Chapter 15
FIFTEEN
PALLAS
While his team had spent most of the day helping to set up the static displays, including an Osprey like the one they used as a transport, a good number of the team stuck around to either enjoy the festival or help out.
Pallas was only too happy to help out while he was waiting for Kawehi to get there.
He was kind of surprised that Axl hadn't run for the hills.
He was watching the open hangar doors almost as much as he was.
"Hey, mister!"
Pallas looked down and saw three little girls looking up at him.
They were all wearing Girl Scout uniforms of some kind.
While he probably wouldn't get to know their names, one had a pair of braids, another had hair that came down to her chin and the last had a ponytail, probably the most accurate name for a hair style.
"Yes?"
Braids was the one at the front of the trio. She pointed at the Osprey that he was standing next to. "Do you fly this thing?"
He shook his head. "No, but I've traveled in it a lot."
The little girl with a short bob cut folded her arms across her chest. "You guys use planes? I thought planes were Air Force."
He nodded. "They do have planes, but the Marines do, too."
Ponytail reared back. "What? What about the Army?"
He nodded. "Army has pilots and so does the Navy."
"Navy?" Pixie was back in the conversation. "They're in the water, right? Navy. Ocean. Submarines and stuff."
Braids shook her head, one of the bows at the end of her braids whipping around her head started to untie itself. "Remember Top Gun? He's Navy."
Pixie narrowed her eyes. "They flew fighter planes. Remember when Goose-" she cupped one hand around her mouth and whispered, "died."
Ponytail nodded. "Yeah. They have planes, but they're on battleships."
Pallas bent his knees to crouch down and look at the girls almost straight in the eye. "You're all right. Sometimes we also have to cooperate to get ourselves around the world to help people."
Pixie shook her head as her brow furrowed. "If you have to help each other, why not just have one big military?"
"I doubt that would work. At least now, I mean." Braids was trying to retie her bow, frowning at it as she spoke. "You know that fight your dad and my dad were having about girls being in the Boy Scouts?"
Pixie nodded her head solemnly. "Yeah?"
"I'm guessing it's like that. Some people like it just the way it is for whatever reason. And some people like to change things and see if that works." She sighed and gave up the ghost, letting the ribbon ends go. "I don't really care but I'm betting some people are going to be really unhappy."
Pallas squinted at the three in the oddly lit area of tarmac. "Are you three eighty or eight?"
Pixie looked right at him and gave him the definitive answer. "We're ten!"
"I knew it," he addressed the girls. "And you're all smart. I can tell."
Braids turned her head slightly to the side. "Right. You better not forget it." The three girls nodded before Braids spoke up again. "So, are you going to give us a tour or just stand around down here?"
Pixie looked up at the interior of the Osprey and then turned back to look at him. "One day I'm going to fly something like this."
He grinned. "As a Marine pilot?"
She shrugged. "I'll have to think about it, but I don't mind Pink Camo. What branch of the military has pink camo?"
"Uh... I don't think they do."
Pixie shrugged. "It's okay. I don't mind. I like a lot of colors. I'll be okay."
She reached up and took his hand.
As they walked inside the Osprey with a couple of adults wearing matching T-shirts with a troop number on the front, Pallas smiled.
The girls were smart. Really smart. He wondered what it would be like to have a little girl.
Would she be as forthright with her speech?
Would she walk right up to people and ask questions?
He thought of Kawehi and then his own personality. They were both pretty reserved people as it was, but together, they were... different.
Better.
Maybe if they had a daughter, she'd have the best of both of their characters.
He hoped so.
"Mister?" He looked down near his free hand. Braids was standing there, an impish look on her face. "Think we can get a ride in this thing tonight?"
Pallas shook his head. "Sorry, we don't have a pilot available."
Braids shrugged. "Can we kick the tires?"
Behind her, Pallas thought he saw Braids' mother. She had her teeth clenched together and a nervous look about her.
"I don't think it would be good for the tires."
Pixie tugged on the hand she was holding. "It's okay, who needs tires on a plane?"
"Well, tires are very important on a plane."
Ponytail walked up until they were nearly toe-to-toe. "There aren't any roads in space."
"Or in the air." Pixie again.
Braids was starting to take her carefully braided hair apart. "So what about the wheels? My dad says that wheels don't matter when you're in the air."
