Rebel Pilot Texas Ranger

by Eve Gaddy

  Travis laughed. “Oh, baby, that wasn’t Neanderthal. If you want to see Neanderthal—”

  Tobi held up a hand. “Thanks, I can do without another demonstration. Now I have to mingle. Are you coming with me?”

  “Later. I see Dana DeLong is here. I’ll go say hi and see if she has anything new to report about the plans for the new airport terminal.”

  “All right. The clinic is closed for the rest of the evening. Do you want to come over after the open house?”

  “Absolutely. I’ll catch up with you later.”

  I’m getting in deep. Travis had been shocked at the visceral reaction he’d had seeing Weaver moving in on Tobi. No, he didn’t like the guy, with good reason, but he had a feeling his reaction wouldn’t have varied no matter who was trying to make time with his girl.

  His girl. Was she his girl or was that wishful thinking?

  *

  As the party wound down, Rachel and her crew discreetly removed empty trays, dirty dishes, and trash. Tobi reminded herself to tell Rachel and Polly how pleased she’d been with their food and services. And next time she saw Siobhan she’d thank her for the recommendation. All in all, the open house had gone very well, but she was happy to be done with it and know they’d be getting back to their normal hours and workload tomorrow.

  Almost everyone had left when Mrs. Alexander waylaid Tobi. “Oh, my dear, this was a lovely party.”

  “Thank you, Mrs. Alexander. I’m glad you were able to come.” Tobi had a real soft spot for Mrs. A. Her former teacher had spent a lot of extra time with Tobi, helping her fill out and polish her college and financial aid applications to be compelling.

  “That’s a fine young man you’ve taken up with.” Tobi must have looked surprised because Mrs. A said, “I swear that kiss made my heart go pitter-patter.” Tobi nearly blushed, which was ridiculous. “Don’t tell me you’re going to deny you and Travis are seeing each other.” She made air quotes around seeing each other.

  “There wouldn’t be any point in that, would there?” Tobi said.

  “Not a bit,” the older lady said cheerfully. “It did my heart good to see you involved with Travis. Especially with him being a pilot and all. I’m happy to know you’re not letting what happened prejudice you against Travis. You know he’s one of my favorites. That boy has either been taking care of my yard himself or having someone do it since he was a boy.”

  “Really? That’s kind of him.” She avoided the topic of what happened.

  But Mrs. A was nothing if not persistent. “I worried about you. You looked like a little ghost when you came back from that crash. And then you went back to school, too soon, in my opinion, and your parents moved away. I’m so glad you moved back. Look at you now! A successful doctor. And you and Travis—”

  “Travis and I aren’t—we haven’t—we just recently started dating,” she said, interrupting the seemingly endless flow of words. Rather, she tried.

  Mrs. A brushed that aside. “Have you been up in Travis’s plane? I see him flying all the time. And that jet those boys bought is just beautiful.”

  Tobi decided to be straight with her. The story wasn’t a secret but most people who had known about the crash had stopped talking about it. As far as she knew, the crash wasn’t a current topic of gossip. “Mrs. A, I still can’t go up in a plane, so it’s a bit premature to congratulate me on getting over the past. I haven’t. I can’t even set foot on an airplane.”

  Mrs. Alexander put a hand on her arm. “Come sit down with me for a minute, honey.”

  Tobi glanced around for Travis and saw him talking with her partners so she went along with the little old lady.

  “I know you think I’m a nosy old woman, and I am. But you and Travis are two of my favorite people. I used to see you with Travis, Levi, and Zack all the time. I always thought you and Travis would be perfect together.”

  “Except that Travis adores flying and even the thought of setting foot on a plane makes me nauseous.”

  “That’s a problem, all right. When was the last time you tried to get on an airplane? Either to go somewhere or even just to get on one again?”

  “About six years ago. I wanted to go to a medical conference in San Diego. Let’s just say I didn’t make it.”

  “I’m sorry, honey. Do you want me to stop talking about it?”

