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“She?” he echoes with a trace of amusement.
“You refer to your plane as ‘she’ and it’s not even a living creature like this poor, thirsty plant.”
“Yeah, I’m not very good at keeping plants.”
“Clearly. But I think we can save her.”
“Do you want some coffee?”
“Yes, please.” I walk over to look out the window at the bright, sunny day. “God, you have the best weather here.”
“It is pretty awesome,” he agrees and hands me the mug. “Let’s go sit outside.”
Following him out onto the back patio, I sit down in a cushioned chair and wonder what it would be like to live on the West Coast. My heart speeds up a little at the thought, a subtle hint from my subconscious that it’s time for a change. This would certainly be a big move. A huge leap of faith. Especially since I’m opening myself up a little more to this man every single day. It’s much easier to hide when I live almost 3,000 miles away. But if I’m here…
That could change everything.
A jet flies by overhead and we both look up. “Did you always want to be a pilot?” I ask.
He nods slowly, as though trying to decide how to answer my question. “Ever since I was a little boy. I thought it would be cool.”
I have a feeling there’s more to the story. “And that’s why you joined the military? To be cool?” I’m teasing, but he suddenly turns serious.
His face darkens slightly. “I joined the Army because I wanted to get out of my small town and make something of myself. They promised to teach me how to be the best damn pilot possible and let me travel the world. It was a win-win situation all around.”
“Where’s home?” Again, I see him hesitate.
“Aurora, Indiana,” he finally says.
“Sounds like a small town.”
“Blink and you’ll miss it. I don’t even think 4,000 people live there.”
“Do you still have family there?”
“Nope.”
When he doesn’t expand on the curt statement, I take a small sip of coffee and give him some space. I feel like I definitely hit a nerve, and I don’t want to open a painful wound when things are finally comfortable between us. But I get the feeling he isn’t close to his family and I can’t help but wonder what happened. Even though my parents are divorced, I still talk to both my mom and dad and love them very much.
“Do you have any brothers or sisters?” I press, hoping maybe that will open the discussion up. And because I am genuinely curious about who Eric is. Maybe it will help me understand him better.
“Not that I know of.” He glances over at me and must see the frustration on my face. “Sorry, there’s not a lot to say about my past in Aurora. My mom took off when I was just a baby and I can’t blame her. So that left me and my dad.”
“Oh, that must’ve been hard.” It hurts my heart that he never knew his mother. I can’t imagine what would cause a mother to leave her child. There are still so many questions I want to ask, but I feel him begin to pull away, so I change the subject. “Flying all around the world must’ve been exciting for a kid from a small Midwest town.”
He perks up and nods. “It was. Until joining the Army, I’d never left my hometown. Suddenly, I was going all over the place. I loved the training and knew I wanted to be a Night Stalker the moment I found out what those guys do. It wasn’t easy, but I was a damn good pilot and proved I belonged up there with the best.”
“From what I’ve seen, you’re an excellent pilot.”
“Just don’t ask Aidan, Kennedy or Cassian,” he says dryly.
“Oh, well, yeah. Other than that helicopter crash, I mean. And the incident with the lightning. Neither your fault, of course.” My mouth edges up and it makes me happy to see the glow return to his green-gray eyes.
“In all fairness, I was doing pretty well until we got hit by debris.”
“Everyone made it, so I guess you know how to crash.”
“Like a pro.”
