Chapter 12
Jett, along with Ellen Sothard, were enjoying themselves far too much, and if Trask’s father gave him that surreptitious smirk one more time, he was going to—as his grandmother liked to say—have a conniption.
When they’d first all sat down to dinner—after Trask had changed out of his firefighters’ duds—the initial topic of discussion raised had been the day’s happenings.
Which was fine. And neutral. Both his parents had shown heartfelt concern when they’d heard about the moose rescue, but had also praised the way the two of them had worked together to elicit a positive outcome.
After that, however, the conversation had devolved. The two women had gleefully begun discussing Trask’s childhood. How that subject had come up, Trask didn’t know, but he suspected it was his manipulative mother’s version of bringing out baby photos, which…
Oh, God. Did he have to worry about that next?
Considering he was the oldest, there were more pictures of him than any of his sibs. And because he’d been precocious—or so he’d been told—and an inquisitive risk-taker to boot, Ellen Sothard wasn’t running out of fodder anytime soon.
“…and you should have seen the look on Trask’s face when he found out his brother had told on him.”
For cripes sake. Trask had been fourteen years old when that incident had happened, and he still didn’t think it had been that bad.
Borrowing baby Julian’s oversized, plastic tub to see if he could paddle to one of the offshore islands had seemed like a really good idea at the time.
Until it hadn’t. Luckily, when the flimsy thing sank, he’d only been fifteen feet or so off shore, and had easily swum back to where seven-year-old Vincent, whom Trask had been charged with watching for the day, stood laughing like a loon.
The real trouble had started later that night when his mother had begun looking for the missing tub. Trask denied all knowledge of it, of course, but Vince had more than gleefully ratted him out.
Why? Because he could.
Vincent had always, from the get-go, been a ball-buster, and he continued in that capacity to this day. If there was trouble to be had, drama to be stirred, Vincent always remained at the helm of said shenanigans, while also being the number one culprit.
Trask didn’t know how Vince had survived in the Navy for so many years. If his brother had served under Trask, the consummate troublemaker would have been court-martialed ages ago.
Trask tuned back into the conversation to see if he needed to debunk anything that was coming up, but found they were still on the tub incident.
Jett was giving her opinion. “…funny, because in the short time I’ve known Trask, I’ve observed that he doesn’t lie,” she speculated to his amused mother. “He prevaricates and avoids, but from what I’ve seen, he can’t outright fib.”
She’d noticed that, huh?
“Because he learned his lesson with that tub,” Ellen chortled, taking full credit. “We grounded him for a month that summer, and put him in charge of giving Julian his baths until school convened in the fall.”
Yeah. Trask remembered that well. Being grounded had been a total bummer, and a real wake-up call.
He’d lamented all the fun he’d missed out on that summer.
And getting stuck at home without friends being allowed to visit had been utterly miserable.
Trask had vowed then and there never to lie again.
Something he’d stuck to.
But giving Julian baths? That had turned out to be great fun, and had established a solid bond between him and Jules that remained unbreakable to this day.
He couldn’t wait for Jules to separate from the military and join Diver Downeast. Trask had been working on him via texts for several weeks, and seemed to be making some headway, so it might not be long.
“If you two are finished,” Trask finally huffed as the pair started in on a rash he’d gotten when trying to prove to friends that he wasn’t allergic to poison ivy.
He threw down his napkin. “I’m sure Jett is exhausted after her long day, Mom.
We need to grab some sleep so I can get her back to her plane first thing tomorrow morning. ”
“Oh,” Ellen Sothard sighed heavily. “You have to leave us so soon?” she posed to Jett. “I was hoping to get to know you better.”
Yeah. Trask didn’t doubt that. His mother clearly thought that if Jett hung around, she and Trask might become an item.
She was a softie where her boys’ happiness was concerned, and Trask knew she’d worried about him since he’d been home, and hoped he’d find the love of his life like half his brothers had.
But… Not happening.
“About that…” Jett began.
Trask stiffened his spine.
What the hell was the spitfire up to?
“I’ve been thinking. Since I haven’t exactly found employment yet, and my father is selling my childhood home…” She glanced at Trask with a hastily manufactured bravado before turning back to Ellen. “…my skills and my amphibious Cessna might be of use to your sons’ new business.”