  “Actually, no. I haven’t talked to anyone about it in a long time. It’s kind of nice to be able to admit my fears.” And know that she wouldn’t be judged. Not that she thought Travis would judge her. But he was bound to be disappointed.

  “Doesn’t Travis know?”

  “Some. He knows I have a phobia about flying. He doesn’t know about the crash. At least, I don’t think he knows.”

  Mrs. A looked a little shame-faced. “I’m afraid he does. I told him. I never imagined he didn’t know.”

  Maybe it was just as well that he knew. At least she hadn’t been forced to tell him. “What exactly did you tell him, Mrs. A?”

  “I said you were in a plane crash and were the only survivor.”

  “You didn’t say…anything else?”

  “Honey, I don’t know anything else,” she said frankly. She patted Tobi’s knee. “I’m sorry if I spoke out of turn.”

  “That’s all right. It’s not a secret. I’m sure it was in the news.”

  “Yes, it was. But I seem to remember something big, some national something or other, happening the next day and your story disappeared because of that.”

  Now Travis knew the bare facts. She should have told him before now. She wondered if it would make a difference to them. “The other day Travis asked me to go see his planes. Not to fly in one of them, only to see them. But I told him no.”

  “You sound like you regret it.”

  “I do. I wish I could at least get on a plane.” Actually flying seemed far beyond her capabilities.

  “Tobi, the answer is right under your nose.”

  “It is?”

  She snorted. “Of course it is. Try again. Take yourself out to the airport and let the boy show you his planes.”

  “But…what if I can’t…go in?”

  “Then you’re no worse off than you are right now. But you’ll have made the effort and that would mean a lot to Travis.”

  Tobi thought it would. And she didn’t have to actually fly. Walking on to the plane shouldn’t be a big deal. She should be able to face her past enough to do that.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Travis hadn’t missed Tobi’s long huddle with Mrs. A while he was talking to Clint and Raleigh. He had a pretty good idea what they were talking about too. Especially since one or the other or both of them kept looking his way. After Mrs. A left with a slightly younger woman, Tobi walked over to him.

  “I’m about to go home,” she said. “Do you want to come over?”

  “Yes. I’ll meet you there.”

  “All right. See you in a few.”

  On the way to Tobi’s house Travis tried to decide what he should do. Should he avoid the whole subject unless Tobi brought it up? Should he mention talking to Mrs. A? Well, hell, she knew he had and she almost certainly knew that Mrs. A had told him about the plane crash. Tobi obviously didn’t want to talk about the crash or she’d have done it by now. So he’d let Tobi say something or not.

  He’d meant to look up crashes on the Internet like Harlan had suggested, but he hadn’t had much chance. Besides, he’d wanted to hear it from Tobi. But that hadn’t happened. At least now he definitely knew it had been a plane crash. He’d suspected before, but he hadn’t known.

  And why was he so gung ho to find out all about it now? Because he loved flying and wanted to share it with her. Which was stupid. Tobi would never enjoy it. She couldn’t even set foot on a plane. And who could blame her?

  Before he could ring the bell, Lucky came racing around the corner of the house, tennis ball in his mouth, and Tobi hauling ass behind him. “Lucky, fetch! No, damn it, that doesn’t mean run away.”
>
  Travis made a grab for the dog but missed. Tobi halted when she reached him, shoved her hair out of her eyes, and put her hands on her hips. “I don’t know what’s gotten into him.”

  “He’s being a dog. Go get him a treat and I bet he’ll bring you the ball.”

  Lucky had plopped down in the grass with the tennis ball between his feet. Tongue lolling, tail wagging, he was the picture of contentment.

  “I’m not going to reward him for running away. I’ll wait until he wants to be petted,” Tobi said, and sat on the steps of the front porch. Travis took a seat beside her.

  “Nice party,” he said.

  “It was.” She shot him an astute glance. “I know Mrs. A told you about the plane crash.”

  “She did. No details. Just that your plane crashed and you were the only survivor.”

  She nodded. “Yes. It was…horrible. I’d rather not talk about it.”

