32. Skylar
Chapter Thirty-Two
SKYLAR
“Today’s the day,” Tucker announced as he got out of his truck after I’d climbed out of my car.
The sun was just rising. The world felt quiet and almost brimming with life.
An eagle called, followed by the chatter of a magpie.
The gust of wind coming off Kachemak Bay was brisk.
I could smell the briny tang in the air as my hair swirled in the breeze.
The sky was lavender with the silvery rays of the sun shooting through it.
“Today’s the day for what?” I zipped my jacket up as I stuffed my hands in my pockets, my lips automatically curling into a smile as I looked up at him.
Tucker was the kind of man who elicited a smile. His curly brown hair was still a bit damp, and his blue eyes seemed especially bright this morning, matching the sky.
“The day I’m taking you up for a plane ride,” he explained.
“I have to work.”
“I thought ahead and asked Ludie. I told her I wanted to take you for a ride, and she said any day.”
“You asked Ludie?” I yelped.
Tucker shrugged, all easy breezy about it. “Yeah, why not? Even she agreed that you need to take a trip into the sky here.”
I stared up at him, thinking about Emily and how she died. I remembered what I’d promised her. “Um, okay. When?”
“Well, I’m on a delivery run today. Since it’s just cargo, you can ride in the front. It’s perfect.”
“How long, though?” I ignored the anxiety clenching in my belly and around my heart.
He glanced at his watch. “Probably two hours.”
I opened my mouth to say I couldn’t take that much time away from work, but he cut in, “Before you say no, check with Ludie.”
I eyed him and nodded slowly, thinking he didn’t realize he’d just given me an out. She’d say that was too much time to be out of the office.
“I’ll be over in the hangar. I need to take care of a few things before I fly.”
Just as I started to turn away, he caught me lightly by the elbow. When I spun back to face him, he was right there, his blue eyes boring into mine. “I forgot something,” he said.
“What?”
“This.” He bent low, bringing his lips to mine.
The hot shock of it startled me. I felt him smile against my mouth, then he lingered for a moment before lifting his head. “Good to see you, Skylar.”
My heart was stumbling, carelessly casting out beats.
As I stared up at him, my belly swooped.
And I knew, I just knew , down to my bones, this man could break my heart in a way it had never been broken before.
Yet the giddiness of that kiss, of him being happy to see me, elbowed my fears away.
Before I could even absorb everything, he was turning and calling over his shoulder, “Talk to you in a few.”
I hurried across the parking lot and into the office. I skidded to a stop in front of Ludie’s office, and she smiled up at me. “Morning, Skylar. You should go.”
“Huh?”
“With Tucker. I just saw you two talking.”
“Oh. Are you sure? He said it’ll be about two hours.”
“Of course, I’m sure. And you’re still getting paid.”
“But, Ludie, I won’t be working,” I protested.
“Consider it training. I didn’t know you actually hadn’t been up in one of the small planes yet. I assumed you had.”
Shaking my head slowly, I thought about Emily broken and bleeding after her plane crash.
“Go. It actually is part of this job to know what it feels like for those guys to be up in the air. You’ll see why the schedule can get all wonky when the weather messes things up.” At my doubtful look, she pressed, “Go, sweetie. Dan’s already got it covered.”
Without thinking, I uncurled my hand from the doorframe, then raced around her desk and leaned down to give her a hug. I squeezed her tight. “Thank you, Ludie.”
My throat ached as I straightened.
“You got it, hon,” she said gruffly and waved me out of her office.
I didn’t leave just yet and hurried down the hallway to check with Dan. “Ludie said you’ve got it covered if I go for a flight with Tucker. Are you sure that’s okay?”
Dan looked up at me, his weathered face cracking a smile. “Of course, it’s okay. Neither of us knew you hadn’t flown yet. If I was still in my heyday, I’d insist on being the one to take you up there.”
Dan used to fly. That was why Ludie started this business all those years ago. He’d stopped flying over a decade back. According to him, it was after he had a problem with his eyesight. Even though he’d had surgery and improved, he said he didn’t want to worry about it.
“Scram,” he added with a wink.
I wasn’t quite ready to hug Dan, so I smiled and hurried back out of the office.
