“Dave, this is my son Tanner. Tanner, this is my nice neighbour Dave. He’s been so kind to help me around the house and I’m ever so grateful!” She patted Dave on the arm and gave him another brilliant smile.
Tanner kind of wanted to slug the old guy.
“Tanner, it’s great to finally meet you. I’ve heard so much about you,” he said, extending his hand toward him. Dave seemed like a genuinely nice guy, but Tanner still wanted to take a swing at him. Just for the hell of it.
“Pleasure,” he said, lying through his teeth as he shook his hand.
Tanner suddenly realized that Lance was still patiently waiting for his introduction.
“Right—sorry,” he said as he gestured towards Lance. “Mom, this is Lance Kingsley, a good friend of mine. Lance, this is my mother, Louise. Lance’s been—uh—helping me figure shit out,” Tanner said, rubbing at the back of his neck as he struggled to find a way to explain who Lance was to him.
“Language,” Louise said, out of habit, but she was smiling as she turned to Lance.
“Ma’am,” Lance said with a smile. Setting Lucy down, he picked up the bouquet of spring flowers and the fruit pie from the hall table and offered them to her. “My apologies for arriving unannounced. It’s wonderful to meet you.”
It was such a turn on for Tanner to see his man’s refined charm and old-fashioned manners in action. He could feel his dick twitch in response to that high wattage smile, too. Which—fuck—it was definitelynotthe time to be getting a boner!
“Oh, my goodness! That’s so very thoughtful of you. Apple pie is my absolute favourite!” she exclaimed, looking up at Lance with a twinkle of maternal pride and affection.
“It’s not homemade, but it’s an American classic. It’s always been a winner at my house, at least,” he said with a shrug.
“Well, aren’t you precious! Thank you very much! I’m glad to know Tanner has a friend like you around.” When she turned to look at Tanner, her eyes were shining with warm approval, so there was no doubting her sincerity.
Thankfully, by the time everyone headed to the dinner table, the kids had declared a truce. Since it was best not to get them stirred up again, Clara and Lucy got their way in commandeering the chairs flanking Tanner and Lance. The dining room chairs were crammed closely together, which worked out well for Tanner and Lance, who were enjoying the hell out of being squished together so tightly they were almost sitting on top of each other. Perfect. Just like home, in fact.
“Well, it’s not really that big of a project—” Dave said in response to Mark’s inquiry about the time and trouble involved in repairing and reinstalling the curtain rod. But Dave was claiming it would be no trouble at all since he enjoyed these kinds of projects.
“You seem quite handy,” Tanner remarked, sounding somewhat accusatory. “What did you do for work before you retired, Dave?”
Lance elbowed him sharply over his tone of voice. Tanner winced and elbowed him right back.
Dave didn’t seem to notice Tanner’s less than friendly tone and smiled warmly at him.
“I was an engineer first, and then later became an airplane pilot. I’ve invested over the years in several different industries. Aviation, mostly, and some car manufacturing. I used to be involved in a business that built engines, but I sold my shares in that when my wife fell ill several years ago.”
“Wow—quite the career,” Mark said admiringly. “Tanner used to be a pilot,” he added, like they were playing a game of spot the similitudes.
Hearing the word “pilot” caused a sudden jolt of adrenaline to hit him squarely in the chest. His throat tightened painfully, as he fought to control his rising panic. It was still light outside, and his mother’s house was warm and cozy. The corpse of what had once existed had no business lingering here. He wouldn’t allow the past to haunt him, not now. Please not now.
He took a deep, calming breath.
“Were you?” Dave asked with marked interest. “What did you fly?”
“Helicopters,” he heard himself say, as if from a great distance. “A Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk, usually. But I’ve flown the CH-47 Chinook and AS332 Super Puma as well.”
Dave gave a low whistle, in awe of Tanner’s skillset. Tanner tried to focus on the feeling of his fingers rubbing against the tablecloth, grounding himself firmly in the present so he wouldn’t get bucked off into the past. It was a tough battle, but one he was desperate to win.
“Those particular models are truly impressive in both firefighting and utility operations. I was never a big fan of helicopters. Too much of a coward, I think. One of my buddies was military and he told me all about how his CH-47 Chinook went down one time,” he shivered and shook his head. “You boys are made of tough stuff—” He clearly meant it as a compliment,but Tanner felt his stomach lurch, recalling the paralyzing fear and pain of his own helo crash. He balled his hands into fists and forced himself to breathe through it. He looked up at Dave and nodded, trying to focus on his face and anchor himself to the reality of being here at his mother’s dinner table. It wasn’t that simple though. He could feel the memories pulling him in, like the edges of his vision were haunted by all-too familiar and jarring scenes. He was afraid to even blink—afraid he’d let the memories crawl back in if he looked away from Dave’s face, even for a split second.
“You still flying?” Dave’s voice was just so much static. He was losing ground quickly, as all those terrifying memories swirled and coalesced.
It was so fucking dark out. Not a single fucking star and wasn’t that just his luck. Rescue operations in the dark were always a shitshow, but when the sky wanted to fuck with him on top of it—
“Tanner,” Lance called his name softly, insistently, as his warm hand squeezed his thigh gently, pulling him back. He blinked against the memory of that night long ago as he met Lance’s concerned gaze, surprised by how quickly Lance had figured out what was going on.
He turned back to Dave, clearing his throat and shaking his head.
“Sorry about that,” he apologized as a blush spread across his cheeks.