  Travis patted her leg. “Then don’t. I’m sure it’s a terrible memory. It’s perfectly understandable that you’d have a phobia after an experience like that.”

  “About that phobia.” She hesitated, blew out a breath. “Will you show me your planes? Let me walk on board?”

  He stared at her. “Why would you want to do that?”

  “Something Mrs. A said made me realize I needed to try and face my fear. The last time I tried was six years ago. It was a flat-out failure. Maybe this time will be different.”

  “Tobi, if you’re doing this for me—”

  “I’m not,” she interrupted. “Not totally, anyway. I’m mostly doing it for me.”

  “I don’t know, Tobi. Are you sure you want to do it?”

  “I’m sure. But I’m going to need a lot of moral support.”

  He rubbed his knuckles across her cheek. “Whatever you need, I’ll be there. And that includes if you change your mind.” He leaned in to kiss her. A cold nose thrust its way in between them.

  “Get your own girl,” Travis told Lucky.

  Tobi let out a peal of laughter. “So that’s what it takes to get you to fetch.” She patted his head. “Good boy.”

  “That’s debatable,” Travis said, but he scratched behind Lucky’s ears. “You’re a lucky dog.”

  *

  Why in the hell had she told Travis she wanted to see the airplanes? Not only see them but walk inside them? What an absolutely stupid thing to do. She hated flying and everything connected to it. Why should she make herself miserable by forcing herself to hang out at an airport? And go inside a plane, for God’s sake. Inside an airplane for the first time since the airplane she was on crashed in the mountains, twelve years before.

  So much had happened since then. She’d finished college, med school, internship and residency, and been working in the ER of a big hospital for three years. Longer if you counted internship and residency. And now she was back in Whiskey River, happy to be in a slower-paced town with much less stress in her practice.

  So what did she do? Go out and ask for more stress. Smart, really smart, Tobi.

  She wasn’t in love with Travis. Was she? Maybe she was and she was deluding herself into thinking she wasn’t. But she did care about him. A lot.

  Flying was Travis’s profession. Not only that, it was his love. Didn’t she owe it to him—hell, to herself—to at least try to get past her issues?

  So she’d asked Travis to show her his planes. And now it was time to go through with it.

  The drive to the airfield took about twenty minutes, which gave her plenty of time to think and grow more nervous. She parked the car in front of the terminal, a small brick building that had been there since she was a kid, at least. Travis had said they were planning on a new building but hadn’t begun work on it yet.

  Travis met her at the door to the terminal. “Hey, I’ve been keeping an eye out for you.” He kissed her and some of the tightness in her chest eased. “Come on and I’ll show you around,” he said, taking her hand. He acted as if it was perfectly normal. Not a big deal at all. Instead of the momentous thing Tobi had made it into in her mind.

  Travis showed her around the terminal first, talking about the plans for the new one and how they intended to incorporate the existing building into the new one. He talked about the runways, old, new, and the one under construction. Surprisingly, she found herself relaxing a little, watching Travis and hearing the enthusiasm in his voice.

  “What do you want to see first? The jet or the trainer?”

  “The jet.”

  He took her to the jet hangar. The charter plane was white with red stripes. It had three windows, and thank God it looked nothing like the private plane she’d been flying in when she crashed.

  Travis held her hand as they walked to the plane. She had to remind herself to breathe as they got to the bottom of the stairs. “You don’t have to do this, you know,” he said quietly.

  “I’ve come this far. You go first and I’ll follow.”

  Travis went up the stairs. And she froze. Couldn’t make that first step. She’d had therapy. Plenty of it. But the only thing therapy had done for her was make her feel like a loser because she couldn’t get over the accident. She was a professional, a strong, independent woman who was reduced to a state of hysteria when she tried to get on an airplane. To walk onto an airplane, never mind fly in one.

  “Travis, I can’t.”

  He turned and came back down the stairs. “Okay. We’ll try another time. Or not. It doesn’t matter, Tobi.”

