Eleven
Their plan was to leave at sunrise. Eliza didn’t mind the early hour. Her best bakes were usually done at dawn, and she found the solitude comforting.
Today, however, felt different. The quiet left her thoughts in a jumble, looping around robberies, facts about the robber, interviews she’d read, and of course, what she’d said to Joey.
She had the urge to wake Granny just to fill the silence.
That wouldn’t help, though. Granny would have questions, and Eliza didn’t want to lie, so instead, she washed her face, dabbed on a touch of makeup, and slipped downstairs.
In the kitchen, she debated if her churning stomach could handle breakfast. On the one hand, eating might cause an embarrassing bout of motion sickness on the plane. On the other hand, she’d already fainted at one bank. She wasn’t about to do it again.
She settled on a piece of toast and a cup of black tea. It wasn’t much, but it was enough. She held the hot mug in her hands and replayed last night’s conversation with Joey in her head.
When she’d said she trusted him, it seemed to do something to him. He’d looked down, blushed. Was it bashfulness she’d seen?
Eliza couldn’t figure it out. Maybe she’d been too forward? Shown her cards too soon?
But it was true! She was going to get on that plane and trust he wasn’t going to fly them into the ground. Eliza wasn’t afraid of flying in general, but she’d never known the pilot before. She’d never made a pilot laugh so hard that tea came out of his nose. She’d never heard about a pilot’s exploits and bad decisions that spanned the literal world.
She’d never wondered if pilots could hold hands while flying, or if they had to keep both hands on the wheel…
Did planes have steering wheels? She had no idea, and she shouldn’t be thinking about trying to hold his hand. Elizabeth Bennet didn’t waste her time thinking about holding Mr. Darcy’s hand – not until long after his first proposal!
She pulled on her coat and stepped outside. The sun had just begun to rise and a cool, foggy mist drifted from the rocky beach.
Eliza had the brief thought that the fog might ground them, but then she saw Joey coming over the hill and had to remind herself not to gasp. His bomber jacket was open, exposing a white shirt beneath. For a brief moment, he looked just like Mathew McFadyen’s Mr. Darcy, coming to propose.
But he isn’t coming to propose , she reminded herself. This isn’t a romance. It’s a mystery.
“Hey!” he called out. “Beautiful morning for a flight.”
Eliza snapped back to reality. “Is it?”
“Yeah, the fog is pretty minor. Not a concern,” he said, reaching her with a wide grin on his face. “Everything is good to go – unless you’ve changed your mind.”
Even his hair looked a little feathered. If she called him Fitzwilliam, would he get the reference?
She really was going mad. “Nope. I’m ready to go and I’m not looking back.”
“What about looking down?” he asked.
“I’d like to look down and see the islands from above.”
“Good, because I heard a humpback was spotted on the west side, and I thought we could fly over and have a look.”
Fly over and have a look . What freedom he had. No wonder he was always so happy. “Sounds good!”
He led the way down the hill to Russell’s property. The new dock and seaplane floated in the mist. Joey opened the seaplane’s door and offered a hand to help her step on board.
Just like Mr. Darcy helping Elizabeth into the carriage after the ball at Netherfield…
Eliza accepted, stepping onto the plane. Her own hands were freezing, but Joey’s were warm and dry.
“Here’s your headset,” he said, handing her the bulky thing. “Once the engine is on, we’ll only be able to hear each other through the headsets. You’ll notice a lag between when you start talking and when it picks it up, so keep that in mind.”
“Is that why pilots always start with an ‘Uhhhh?’”
He sighed. “Uhh, yes, that is correct.”
She laughed and put the headset on. “Uh, roger that.”
“I’m just going to go through my pre-flight checklist and we’ll be on our way.”
Eliza nodded, then pretended not to watch him. His focus was entirely on the checklist, which was very annoying, because she would’ve preferred his attention to be on her.
At the same time, she liked watching him flip switches and push buttons before finally starting the engine.
“Welcome to Joey Airlines,” he announced as they floated across the water. “I’ll be your pilot today. We’ve got an exciting trip planned, with our first stop at Lime Kiln State Park for whale watching, then onto Portland, Oregon to investigate a different type of whale.”
She turned to him, her eyebrows scrunched. “What?”
“Don’t they call big gamblers ‘whales’?”
Eliza laughed. “Oh. They do. Is that part of your theory now? That this guy has a gambling problem and he’s robbing banks to fuel that?”
