Page 50 of Love at First Flight

“I think this will be more of a live interview thing, not something pre-taped. They said something about satelliting us in for some studio segment. It’ll probably make your mom excited, since it’ll be both of us. And it’ll be easier, since they won’t have to manufacture or create any leaps in our story since we’re really together now.”

“Ha, but not really.” Selah peeled some of the tinfoil from her burrito.

“Funny,” he replied.

“But seriously,” she said.

He stopped eating as he stared at her, getting that horrible sinking feeling again, the same one he got when he realized he’d been wrong about Ava and her feelings for him.

Selah glanced at him and stopped too.

He swallowed whatever food he had in his mouth, but it was hard to push down. “Are we... not together? Is this a friends-with-benefits thing or something?” The status of being undeclared was bad enough. This, though, was sending hairline cracks across his heart. How could he have misread the situation this badly again?

Selah pulled her legs to her side of the sofa and sat up. “Dex, I... No, that didn’t even cross my mind. I really do care for you. And getting to know you these last few months has been really great... the best, even.”

While her words were nice, they weren’t reassuring and, most importantly, they weren’t some declaration of love, which was what he wanted. He was back on the edge again, wondering where he’d made a wrong turn. “But...” he prompted, expecting the other shoe to drop as soon as she opened her mouth.

“There is no ‘but,’ except that I know what I am. I’ve been here before. I know how this all works out.”

Dex’s brows pressed together in total confusion. “And what exactly are you?”

It was her turn to act perplexed. “Really? Let’s be honest. I’m just your rebound. Not that I think there’s anything wrong with that, but I’m not kidding myself that it’s anything different.”

He stared at her flatly. “You cannot be serious?” For one thing, he’d never seen her as “just” anything. He’d considered all that rebound talk from before as a joke, not something anyone would take as truth. “That’s not a real thing, and I can’t believe you would actually think that.”

She threw him a dirty look. “Oh, okay, so my experience was totally my imagination, then.”

“What experience?” If he was going to get thrown under this ridiculous umbrella, Dex needed to know what he was working against.

“I really don’t want to talk about it.”

“Come on, Selah. You know that isn’t fair.”

“Fine. While I was in flight school, there was a guy. He and his wife had recently divorced. We had a thing for a couple months. Then he dropped me and got together with the woman who became his next wife. I was just there to help him get his bearings until he found what he really wanted. See? There’s not much to tell, but that’s what happened. Happy?”

“Why would that make me happy?” If anything, it was worse, because the whole thing couldn’t be boiled down to some silly joke. “Maybe that guy was just an asshole.”

“Okay, well, news flash, Dex, most guys are assholes. That last date I went on, the one at the brewery, was more of the norm rather than the exception. This is why I don’t like dating and try to avoid it as much as possible. And if we were together, why is it that we haven’t done anything that most people would see as a date? I’ll tell you why. It’s because this thing between us isn’t a real relationship, it’s a rebound.”

How could she be so calm, so matter-of-fact? Dex was to the point he wanted to rip his hair out. Hadhescrewed up? Should he have been winning her over by taking her on dates? Was she right? How had they skipped a step and moved straight into comfortable familiarity—something he loved. But maybe she’d been pissed about it the whole time.

“Okay, so this is all because I need to send you flowers and take you out to restaurants or something—”

“I don’t care about any of that stuff. I just want to point out that six months or so ago, you were ready to marry someone else. You need time to work all that out. I get it. I’m just a placeholder, someone to lean against while you get your footing again. I’m a rock. It’s what I do. I knew what I was getting into and I did it because I like you. Besides, I’m not sticking around, anyway, so there’s no point getting into anything complicated.”

He felt like he was losing his mind. “So, this is a pity thing?”

She dropped her head back in exasperation. “Oh my God. No. I don’t pity you. But how would this even work? I don’t know where I’m going to end up... probably in some busy city hub. I need to be at some place where I can continue with the training I need, and you’re going to be here.”

“Couldn’t you work at the Redmond airport?”

“Oh, you mean the smallest airport in the world?”

“Or I could move with you?”

“What if I end up going to some place like Chicago? You’re probably going to be miserable. You know you love it here.”

“Or I can Google to see what park jobs are available in the area. If being a captain is important to you, then it’s important to me. It sounds like you’re not even giving me a shot here. You don’t even know when or what’s going to happen, but—I want to go on that journey with you.”

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