled her name was Wendy, and now she gave her an expectant smile.

  “There’s a man here to see you,” she said shyly, and indicated someone who was just out of Maggie’s sight, beyond the wall of the tent.

  Jack.

  Maybe his assignment had been canceled, or delayed. Maggie jumped down from the stool and waited expectantly, but the man who stepped into the tent was the last man she’d ever expected to see. N
ot Jack.

  Phillip.

  For an instant, her heart stopped beating and then exploded into frenzied action inside her chest. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, couldn’t think. She could only stare at him, slack-jawed and speechless, wondering if she was in some horrible dream. Then he stepped toward her.

  “Maggie.”

  She stepped back, putting the stool between them and looking beyond him to the shop, where surely Carly would come to her rescue at any moment. She didn’t want to see this man, didn’t want to speak to him, didn’t want anything to do with him.

  Seeing her recoil, he stopped and simply stood there, staring at her. “Maggie,” he said again. “Nathan Stone called me to tell me you were back. I couldn’t believe it. I know I shouldn’t have come, but I had to see you for myself.”

  Maggie’s breathing was uneven and shallow, and her palms were damp with perspiration. She felt light-headed, and even knowing it was a natural response to the shock she felt at seeing him, she couldn’t seem to get a grip on herself. Slowly, she drew in several deep breaths, and he shifted back into focus. Maggie forced herself to look at him.

  The years had been good to Phillip Woodman. His eyes were the same incredible blue that she recalled from that distant summer, and when he smiled at her, his teeth were still even and white. But she realized her knees weren’t trembling beneath the force of that smile, and if her heart was still beating frantically, it was more from a sense of panic than anything else.

  “Phillip,” she said weakly. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here. I didn’t even know you were still in the area.”

  He gave her a sad smile. “Didn’t you?”

  Upon closer inspection, she saw the subtle signs that the past ten years had left on him; his blond hair was thinner, and while still slim, she detected a slight thickening around his middle. There were creases around his eyes, and deep laugh lines on either side of his mouth.