He had to agree. "Sure. I get that, but when you're landing, wheels are pretty awesome to have."
The little girl shrugged then looked up at him again. "Can I sit in the pilot's chair?"
"Sure." He walked them all up to the front.
KAWEHI
The only breath of space they got was going through the metal detectors at the entrance of the hangar, but once inside it was an absolute crush. When they shifted around a corner of the maze of tables and booths, Kawehi managed a full chest breath. "Wow."
Maile shook her head and tried to take a step to the side but was nudged closer again. "I can't wait to get out on the other side. If this was a club, I'd be okay, but you know what this reminds me of?"
Kawehi turned her head. "Hmm?"
"Those videos they showed us about cows being led to slaughter."
Kawehi's nose scrunched up a little. "Not a great image in my head. Thanks."
Maile shrugged and that jostled Kawehi a little.
Laughing, Kawehi caught sight of a bathroom door just behind a booth offering local snacks. "Hey," she had to lean down a little as the volume of the room had gotten louder. "I think we're going to be in here for a bit. I'm going to make my way toward the bathroom."
Her arm was caught by her cousin. "I'll come with you."
"If you want, but with how slow the crowd is moving, I can probably get back to you before you get to the door."
Maile gave her a look that was more of a grimace. "Okay, but I don't know how you're gonna find me in this crush."
"Then come with me. There might be another way out of the hangar that we can see from the wall."
The two of them managed to change direction in the crowd and head toward the marked bathroom door along the wall.
NICK
He saw the two in the crowd and rolled his eyes as Maile started to follow Kawehi through the crowd.
Kawehi's cousin didn't like him. At. All.
The feeling was mutual.
Sure, she'd come to the wedding with the rest of the family, crowding into the tiny office for their civil ceremony, but she'd made it very clear behind Kawehi's back that she was watching him.
And that was one of the reasons he was so relieved to get away from the islands.
Welcoming? Hospitality? Right.
He leaned out from his place along the way and saw where they were heading.
Nice.
Kawehi was heading toward the bathroom. He should have known that was where she was heading. She was always the one to plan ahead.
He'd be the one wanting to get in and get to the fun.
They really sucked as a couple. He'd thought that they would be better than that.
He thought she would have been grateful for all the attention he'd shown her.
All the love he'd showered on her, but she was always going to work in the alley.
Her family owned it! Why would she have to go to work all the time?
When he was home, he wanted to enjoy himself. He wanted a wife who was sweet and loving. He wanted a wife who was there when he got home. Someone who made his home a happy place. Not someone who worked more than he did!
He felt a muscle tick in his jaw, and he could feel his face heating up with anger.
Pushing away from the wall, he moved along the wall just outside of the table maze and moved closer to the bathroom. He'd been to the bowling alley looking for her but heard that she was taking the night off to go to the festival with her 'boyfriend.'
Yeah, they were going to have a talk.
If she was taking nights off for this guy but not for him? Yeah, they had something to talk about before they figured out how to get himself free of this mess with Charmaine.
He hadn't gone more than three of four steps before his phone went off.
Fuck!
He stopped and jammed his finger into the button to answer the call. "What?"
"Oh no! You did NOT just answer the phone like you're mad, Nicki! I'm the one who should be mad here!"
Nick snarled at himself silently. "Sorry, baby. There's so much noise here and people everywhere. I'm mad at them not you, sweetness."
"Right." She huffed and he could almost see her arms folded under her incredible, not so God given rack. "Why are you at the base? Didn't you say she lives off base?"
"Baby, I'm on base because she's here! I heard that she's got a date with her boyfriend tonight. Did you hear that? Her boyfriend! See? I told you it's all a huge mistake."
"A mistake? Her filing divorce papers is a mistake?"
He should have picked his words more carefully. Charmaine was always finding something to pick at him on.
"Baby, baby... I'll explain everything later, but I think I see her in the crowd. I've got to go so I can talk to her and figure this out. I love you, sweetheart."
"Right. If you love me, Nicki, then you better fix this. Because since you left, Daddy's been talking to his lawyers. He's ready to dissolve our marriage and sue you for all kinds of things. He's really mad."
Nick could believe it. He'd already had her daddy rip him a new one before he left, but he would bet that the two had been fanning each other's flames since he'd gotten on a plane to Hawaii.