29. Flynn
Chapter Twenty-Nine
FLYNN
“Flynn, I’m not a little girl. You’re being an ass,” Cat said, her cheeks red and her eyes practically spitting fire as she glared at me.
“Cat, this is the second time you’ve skipped afternoon classes. Daphne isn’t here to pick you up, so you’ve got me. I thought you decided this guy was a jerk.”
Cat suddenly burst into tears and turned away in her seat to stare out the window. She wrapped her arms tightly around her waist. God help me. I didn’t handle tears well.
Nora was the first one Cat had texted with her dilemma, but she was at a doctor’s appointment this afternoon and wasn’t available. Nora had texted me right before I was supposed to take off for a tourist flight. Tucker had graciously taken over for me, and I’d zoomed over to pick Cat up at the address Nora texted me.
Not knowing what to say to Cat and figuring anything I said was a bad option, I put my truck in gear and started driving home. After a few minutes, I said, “Look, I get that maybe you like him, and maybe you want to impress him. I’m guessing he pressured you again. You don’t have to tell me if I’m right, and personally, I’d prefer to be wrong. Maybe he’s not a total ass, but I’m guessing he wants to get laid because that’s what most guys wanna do when they’re his age and frankly, into their twenties and even later.”
I heard Cat laugh a little bit, so I kept going. “You’re not allowed to hang out with him at all anymore. I’m sure you have feelings about that, but it is what it is. You already know you’re not supposed to skip class. You’re grounded for a week, and I’ll talk to the principal about what the school plans to do.”
I drove along in silence, wishing Daphne were here. I knew from her text this morning she would be here tomorrow, but that didn’t seem soon enough.
Cat wouldn’t even look in my direction. Every time I glanced toward her in the passenger seat, her head was turned to look out the window. She sniffled a few times, and my heart cracked with every sniffle. I hated, absolutely hated, seeing Cat hurt.
She’d always been such a spirited girl. She wasn’t really a tomboy. Although in Alaska, she was typical. She knew how to manage a rifle, she’d helped me and Grant deal with a moose carcass once, she knew how to change the oil in my truck, and she was shaping up to be a great mechanic for our small planes. She knew her way around the woods and was savvy in the outdoors. She was all of that, and she was also very feminine. She liked to look good when it came to any kind of social activity.
I wanted to kick this guy’s ass, but I knew Cat would be beyond embarrassed if I intervened. All I could do was tell her he was being a jerk and forbade her from going to his place again. Then I’d pray she wouldn’t. She might anyway. Depending on what else I learned, I might talk with his parents.
Daphne had been with us for over two months before she left for Atlanta, and winter was nipping at the heels of autumn already. In that short time, it hadn’t escaped my notice that Cat opened up more easily with Daphne than the rest of us. Probably because like most teenagers, Daphne seemed more neutral and didn’t have the emotionally loaded connections of siblings. She was also the closest thing to a mother Cat had after our mom died. Nora and Cat were too close in age.
Of course, the unwelcome distraction of Cat skipping school was barely enough to knock my brain off the loop of Daphne it had been playing.
I wondered how she was doing. I didn’t even like to think about how much I missed her. I missed her.
After we got back, Cat sequestered herself in her bedroom. I found Diego in the kitchen, rummaging in the large pantry. “Are you cooking tonight?” he asked when he straightened and saw me walking in.
“Yup. Daphne flies in tomorrow.”
“Thank God,” Diego muttered.
He opened the refrigerator and snagged a beer. Looking my way, he held one aloft, his question unspoken.
“Yes, please.” I caught the beer he tossed between us in one hand and reached for the bottle opener in the drawer right by my hip.
“So Daphne’s actually coming back?” Diego mused before opening his beer and taking a long swallow.
I nodded and walked into the pantry to figure out what the hell I was going to make for our guests tonight. “How does salmon fillets with rice and vegetables sound for dinner?” I asked as I returned to the kitchen with the rice already in hand.
