Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
MATEO
The alarm chimed on my phone. Ten thirty. Time to go. I had just enough time to put my tools away and drive from the hotel to the ranch.
“Mateo?” Eloise called.
“In here,” I hollered back from room 309.
She found me in the bathroom, wiping down the mirror I’d just installed.
Over the past three months, I’d been replacing the bathroom mirrors in the guest rooms with larger, LED-lit pieces. We timed these update projects for the slow winter months, when the hotel wasn’t packed. There were four rooms to go and then it was done.
“That looks so great.” Eloise smiled as I closed my toolbox. “I love these mirrors.”
“They’re nice. It was a good call to swap them out. Give me until Friday, then I should have the rest finished.”
“Excellent. Thank you.”
“Welcome.” I lifted my tools and followed her out to the elevators.
“I have this for you,” she said, holding up a piece of paper.
“What is it?”
“The direct deposit form. I know I’ve always just written you a check for your time, but since you’re the official maintenance man, I was thinking this would be easier.”
Wait. The official maintenance man? When had I become official?
Yeah, I did a lot of maintenance at the hotel.
Before Allie was born, I used to cover the front desk whenever Eloise was short-staffed, but she’d lined up good clerks in the past couple of years and hadn’t needed much help.
These days, I mostly worked on building projects, like upgrading those mirrors.
I was handy and didn’t mind fixing the occasional broken dresser drawer or changing a florescent ballast bulb.
Dad helped too. Was he getting a direct deposit form and an official job title?
“Just fill that out whenever you can,” she said.
I nodded. “You got it.”
Official maintenance man. I grimaced as the elevator doors slid open. Eloise left for the desk, and I went to put my tools in the utility room.
What was I doing?
I was twenty-eight-years old working a job that was only supposed to be temporary. It had started as a way to pitch in, reduce my sister’s stress and make a few bucks along the way.
Allie and I didn’t need much to live on, so between the money I earned at The Eloise and what Griffin paid me for work on the ranch, I had plenty to pay for groceries, gas and whatever expenses came up. I’d even started a college savings account.
The hired-hand gig was supposed to be temporary too, except I’d been doing it for years. How long was I going to be Eloise’s maintenance man? How long was I going to be Griffin’s hired hand?
Was this really my future? Was I really wasting my college degree and the hours upon hours I’d spent flying?
Both jobs gave me a lot of flexibility to be with Allie. I liked being home with her more often than not. The most important official title I had was Dad. And I wasn’t just her dad. I was her mother too. I was filling both roles, and for that, I couldn’t be strapped to a demanding career.
But what happened when she went to kindergarten? What happened when she moved and went to college? Would I still be doing maintenance at the hotel? Or fixing fence on the ranch?
“What am I doing?” I asked myself that question more often these days. Sure would be nice if I had an answer.
Griffin needed my help. Eloise did too. It seemed ridiculous to make them hire employees for jobs I had the skill set and time to do.
Besides, it wasn’t like I had anything else going on.
I didn’t want an eight-to-five job and a set schedule that would take me away from Allie.
I had no desire to work as a bank teller or become a realtor or manage the hardware store.
Official maintenance man.
I wanted to crumple the direct deposit form and toss it in the trash. Instead, I folded it in thirds, tucked it in my pocket and walked out of the elevator.
A lot of people didn’t love their jobs. Not my siblings, but a lot of other people in this world didn’t love their jobs.
For now, until I figured out what I wanted to do, I’d be the official maintenance man.
And if I never figured out what I wanted to do, well . . .
The most important job I had was as Allie’s father. That would be enough.
It would have to be enough.
Eloise was on the phone when I passed the reception desk. Jasper, seated at her side, lifted a hand as I strode through the lobby.
I jerked up my chin, about to leave, when the door opened.
Vance strode inside, dressed for work with his badge and holstered gun on his belt.
Hell. Given the look on his face, I was going to be late picking up Vera.
“Hey,” I said.
“Got a minute?”
“Just the one. I’ve got to get out to the ranch.” As far as I was concerned, he could assume I was picking up Allie.
I wasn’t sure what was happening with Vera, not yet. And I didn’t need Vance in the middle.
“Then I’ll be quick.” He rubbed a hand over his beard. “I wanted to talk about what happened at Willie’s.”
“Did you know she had feelings for me?”
“No, I would have said something.”
“What would you have said?”
He sighed. “Probably to stay away.”