  But it did. She’d never have a better opportunity to at least try to come to terms with the past. She was with Travis, who she trusted. Travis, who didn’t push her, but let her know he was there. Whether she got on the damn plane or not.

  “Can I hold your hand?” she asked.

  “Of course. But, Tobi, maybe you’re just not ready.”

  “It’s been years. If I don’t try now, I’ll never do it.”

  “So what? You don’t have to do it.”

  Yes, she did. Silently, she held out her hand. Travis took it. His clasp was steady, strong, warm and comforting. She drew in a deep breath. “Go.”

  He kissed her and started up the stairs. “Talk to me,” she said, holding on to his hand, finding reassurance in his presence. “I don’t care what about, just talk.”

  He told her about the plane as she walked inside. Its fuel capacity. The range. All sorts of technical things that she had no idea what they meant. Besides, she barely heard him. It was background noise, fighting to be heard past the barrage of feelings.

  Tobi let go of his hand and took a step down the aisle. One step. Then another. She touched the beige leather seat. Plush and comfortable-looking. There was room for four passengers and the pilot and copilot. The one she’d been on had been larger, with dark seats. Silly for that to matter, but it did.

  But she could breathe. She didn’t hyperventilate, which was what she did before. That time she hadn’t even made it to the stairs, much less inside the plane. This time—well, it had taken her two tries but she’d made it.

  Travis showed her the cockpit, and the array of instruments. Mentioned what some of the controls were for. Finally, he put his hand on her back and asked, “Ready?”

  She nodded and went ahead of him down the stairs.

  “I’m proud of you,” he said when they reached the tarmac.

  “I didn’t flip out,” she said in wonder. “I’m not sure I remember a single word you said, but I didn’t flip out. I did it.” She grabbed his hand and squeezed. “Thank you for doing this.”

  “You’re welcome.” He grinned down at her. “Do you want to see the trainer or wait and do it another day?”

  “Let’s do it today. Now, while I’m feeling…strong.” She was going to take advantage of that feeling, unsure how long it would last.

  Travis took her to the older hangar that housed his trainer plane. A single-engine Cessna, white with blue accents. “It’s pretty.”

  “Thanks. It seats four. Range is over seven hund
red miles. In my opinion it’s the best trainer there is.” He patted the side and smiled, as proud as if he were showing her… Oh my God, she realized, he truly adores it. He talks about it like it’s his baby.

  “Are you ready to get in?” Travis asked her.

  He looked hopeful, and a little anxious. Her heart melted. “I’m ready.”

  He smiled and climbed in, then helped her in. “Here, you sit next to me.”

  This plane was a lot different than the jet. It was much smaller, for one thing. More intimate. Travis pointed out the instrument panel, telling her what each dial indicated. She looked at him and said, “You realize I don’t understand a word you’re saying, in addition to not being able to concentrate on anything, right?”

  “All I know is you’re sitting in my plane and you seem okay. Are you?”

  “I am. I can’t believe I did this. But I still can’t fly.”

  “That’s okay. You took a huge step today. There’s no need to even think about flying.”

  “Thank you. I don’t think I could have done it without you.”

  “Yes, you could have. But I’m glad I was able to help. And speaking of help, have you thought about counseling?”

  “Yes. I’ve had it twice. Both shortly afterward and later, after med school. Let’s just say it didn’t take.”

  *

  Travis and Tobi spent the next few weeks together as much as their respective jobs permitted. By now Travis knew he was in love with Tobi and getting in deeper every day. He’d never been one to think about having a wife, kids, a home. When his fiancée had dumped him once he couldn’t pitch anymore, it had felt like the final straw. He had figured that life wasn’t for him.

  Then Tobi came back into his life and nothing had been the same since.

  “Travis, what the hell?” Zack asked him, looking up from blueprints of the new terminal. “I’ve been talking for the last five minutes and you’ve been staring out the window not listening to a word I’ve said.”

  “Sorry. I was thinking about something.”

  “Someone you mean. Tobi, I’ll bet.”

  Travis didn’t bother to deny he’d been thinking about Tobi. What was the point?