“I, um… Thank you for saving me yesterday. Obviously I wouldn’t have survived without you being there.”
The hard edge of his jaw became less clenched. “You’re welcome. It’s not every day I can save a pretty lady.”
“You still have a mean throw with that lasso.”
He finally laughed. “At least I learned a few tricks.”
“Axe. Get your ass in gear!” someone yelled. Men and a few women were running everywhere, around a huge cargo plane with its engine running.
Axe sighed, rubbing his hands on his jeans, squinting as he glanced toward my brother again. “I gotta go, but I’m sure we’ll run into each other while you’re in town. Maybe let me know when you’re ready to head out back to Billings.”
The moment was extremely awkward, so much so when I stuck out my hand for a shake, he laughed but accepted the gesture. This was it. There was a chance I wouldn’t see him again. “Right. Sure. Small town. Maybe I’ll stop by Kimberly’s bakery. You take care of yourself. Okay?”
“I’ll do what I can. Good luck on getting another Bertha. I know a guy who owns a used car lot.”
“Axe!”
I glared at the man screaming his name. As silly as it would sound to someone else, the ache from the thought of never seeing him again was even worse than before.
He backed away and I immediately felt a series of pangs in my stomach. When he suddenly took long strides toward me, butterflies replaced the pain, a tickle of the same electricity I’d experienced shifting through my system. For a minute, I thought he was going to take me into his arms. Just like in a romance novel or in the movies.
When he pulled something from his pocket, I resisted making a single sound. “Take this. I meant to give this to you earlier. I just switched phones and this one is still working until I find the time to cancel the service.”
I glanced at the phone in his hand, hating the disappointment. “I don’t want to take your phone.”
“It’s fine, Palomino Girl. I have a T-Mobile thing that shares several devices. Hopefully you have Apple care and can get a new phone. If not, you can try putting it in a bag of rice to dry it out. That’s worked for me before. At least you can call your friends in the meantime.”
“Axe!” someone else yelled, the irritation in his voice grating.
“Okay. Thank you. I’ll get it back to you.”
“Whenever,” he said, shrugging.
“What’s the passcode?”
“I’ll let you figure that out. If you know me at all, it’ll be easy.”
He wasn’t kidding. He was testing my knowledge of him. “That’s not fair.”
“Whoever said life was fair was a fool. You can do it. I’ll give you one hint. Six letters.”
Now he was being the mischievous guy?
He walked backwards, wearing a slight grin, the light breeze tousling his hair. Even as his eyes searched mine.
There were a half dozen things I needed to say to him, but nothing came to mind. Maybe the right words weren’t available. As before, he’d never listen to me anyway. He was that stubborn.
“And you’re not terrible at all,” I whispered, knowing he couldn’t hear me.
When one of his buddies tapped him on the shoulder, he finally turned around and I was at a sudden, strange loss.
I pulled my purse and the lump of damp clothes closer, continuing to watch him as he headed for the door of the base. Maybe we would run into each other again.
A girl could hope.
This was terrible. Tears formed in my eyes. I refused to cry. We’d both decided this was best. Why? I had no freaking idea.
Unable to walk away so soon, I studied the phone. It was beaten up, scarred, and the screen was cracked, but it was very much him. A passcode. Six letters.