That was why he’d interrupted our dance at his wedding, wasn’t it? And why he’d always made sure Vera was on his side of the table at family dinners.
“It’s not about you,” he said. “It’s her. I wouldn’t want her with anyone, right now. She’s . . . different. She’s not who she used to be. What happened changed her. She’s fragile.”
Nothing about Vera was fragile. Surviving the horrors inflicted by her father might have changed her. But she wasn’t fragile. She wasn’t broken.
“She’s not, Vance. She’s not fragile. And maybe she’d believe that herself if you stopped treating her like she’s made of glass.”
His jaw clenched. “You don’t know everything she’s been through.”
“No, I guess I don’t.” When it came to Vera, there was a lot I’d missed.
It was time to catch up.
The Quincy airfield was fifteen miles from the ranch. For the past nine of those fifteen, Vera had been huddled so close to the passenger door that she looked like she was contemplating an emergency exit. Any minute now, she’d pull the handle, tuck and roll.
“How’s school?” It was my fifth attempt to drum up conversation.
“Good.”
Good. The same answer she’d given when I’d asked her how work was going and how she liked living in the loft. When I’d told her that Allie still loved the rocking dragon, she’d said, “Good.” And when I’d promised she’d enjoy flying today, another “Good.”
I was never saying good again.
“You’re taking three classes, right?”
Vera nodded and shifted even closer to that door.
For fuck’s sake. Was she scared of me now? Maybe this was a bad idea.
But I just . . . needed to spend time with her. Alone. Because Vera had kissed me, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I couldn’t stop thinking about her. It felt like someone had slipped glasses on my face. And that someone had given me permission to see.
Now I wanted to learn everything there was to learn about Vera. I wanted to see it all.
“Clear and a million.”
Vera glanced over. “What?”
I pointed to the sky. “You have to know a lot about weather to be a pilot. There are different classifications of clouds, like overcast or broken or scattered. Then there’s days like this.
Not a cloud in sight. Unlimited visibility.
Nothing but brilliant blue. Clear and a million. It’s the best time to fly.”
“Oh.”
Even huddled against the door, she looked beautiful. Her hair fell in silky strands around her shoulders, cascading to her waist. With the sunlight coming through the windshield, the freckles on her nose popped. I’d always liked freckles.
Vera’s face wasn’t covered in them like some redheads. There was just a scattering across her nose, like they’d been drawn by an artist, dotted with precision.
“Here.” I took an extra pair of sunglasses from the console compartment and handed them over. “You’ll want these today.”
She eyed the aviators.
Was she going to make everything hard today? “They’re just sunglasses, Vera. They won’t bite.”
She was careful not to let our fingers brush as she took them from my hand. Then she unfolded the temples, slid them onto her face and hid those pretty brown eyes.
A strange feeling stirred in my chest. What was it? Pride? Possession? Whatever it was, I liked seeing her wear my glasses.
This was about to get complicated, wasn’t it?
Beyond my talk with Mom on Sunday morning, I hadn’t spoken to my parents about Vera.
My siblings hadn’t asked about us either, not even Eloise when I’d gone to the hotel.
Even Vance was giving me time to sort it through, but I was on the clock.
This reprieve wouldn’t last. They’d want to know how I was going to handle this.
Fly. Today, I was going to take Vera flying.
My parents, brothers and sisters had all noticed when my flying days had dwindled. I came to the airfield less and less often. They’d noticed, but it hadn’t bothered them that I’d stopped. Maybe because I hadn’t let on that it bothered me.
Not Vera. It upset her that I wasn’t flying.
Today was a good excuse to get up in the air. And spend time with Vera.
Either she and I would find our way past this awkward bump, navigate our way to a friendship again. Or everything would change.
Maybe I already knew the answer. Maybe I suspected I knew exactly where this was going. But I wasn’t ready to admit it yet, not even to myself.
There’d be time to evaluate. After this flight.
Vera’s shoulders crept closer and closer to her ears as we passed the sign to the airport.
“Nervous?”
She worried her bottom lip between her teeth and gave me a slight nod.
“I came out yesterday to do a few takeoffs and landings. Knock the rust off. I promise we won’t crash.”
“That’s not . . .” Vera sighed. “Why am I here, Mateo? You don’t need to pander to me. We can just forget about Willie’s, okay?”
“What if I don’t want to forget about it?”
Her gaze whipped to mine.
Finally. I had her attention.
She sure as fuck held mine.