Chapter 10
Millie followed Ernie down the stairs to the speakeasy, ignoring the warning bells going off in her head. This was a terrible idea, and she should never have agreed to it. But it was too late now.
After a few words from Ernie through a black door cracked slightly open, a muscle-bound bouncer in a black suit opened the door, and they entered.
Dim, electric sconces along the dark walls provided the bare minimum of light to the crowded speakeasy.
Tea lights on the tables bathed everyone in a golden light as a jazz combo played popular tunes on the stage up front.
Ernie led her to a seat at the long, polished-wood bar. He’d shed his jacket, and his shirtsleeves were rolled up, revealing those powerful forearms that she itched to touch.
Good Lord, he was an attractive man. Something inside her did a little flipflop as she took in his movie star silhouette and that unruly blond mop. He leaned against the bar, watching her take her seat, his eyes full of a strange intensity as she settled in.
Focus, Mildred.
His lazy grin was not helping one bit. “Well then, Aldrich, what can I get you?”
“I’ll have a martini, please.”
Yes. Drink. Now.
She was suddenly very warm and couldn’t wait for the cool beverage to slide down her throat.
Ernie flagged down the bartender. “My date will have a martini, and I’ll have a whiskey, neat.”
She elbowed him in the side. Hard. “This isn’t a date, Pritchard.”
“Don’t worry. I was just trying to get a rise out of you.” A twinkle in his eye said otherwise.
“I mean it. You promised no funny business.” Never mind that her body might welcome a bit of funny business. Her brain knew better than to give in.
“All right. All right. I’ll behave.” He winked, and she wanted to smack him. Or climb on top of him. Maybe both.
She needed to steer the conversation to something safer. “Speaking of dates, why exactly didn’t you want to settle down with Vera? I liked her.” She’d been dying to ask but hadn’t dared. But having him call her his date sent her over the edge.
He raised his eyebrows and shook his head. “Has anyone ever told you that you are relentless?”
“Everyone, since I was a child,” she said, giving him a level look.
“What a shock.”
Their drinks arrived, and they raised their glasses in silent cheers.
“Vera was cute and sweet. I liked her a lot, but I’m not ready to marry. It’s not her. It’s me. I can’t afford to settle down yet,” he said, then took a sip of his whiskey.
“What do you mean you can’t afford to settle down yet?” She wasn’t about to accept his excuses for his bad behavior.
“My pop had a factory accident eight years ago that chewed up his right arm. He became a preacher, but we could barely get by on what he made. So I had to pick up the slack. The whole family relies on me. I’ve been supporting them all since I was seventeen.”
“Oh.” She wasn’t sure what to say. That was a lot of weight for him to carry on his shoulders. Sympathy seeped into her, diffusing her righteous anger.
He took a long sip of his drink and continued with a frown.
“I can’t afford to marry until my sisters are grown and out of the house.
In the meantime, all I can do is date women who don’t want more than I can give them.
And I don’t see how that’s any of your business.
I’m sure God will judge me when the time comes, but the state of my soul is hardly your concern. ”
Millie was speechless. He was so close to her that she could feel the heat radiating from him, and his impassioned defense only made him look all the more handsome, which was not helping at all.
Was this all another excuse for his bad behavior, or was it true?
She didn’t like being wrong, but he seemed so earnest.
“I’m not as concerned with the state of your soul,” she said at last, “as with the young ladies you’ve been dating.
Vera got hurt, and I don’t like it.” If she was protesting too much, it was only because she cared about Vera.
It had nothing to do with her inconvenient attraction to Ernie. Nothing at all.
“What happened between Vera and me is none of your business. The more you go on about it, the more I think you’re jealous of Vera.” He met her gaze head-on, and one side of his mouth twitched up.
Oh, God. Could he be right?
“No, I’m not,” she sputtered. “I’m just trying to get you to see the error of your ways.”
“Liar.” His smirk widened to a grin.
She gazed into his mischievous brown eyes.
Something electric passed between them. She couldn’t have looked away if she tried.
The world was reduced to the two of them.
They shared a connection so intense she thought they might burst into flame.
She was hardly breathing, caught and paralyzed by a mere look.
