No.Now was not the time to think about that asshole Dustin, and how he’d been coming on to Jett while she had more important things to do. If the man continued to flirt with Jett, Trask would make sure he knew that Jett was off limits.
That thought gave Trask pause for moment, but he put it on the back-burner while attending to more immediate concerns.
“That leaves me and Buck to drive,” Spencer put in, getting Trask’s brain back on track as they worked up a plan.
They swiftly decided that Jett would do a flyover, and if things looked good, and she and Trask got a visual on Richard, they’d contact Spence and Buck, who would snowshoe in and drag the recalcitrant gent home to his worried wife.
If they couldn’t get eyes on the man, Trask would parachute in and begin his assessment of the situation while Jett flew home. Spence and Buck would then, eventually, meet up with Trask, and they’d give Richard whatever aid he needed before they all drove back.
“It would be so much easier if I’d done that damned retrofit,” Jett whined.
Trask understood her frustration, but it was too late for regrets. Jett had, for the last few weeks, been berating herself for not swapping the Cessna’s pontoons out for skis; something that would have allowed her to land on the lake.
“Don’t beat yourself up, Jett,” Spence comforted, and they all nodded. “You can’t plan for every contingency.”
She had to be satisfied with that, but Trask could tell it still bugged the hell out of her.
During a lull in decision making, Trask put in a call to Mason, asking to borrow four, ear-fitted comm units so they wouldn’t have to rely on cell phones. Even though Eloise had said there was cell coverage at the lake, they weren’t taking any chances.
Mason assured Trask that anything he needed would be his, and that he’d meet their team at the hanger/shed on their parent’s property, giving them the devices they needed before Spence and Buck took to the road.
Jett would need a bit longer at the shed to flight-check her plane, but Trask estimated they’d be in the air no more thanten minutes after his brothers departed, which would get him and Jett to Richard’s parking spot a healthy hour and a half before his brothers could even commence to snow shoe the five remaining miles.
Trask hoped what he and Jett found wouldn’t be an emergency, because that would be a fucking long time to wait for back-up.
Jett and Trask got into his truck, while Spence and Buck took Buck’s mom-van. The drive to the Sothard mill was only ten minutes, which was a godsend. If Jett had still been keeping her Cessna at Bar Harbor, like she had originally, it would have taken much too long, getting in the air.
Small talk was at a minimum as he and Jett headed to his parents’ property, but Trask didn’t mind the quiet interlude. He enjoyed watching Jett’s mental wheels turning as she gradually morphed from happy-go-lucky civilian, to hardened pilot.
He really liked that she had the wherewithal to do that, and he was constantly intrigued by the dichotomy she presented; a term he hadn’t appreciated before. Not for the first time he wondered how both personas could live within her, simultaneously, and which one it was that had him so…attracted.
He inwardly scoffed.
Was it so hard to admit that he was attracted to—and turned on by—both her incarnations these days? Because he was. And he missed being close to her; constant witness to her ever-changing dispositions.
Perhaps he’d been too harsh, shutting her down when all she’d wanted was to know where she stood with him. Maybe if he explained, and convinced her that the unfettered fun they’d been enjoying didn’t necessarily have to end… When this trip was all over and they were back on home territory, perhaps they could get back together.
Trask missed her. He missed the playfulness they’d had in bed, sure, but he had to admit he also missed her chatter, her spontaneous joy, and the way he actually felt…lighter when she was lying next to him.
Why couldn’t she see that he’d been happy with her presence without her shaking things up? Why did it always have to be, more, more, more, from a partner?
Status quo wasn’t always bad, was it?
Trask drove around the mill buildings to the rear of the property.
Spence and Buck were right behind him, and Mason was already waiting outside the building where Jett kept her plane.
They all got out, and Jett went directly into the shed. Mason handed two comm devices to him, then one each to Spence, and Buck before wishing them luck. He’d assured them that he’d have SWAT on standby if they needed any backup, then said his goodbyes so he could go have an early lunch with Everlee.
Yup.Mason left with an air of happiness that seemed pervasive these days amongst the Sothard men, especially when they were headed to see their wives.
His brothers were all so…settled. At least the ones who were out of the service. And now that Trask had been around them and their true loves for a few months, he was beginning to understand what a fully committed relationship looked like.
He’d also grasped, by observing them carefully, that there were women out there who could be very worthy, full-time partners. And not to ignore another elephant in the room, there were also child-bearing timetables to take into consideration; which his brothers were currently acing, with one baby already born, and three more on the way. That fact hadn’t escaped Trask, even though such constraints, as a male, never touched him.
Until now, because…
If Jett was thinking of becoming a mom, at thirty-eight she probably shouldn’t be wasting any time. Which made Trask actually think for a moment.