“Yes. Based on nothing, that is my theory.” He nodded, then turned to her. “Are you ready to be amazed?”
She realized she was gripping her seat tightly with both hands. She let go. “Yes!”
They picked up speed, zipping along the water. Eliza held her breath as the plane popped into the air without any sort of fuss, the shore shrinking beneath them.
She leaned over to look through his window. “I can see my house from here!”
He glanced down at her before pointing. “And there’s the tea shop!”
Her excitement made her forget herself. She sat back up. “Very cool.”
They flew over San Juan Island, Eliza glued to her window, trying to trace the streets she knew through the sea of green.
“Last report was the whale was surfacing right by the lighthouse,” Joey said.
They did several passes but had no luck spotting the whale.
Eliza didn’t care. It would’ve been nice to find a humpback, but seeing the park from this angle was enough of a treat.
She had thought it was stunning from the water that time Mom and Russell had convinced her to go kayaking, but this? It was unreal, the world unfolding beneath them as they glided in the golden sky.
The plane dipped, Eliza’s stomach along with it, and she once again clung to the edges of her seat.
“Sorry, I was adjusting,” he said. “Nothing to worry about.”
“Have you ever crashed before?” she asked, loosening her grip.
He turned to look at her, eyebrows raised. “Do you really want to talk about crashes right now? It’s bad luck!”
“I’m sorry!” she put her hands up. “Carry on.”
After ten minutes, they gave up on the humpback and flew south toward Portland.
Joey didn’t speak again until there was nothing beneath them but a sea of blue. “I did crash once.”
She shot him a look. “No, you didn’t.”
He nodded. “I did. It was early on in my career. I’d just gotten my license.”
“What happened?”
He was quiet for a moment. “I made some mistakes.”
Oddly vague for him. “Was everyone okay?”
“They all lived, yes.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re messing with me.”
He looked at her and shook his head. “I’m not.”
“Does Russell know?”
“What? No!” Joey laughed. “He didn’t ask.”
“I’m not going to let you tease me right now.”
She turned and looked out of the window. There was a mass of blue beneath them. They were so high; falling would feel endless. Falling and falling and falling, then hitting the water – how deep could she go, plunging to the bottom?
Rationally, she knew crashing anywhere would result in a swift death, but the ocean made it look almost inviting.
Crashing on land might be better, though, because they had a chance at being found. Being out here meant being swallowed by the sea.
“It was just two of us on the plane when I crashed.” He glanced at her and added, “No broken bones. Just one broken heart.”
A sliver of land appeared ahead of them and Eliza let out a breath. “Uh huh.”
“Are you okay over there?”
She spun to look at him. “Yeah. Great. Why do you ask?”
“I’m sorry. I won’t talk about crashes. We’re not going to crash. I promise.”
He placed his hand on top of hers for the briefest of moments and squeezed.
Eliza’s breath caught in her throat, but she quickly recovered. “I just miss earth a little bit.”
Joey laughed. “We’ll be back on earth soon.”
Landing in Portland was a breeze. They walked to the bank, and when Eliza explained who she was, the manager emerged from her office to talk to them.
“I was so sorry to hear about the San Juan branch being robbed,” she said, shaking Eliza’s hand. “It’s such a frightening experience. I didn’t sleep for at least a month after our robbery. How are you doing?”
It was the first time Eliza realized what had happened to her was more than just embarrassing – it was traumatic.
Obviously . If it had happened to anyone else, she would’ve been worried for them. But since it had happened to her , she’d only been annoyed with herself and her poor reaction.
They talked to the manager for half an hour, and though the woman was open and friendly, she didn’t have any information to share. The only thing Eliza took away from the conversation was that it might be okay to give herself some grace.
They left the bank and stood outside under the gorgeous midday sun.
“I guess we can try Tacoma next,” Eliza said.
“Or,” Joey said slowly, “we can find a little breakfast place and hang out here for a while.”
She made a face at him. “We’re on a mission, Joey! We’re not here to have fun.”
“Aren’t we? Isn’t that what we’re always here for?” He sighed. “Let me buy you a coffee, at least, and we’ll see where the day takes us.”
Eliza was feeling much hungrier since getting off the plane. She agreed to breakfast, then Joey convinced her to catch a cab to the zoo and, after that, to stroll through Washington Park.
Then he was hungry again, and they were having so much fun, they ended up getting high tea at a fancy hotel downtown.
In the end, they never made it to another bank, but Eliza wasn’t too torn up about it. It only meant they’d have to go out again.