“Serviceable,” he replied.
I rolled my eyes and snagged a package from the freezer with enough flash-frozen fillets for the group who was here this evening. When I started cooking, Diego helped. He was actually a solid cook himself, but I didn’t pay him to do that. I always appreciated it when he helped, though, because he had a better instinct for seasonings than I did.
We worked quietly for a bit. Diego finished measuring the rice, and then commented, “Heard from Trey that you’re set to buy him out next spring. That all settled?”
“Oh, yeah. Sorted out a loan with the bank. We could use another plane and his customers. We also get him for backup whenever he’s got time,” I replied.
“Smart move.” Diego stepped to the sink to rinse his hands. I was adjusting the flame under the rice when he added, “Speaking of smart, you get smart yet about Daphne?”
I ended up turning the flame up instead of down. Diego snorted and gestured with his elbow toward it as he dried his hands. “Fuck,” I muttered. After adjusting it properly, I looked toward him. “What do you mean?”
“I think you thought she wasn’t coming back.”
He was spot-on, and I hated to admit it. I’d thought she would leave and discover the life she had before coming here was the life she preferred. For a second, I was tempted to dismiss him, but like every guy who followed me here from my unit in the Air Force, I trusted Diego deeply and completely. He might give me shit and tease me, but he always had my best interests at heart.
“You’re right.”
“Sooooo?”
“I don’t know, man. We’re from two different worlds.”
“So are we, but you’re still like a brother to me. Dude, you grew up here. It’s cold and beautiful. I grew up in a baked landscape of Texas. I’ve fallen in love with the land here, and you’re like family to me. Don’t give me that bullshit about coming from different worlds. Lots of people come from different worlds, but in the end, it doesn’t matter.” He curled his fist and thumped it over his chest quickly. “That’s what matters.”
My heart gave a rib-cracking kick as if it had actually heard Diego. I took a deep breath and paused to finish my bottle of beer. Tossing it in the recycle bin, I stirred the rice before replying, “I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.”
“Well, yeah, that’s obvious,” he teased. I rolled my eyes, and his gaze sobered. “I’ve never seen you the way you are about her. Be smart.”
“Dude, I have zero healthy relationship examples. My mom was awesome and had terrible judgment in men. I never met my father, and my stepfather was an asshole who used her and was barely emotionally available for his kids.”
Diego gave me a speculative look, his tongue pressing in his cheek, something he did whenever he was thinking. “I haven’t been in love, but before my parents died, they were madly in love ever since I could remember. They were passionate about love and about fighting,” he offered with a chuckle. “They’d have done anything for each other. I wasn’t sure how you felt about Daphne until you didn’t tell her how you felt before she left.”
Confused, I cocked my head to the side. “Huh?”
“Maybe you didn’t think this consciously, but I think you chose not to tell her how much she meant to you because you were worried it would affect whether she went home and whether she decided to come back. You didn’t put your finger on the scale because you care enough that you want it to be her choice.”
“Whoa, that’s deep,” Elias said as he walked into the kitchen, hearing the end of Diego’s comments.
I cast him a glare, and he winked. He got his own beer out of the refrigerator before looking back and forth between us. “What would we do without Diego here to advise us on life and love?” he teased affectionately.
Diego rolled his eyes. “Flynn’s stupid.”
Elias cast me a penetrating look as his smile faded. “He’s right, you know?”
* * *
Daphne was persistent at staying in my thoughts for the rest of the evening and into the night. Although she was always persistent. I had no willpower when it came to Daphne.
That night as I lay in bed alone, my hand curled over my arousal for a moment. Perversely, I didn’t give in to the urge to satisfy myself. I needed Daphne.
I also needed a dose of nerves. Here I thought I had nerves of steel because of my years in the military, yet a woman who maybe cleared five feet and was small enough for me to carry ten miles, intimidated the hell out of me.