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John’s eyes got wide at the mental picture the solemn pilot was painting in his mind. He quickly said his goodbyes, thank yous, and hung up the phone, before heading down to his gate to board his flight in a half hour.
* * *
Fifteen hours later,he stumbled into the barracks and collapsed on his bunk. John didn’t say a word and could feel several sets of eyes on him, but he hadn’t slept much on the flight… and probably cried waaaay too much.
He bought the first cheap ring he could find in a gift shop. He had intended to get one in Las Vegas, but never found one that wasn’t wildly expensive or was wide enough to do the job. A thick plastic silicone ring that was almost the same shade as Emily’s name underneath worked wonders instead.
That crazy tattoo was growing on him so much, and he liked looking down to see her ‘brand’ there on his hand, marking him. The lettering was so tall that it stuck out slightly, but was mostly hidden, making it acceptable for inspection unless you looked really hard.
He felt a hand touch his shoulder and saw Ghost sitting in the bunk beside him, looking at someone just over him.
“X-Ray… how are you holding up, man?”
Jace.
“I’ll have to manage,” John admitted quietly. “Won’t I?”
“Yeah,” Jace said gently, patting him on the shoulder. “We all kinda do when we find the one…”
“Did you get married?” Ghost asked quietly, pointing at his hand. “I thought you said you were never getting married…”
“Never say never, Ghost…” Jace laughed easily. “Many of us have said that, and all of us lied through our teeth.”
“Why is it the guys that don’t want to get married end up finding that special person… but those of us who are desperately looking, who believe in Happily Ever After, cannot find our way out of a cardboard box?” Ghost muttered in disgust. “I try… but they don’t look at me twice. ‘I’m too nice’,” he mocked, holding up his fingers in air quotes.
“I’ve got a friend that will set you up with a girlfriend…”
There was dead silence in the barracks as Hot Cake’s voice carried across the room. Reaper stood up as John sat up in his bunk, looking around warily to see why it was so suddenly quiet – only to see several sets of eyes on Hot Cakes.
“Houdini is going to be staying with Alpo and Glory…” Reaper volunteered, looking at Hot Cakes knowingly as Sparky laughed easily from his bunk, realizing what was going on.
“You’re setting him up,” Sparky jeered in delight, and Handsy rolled his eyes.
“WHAT?” Houdini balked, turning extremely pale and looking around in horror. “I don’t want a girlfriend! You said for me to…”
“Enough,” Reaper said bluntly, cutting off Houdini and looking at Ghost. “Glory will set you up with a girl if you want her to. She loves that stuff, and somehow knows everyone in the area – or they know of her.”
“Seriously, Reaper,” Houdini started again nervously. “I’m going because you said that I should…”
“Houdini, can it – and relax,” Reaper bit out. “Ghost? Why don’t you see if you can fly out with Houdini for a few days, and we can set you up to stay at Flyboys or with one of the retired pilots from our squadron.”
“Really?” Ghost perked up, smiling.
“Just give me a head’s up and I’ll reach out to the team,” Reaper offered.
“You sure you want to do this?” X-Ray asked candidly. “Blind dates and being matched up with someone can backfire badly. I went on one blind date one time and let’s just say it went extremely wrong.”
Ghost shrugged.
“I’ve been on six blind dates… I can handle myself, and know how this works probably better than anyone.”
“SIX?” several of the men shouted in unison, making Ghost cringe painfully.
“Let me get this straight,” Maestro said quietly, staring at Reaper. “If one of us wants to get away and fly to East Texas? There are former pilots that will let us stay with them or at someplace called Flyboys?”
“Private air strip in Yonder, just outside of Tyler, Texas,” Hot Cakes volunteered, nodding. “They teach flying lessons.”
“It’s nice,” X-Ray admitted. “I took a Cessna up while I was there and flew out towards Lake Pontchartrain.”
