Page 47
Her gaze was scornful. “Coward.”
“Sensible,” he corrected. “One of us has to be.”
“It could work.”
An affair? With Heather? Never. Because at the end of the appointed time, he wouldn’t be able to let her go. He would fall for her, and when she found out the truth about him and left him, he would die.
* * *
Heather stood on a chair and tried to reach one of the balloons dangling above her. Some of the ribbons were too short and she couldn’t reach them without help. But even if she stood on a chair, the curling yellow ribbons were tantalizingly out of reach.
“I’ll do that,” a male voice said.
Heather turned around and saw Brian standing in the entrance to the walled-off portion of the hangar. She smiled at the teenager and climbed down. “Thanks. You’re a good three or four inches taller, so it should be easy for you.”
He jumped up and grabbed the ribbon in one graceful, athletic movement, then handed her the balloon. “Jim asked me to help you clean up.”
She glanced around at the half-eaten cake, the melting ice cream and the paper plates and plastic forks that hadn’t quite made it into the trash can. “Thank you, sir. I do believe I’ll accept your assistance.”
Brian flushed slightly, gave her a shy smile, then started clearing the tables.
“Do you want to take the cake home?” Heather asked. The chocolate-frosted gooey confection had marked the celebration of two more employees going on to bigger and better jobs. “We ordered a half sheet this time and about a third of it is left over. I think it would freeze well if your mom wants to do that.”
“Thanks,” Brian said. “That would be great.”
Heather found some plastic wrap in the cabinets on the far wall and wrapped up the cake. As she did so, she kept glancing at Brian. Although she didn’t spend much time with him, when she did, he always had a dozen things to talk about. His job, how great Jim was, his girlfriend, school, his career plans, college. But today he was strangely silent. The only sound in the hangar was the rustle of his broom on the cement floor.
Heather gave up all pretense of working and studied him. He looked as tired as she felt. Diane had been up the past few nights. The pediatrician and her mother had both said it was a precursor to teething and there was little Heather could do but try to make her daughter comfortable. She wondered what was keeping Brian up at night.
“Is there something on your mind?” she finally asked.
Brian glanced up, stared at her for a second, then shook his head. “I’m fine.”
“Uh-huh.” Like she believed that. Maybe if she started a conversation, he would feel more comfortable joining in. She tried to figure out the most helpful opening. He talked to Flo about his girlfriend, so it probably wasn’t that. He talked to Jim about nearly everything else.
She paused in the act of closing an ice-cream carton. Was that it? Was there a problem with Jim? There was only one way to find out.
“These parties are great,” she said. “I like the chance to say goodbye to people who are leaving.”
She waited, but Brian didn’t do more than nod.
“Jim really takes the time to find his people a job where they’ll be happy. Not many employers would bother. Of course, he won’t have to do that for you, right? You’ll be heading off to college in a year.”
“I guess.”
She leaned against one of the tables while Brian started stacking the metal folding chairs into neat piles. “Have you talked to him about that?” she asked. “Depending on where you decide to go to college, I’ll bet he could help you find a job there working with helicopters. If you want to, I mean.”
Brian froze, then shuddered. “He doesn’t know me,” he said quietly. “I’m just the new guy and a kid. Nobody knows me.”
Heather didn’t know what that meant, but it gave her a bad feeling. “Brian, what’s wrong?”
He brushed his dark brown hair off his forehead and shrugged. “Nothing. I swear.” His gaze was intense. “I’d never do anything wrong. I need Jim to trust me on that.”
“Well, you’ve never given him reason not to trust you.”
Brian didn’t respond. Then he finished stacking the chairs and left without even saying goodbye. Heather was still staring after him when Jim walked into the hangar.
“What’s the problem?” he asked.
