Chapter Nine
brENT
Brent looked out the window as the plane made a slow taxi. He was back.
He let the relief sink in after what had felt like the longest flight of his life.
It hadn’t helped that he’d been a passenger for the past twelve hours.
He would have much preferred to have been piloting the plane to distract him from his nerves.
He shook out his hands. Flying was the last thing on his mind now.
He was focused on a different, much more terrifying, mission.
His heart pounded. What was taking them so long to bring this plane in for a stop?
Brent got out of his seat, then realized he couldn’t go anywhere. He sat back down. He couldn’t wait to take in a breath of that clean New Hampshire air. Mostly, he couldn’t wait to see Clara.
“So, you ready for this?” Will leaned over Brent from his seat to get a better view out the window.
“Sure am. No doubt in my mind.” It was true. Brent had complete faith in what he was about to do. He had been planning it out for months now and had spent the last several hours going over it in his mind. Now, he needed to get it right.
“There are my girls!” Will pointed outside.
Brent looked onto the tarmac below. He recognized Will’s family from the pictures he’d seen.
And there she was, beside them. He had to do a double take. Seeing Clara in the flesh after all this time made his head jerk back into the seat. Brent closed his eyes and felt his smile widen. It had been so long. A year of video calls just wasn’t the same.
He peered out again to watch her. Her mouth was drawn in a tight frown.
Clara clutched her purse tightly against her body.
It made sense she’d be uncomfortable. She still wasn’t used to this whole military scene.
Even so, he wasn’t sure what to make of her expression.
The other waiting spouses seemed full of excitement.
For a moment, he reconsidered his plan entirely. Maybe this wasn’t the right time. Would Clara be too nervous in this environment?
The plane finally came to a complete stop, and the engines shut down. He swallowed.
“You’re up, McNally,” Will said, raising his eyebrows.
Brent gave a faint smile. He couldn’t possibly tell Will how scared he was, despite Will now being one of his closest friends in the world.
Prior to the deployment, Brent hadn’t known the guy at all—Will being new to the squadron.
Rooming with him for a year changed that.
Will, blond and athletic, was an outdoorsy boy from South Carolina.
He was married with three young daughters, laid-back, hilarious, and loved SEC football.
Will had commissioned into the Air Force for “something interesting to do” after college, but had never planned a military career and had no idea how long he expected to stay in.
His philosophy on life was so different from Brent’s “plan everything” mentality.
That was what Brent loved most about being in the military. Meeting folks from all over, with different personalities, backgrounds, interests, and experiences—and working together for a common goal.
He stood up. His heart raced. He held the ring box tightly in his hand, waiting for the aircraft door to open.
No, Brent wasn’t turning back now. He had passed V1 already—the term a pilot uses when it’s too late to abort a takeoff. He was going for it now. He had to.