CHAPTER 6 #2
But Claire’s height, her self-assured demeanor, the way they’d clicked … Now it all made sense. If he were the sappy sentimental type, he would have said they were made for each other. His grandmother would wholeheartedly approve.
He paused, stunned at where his mind had wandered.
His parents were also disappointed that he wasn’t already married with children. Unlike his older brother, he’d been open to it. Well, he had been before Tina had slammed that door shut.
And speaking of marriage … Ian read on.
Divorced her father after eight years of marriage. Father immediately married a twenty-one-year-old. Ouch. That had to have been traumatic. Claire had been a little girl but old enough to understand.
Claire was single, never married. No children.
Good.
Place of residence: a one-bedroom condo in Arlington, Virginia. Last long-term relationship had been with—his mouth twisted—an injury attorney. The relationship had recently ended.
Ian smiled.
And then, he came to the last part.
Claire wasn’t currently in Virginia. She was in Orlando, where Nora currently resided.
According to a very talkative neighbor, Claire was there visiting her mother, who was ill and in the hospital.
The word jumped out at him: cancer. Shit.
He turned over the last sheet. It was one more photo.
Ian looked at it and felt his jaw turn to granite.
Claire, seated at a table, a cup of coffee in her hand.
Across from her sat a man, a doctor, evidenced by his long white coat.
And putting the moves on her, made obvious by his shit-eating grin and body language.
Claire had a smile on her face, and seeing it bestowed on another man made Ian see red.
He picked up the phone and quickly tapped the contact he needed, foot jiggling as he listened to it ring.
“Hey. I was just going to call you,” Adam said.
“What do you need?” Ian leaned back in his chair, willing himself to relax.
“I need to check up on you.”
“No, you don’t.” Ian smiled a little. Adam firmly believed he was responsible for everyone and everything in the family.
“You find your lady friend yet?”
Ian was silent for a beat. It was no surprise that his brother had figured it all out. “Yeah,” he said, “and I need a favor.”
“Name it.”
“I need to go to Orlando. I thought I might fly jump seat if you have availability.”
“When?”
“No rush. But soon.”
“I see.” Adam didn’t ask why, and Ian didn’t offer. “Speaking of flying and favors …”
Ian waited, knowing what was next. The family company had grown fast, and Adam badly needed pilots, but Ian had not yet decided whether he wanted to join the crew at LarsAir.
Over the years, he’d kept his Airline Transport Pilot license current and put in the required number of flight hours, just in case, but he had never been in a position to actually use it.
Until lately, he hadn’t been pressured to do so either.
“Have you thought about what I asked you?” Adam questioned.
“Yeah.”
“And?”
And I don’t know.
The truth was, he was getting tired of the tedium of being an attorney.
But Ian couldn’t just walk away; he needed to ensure that the business continued to operate smoothly in capable hands.
Training his junior attorney was going well, but Ian wasn’t sure he wanted to go back to his old life in Vegas either.
“Still thinking,” was the best he could tell Adam.
Adam grunted. “Think faster, man. We already lost Ted, and rumor has it that another one is ready to jump ship and go to Delta.”
“Shit. I’ll be on the lookout for someone.” That’s all he was willing to promise, for now.
“All right.” Adam didn’t hide his disappointment. “I’ll shoot you a schedule of the upcoming flights to Orlando.”
·
Claire
“What would you like to drink?” a now familiar voice asked from behind her.
Claire looked over her shoulder, and there Jake was, standing tall behind her in his starched white coat.
They’d repeatedly run into each other over the past week, and today, he’d finally convinced her to meet for lunch.
She owed him that much, given what a problematic patient her mother had proven to be.
The hospital cafeteria was hopping, chatter noise mixing with the clatter of dishes and clinking silverware.
“I’ll take a Coke.”
She didn’t miss his grimace and hesitation before he fished the can out of the cooler and handed it to her. She noted that he chose a huge bottle of Smartwater for himself.
“I keep drinking this, hoping it’ll help,” he deadpanned.
“Ah, is that what got you through med school?”
He chuckled, his gaze trained on the whiteboard on the opposite wall. “What looks good to you?”
“Well, the Salisbury steak is a perennial favorite.” She didn’t hide the sarcasm.
“Ah, yes. The one that tastes like horse meat.”
Claire arched a brow. “And you know this, how?”
“I’ll have you know, I am a horse meat connoisseur. My experience with it began way back in elementary school.”
“The patties that floated in a pool of yellow grease?”
“We went to the same school,” Jake said with mock conviction. “How come I never ran into you?” He picked up two trays and handed her one. “How is your mom today?”
She placed the tray down and pushed it along, eyeing one unappetizing food choice after another. “You tell me.”
He reached for a large salad topped with grilled chicken and hard-boiled eggs. “I was going to call you to discuss, but since you’re here, we can do it face-to-face.”
Was she imagining the seductive tone and innuendo? All week, to her mother’s delight, Dr. Jake, as Mom called him, had been sending heavy signals to Claire, which made her mother ecstatic. Mom had disapproved of all her other boyfriends, and with good reason.