Take Me Away (Southern Bride 6)

“I’ve also got one of me flying from inside the cockpit,” Nolan said.

“Let me see it!” I said as I shook his arm, clearly nervous and excited about watching another video of him in action.

With a laugh, he pulled up a video. I stood there in awe as I watched him soar up and then rotate the plane. “How do you not get dizzy?” I asked.

“How in the hell do you not pass out?” my father asked.

Another shot of Nolan going straight up, and then he leveled out and the horizon looked beautiful.

“I bet it’s beautiful up there,” I whispered.

Nolan nodded. “It is.”

“So, kids, what’s on the agenda today?” my mother asked as she walked back over to us.

Nolan quickly pushed his phone into his pocket as I let go of his arm. He grinned like a schoolboy trying to charm his teacher. It was adorable. “I thought we’d go for a ride.”

“Oh my God…yes! In a plane?” I asked, my voice filled with excitement.

The three of them froze. They literally froze. Nolan’s face went white as a ghost, and for a moment I thought for sure he was going to pass out.

“What’s wrong with y’all?” I asked as my eyes bounced between the three of them.

My mother was the first one to speak. “Ah, um, nothing, nothing at all. Nolan, what other plans did you have?”

I could feel my brows draw in the more confused I became. Nolan looked like he was about to be sick.

“Nolan?” I asked, reaching out and touching his arm. He jumped and then looked at me. “Are you okay? You looked so far away.”

“What?” he asked, his voice slightly shaky. “No. Sorry. We’re going horseback riding. On my family’s ranch.”

It was clear the mood needed to be lightened—and fast. “I just said to Saryn I needed to get on a horse soon, so this is perfect,” I said with a smile. “I haven’t been riding in I don’t know how long.”

“That’s wonderful,” my mother said, a forced timbre to her voice.

Daddy smiled and gave Nolan a light slap on the back. “You still got that stallion old man Peters kept asking to buy off your daddy?”

Nolan cleared his throat and laughed, but everything about the moment seemed so forced. I turned to look at my mother, and she winked at me, then reached for my hand and squeezed it. She leaned in and whispered, “Bad memory, I’m sure. He lost both of his parents.”

“Oh,” I whispered as I wondered if they had died in a plane wreck. I leaned in so only my mother could hear me. “Plane?”

“No, car.”

I stepped back and tried to figure out the connection. I gave up when Nolan turned and looked at me. The light was back in his blue eyes. When he smiled at me just then, I seemed to forget everything.

“Ready?”

“I am.”

Nolan gave me a once-over and asked, “Do you have a jacket to bring? The temperature might drop.”

“I do! Let me go grab it upstairs.”

And off I went to grab a coat, my mind still questioning what in the world just happened in that room.NolanTHE SECOND SHE ran up the stairs, I reached out for something to hold onto. It just so happened to be Steve.

“It’s okay, Nolan,” he said.

“Oh, Christ,” I gasped as I rubbed my chest. “God, I’m so tired of this.”

Amy stood in front of me and reached for my hand. “I called Dr. Overton. I told him what was happening.”

I glanced back over at the steps.

“He seems to think if she hasn’t regained any memories yet, she most likely won’t. Especially since she saw you.”

“She knows we were more than friends,” I whispered.

“I know. But we’ve come this far, Nolan.”

I swallowed hard and gave Steve one quick nod of my head to let him know I was okay.

“It was one thing walking away from her. Not telling her the truth,” I said. “I can’t lie to her, Amy. I can’t.”

She placed her hand on the side of my cheek. “Follow your heart, Nolan. No matter what happens, we’re here for both of you.”

The sound of Linnzi coming back down the steps caused all of us to take a few steps away from one another.

“Got my jacket, and I’m ready to go!”

She looked adorable. She had put a baseball cap on when she went upstairs and pulled her hair though the back of it. I stared at the cap in shock.

“What’s wrong? Do you not like the hat?” she asked, touching the brim.

“No, it’s just…that’s my old high school baseball hat,” I said before I thought better of it.

She raised a brow and quirked her mouth up on one side. “Another piece of the puzzle.”

“Puzzle?” Amy asked.

Linnzi laughed, kissed her mother and father on the cheeks, and said, “Private joke, Mom!”

I placed my hand on the small of Linnzi’s back and guided her out of the house.