Page 8 of Signed With Love

Sounds like you had a nice time. Weren’t you going to your parents’ this weekend? Don asks.

Yes, I went to see them.

Don continues to watch me, but a bit of that usual spark has left his eyes.

Thank you for making this. It’s good. I try to lighten the mood. These are the situations I’d much rather avoid.

Anytime. I’ll see you ladies later. He rises, and I watch as he leaves the break room.

I turn back to Andrea. She’s watching him leave too. When her gaze lands on me, she cringes.

I think he likes you, likes you. I didn’t realize he had a crush.

I rise to toss the muffin in the trash with only one bite missing. I return and take my spot beside Andrea again. He doesn’t like me that much.

He looked like a puppy who lost his favorite toy when I mentioned a guy. It’s not like you’re the most approachable, love. I love you, but you put off some don’t-bother vibes. I just hadn’t realized he developed a crush and did nothing about it.

I press my lips together, my jaw clenched. I don’t mean to put off don't-approach-me vibes.

It’s okay, she says.

I know. Let’s get back to class.

I’m not even sure why Jamison is bothering with trying to get to know me. I’m not always the warmest to him either. Sometimes it’s just easier to push people away than risk someone not liking me. Maddie always made sure I didn’t push people away. But with her not here, I don’t know how to let someone in. To let someone know the real me.

Chapter Four

Jamison

I finish my preflight checks and announce my takeoff to air traffic control. I’ve got an easy run this time, but even so, there’s nothing that beats the rush of flying. I strap into my harness, and the engine purrs as I take off, leaving the small landing strip behind. Once I’m off the ground and gaining altitude, everything else fades away as the Alaskan wilderness takes me in.

I let go of the fact that Claire hasn’t written me back, or that every time I step into Thorne Air, I’m reminded of what I lost four years ago. How I couldn’t save my mother. That’s always a bitter reminder anytime I come into work. The things that keep me up at night staring into the bottom of an empty whiskey tumbler fade as my Piper Super Cub climbs in altitude.

This plane was a gift from my mother. Its small and rugged design allows for the rough and impossibly short landing strips that the Alaskan terrain requires. The controls are light and always makes for an easy escape from what is left for me on land. When I’m in the air, I feel lighter.

After forty minutes in the air, I circle around and land in Chechen’s rocky landing strip. Chechen is a small fishing village in northern Alaska, hidden deep in the Alaskan bush country. I make this trip once every few weeks to bring the village supplies. They honestly want for little this far north, but I still guarantee they have the essentials.

The moment my plane touches down on the sandbar, I cut the engine and meet up with Caldwell. He’s another old friend of Mom’s and loves to chat about things when I come by. The weight of my problems is back, so I give him a quick handshake and unload everything, allowing him to reminisce while I do so. My mother had flown most of these same flight patterns herself back then, and I’ve become a way to keep her memory alive.

I’m able to get back in the air an hour later, letting the weight disappear again with the altitude I gain. There’s a desperate need, an unmistakable desire to remain high above the world. To capture something few people have seen before me. To behold beauty and seek a never-ending adventure. Perhaps it’s because everything in life comes back into a glaringly clear focus when I’m grounded.

I fly past the Chugach Mountains and watch as the world stretches out ahead. The skies are clear blue today and back the sharp mountain peaks before me. The rich green of the Chugach National Forest stretches for hundreds of miles below me. There is nothing better than the view from ten thousand feet above. I should bring Claire up here. I wonder if she’s ever seen something so breathtaking herself. Her father is a fisherman, another adventurous Alaskan man like I am. Maybe he’s taken her to see the beauty Alaska has to offer.

She’ll have to actually write me back for me to confirm that. I’ll need some communication between us for me to dig deeper into knowing the woman who has stolen my thoughts. I’m losing my mind waiting for something in response to the letter I wrote three weeks ago. I’ll take a few words, a sign she’s interested in a friendship with me and that this interest isn’t entirely one-sided.

Once Thorne Air comes into view, I touch down on a strip of land near the hangar. That dreaded weight is back on my shoulders the moment the wheels connect with solid ground. I keep my head down, focused on the bush plane my mother gave me for my sixteenth birthday as a distraction from stepping inside Thorne Air. If I step inside, I’ll be reminded of when my mother worked with me, when she was in charge of us and made sure we were running the correct routes. My mother has left me so many things, all little tokens of her as daily reminders that she isn’t here anymore and that’s my fault. So, every damn time I’m in this town or working here, I’m remembering all my mistakes over and over again.

“Jamison.” Thorne, my boss—and for a once-used title, my stepdad—appears at my side. He’s in his fifties with graying hair. He wears a look of discontent, which is nothing new. I can’t keep my disregard toward him off my face either. Rylee reminds me of it daily when she sees us giving each other harsh looks. She also understands why.

“I need you for another flight tonight,” Thorne states.

“Sure,” I grind out, then glance at my watch. “What time?” I should find another job, but this has become part of my punishment.

“You need to go now. There’s a couple lost, and the troopers are organizing the search and rescue. They took a hiking trip into the Chugach Mountains, and the landing area will be rough up there. They’re radioing for our help.”

I nod, then look over my flight plan and the details of the couple’s itinerary. They’ve made trips before and are avid hikers. They even knew to have a personal locator beacon on them and went up prepared. Something big has happened to delay them this long, and they really need my help.

I map out a few landing places, but this far into the mountains, I won’t have the luxury of choice. It’s a risky rescue trip because there are too many unknown variables with the wind patterns today, and who knows what kept the couple from reaching their return point.

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