Page 87 of Come Fly with Me

“So what are you saying?”

“I’m saying give him a chance to explain himself and if you still think he’s a total dick, kick him to the curb. We all know that you don’t need him, but to want someone is different.”

“And unfortunately, I want him,” I admit, rolling my eyes as I let my guard down, swallowing hard at what to me feels like desperation.

“That doesn’t make you weak. It makes you human and strong women make men better people. Trust me, I know.”

Dean’s smile grows and I know he’s thinking about Kaitlin and how his life has changed since meeting her.

“I’ll tell you what, I’ll give Jake a chance to explain if you agree to help me with something.” I narrow my eyes at him, testing to see if he’s really serious about what he’s just said. If his words hold weight, if he really believes that strong women make men better people, then he’ll be all in.

“Happy to help. A friend is never an imposition,” he says, smiling as if I’m missing out on an inside joke.

Thirty

Jake

“Hey, Jake, right?”

I nod. “Yeah, Captain Reece Cook?”

The guy, who can’t be more than five years older than me, smiles. “That’s me. Nice to meet you. I think we’re flying to Miami and Puerto Rico together.”

“Cool,” I reply, glad that I’m flying with someone decent for a change.

After we run through all the pre-flight checklists, Reece gets us airborne before switching on the autopilot and pushing back in his seat.

“So, how are you liking flying at Crescent?” he asks. “You’re relatively new, right?”

I shrug. “Sort of. I flew reserve for a bit. Got a permanent gig a couple of months ago.”

Reece nods but says nothing more, the two of us sitting silently in the cockpit as the lights of L.A. fade into the distance behind us, the memory of what I overheard in the airline lounge still rolling around inside my head. Taunting me with the possibility that it might be true or whether it’s just her ex-husband being the prick we both know he is.

Eventually, I can’t hold it in any longer. “Can I ask you something?”

Reece glances over. “Sure, what is it?”

“You’ve done your evaluation for the year, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And it was good?”

“Uh huh,” Reece replies, a confused look on his face as I imagine he wonders where this conversation might be going.

I take a deep breath, knowing it could go one of two ways; the direction I need it to go or right up shit creek. “So, you’re getting the full salary bonus this year?”

Reece nods. “Yeah, why? Has something happened with yours?”

I shake my head, knowing that’s not what I’m worried about. “No, but have you heard about Taylor Patterson?” I ask, as my stomach now ties itself into a million knots.

Reece smiles. “I’ve heard she’s a kickass lady and one hell of a pilot, yeah.”

I nod, partly in agreement and partly because I’m relieved he thinks this about her. “So what if I told you she wasn’t getting as much of a defined contribution as you, despite her excellent evaluation?”

Reece stares at me for a few seconds, as if he isn’t quite sure what I’m telling him. “You sure?” he eventually asks.

I shake my head. “No, not really,” I admit. “But I overheard some of the other pilots talking in the lounge,” I continue, realizing how ridiculously like high school this sounds. “They were saying that she wasn’t getting anything, but all of them were. I was wondering if it was because of…well, because…” I trail off, unsure how to finish the sentence.

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