Nate had several planes he kept stored at the Willow Brook airport. He led me over to the main hangar that housed two of his planes.
“What do you think the problem is?” I asked as he opened the engine compartment.
“Not sure. The fan just doesn’t sound right. I’m keeping it out of commission this week until you have a chance to look at it.”
“Let me see.” A moment later, I could see the loose bolt holding the fan in place. A closer look revealed it was rusting. “You were right about the sound. I’m guessing that’s throwing off the rotation just a tad.” I commented. “I’ll replace the fan later. It’s just the bolt, but it’s smarter to replace the whole thing. I happen to have one in stock.”
Nate’s stomach growled audibly as I straightened. “Are you hungry?” I teased.
“Didn’t my stomach just answer your question?” He rolled his eyes.
I chuckled. I supposed so. “Why don’t we go grab lunch? I’ll take care of this fan later this afternoon.”
In short order, for the second time this week, I settled into a chair at a small round table in Firehouse Café. The restaurant choices in Willow Brook weren’t particularly extensive, and Firehouse Café was my favorite. It was housed in the town’s original firehouse and had been renovated into a cute little café with stained concrete floors, artwork on the walls, and Janet’s friendly presence.
She approached our table with a wide smile for both of us. “Hey, boys, wanna hear the specials?”
“Always,” Nate replied.
Janet rattled off the specials. As soon as she was done, I said, “I’ll take the balsamic maple salmon burger with regular fries.”
“I’ll take the same,” Nate added.
“Any coffee?” Janet returned as she jotted down our orders on her small notepad.
“Sure thing. Just the house coffee will do.”
After Nate nodded in agreement, Janet hurried off. The café was busy this afternoon, but that was the case every day it was open.
“Holly tells me you miss Delilah,” Nate began, jumping straight to the one thing I’d barely been able to stop thinking about.
“You know, the biggest downside to you two being together is now you tell each other everything. Used to be you barely talked to each other,” I muttered.
Nate cast me a cheeky grin. “So what? That’s not my point. My point is what the hell are you gonna do about Delilah?”
If I was going to talk to anyone about this, it was Nate. “When she left, I tried to talk her into—”
Nate cut right in. “Yeah, some kind a long-distance thing. Dude, you’re in Alaska, and she’s in North Carolina. The way I see it, if you want this thing to be real in the long run, then somehow she comes here, or you go there.”
I didn’t know how to label the emotion that jolted me. It was a mixture of anticipation and anxiety, and maybe tinged with a hint of fear. I wasn’t used to putting things on the line. Frankly, I never even considered it when it came to a relationship.
Yet Delilah had haunted my memories ever since that summer. It’s just until our worlds collided again, I’d written it off as a fluke. Was I actually going to let her go?
Nate’s gaze went somber as he stared across the table at me.
“You’re not joking, are you?” I prompted.
“No. You’re my best friend. I wouldn’t joke about something like this. I don’t want you to move to North Carolina, but it’s obvious Delilah means a lot to you. I think it’d be stupid to let her slip away.”
“Since when did you become an expert on romance?” I tried to deflect.
Nate cocked his head to the side, a knowing glint in his gaze. “I’m not claiming to be an expert, although I’m more of an expert than you. You’ve never been serious about anyone. I do know you well, and I can tell this has gotten to you. Do something about it.”
“I want to,” I said, running a hand through my hair as I leaned back in my chair.
At that moment, Janet arrived with our coffees, setting them down quickly, along with two glasses of water. “Your food will be ready in a few,” she said before she hurried away.
Fortunately for me, I was only grilled by Nate this afternoon. Janet was far too busy to join in like she had when I was here at breakfast.
“It’s just I can’t imagine moving to North Carolina. I love my life here,” I commented after a few sips of coffee.
Nate took a swallow of his coffee, his thumb tracing the handle of the mug as he looked over at me when he set it down. “Nothing’s a given. But if you want Delilah to consider you as something other than a fling over the holidays, you’ve got to be willing to put something on the line. I’ll be honest, I think it’s worth trying, but there’s no way I could do a long-term situation where Holly was thousands of miles away, and I was here. I’d fucking move if that’s what it took to be with her. All you can do is be willing to try to consider the possibilities.”
I stared over at my oldest friend and slowly nodded. “I’ll think about it.”
Chapter Eleven
Delilah
February
I tapped the button to turn off my car. The engine stopped rumbling, and quiet settled around me. The trees had a light dusting of snow; their branches stripped bare of leaves and stark against the gray sky. In front of me sat my parents’ house.
They’d actually been living in this house for five years now, the longest length of time they’d lived anywhere. Shockingly, they owned it and the small piece of property on which it sat. I drew a kernel of comfort from that.
That comfort came with a prick of grief. They had this house and piece of property because my grandmother had left it to my mother in her will when she passed away. I missed my gram deeply. She’d been the most stable force in my entire childhood. The second I thought about her, Alex came to mind.
It almost annoyed me that I remembered him when I thought of her now. Gram was the reason I went to that camp in Colorado in high school. She’d sat with me and helped me finish the application. My guidance counselor had wisely sent the paperwork to her instead of my parents. Because my parents hadn’t been stable enough to stay in one place when I was growing up. Now that they didn’t have to pay rent, it didn’t matter.
Thinking of Alex sent a shaft of longing through me, so piercing I felt a physical ache around my heart. I took several deep breaths and willed the pain away.
My car door creaked a little as I pushed it open. The snow-covered dead leaves crunched under my boots as I approached the front porch. I knocked lightly before turning the knob and calling, “Mom? Dad? It’s me.”
“Hey, darlin’,” my mom called from the kitchen.
I closed the door behind me, letting my eyes scan the familiar living room. All the furnishings were the same as when my grandmother was alive. There was an overstuffed couch and two chairs flanking it. She’d loved that sort of country living feel. There were cute curtains with cherries on them. Everything was a little dusty.
My mother’s face appeared in the archway between the living room and kitchen. “Coffee?”