Chapter Twenty-Five
I’mon cloud freaking nine as we drive to the dock, my hand tucked away safely inside Coop’s. Now I feel like I should be the one calling Clara saying “Coop kissed me! He. Kissed. Me!” How horrible it had to have been when I lectured her yesterday on something that was probably just as big a deal to her as this is to me. Hypocrite. You are a hypocrite, Molly.
We arrive at the dock, and I get out of the truck, my hand feeling empty as Coop heads to unload the equipment we are taking with us on the plane from the back of the truck. I grab some stuff and follow behind him, checking out his backside as we go. I wonder if he has ever checked out my butt before? Is that something you can ask a person you have just kissed, or is it too soon to ask those kinds of questions? What did that kiss actually mean? Are we a thing now, or was that a casual kiss? My mind starts to spiral out with all of the questions as Coop unloads a few boxes into the plane. He quietly comes up behind me as I stand there debating things in my brain and wraps his arms around my shoulders, squeezing me and planting a kiss on my cheek, calming the onslaught of questions in my head.
“You ready?” He kisses my cheek again and closes the cabin door before making his way to the cockpit, grabbing my hand as he passes and pulling me behind.
“I am now.” He squeezes my hand and leads me to the seat opposite him, not letting go of my hand until I am settled in my seat. He squats down in front of me and reaches around, buckling the seat buckle for me. Pushing up on the armrests, he gives me a small, tender kiss on the lips, stealing my breath away, before moving over to take his seat. His mouth on mine answers a few questions from before, and I smile as I think about how amazing his kisses have been. These aren’t just casual kisses. He can’t seem to keep his lips off mine, but I am definitely not complaining.
I put on my headset and he starts up the engine, looking over at me and winking, before the plane starts to move. I can feel the flush of my cheeks, and it is all I can do to stay in my seat after he looked at me like that just now. I want to kiss his face off again, but that probably isn’t a good idea while we are flying. So I sit in my seat like a good girl, trying to think of anything other than making out with him on the plane. I still can’t believe he kissed me, and my hand flies up to cover my heated cheeks as I loop that kiss on repeat in my mind. If my first kiss was that good… Phew… I can only imagine our improvements with practice and time.
Time… we don’t have a lot of time before I have to head home. I have already been here for a week; just two more, and I will have to leave. My heart hurts at the thought of leaving Coop, but what else can I do? We will just have to figure things out when the time comes. No need to worry about them now.
“Hey, Molly, whatcha thinkin’ about over there?” I hear Coop’s voice come through the headphones. “You have quite the serious look on your face. Anything I can help you with?”
Oh, he could help numb my mind from all of these thoughts with a little more kissing, but I’m not about to tell him that. “Nah. Just thinking about a few job-related things that I need to get done once we land.” He puts the plane on autopilot and unstraps his seatbelt, meandering over to my seat and crouching down next to my chair, much like before.
“You know you don’t have to do it all yourself, Molly. I’m here to help. So once we land, make sure to put me to work.” He’s holding my hand again, and his thumb traces across my knuckles as my heart picks up its pace a few notches.
Inching my face closer, I hesitate for a second before deciding to brush my lips across his mouth, causing a small growl to escape his throat. “Do you know how hard it is to fly this plane while you sit there looking the way you do?” He grabs my face in his hands and presses his lips firmly to mine, knocking off my headphones in the process, before releasing me and making his way back to his seat.
Rain splatters on the windshield in front of me, distracting me from the man sitting across the cockpit. I pick up my headphones and re-adjust them on my head as the rain starts coming down faster, and I look over to Coop, just as a flash of lightning lights up the sky in front of us. “Coop, should we be worried about this lightning and/or the rain? The app showed that the storm surge has passed us. What is this?”
Another blinding lightning bolt cracks in front of us, and Coop adjusts his hands on the stick as the wind outside picks up, throwing the rain at us horizontally instead of vertically. “We should be alright. It was worse yesterday, and we made it back in one piece.” Such comforting words to know that my body would make it back to shore in one piece. Real comforting.
I squeeze the armrests, my nails digging into the plastic, as I draw my legs up to my body, hiding my head from the vision of the storm outside. I turn my head to look at Coop and hear him mutter a curse into the headset as he messes with a blinking light on his control panel. He flips it up and down a few more times and punches his armrest before calmly speaking into the headset.
“Molly. Change of plans. I need you to unbuckle your seatbelt and move to the seat in the middle of the cabin. Grab a life vest from the hook off the wall on your way, strap it on, and tuck your head between your legs, with your arms covering your neck after you buckle yourself in.” He has got to be joking, right? Should I laugh? But the look in his eyes tells me that he isn’t joking about the seriousness of the situation. But I can’t move. My body is frozen.
“Wh…Why? Wha… Wha…?” I gulp down the dryness in my throat and try to speak again, but nothing comes out.
“Molly… look at me, Molly.” Coop is in front of me now, unbuckling my seatbelt. He grabs a life vest from the wall and shoves me into it, moving me around like a ragdoll, before picking me up and strapping me into the seat directly in the middle of the cabin. He gives me a long, lingering kiss before disappearing back into the cockpit. My breathing comes faster as I feel the engine of the plane cut out. “If there is a time to pray, Molly, now is it.” I hear Coop”s voice come through the headset again.
“But I don’t know how to pray, Coop. You never taught me.” I cry out, the fear of his words gripping me.
“Then close your eyes and listen, and I will pray for the both of us. Dear Lord, please keep Molly safe. Let her be alri–,” No. not just me. Why is he only praying for me?
“No, Coop, you”re doing it wrong. Don’t just pray for me. Because I swear, if I make it and you die, I will find a way to curse your dang spirit.” I am crying now, hysterically, and I don’t even recognize my voice anymore. If this crash doesn’t kill me, my heart is sure to give out from how fast it is racing.
“Okay, take a deep breath, Molly. Let me try again. Dear Lord, please keep us safe and watch over the both of us. Give me more time with Molly. Her laughter brings me more peace than I have had in a long time, and she has changed me for the better. She has blessed me in more ways than I can count, and I am really not ready for this to end. If you could do that for us, we will be eternally grateful. Amen.” My eyes are teary, whether from the prayer or the fear, I am not sure, but I don’t have time to dwell on his words for long before his voice comes back through the headset.
“Brace yourself, Molly, this is going to get a little rough.” I feel the impact of the plane hitting the water, and we jerk and jolt, my vision before me blurring as my head is thrown back against the headrest of the seat. The last thing I remember is Coop”s voice, fading in the darkness: “We’re okay, Molly, just hold on. We are going to make it through this, and when we do, I am never letting you go.” But whether or not it is a dream or conjured-up thoughts as I die, I’m not sure, but they are good words to die by, so I will take them and keep them in my heart until we meet again.