I told myself it didn’t mean anything that Tucker offered to do this as I jogged across the parking lot.
Walker Adventures owned or rented a number of the hangars here, but I knew where he was.
I remembered Emily saying she only ran when somebody chased her. I was smiling when I slowed.
Tucker glanced over. “What are you smiling about?”
I came to an abrupt stop, the sound of my footsteps skidding on the concrete and echoing in the space. “My friend Emily,” I said honestly.
“It’s good to have good memories.”
“It is.”
I was coming to realize that grief changed over time.
At first, the edges were sharp, every edge practically a razor slicing over your heart.
You didn’t know which way to adjust so the pain wasn’t so brutal.
Over time, the edges got a little duller.
Sometimes, you could recall a good memory, and your heart would feel warm.
It would feel like you were carrying a piece of that person inside you.
That was how I felt just then. Maybe Emily and I planned this move together, and maybe I was doing it for her.
My persistence and grit had carried me through it even though I had almost fallen into an inertia like no other after she died.
I was becoming someone new here. I was still me, but I was finding my fresh start.
“What’s the word? What did Ludie say?” Tucker asked.
“She said it was fine. Dan said if he still flew, he would have already taken me up.”
Tucker chuckled. “I’m sure he would have. I don’t know why he stopped flying.”
My feet finally moved again, and I crossed over to stop beside the plane.
Tucker was putting something in the small compartment under the plane.
“He had cataracts, so he took a break. Then he had some complications from the surgery. I guess it’s all sorted out now, but he said he didn’t want to worry about it,” I explained.
“I can’t say I blame him. I love flying like it’s my life, and I can’t imagine doing anything else for work.
” Tucker was so serious that it felt as if he was speaking spiritually about flying.
“But it’s important to feel like you’re one-hundred-percent, all cylinders firing—sight, sound, reflexes.
I think I’ll do the same thing when the time comes. ”
I nodded. Because, of course, that made sense. “Can I do anything to help?”
“Nope. You can hop in, though. We’ll taxi out from here.”
I couldn’t help the fizzy hum of anticipation spinning inside. This was exciting. I couldn’t wait to see what Alaska looked like from the air.
Moments later, Tucker handed me a headset and told me which channel to put it on. “Oh, this is the channel where you guys talk, and I don’t get to hear you.”
He grinned. “We don’t use it that much. This is just for you and me to chat. You ready?”
I met his eyes, and it felt as if the air shifted.
Something shimmered to life between us. It wasn’t about desire or lust. I didn’t even recognize what it was about.
I would only realize that later. My heart felt full, and excitement tumbled through me, like water rushing over the rocks in the spring. I nodded.
He taxied to the end of the runway. Before I could think about it too long, we were airborne.
“Oh, wow,” I breathed as I scanned the landscape beneath us.
“I know,” Tucker replied. “Simply beautiful, isn’t it?”
That word didn’t seem big enough. I’d seen Alaska from land, but this bird’s-eye view was stunning.
Kachemak Bay was sparkling under the sun, and the light glinted like sparks where the waves ruffled the surface.
When I looked out in the distance and saw Mount Augustine, my breath caught.
The sky was clear, and the volcano was tall and dark, its powerful presence almost alive.
I fell silent as Tucker flew. There were a few gusts of wind, and it felt like what I imagined it would feel like to be in a clothes dryer.
When wind buffeted the plane, he steadied it.
Before one of his stops, he flew low along the edge of the water, pointing out a cluster of rocks where a herd of sea lions was sunning themselves.
“Ooh!” I squeaked when I saw one swimming underwater, its form large and dark.
“Sometimes we see bears, plenty of seals and moose too.”
I helped him unload at the two stops. Then as promised, he delivered me back to Diamond Creek, almost two hours later.
“How many more flights do you have?” I asked after we’d climbed out of the plane.
He glanced at his phone, commenting, “Three. All tourist trips.”
“Thank you for today,” I said, my heart tightening in my chest.
“Of course.”
He startled me again when he bent low and kissed me. He lingered just long enough to tease his tongue with mine. Just that had me breathless by the time he lifted his head.
He waved. “I’ll text you.”
I hurried into work, realizing as I put on my headset that I’d finally kept my small promise to Emily.