“Did you know Daniel has his pilot’s license?” Pop asked as I stared at the clock.
God bless him for trying to keep me distracted.
“Yep,” I replied.
“Good thing to have in the family,” he mused. “Maybe he’ll take me somewhere tropical.”
“Uncle Dalton also has his pilot’s license and a plane. Plus, you hate the beach.”
“I don’t hate swim-up bars,” he countered.
“You’re so full of shit.”
“Did I ever tell you that Dalton took me up one time and let me take over the controls?”
“No!” I raised my eyebrows. “How was it?”
“Felt like I was gonna shit myself,” he replied, widening his eyes.
“Well, at least you didn’t crash.”
“Pretty hard to crash at that altitude when I only had the controls for about a minute,” he replied ruefully. “But, damn. It was wild while it lasted.”
“Did Mom know you two were fucking around in Uncle Dalton’s plane?”
“Hell no,” he replied immediately. “She would’ve killed me.”
I laughed. She probably wouldn’t have killed him, but she would’ve berated him for it until the day she died. My mother had married a man whose job was one of the most dangerous in the world, but she still lost her mind if he didn’t wear a helmet or did anything else that had the slightest risk.
She always told me she didn’t worry about Pop when he was working because she knew his training would bring him through, but she was terrified that he would do something stupid when he was home and get himself killed.
“Do you think Mom would like Daniel?” I asked just as the phone rang.
Pop was out of his wheelchair with a quickness I hadn’t seen in literal years.
My heart gave a pitiful lurch as I stood and watched as he snatched it off the wall.
“Halle,” he said.
His face lost all emotion as he turned toward me.
“You’re in the safe room?”
“Boys are with you?”
“Let me talk to Grant.”
His hand gripped the edge of the counter so tightly his knuckles were white.
“Hey, bud,” he said, his voice just slightly gentler than he’d been with my aunt. “How many did you see?” He paused. “Right. You did the right thing.”
I moved toward him.
“You know the password?”
“Arm yourselves.”
“Yeah, you stay where you are. You don’t leave that room unless you hear the password. I’ll be there soon.”
