14. Diego
Chapter Fourteen
DIEGO
“Oh, my God,” my sister said, placing her hand over her heart for emphasis. “This is incredible, Daphne.”
Harley, my youngest sister, took another bite of Daphne’s concoction for the evening. She’d made this subtly spicy Thai stir fry with rice noodles, marinated chicken, and veggies. It was one of our staff evenings, and Harley’s arrival was well-timed.
Daphne smiled at her. “Glad you like it. Diego is my best assistant after Cat. Do you like to cook as well?”
Harley shrugged. “I could take it or leave it. I’m pretty good at it, because our mom made us all learn, but I’m definitely nothing compared to you.”
I chuckled. “None of us can compete with Daphne’s cooking. We all consider ourselves lucky that she fell for Flynn and decided to stay here.”
Harley smiled between them. “I’m so happy for you, Flynn. You seem a little less cranky.” It didn’t matter who it was, my sister was direct.
Nora almost choked on the sip of water she’d just taken. After she took another swallow, she smiled over at Harley. “I forgot how blunt you are. I love that about you.”
My sister laughed, brushing her almost black hair off her shoulders after she set down her fork. Her eyes whisked around the kitchen. “This place looks great. The last time I was here you guys were still finishing up some of the work.”
“There’s always work, but this main building is completely done,” Flynn replied.
“How long do we get the pleasure of your company?” Nora asked.
Harley let out a small sigh. “I don’t know. Joe and I broke up, which is definitely for the best. I’m a little betwixt and between with life. Most of my work is handled online, so I don’t need to stay in any one location. I figured I would come here and try to make sense of what I want to do next. Please tell me if I’m imposing.” She did transcription and translation for medical companies and loved it because she said the tedium helped calm her down.
“Absolutely not,” Nora said firmly.” Just like Diego, you’re family. Stay as long as you need. That bedroom doesn’t belong to anybody anymore.”
“What’s the scoop with Elias?” Harley asked, glancing around the table.
“He fell in loooove,” Cat chimed in as she walked into the kitchen, catching that question.
“Elias?” Harley’s eyes went wide. My sister knew all these guys, and Elias, of course.
“True story,” I said before reaching for my pint glass of beer and taking a swallow.
“Well, if Elias can fall in love, then so can you,” Harley said, her eyes lasering on me.
I bit back a groan. “Don’t start with that right away, please,” I muttered.
Nora giggled, her eyes glinting with mirth as she split her gaze between Harley and me. “Diego went on a date.”
I glared at Nora. “Is that necessary? If you keep this up, I’m not gonna consider you family anymore.”
My sister smiled widely. “I’ll grill him about that later. I have to be strategic.”
“Fuck my life,” I said, glancing to Tucker who sat beside me.
He snorted. “Dude, you shoulda seen this coming. Last time she was here, she was trying to sell you on a few of her friends.”
Fortunately, conversation moved along. I always loved these nights where we could kick back in the kitchen and relax. Although being a bush pilot in Alaska was considered a risky job, it felt pretty low-key to me. After being on active duty in the Air Force, being able to hang with friends and know my biggest worry was related to the weather and how it might affect our flight schedules kept stress low on my radar.
Later that night, after those of us who stayed in the new staff house had decamped to the living room there, Harley filled me in on her messy breakup with Joe, her college boyfriend who she’d stayed with for no reason other than convenience as far as I could tell.
“I couldn’t believe it. I literally walked in on him fucking Janine,” she explained with more annoyance than hurt in her tone.
“Would you like me to kick his ass?” I countered.
Harley shook her head. “No thanks, bro. It’s not worth the plane ticket to Texas. I threw my keys at him and scratched his ass with them. I didn’t mean to, but it was still funny.” She rolled her eyes and leaned back into the cushions on the couch. “Enough about me. Now, tell me about your date.”
I knew she wouldn’t leave that topic alone for long, so I was prepared. “Her name is Gemma. She runs a yoga studio here in town. We’ve only had dinner once.”
That made it sound like not much, but I wasn’t about to tell my sister about the kiss that blew my mind in the parking lot outside of the coffee shop. I also definitely wasn’t going to tell her about the encounter when Gemma came all over my fingers in her kitchen. I confided in my sisters plenty, but I did have some limits.
“I want to meet her,” Harley announced.
“Jesus, Harley. It’s not like we’re getting married. We had dinner. Once. Pump the brakes.”
She sighed. “You need to settle down at some point. I feel like you’re letting what happened with Deana ruin romance forever.”
Leaning back into the couch, I ran a hand through my hair and cast her a glare. “No, I’m not. When the time is right and it feels right, I’ll settle down. I’ve had dinner with Gemma once. Don’t get so far ahead of yourself.”
“You also took her for a plane ride. That’s more than just dinner.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “It is definitely more than dinner. Look, you’re going to meet her. You’ll be here at least a few weeks, right?”
Harley nodded. “Of course.”
“Daphne and Nora are trying to work it out for Gemma to offer a weekly class here at the resort. So, if Daphne doesn’t sweet talk you into doing a class in town, you’ll meet Gemma when she comes out here.”
Harley clapped her hands together. “Yes! I need to screen her. If she’s secretly a bitch, then it’ll be good to know right off the bat.”