While Trask gaped, Jett continued.
“All I’d need to do is find a place to live and an airfield nearby where I can tie down, then I’d be more than willing to stick around.”
Guy Sothard cleared his throat.
Oh, no he wasn’t…
“We’ve got plenty of spare bedrooms here at the house until you can find something that suits you better,” his father offered.
And was he…?
“We’ve also got a small, grass strip out behind the barns that I keep mowed, although I don’t know why.” Guy scratched his head.
Oh, yes, he was going there.
“You have an airstrip?” Jett responded incredulously while studiously avoiding Trask’s gaze.
“Uh, uh. Once upon a time, a long time ago, our son Julian was obsessed with flying. He earned his pilot’s license at the age of fifteen, and bought an old tail-dragger with money he squirreled away, and with some generous help from my parents.
We couldn’t keep him out of the air.” Guy chuckled.
“And now look at him. Fifteen years in the Air Force.”
Trask knew that Jett could relate as Guy continued.
“If you want to keep your plane here, it won’t be a hardship, because Julian’s old aircraft is long gone. And I’m sure we can get your baby indoors during bad weather if we move the ultra-lights he hasn’t used in years out of the big shed.”
Jett’s face was wreathed in smiles, while panic seized Trask’s chest.
How was he going to deal with this? He’d thought that he and Jett would have one night of unencumbered sex, then he’d see her on her way. He’d had no idea the little schemer had been contemplating squatting in his territory, and he didn’t like it one bit.
His voice came out in a growl. “I’m sure I heard Spence say that we’re at capacity for employees right now,” he stated, trying hard not to let his anger show. “Especially since we haven’t officially opened for business yet.”
Trask glared at Jett. “But don’t worry. I’ll make sure you get paid for the rescue we did today, even though the budget doesn’t allow us to take on any more…burdens until we’ve been up and running for a while.”
Her eyes sparkled and he knew she was about to take up the gauntlet, as if this wasn’t a contentious interchange she’d just fomented.
“Oh, I wouldn’t need a salary,” she assured him smartly.
“I actually have a very generous pension since retiring from the Air Force, and my father has assured me that part of the proceeds from the sale of the house will go into my account as well. So…” She beamed at him.
“…I could work for you on a job-to-job basis, doing things like what we accomplished today.”
“I—”
She cut him off.
“Don’t tell me your brothers wouldn’t relish having a versatile aircraft on hand?
” she continued, a confident smirk on her lips.
“Like today, when time is of the essence for a job that pops up miles from here. I can get you most anyplace, quickly, with all the options I can provide, land or sea. If there’s no place to put down on solid ground, I can bring us in on a body of water.
If neither of those is possible, you and your team can always jump,” she offered.
“You do know how to use a parachute, right?” Butter would melt in her mouth, and it burned Trask’s ass.
“I’ve done my share of HALO and LALO jumps,” he practically snarled. And dammit, she had him. Not only that, but he was quickly looking like a dour idiot in front of his parents.
He tried to think things through reasonably, and drew in a deep, calming breath.
An airplane would give Diver Downeast a lot of versatility.
Especially since their sub, although up and running, was still in need of a lot of repairs and upgrades to various systems. At least now they had a line on parts for the underwater vessel, thanks to new family friend Tex.
When Tabitha had been unable to procure the necessary items to repair the new-to-them sub, due to its age, with Mason’s advice she’d reached out to magic-man Tex.
The wily vet and master-of-everything had scoffed at Tabbi’s concerns, and ever since, replacement parts had been arriving by UPS nearly every day.
But having a plane? Being able to travel inland to things like lake rescues? Well… Jett had a point.
Still…did it have to be her?
“Spence might already have someone in mind who has a plane,” Trask continued to argue in a milder tone, not quite ready to concede.
“Why don’t you call him and find out?” his mother interjected, looking pleased as punch at the prospect. “He and Tabitha will be home from their class by now, and there’s no time like the present to take advantage of an opportunity.”
Maybe one of his brothers or their wives would be the voice of reason.
Trask would not only call Spence, he’d ring up Buck as well, and have them all on a conference call.
“Fine. I’ll contact Spence and Buck to get their input,” Trask clipped.
Taking his phone out of his pocket, he hit Spence’s number first.