Chapter 31 - Flying Home
Chapter 31
Flying Home
Danny Davis sat alone on his horse on the tallest hill overlooking his family farm. In the distance, he could see his dream house. It was almost finished, no longer just a frame against the sky. From the outside it looked complete. All it needed now was some paint and a picket fence. The almost home looked lonely, but soon he hoped it would be as full as he envisioned.
He waited in the stillness of the cold day. A part of him felt the land was sleeping. But soon, it would wake. He hated the yellow, dead grass and the bare trees, but he knew it would come alive again. A hawk drifted by on the wind, as if looking for winter to leave.
Spring would be here soon. The world was turning. But winter still clung to the breeze. He watched the sky, thinking of Andi. Remembering every moment they’d spent together. The times they’d fought, the times they’d kissed, the times they’d battled their way out of trouble.
Some mornings he could have sworn she was lying beside him. She’d felt just right snuggled against his side. Dreaming of Andi was better than ever touching another.
He’d taken down the little picture of Karly from his closet. He thought back on that first love as just a creek, but loving Andi was like a powerful rapid washing over him. Danny didn’t have a picture of Andi to replace it with, but he saw her always in his mind. The long blond hair spilled over his pillow. Her perfect body moving bare in the moonlight.
He loved her fire. Andi was all-out in her life, and he was still drifting through his.
His flannel shirt that she’d worn hung on a hook by the doorframe so it was the first thing he saw when he awoke and the last thing he saw when he went to bed. He could still smell her. He balled his fist in the flannel. All he had of her were memories. How could someone come into his life for a little over a week and change his dreams? He still wanted his someday house, he still wanted his career, but his life would be hollow until Andi returned.
There were a thousand reasons why he loved her, but he couldn’t think of a single one for her to come back to him. He felt like he needed her to breathe. And he knew she loved him, but she was so independent. She could go on without him in her life.
They rarely talked on the phone since she’d left for the trial. She was busy wrapping up the investigation. But when she did call, Dan’s world stopped for a few minutes and he remembered. He told himself over and over that she’d come back someday because every time he said goodbye, he sensed a whisper of her need for him to calm her world.
Dan yelled over the clouds for her to come home every time he rode up on this hill, waiting. He’d meant it when he said he’d wait for her forever. He’d thought many times to get in his pickup and go to her in Dallas. But that was her world and he couldn’t just step in.
The roar of a Cessna sounded in the distance. It grew louder, like it was coming toward him. He didn’t breathe as hope sprung up in him. Then he saw the plane.
Andi.
She was circling, and he was waving. The engines slowed as she lowered and finally landed on a brand-new air strip he’d built on over a half acre as if she’d landed there a dozen times before.
Danny rode to the end of the strip as Andi navigated down the runway that was shiny and new. He grinned as if she was wearing a wedding dress and this was the day they were going to be joined.
As the plane came to a stop, he kicked his horse into motion and raced to where she was rolling in. When she opened the cockpit door, Dan was there to catch her as she flew toward him.
He whirled her around. “How long are you home?” he whispered as he hugged her against his heart.
“A few days. Then I’ve got to go back to Dallas one last time.”
Laughing, Andi attacked him with kisses. Danny didn’t try to defend himself at all.
“I don’t care where you go or where you have to fly to as long as you come home to me,” he said.
As he let her down, she danced around the runway. “I can’t believe you built this. You really must love me because ranchers and farmers never give up their land.”
“I’ll love you forever, honey.” He smiled. “I won’t clip your wings. You can always leave. Just come back.”
“Not this time. But soon. One day, when I fly in, I plan to stay. You are my home, Danny. No matter where I go, I’ll always come home.” She smiled, love burning in her eyes.
“To the land?”
“No. To your arms.”