taking measurements, Alex sat at the kitchen table with her mom and wrote down the numbers he called out. “Mom?”
“Yes, honey?” Her mother sipped her sweet tea.
“I’m sorry I never appreciated all you and Dad did for me.” She covered her mom’s hand and squeezed.
“Aww, honey. You just had to go your own way. And mamas don’t like their babies going out into the big, bad world.” Marge covered Alex’s hand with her other one and squeezed back. “But you were always determined to see the world. And I’m proud of what you’ve accomplished.” She shrugged. “So, you don’t make pies and sew, but my goodness, honey.” Her eyes widened. “You serve your country. And fly those big ol’ jets!”
Alex laughed, stood and came around the table to hug her mom. “I love you.”
“I love you, too, Alexandria.”
“One of you want to stop the mushy stuff and write down these measurements?” her dad called from the hallway.
Alex grinned and grabbed the paper and pen and went to help her dad.
Mitch was right. She was lucky to have such a wonderful family, such a great childhood. Geez, she couldn’t imagine what his must have been like. That little blond-haired boy, sitting there while his mom… Alex shuddered. How many times had he gone to bed hungry? She wanted to travel back in time and grab up that child and feed him and protect him.
But Mitch was a grown man now. And she couldn’t do anything more for him.
“You all right, baby girl?” Her dad put his arm around her shoulder and brought her mind back to the present.
“I’m good, Dad.” She smiled at her parents and they exchanged a look between them.
“We could tell you were upset before the ceremony. And you kept glancing at Major McCabe,” her mom said.
“Didn’t you write us about a good friend named McCabe? You two didn’t even speak to each other today. Y’all have a falling-out?” her dad asked.
Alex tightened her jaw. She might as well tell them the truth. “I’m in love with him.”
Her mom’s eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. “Oh, honey.”
“But it’s just not going to work out.”
“Oh, dear.” Her mom stood and wrapped her in her arms. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart.”
Her dad patted her tentatively on the back. “It’ll be okay. What don’t kill us makes us stronger, right?”
She tried to smile. “Right.”
“Well, how about we go out to dinner at one of those fancy hotels on the strip and celebrate my daughter’s promotion in style,” he suggested.
Alex took them to the Venetian and nothing more was said about McCabe. The food was world-class, and afterward, she talked them into taking the gondola ride down the canal that ran inside the hotel.
As she waved them off at the airport the next morning, she promised to see them at Thanksgiving, and calculated that was only a little over a month away.
Wouldn’t it have been the best Thanksgiving ever if she could’ve brought Mitch home with her? Maybe even been able to introduce him as her fiancé?
Hell, she’d have settled for boyfriend.
Who was she kidding? Right now, she’d give anything just to call him friend again.
17
SITUATION REPORT: Well, I’m not saving a $70 million plane, but…
Mitch had once heard of an unbelievable feat pulled off by a U.S. Navy pilot flying an F-35 joint strike force fighter.
This navy pilot had been lifting off from an aircraft carrier when his vertical thruster fired while he was still vectored for vertical takeoff. The plane headed nose-down, a hundred feet off the deck of the carrier. The aircraft should’ve crashed. Instead, the pilot performed a perfect vertical loop and then took off. Talk about stability control…
If Mitch hadn’t seen video footage, he might have thought the whole story was merely urban legend. It seemed unbelievable that any fighter pilot would’ve had the kind of balls it would take to stay calm and get that F-35 to remain stable. So many things could’ve gone wrong. He was flying through his own afterburner. His wings had to remain perfectly level.
Sunday night Mitch lay in bed in his apartment, wide-awake, his hands clasped behind his head, and thought about that pilot. He came to the conclusion that if that guy could get himself out of that kind of snafu, then Mitch should be able to get himself out of the mess his life had become.
He’d left the MGM Grand shaken, Neil’s words pounding in his brain. “You have everything I want and you don’t even know it.”
As if