Page 3 of Jolene's Justice

“Oh. Is it new?” She looked around the cockpit. The four seats, two in front, two in back, were covered in a soft, buttery tan leather. The carpets on the floor were identical in color, the texture soft and plush and appeared brand new. The tan interior was punctuated by the bright, illuminated instrument panel. All the switches, dials, display screens, and other doohickeys she didn’t know the names of gleamed as if new. She could detect a subtle yet distinctive new-car smell lingering in the air.

“I restored it. I had a lot of extra time on my hands over the last year.”

“Oh.” It was all she could manage to say. While she’d thrown herself into her bar, he’d apparently thrown himself into restoring a helicopter. To each their own.

Jolene’s voice stammered as she searched for the right words to express her thoughts, and they came out of her mouth in halting syllables. “Well, congratulations. It’s nice. I like the exterior color.” The inanity of the statements made her cringe, even if it was true. The helicopter was a stunning Nordic blue, reminiscent of Finch’s eyes in a certain light.

“Thank you. I’m glad you finally got to see it.” Jolene brushed off the dig and turned her attention to the patchwork of farmland below, visible through the window.

They’d connected through their shared friends, and their chemistry had been palpable. Once Natalie, Jolene’s best friend, had reunited with her high school crush, the men he worked with at his search and rescue training facility made Jolene’s bar their go-to spot for post-training and post-mission meetups. Finch was a regular with the group, as he was Nighthawk Search and Rescue’s pilot. He and the others were often heard talking about their latest mission at her bar.

But it was the times when he came in alone and the room filled with the warmth of his presence that she had truly enjoyed. They’d been on the brink of something special. Until she’d discovered the truth, and everything she’d thought she knew imploded.

“Did it need a lot of work?” she asked, attempting to ignore the knot in her stomach. She could do this. She was capable of having a straightforward conversation with him. They had been friends first. If she pushed the hurt deep down inside, she could go back to being his friend.Right?

“Not too long. Somewhere around eight months.”

“Well, it’s beautiful.” She didn’t know much about helicopters, but the construction of this one impressed her. She couldn’t help but be in awe of the gleaming metal and bright paint job. “Do you think you’ll use it for any of your Nighthawk missions?”

He shrugged. “Maybe. But probably more as a transport. Compared to the Twin Huey that Nighthawk uses, this isn’t a powerhouse in terms of its SAR capabilities.”

“That makes sense.” Jolene searched her mind for something more to say but came up blank. She settled in for a long trip.

They stopped once to refuel and were back in the air in no time at all. Her thoughts shifted to her father, worried about his condition. Her mind whirred with too many thoughts. Like what would happen when he was released. Would he need to go to a separate facility? Would he need special equipment or a home health care worker if he was sent home? What would happen to the pub? The issues at her own bar were piling up, and she couldn’t imagine having to tackle another one on top of it.

The rustling of plastic broke through her spiraling thoughts. Jolene glanced over to see Finch had opened a bag of gummy worms and was in the process of biting one in half.

“What are you? Five?” she teased.

Chapter 3

Finchfroze,agummyworm hanging from his fingers halfway to his mouth. He’d heard those words countless times, but this time, they were spoken in a different, unfamiliar tone. But all he could hear washerin his head.

“What are you? Five? You are such a child,” Angelica sneered. “Why do I put up with you eating that crap? Grow up and be a man, for fuck’s sake.”

“I like gummy worms. There’s nothing wrong with eating what you like.” He tried defending himself. Healwaystried to defend himself. Often to no avail. She never wanted to hear his opinion. Hers was the only one that mattered in their relationship.

“It’s wrong if I say it’s wrong,” she bit out, smacking the bag of snacks out of his hand. A burst of colors flew out of the bag as the worms shot across the floor. She huffed in exasperation at the mess. “Now look what you did.”

Typical Angelica. She never accepted the blame for anything. It was always his fault. Dinner went cold because she was texting a friend and hadn’t bothered to let him know it was ready . . . his fault for not coming to the table quick enough.

He bent to pick up the mess, but she wasn’t done with today’s tirade. “God, you are useless. Can you do anything right? You are always making such a mess for me to clean up.” He wanted to point out that he was the one cleaning up the mess but knew that would do no good. He was always the one to tackle the mess left behind after one of her outbursts. He worked steadily as she ranted and raved at him. Wearily, he slogged through the cleanup in silence while her voice rose and fell in a relentless stream of complaints. This time, at least, the waves of her anger were comparatively mild.

Jolene’s faraway voice roused him from his musings. He glanced at her and saw her studying him with a questioning, furrowed brow. He was so deep in his thoughts he hadn’t even registered that she had asked him something. “I’m sorry. What?” he asked, trying to push away the echoes of the memory that still lingered in his mind.

“Can I have one?” she repeated.

He stared at her in disbelief. “You want a gummy worm?”

“I’m partial to the bear variety of gummy, but in this case, I’ll settle for a worm.”

Jolene’s smile, one he hadn’t seen directed at him in a very long time, was a balm on his soul. He wanted to clutch his chest where he felt a pounding against his rib cage. It was like her smile had jumpstarted his heart. It had felt dead for so long that its revival was almost painful.

He shook off his asinine thoughts and held the bag out to her. She grabbed a red and yellow one and bit it perfectly in half until only the red end was left. “I don’t know why I always ate them like this. Guess I felt the need to separate the colors.”

He smiled at her musings. “I did the same thing.”

“Did you do it to two of them and try to stick the remaining ends together to make a new color combination?”

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