Page 36 of Come Fly with Me

The girls all cheer as they jump up and down, clapping their hands. Their excitement is infectious, and I can’t stop my own smile as I remember back to what it was like learning to fly. The rush you get every time the plane lifts off, which is always mixed with that tiny bit of fear that it isn’t going to make it.

Then, before I can ask how this will all play out, the girls move into formation and start a complicated round of rock-paper-scissors with each other.

I glance up at Taylor, who only smiles as she shrugs and says, “This is how they decide.”

I chuckle until I’m assigned three girls, with Sofia, the one who schooled me on boy bands earlier, being my first co-pilot.

“Alright, ready to rock and roll?” I ask her as we reach the end of the runway.

She looks up at me, a serious look on her face as she nods once and says, “Punch it.”

I have to stifle the laugh as I power up the throttle and get us rolling. It’s a short runway, but that’s all that’s needed in these tiny planes. Taylor had given me the rundown on where we were at in training, and so far, these girls were only doing level altitude stuff, with me responsible for takeoff and landing.

When we finally level out at ten thousand feet, I turn to my co-pilot and ask, “You ready to take the reins?”

Sofia nods once and even though I will still have full control of the aircraft, when her hands grab the yoke and she squares herself in her seat, I release my hands and make a point of resting them in my lap so she knows she is the one flying the plane right now.

And I have to hand it to her and to Taylor’s training style because this kid is nothing but professional. There’s no unnecessary chatting, no fucking about, she is on point with her technique and her radio calls.

After about twenty minutes, I move my hands back to my yoke as I make the call to air traffic control, asking for permission to land. Sofia hands back the plane to me before settling back in her seat again.

“So you wanna fly commercial planes someday?” I ask as I make a turn and head back toward the airport. “Like Taylor?”

“Nope,” she says, shaking her head. “I’m gonna be a fighter pilot.”

I grin. “I used to be a fighter pilot,” I tell her.

“You did?” she asks, eyes wide as she sits up a little straighter. “Like in F-16s?”

I chuckle. “Yep, F-16s. Is that what you want to fly?”

Sofia nods enthusiastically. “Yes,” she replies. “It would be awesome!”

“You should go for it,” I tell her, smiling. “You’ll have to study hard in school and really like math and physics. But don’t let a bit of hard work put you off because I promise you, it will all be worth it the first time you go up in the air in one of those jets.”

I reduce the speed as we start our descent into the airport. From the corner of my eye, I see Sofia monitoring the dials and checking the horizon for anything unusual. She’s amazingly observant and well-trained, and I’ve got to hand it to Taylor for the fantastic job she’s obviously doing here.

When we finally touch down and reach the end of the runway, I let Sofia steer us back to the hangar for the next girl’s turn. When she finally shuts off the engine, she pulls off her headphones and turns to me.

“Is Taylor your boss at work?”

I nod. “She is.”

She furrows her brow as though she’s deep in thought. “And you’re okay with that?”

I glance over to where Taylor is waiting in her plane to switch out her co-pilots. She looks up and meets my gaze, and I grin and give her a thumbs up. “Yep, of course I am,” I tell her. “Your gender makes no difference to whether you can do your job. Why do you ask?”

Sofia shrugs. “Some boys don’t like it,” she says, a trace of sadness in her voice.

I turn in my seat to face her, a hand on her shoulder as I say, “Sofia, let me tell you something important. And I want you to remember this, okay?” She nods at me, and I continue. “No boy who questions whether a woman should be in charge or can do their job is ever worth a second of your time.” Sofia stares up at me, her eyes wide as she takes in my words. “And if a boy ever gives you shit about it or ever makes you think or feel that you’re not good enough to be in charge, you know what you should do?”

Sofia grins now, and I’m not sure if it’s because I dropped a swear word or because of what she’s about to say.

“Kick him in the nuts and walk away?”

I burst out laughing, throwing my head back at the thought of this tiny little spitfire doing exactly that. “Yep,” I say. “That sounds like the perfect response.”

Taylor and I spend the next couple of hours taking each girl up in the air. All of them are just the right mix of excited and professional, well-prepared and nervous enough that they take what they’re doing very seriously.

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