AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Which was a lie.
“Hey there, Birdie,” his uncle Asher said.
Brody hugged her next and then Ally. More smiles for them. Why that pissed Sawyer off, he had no idea.
“Okay, Dukes, let’s go,” their pilot, Jim Anderson, said. “Oh hey, Birdie. I heard you and Sawyer were a thing.” The man’s grin filled his face.
“Not a thing,” Sawyer and Birdie said at the same time.
“I’m just his plus one, Jim, because no one else would go with him,” Birdie said.
Sawyer wanted to shake her when Jim laughed.
“My boy sure is a grumpy one,” his mother said.
“There’s a soft side in there though,” Brody said. “He just needs the right woman to bring it out.”
“You all about done?” Sawyer asked. “I’m kicking your ass if you keep this up,” he said in his brother’s ear as they passed.
“Yeah? You and whose army?” Brody shot back. “Come on, baby girl, let’s get good seats,” he said to his daughter. “Away from Uncle Grumpy.”
Luggage was stowed, and they boarded. Ally sat up front beside the pilot. Next came the other three, which left Sawyer and Birdie in the rear seats.
“Put your belt on,” Sawyer told her.
“Don’t tell me what to do.”
“Well, put it on and I won’t have to.”
“I’m not one of your siblings, you know. I don’t have to listen to you.”
She made a big deal about clicking her belt. Birdie turned her body as best she could away from him to look out the window as they started taxiing to the runway.
Sawyer had flown a lot in his lifetime and still went on a business trip or vacation at least twice a year. He liked the feeling of being in the air, away from life’s pressures for a while.
He kept his eyes on Birdie as the plane picked up speed to prepare for takeoff. Her face was pressed to the window, hands on either side of it, like a kid looking in a toyshop.
A small squeaking sound came out as the plane left the ground.
“Have you flown before, Birdie?”
She ignored him, keeping her eyes on the window.
“Have you flown before?” He leaned closer to speak into her ear.
“No. Now shut up so I can enjoy the experience, even considering I’m sitting next to you.”
Sawyer swallowed down the smile that he’d been the one to give Birdie her first flight.
“Are you scared?”
“No.”
He grunted something and then settled back to watch out the other window for the short journey.
“Everything looks tiny,” Birdie said five minutes later.
“Because we’re about 5,000 ft in the air.”
