“Maintenance issue? Is it safe to fly?”
“It will be fine as soon as they get it fixed. Don’t worry about that. Tell me what you did today.”
Skye realized then that she was going to have to get her act together and start doing her regular routine. She didn’t want her answer to be ‘nothing’ every time he called. She needed stories to share with him.
“I did a little work.”
“Work? I’m gone one day and you’re already back to the spreadsheets?” he teased.
“I did some laundry.” She hit her palm on her forehead. That was lame.
“Ok, well, I know it’s late, so I’ll let you go back to sleep. I just wanted to let you know we made it to Honolulu.”
“Wait, Ben don’t go.” She held the phone to her ear as if that somehow made him closer to her.
“What is it? You ok?”
“I miss you. I already miss you.”
“I miss you, too. I’ll call you again tomorrow. Night, baby. Dream only hot dreams about me. Got it?”
She giggled. “I can do that. Goodnight, Ben.”
She plugged her phone into the charger and slid into the covers. She knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep now for hours. She changed the channel, hoping a sappy romantic comedy could distract her.
Three days later she poured over shots of sunscreen models in her office, while Kari dished on the new guy she was seeing.
“Ok, so he has this tattoo on his lower back, and I can’t quite figure out what it is.”
“Wait, did you already sleep with him?” Skye looked up from a bikini pose.
“Of course. I’m no saint like you. And it was ahh-mazing. He does this thing with his hips, kind of like a swivel move.”
“Stop. Stop. I don’t need that kind of detail.”
“Who am I going to tell, if I can’t tell you?” Kari whined.
“Why don’t you get a journal? Just a suggestion.” Skye smiled at her friend. She was happy Kari had met someone, only she wasn’t so sure about him. He was a dental assistant in La Jolla. Apparently, her friend Dave had set them up.
“You are no fun.” Kari pouted. “So speaking of hot guys, when did you hear from Ben last?”
“He called from Hawaii last night. Today they are making the flight to Guam. He’ll be there a few more days before they make the last flight to Japan.”
“I still can’t believe you two. One minute you’re all ‘he won’t make it to thirty days’ and then the next minute you’re all ‘oh my God we’ve committed to each other for six months’. It’s cute.”
Skye twisted her lips into a frown. “When you say it like that it doesn’t sound cute.”
“Oh, but it’s totally cute.”
“If you say so.” She looked at the time on her phone. Ben was probably flying over the Pacific right about now. She didn’t think his flights were supposed to make her so nervous, but they did. After she heard about Riggs it was hard not to think the same thing could happen to Ben. What if something happened while he was crossing the ocean?
The night before he left he told her about all of the contingency plans in place in case there was an in-flight emergency. Eagle was responsible for mapping out places they could divert. They had a plan for every mile of the journey. She knew he was a capable pilot, that wasn’t the problem. It was all the things that were out of his control that she worried about.
“What do you say we do a wine night at my place tonight? You can bring your PJs. It will be crazy.” Kari giggled.
“You know, that sounds like a good idea. I need to keep my mind off of Ben. What about tattoo guy?”
“Oh, we have plans this weekend.”