Huh. Maybethat’swhat had motivated her to ask about the future. It also might explain…
Nope.He wasn’t going to think about his previous liaison. Thatwoman was water under the bridge.
Or was she?
Dammit.If it hadn’t been for that one bad relationship, would Trask have been so strict about the boundaries he’d drawn for Jett? Was he painting her with a brush that had been discolored by a single, unstable person?
This was a hell of a time to start doubting himself, when?—
“Let’s roll her out.” Jett called his attention back to the task at hand.
She’d opened up the shed doors and cleared the way to pull the Cessna onto the hard-packed snow.
Trask and his brothers helped her wheel it out before the landbound pair wished them luck and sped off.
Somehow, they all felt the need for expedience.
Trask watched as Jett methodically did her pre-flight check, then before she was finished, he got into the back of the plane and began pulling on his parachuting gear, checking everything over, twice.
They both finished at the same time, then Jett got in and cranked the engine over, doing a fast run-up before determining that the craft was ready to take to the skies.
“Clear,” Jett yelled out her side-window, then taxied to the runway.
Thank God his father had kept the expanse plowed, although after the two big storms they’d had—one on top of the other—the weather had since been sunny and windy, so most of the residual top-cover of snow had either melted off or blown away.
Trask strapped in.
Positioning her plane at the end of the field, Jett revved her engines and set off, making a smooth ascent while at the same time checking her coordinates and heading north.
“You all set back there?” she asked, using the device Mason had lent them that Trask had handed over to her, instead of the clunky, antiquated headset that was original equipment to the Cessna.
The earpieces had been a good call.
“I am,” Trask confirmed. “All suited up and ready to go.”
“I hope that Richard just forgot to keep his phone charged, or something,” Jett continued. “His wife really loves him a lot, and she’ll be heartbroken if anything happens to him.”
“I agree,” Trask responded, and thought about that for a moment.
The couple was clearly still in love after how many years together? At least forty, for sure. Of course, Trask’s parents and grandparents were the same. Which proved that a long-lasting relationship didn’t have to be a compromise, because every one of them were happily settled.
So why is it that Trask had turned Jett away before he could figure out whether or not she might be the one to put up with him for the long run? Easy answer; he’d immediately questioned whether she had unpolluted motives for being with him.
Because he’d been burnt before. Badly.
But now he was questioning himself. Didn’t he owe it to both of them to give things another try? Give Jett the benefit of the doubt until she proved she couldn’t be trusted?
“What kind of relationship are you looking for, Jett?” Trask asked, the question slipping from his mouth, inadvertently, before his smarts caught up. He immediately wanted to smack himself in the head.
“Wha…? Are you kidding me, Trask? You’re asking about relationships, now?” she snapped. “We’re going to have this conversation in the air, on our way to God knows what, when I practically begged you to be open with me a few weeks ago?”
“I… I’ve, uh, had time to think about things. And I’m kind of deciding that I didn’t treat you quite fairly,” he admitted.
“Understatement,” she chuffed.
“Yeah, well?” Trask prodded, not willing to let things go now that he’d opened up the line of conversation.
“Fine,” she relented. “I’ll tell you what kind of partner I’m looking for.Ifyou’ll be honest and tell me why you’re so terrified of making a commitment,” she offered evenly.
