“Oh, that’s not true,” she said shaking her head. Quinn raised his brows at her. “Oh, I didn’t mean that. I meant that girls were sneaking out all the time to go to the boys academy a few miles away. I didn’t dare. I loved and respected my grandfather very much. I suppose I also feared he would go away and leave me. No. I was the proverbial ‘good girl’. Good grades, good conduct, good attitude, just good. Later, I went to the University of Virginia and got my degree in international studies.”
“To be a flight attendant?” asked Quinn.
“No. My intentions were to always work in the government, hopefully close to my grandfather. I didn’t want him to help me though. I wanted to do it on my own. I was naïve. It was much harder to get in than I expected. When the opportunity to become a flight attendant became available, I took it.
“At first I was based in Virginia. Then, they said they needed me to take longer routes. I thought it was good for me, for my career. Now, I’m not so sure. I hated leaving my grandfather. When he died, I kept thinking if I had been there it would have been better. He would have been better.”
“You can’t think like that,” said Quinn still holding her close. “He wouldn’t want you to think like that. He must have been an older man by that time.”
“He was but it doesn’t make it any easier. Forty-eight or eighty-eight, they’re still your grandparents.”
“I’m lucky that I have my grandparents and great-grandparents still alive,” said Quinn.
“Wow, that is lucky,” she nodded.
Quinn could feel her relax against him and he gently rubbed his rough thumb along her shoulder. She was thin but he could feel muscle beneath his fingertips as well. Everything about her was small. Everything, he thought, except what he was clearly seeing right now from this vantage point.
Without a bra, the cardigan slightly open, he saw straight down the top of the summer dress and her very large, very full breasts. She didn’t weigh a hundred and ten pounds and by the look of it, her breasts were twenty of those pounds.
Realizing how creepy it was, he gently pulled the cardigan over her chest and looked away. It did nothing to cool the thoughts in his head.
“What’s going to happen to me, Quinn? What am I going to do? I don’t know what that guy wanted and I have no clue why someone would kill Jerry. I’m terrified. What am I going to do?”
Before Quinn could respond, Major stepped out onto the patio.
“I hate to break this up but what we’re going to do is get the hell out of here,” said Major. “We’re going home. All of us.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
April stared at the interior of the jet as she stepped on board. Nothing was familiar. Nothing.
Usually when stepping onboard a flight, she could find whatever she needed on any jet or small plane. She was trained to find her way in a hurry. Most weren’t that dissimilar. But this jet, this was like something out of a futuristic movie but with added luxury and decadence.
“Let’s get seated,” said Margo. “I’m sure Evie will let you go up to the cockpit later if you like.”
“I’d like that very much,” smiled April. “Margo? Thank you for being so kind to me and for raising such amazing sons. Especially Quinn.”
“He is special, isn’t he?” she smiled. “Of course, I think all my boys are special but then again, I’m their mom. With River and Priscilla just getting married, we’re realizing how fast the boys have grown into men.”
“Are you sad by that?” she asked.
“Not sad. Nostalgic maybe. I’m so incredibly proud of them and what they’ve chosen to do with their lives, and so far, who they’ve chosen to spend those lives with.
“But as they get older you see them do or say things and it reminds you of something they did as boys. Only now it’s from a giant-sized package.” The women laughed as April took her seat and Margo moved down the row to sit with Patrick.
“Can I take this seat?” smiled Quinn. April smiled up at him, nodding.
“I’d like that. Thank you again, Quinn, for everything. Not just the rescue on the beach but the comforting me in the backyard and listening to me. All of it. I don’t know what’s happening here or what will happen going forward but I’m glad you were there when I needed you.”
“I’m glad too,” he nodded. “I’m happy to be there whenever you need me.” She smiled at him and cocked her head.
“If you’re flirting with me, and I think you are, Pensacola is a long way from where you live. I think. Where do you live?”
“Louisiana,” he smiled. “And yes, I’m flirting with you although that seems a bit juvenile. In my own awkward way, I guess I’m declaring my sincere interest. And Louisiana is not so far from Pensacola.”
“Oh. Well, then maybe we’re not so far apart after all.”
“Or, maybe you could come and work with us,” he said casually.