Suddenly, he blinked and straightened, staring over her shoulder. “Don’t look now, but I think we have company. Walton and Andrews just walked in. Keep your head down. I don’t want them to think we’re here on a date and tell Mr. Dickson. If he hears about this, there will be hell to pay.”
“But this is not a date, as we’ve discussed.” She took another sip of her martini, ignoring the little voice inside her insisting that it was, no matter what she said.
He frowned. “You think Mr. Dickson is going to believe that?”
She let out a long, slow breath. “No. You’re right. I’ll keep my head down.”
“They just sat down in a booth. I think we’re safe now.”
Straightening, she took another sip of her martini.
Mr. Dickson was the least of her problems. If word got back to Mr. Burleson of anything that sounded like fraternization, she was finished, and so were her dreams of opening the airmail to lady pilots.
To calm her nerves, she turned the conversation to focus on Ernie.
“When did you learn to fly? Was it during the war?”
“Yes. I volunteered for the Air Service immediately when I signed up. I’ve always been fascinated by airplanes, and when would I get another opportunity to learn to fly for free?
It turned out I had a knack for it. I have a good memory for landscapes and directions, which served me well on the front.
You wouldn’t believe how many pilots we lost because they couldn’t find their way back to base after a fight.
And I was lucky.” He took another drink of his whiskey. “What about you?”
“I learned to fly almost as soon as I was big enough to work the controls. I was fourteen the first time I flew.”
“Fourteen?” His eyes widened. “With all that experience, what made you decide you wanted to fly the mail?”
She shrugged. “I needed a new challenge. I was tired of barnstorming and wanted to learn distance flying. The airmail seemed like a good way to do it.” That was as much as she could give away. Her deal with Mr. Burleson had to remain secret.
“A challenge.” He narrowed his eyes and frowned. “You think this is all a game? Something to do because you’re feeling bored? The rest of us are out there risking our necks to feed our families, and you’re doing it for a kick?”
“I’m doing it to become a better pilot and to prove that a woman can do this successfully.” That was the truth, if only part of it.
Ernie shook his head and ran his hand through his hair. “You are unbelievable. You’re risking your neck in a whole new way just to prove a point?”
“Let me ask you this,” she said. “Would you question a man taking this job to prove a point?”
He laughed. “No man in his right mind would take this job if he didn’t need it.”
“Are you sure? Do you know for certain that all your colleagues are living paycheck to paycheck and not one of them has independent means?”
He pursed his lips. They were nice lips, very kissable, and she absolutely shouldn’t have been thinking about them or staring at them.
“Any man who takes this job out of anything other than necessity has a screw loose, and I would question whether he should be flying.”
The way he looked at her made her stomach flip. If she didn’t know better, she might have suspected him of caring what happened to her.
“At least you are consistent and think the same standard should apply to men and women,” she said after a deep sip of her martini. “So, if I needed this job to survive, you would feel differently about my flying?”
He shrugged. “I have nothing against women flying. I even think you’re an excellent pilot. I just don’t like women putting themselves at risk. If you needed this job to survive, I would still argue there were other options and that it’s too dangerous.”
That was rich! She laughed and laughed. “And that just goes to prove you know nothing about women at all.”
“I know more than enough about women,” he said, crossing his arms.
“Says the man who thinks the women he’s dating don’t mind being used and discarded like yesterday’s newspaper.”
He stiffened. “Look, I broke up with Vera so that I wouldn’t be misleading her about my intentions.
And I’m here having drinks with you instead of enjoying a night out on the town because you asked me to treat you like one of the men.
But if you’re waiting for me to say I’m supportive of you flying the mail, that day will never come.
It’s not because you aren’t a good pilot.
You are. And you have more flying experience than me.
It’s because I don’t want to go to your funeral.
It would wreck me to see you come to harm. ”
Her heart melted a little at his words. He really did care about her, even if his protectiveness was misguided. “What happened to ‘death or glory’?”
“You don’t need to risk death to find glory. You’ve already found it. You have fame, wealth, acclaim. You don’t need to do this.” He punctuated each “you” with a finger tapping on the table.