Mel,
Here is proof why I can’t clean out the maintenance closet. This spider is a brown recluse, and they do have a bad rep, but they’re endangered. We need to preserve their environment for all of mankind.
– Ernest
P.S. Any more wonky e-mails you want to tell me about?
Mel gritted her teeth. No more “wonky” e-mails but the spider was seriously wigging her out. She picked up a pen and gingerly used it to push the jar away so she could check the flight schedule beneath. When she’d looked yesterday morning, there’d been only two flights there, now four were listed as incoming, and it looked like Bo had scheduled two of those himself.
For North Beach, that was booming business.
“It might take awhile to make this place worth what I actually lost,” said a male voice. “But apparently I have little choice.”
Mel whipped around to face Bo, who’d come in so quietly she hadn’t heard him. “What if you don’t ever make back what you lost?”
“I can always sell.”
The words stopped her heart. “I thought you didn’t have plans to do that.”
“I don’t. Yet.” He wore a pair of black Levi’s today and a white button-down shirt, with Black Aviation’s logo on the pocket, once again half-tucked in, half not, sleeves shoved to his elbows. His hair had been finger-combed at most, falling in untamed waves. His mouth, the one that had kissed her the day before yesterday until she hadn’t known her own name, was unsmiling. He watched her with those inscrutable eyes, the ones that gave nothing away, nothing at all.
“Is selling really a possibility?” she asked.
He just looked at her.
Yeah. It was. He could recoop at least a part of his losses and get revenge on Sally in one fell swoop, and they both knew it. Too bad the revenge would be on her, not Sally at all.
“Are we going to talk about it?” he asked. “About what you thought about the records I brought you?”
She thought her heart was breaking, how was that?
“Or maybe we should talk about those-what did Ernest call them?-wonky e-mails.”
Oh, God.
“What did he mean, Mel? Because it sounds like maybe you’ve been keeping more secrets, in which case, I’m just shocked.”
In the charged silence came the drone of an incoming engine.
Their gazes locked.
“Saved by the plane?” he murmured.
She ran to the door leading to the tarmac.
“You can run,” he called out after her. “But you can’t hide.”
Chapter 16
The day was busy. Mel couldn’t believe it but planes came in and out, they fueled up, and Danny had all the work he could want.
At the end of her shift, she and Dimi together looked at the schedule on the computer, and smiled tiredly.
“Like old times,” Dimi said. “The advertising you’ve done has helped.”
Some of Mel’s smile faded at that, and she slowly shook her head. “It’s not the advertising, Dimi.”
Dimi’s smile faded, too. “Yes, it is.”
“No. It’s Bo. He’s brought in customers. He’s got contacts we don’t, and connections. He’s doing for the airport what Sally used to do with such ease.”
Give it life.
She’d tried like hell, but the truth was, all she wanted to do was fly. This day-to-day managing, the handling of the employees, being the end all to everyone, the peacemaker, the mom, the shrink…She’d never really even admitted it to herself, but it was getting old. “He’s done all this. We should acknowledge that.”
“Bite your tongue.”
“It’s true. And…It’s a good thing. No matter what we think of him, he’s better at this than I am.”
“No, he’s not! No one’s better than you-”
“No. And I just hope he’s enjoying it so he keeps at it rather than selling.”
Dimi stared at her, eyes bright. “Listen, I’ve got to get out of here.”
Of course she did. She didn’t want to talk about this. “Hot date?” Mel asked.
“Nah. I’m tired of hot dates.”
Mel laughed.
“I’m serious,” she said, and because she actually did sound serious, Mel studied her more closely.
Dimi was dressed today in snug Bermuda shorts and a lace tank top, with a denim jacket open over the ensemble. She looked pretty, but not her usual over-the-top sexy, something Mel should have picked up on earlier. “What’s wrong?”
“Can’t a woman just be bored with men?”
“Well, you’d think.”
Dimi sighed. “I’ve dated four guys this week and every single one of them had a major flaw.”
“Such as they’re penis-carrying humans?”
“You’re too young to be so cynical.”
“It’s not cynicism, it’s realism,” Mel insisted. “Men are fun but they’re not everything.”
“And planes are?”
Mel winced.
“Sorry,” Dimi said quietly. “I didn’t mean-”
“It’s okay.” Mel shut down the computer. “Listen, why don’t we do something tonight-”
“You on babysitting duty?”
“Come on, you know you have a tendency to self-destruct when you get stressed-”
“I’m not stressed.”
“We’re both stressed.”
“Okay, I’m stressed,” Dimi admitted. “But not self-destructing.”
Mel met Dimi’s gaze and found nothing assuring. “Dimi-”
“Look, you want me less stressed? Get Bo Black the hell out of here. Make things go back to the way they were.”
“Which is what exactly?”
“Easy.”
“Honey, nothing about this life has ever been easy.”
“Then tell me why the hell we’re doing it.”
Mel shook her head. “Because we’ve always loved it.”
“You mean because you’ve always loved it.”
Mel absorbed that unexpected punch. “Wow,” she said, sitting back.
“Damn.” Dimi shook her head. “Clearly I need to go to a corner and have a time out.” She grabbed her purse. “On second thought, I think my bed, alone, will work wonders.”
Mel grabbed Dimi’s hand. She loved Dimi, she loved her with all her heart, she loved all of them, but she couldn’t go on doing this, keeping secrets, walking on eggshells, wondering when it was all going to come crashing down on her. “I’m going to tell him, Deem. I’m going to tell Bo the truth.”
Dimi stared at Mel.
“I’m going to tell him we don’t know where Sally is. That we’ve never known.”
“Why?”
“I can’t hide it anymore.”
“You’ve been stronger than steel all these years, what’s changed?”
“He’s been honest. I want to do the same.”
“It’s too late for honesty, it was too late from the moment all those years ago when we decided to take over and run this place in Sally’s name. I mean, my God, Mel, you’re going to hand over our power, our very livelihood, and all for what? A hard cock?”
Mel slowly stood up. “That’s not exactly fair.”
“Really? Why not?”
“Because first of all, I’m not sleeping with him.”
“But you want to be.”
Damn it, that was true enough. “And second of all,” she said, ignoring that because she wasn’t quite ready to face it. “And this is the biggie. He has the deed. He has a right to know everything.”
Dimi let out a rough sound that perfectly conveyed her opinion on that. “Eddie forced Sally to give it up.”
“Maybe. But Sally won’t call me back, so we don’t know that.”
“Oh, my God. He put his hands on you, and now you believe everything he says, you believe him over Sally.”
“Sally hasn’t said a word! Don’t you get it? We’re on our own! We’ve always been on our own!”
“You’re not on your own, you’re with Bo.”
“Dimi.”
“No.” Dimi moved to the door. “I don’t want to talk about this.”
“He brought me some bank statements,” Mel called out to her. “Early statements from North Beach.”
Dimi turned back.