Page 33 of Come Fly with Me

“Some,” she replies. “Always hard when it feels like the middle of the day. Do you need to get some rest?”

I shrug. “I’m okay for now. Might just grab a Coke, and I’ll come back.”

I head out to the galley just near the cockpit to grab my drink. The two flight attendants from breakfast this morning are both there, gossiping as they flick through some magazines. They look up as I walk into the small space.

“Hunter, hi,” the attendant who was sitting next to me and whose name badge says Ali says to me.

“Ladies,” I nod, as I rummage through one of the trolleys.

“I can get it for you,” she continues, jumping up from her seat. Her hand slides onto my hip as she pretends to push me aside, her fingers latching onto my pocket as I take a big step away from her.

“Thanks,” I say, taking the Coke she hands me and turning to walk away.

“Hunter,” she says, fingers curling around my arm. “About this morning, we…”

I hold up a hand, cutting her off, even though I don’t turn around. “It’s done,” I tell them. “And if you don’t mind, my name is Jake,” I add, before walking off, not bothering to wait for a response.

I hang out in the cockpit with Taylor for another hour before eventually heading out to get some rest. By the time I come back, the rest of our flight time is filled with pre-landing checklists and other stuff, and we don’t talk much.

When we’re finally back on the ground at LAX, I run through the usual welcome home or enjoy your visit spiel that I always give, before we go through our final checklist and hand over to the engineers.

Both of us skip the goodbye to the passengers as they disembark the plane, apparently neither of us wanting to do it today.

When I finally unclip my seatbelt and push back my chair, a heavy weight has settled in my stomach.

“Okay,” Taylor says, pushing back her own chair and standing. “I guess we’re done. Thank you,” she says, not looking at me as she grabs her jacket and cap.

“Taylor,” I say, reaching for her arm. I wait until she looks up at me, her eyes meeting mine and filled with sadness. I smile at her, holding out my other hand, palm up.

Her eyes flick to it. “What?” she asks, confused as she looks back up at me.

“Give me your phone,” I say quietly.

Her eyes widen, but she doesn’t say anything as she reaches into her pocket and pulls out an iPhone. I watch as she types in her password, unlocking the screen before handing it to me.

I take it from her, opening up the contacts tab where I enter my phone number. Before I give it back to her, I send myself a quick text, so I also have her number.

“If you ever want to talk or hang out,” I say, handing her phone back. “This doesn’t have to stop just because we’re back here.”

She swallows hard, her bottom lip pulled between her teeth again and sending a spike of lust right through me as I picture leaning in and kissing that mouth, sucking that bottom lip of hers between my own teeth.

Smiling, I lean over and pull it from her teeth instead, not missing the way her breath catches when I do. “Come on,” I say. “Let’s go.”

Eleven

Taylor

I usually sleep like a rock my first night home, but I’ve been tossing and turning and when I look over at the clock, it’s one a.m.

I’d like to blame it on jetlag, but I know it’s far more than that, my body unable to settle itself, this strange feeling of loneliness knotting in the pit of my stomach. Being a pilot is a lonely life, something I’ve grown used to, and honestly, something I’ve grown to enjoy.

Solitude.

It’s almost like this feeling is telling me I need to be by myself, that I need to take some time to reflect on what letting Jake into my life means. In the past, I surrounded myself with the wrong people who just grew to disappoint me, but I made a promise to myself that being alone felt better than disappointment.

So far, Jake has been far from a disappointment, which makes me question everything I’m feeling. It can’t be real and trusting him fully means that I give up that part of me I’ve guarded for so long. I’ve given up trying to find people who understand me and learned to love the fact that I understand myself now.

I wake up feeling a little groggy but somewhat rested. It’s not as early as I thought as I roll over and check my phone. Not being one to sleep in, I scramble from the bed, knowing I have things to do and places to be since I’m only off for the next two days.

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