“God help me,” I muttered. “Worry about your own love life, please.”
“I’ve sworn off men forever. I only had to walk in on one boyfriend screwing my friend. That’s enough to last me a lifetime.”
“You’ll feel differently after the sting fades.”
Harley’s brows rose toward her hairline. “You’re one to talk. All Deana did was steal money. You haven’t been serious with anyone since then.”
* * *
Elias leaned against the plane wing, dragging his sleeve across his forehead. “Fuck, man. That’s a lot of dog food.”
I chuckled as we turned together to glance over toward the pallet stacked with bags of dog food. We were loading up one of our planes for a delivery run to the general store in a small village.
“It’s always something. This isn’t as fun as taking that rescue dog who got adopted the other week.” Elias flashed a grin. “Thanks for helping me load up. You seem pretty close to one hundred percent,” I commented, gesturing toward his ankle.
Early last winter, Flynn and Elias had been in a minor plane crash when a bird flew into one of their engines. Aside from cracked ribs, Flynn had been otherwise unscathed. Elias had sustained a nasty ankle break and gotten poked good and hard in the side by a branch. He’d been a cranky ass for a few months, but he was flying again and in love with Cammi, so all was right with his world.
Elias flashed a quick grin, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “Pretty much. I’m guessing I’ll be able to predict the weather with this ankle for the rest of my life, but otherwise, it’s all good.”
I chuckled. “That’s like my shoulder,” I said, patting my left shoulder. I’d dislocated the shoulder during a training exercise in the Air Force—a total fluke. Ever since then, it felt okay most of the time and didn’t give me any trouble, but I sure as hell could tell you when it was about to rain or snow. “What’s on your schedule today?”
Elias glanced through the open garage doorway of the hangar out toward another plane already waiting near the runway. “I’m taking one of the tourist groups. Just a nice pretty flight over a few glaciers. Maybe the wildlife will cooperate for us.”
We laughed together. That was a running joke. There was wildlife in abundance in Alaska, and for the most part when we took tourists on the “money trips,” as Flynn called them, we usually saw some wildlife. Most often, we encountered moose, occasionally bears, and along the shorelines, the rare sighting of a sea lion from the air if they were in the shallow water, or resting on the rocks. We also saw rafts of otters, seals, puffins, and eagles all over the freaking place. If we were really lucky, we might see a whale breaching, or pods of orcas and beluga whales.
On occasion, we saw nothing more than common seagulls. “I’ll be thinking positive for you. That one area, just past the harbor, has been a good spot for bears lately. I’ve seen one or two most every time we go through. I’m guessing a mama bear hibernated nearby over winter.”
Elias dipped his head in acknowledgment. “Thanks for the tip. I’ll make sure to keep to a low elevation in that area.” Elias pushed away from the plane wing and strode to the pallet, hefting another bag of dog food on his shoulder to stack in the back of the plane. “Let’s finish up so you can get rolling.”
We moved quickly and had the pallet empty in short order. I waved Elias off when his group arrived. Only minutes later, I followed him up into the air, steadying the plane once I could level out. The small planes were so much fun to fly. You could see the world from above the entire time, unlike the big commercial planes where you got so high there wasn’t much to see other than clouds.
Flying gave me a sense of freedom like nothing else did. I felt peaceful in the air, coasting along, savoring the view of the sparkling ocean below and the mountains in the distance. Mount Augustine, the volcano that stood sentry out in Cook Inlet had a halo of clouds encircling its peak. That volcano stood tall and majestic, a quiet reminder of its potential power at all times. It also served as the backdrop for some of the prettiest sunsets I’d seen in my entire life.
As I flew, Gemma came to mind. I meant to text her about dinner, but then Harley showed up earlier than I expected. I made a mental note to text her when I landed back in Diamond Creek today.
My mind shifted over to my little sister. Our family had always been close. We’d grown up blessed with two parents who loved each other. They’d fallen in love young, had kids and stayed in love all the way until they passed. I thought I was going to do the same thing until Deana notched a decisive scar on my trust.
I was more philosophical about it now than I’d been when it happened. I’d been too young anyway. Hell, I’d asked the girl to marry me when I’d enlisted in the Air Force. Deana had been Laura, my next youngest sister’s, close friend. Of course, I’d trusted her. As soon as she got her degree in accounting, my parents hired her to handle the books for my dad’s company. He’d done construction for years and ran a pretty good business. Deana embezzled a nice chunk, and they had to scrape by after that with my mom cleaning houses to make up the difference.
While I didn’t like admitting Harley was right about me, she had a point. I’d kept my distance from anything serious after I broke it off with Deana. In a weird way, what Deana did felt more personal than if she’d screwed around on me. Maybe because it took planning on her part and happened over time. It wasn’t a fluke, or a moment of reckless judgment. I was also intensely protective of my parents.
I kicked Deana to the curb in my thoughts. I didn’t want to dwell on her. Gemma was much more appealing to think about. That girl had cleared out an entire room in my brain. She was already furnishing it and didn’t appear to have any intentions of moving out soon. I’d replayed our encounter in her kitchen a few more times than I’d ever admit. The magnetic pull to her held strong regardless of whether she was nearby.