Page 2 of Life To My Flight

She flew across the grass, then the gravel, with startlingly graceful maneuvering.

“Nonnie, slow down!” The woman chided.

The younger woman finally caught up to her ‘Nonnie’ and hugged her tightly. “Nonnie, that’s not Papa.”

Nonnie looked crestfallen. “But...but...but where’s my Ollie?”

My guess was that the woman had Alzheimer’s.

“I’m so sorry, sir, my Nonnie doesn’t understand.” The woman finally gave me her eyes.

She was beautiful.

Short brown hair that came to her jaw with the front bangs tucked back behind her ear, she reminded me of one of my little sisters. She wasn’t overtly tall or beautiful, but she was intriguing.

Her black tights and brown suede boots hugged her long, shapely legs.

Her top half was swallowed by a long, flowy shirt that came down to her knees, and barely showed off anything good.

“That’s okay, it isn’t a big deal,” I finally said.

The woman smiled.

“That’s good. Nonnie doesn’t mean to kick up a fuss. Do you?” The woman looked at her Nonnie.

Nonnie looked up. “Rue, what are we doing here?”

The woman, Rue, looked extremely relieved. “Oh, Nonnie. You wanted to see Papa’s grave. Now we’re going to go back home so I can get to work on time tonight. Right?”

“Right dear,” Nonnie said, patting the younger woman’s hand. “Let’s go. I made you late enough.”

The woman gave me a fleeting smile as they walked away, and I was well and truly caught.

***

Rue

1 year later

“I’m not that man,” Cleo said to me, his hand on my face. “I’ll never be that man. I’m sorry, baby.”

Cleo was my best friend. My confidant. The person who I turned to when I needed it.

In all ways but one.

He didn’t do relationships.

I knew he loved me, and I loved him.

However, something held him back. Something always held on to that last tie. That one single piece of him that kept him from taking that final step.

He said it was the fact that he was never here.

I knew better.

It didn’t have anything to do with the fact that he was a PJ, or pararescue jumper, and everything to do with the fact that he lost his father at a young age, and then his mother at a time when he needed her most.

He was jaded to love.

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