“With help.” I reach for her hand. “You didn’t let me finish about what I understand.”
“Fine. What do you understand?”
“That you’ve rocked my world. I understand that you have a son and responsibilities.” I nod toward her phone. “And that you have a super support system. I don’t fully understand why I can’t know them. I mean, I do get it...but as I’ve said, I’ll take what I can get, what you’re willing to give. Right now, I’m getting your undivided attention for an entire weekend.”
“Minus phone calls,” she interjects.
“Minus one call per day. Today’s is done. Don’t make me take your phone away.”
Her pretty eyes narrow. “You wouldn’t dare.”
I lift my brows. “Something that you might want to understand about me: I love a challenge. And what you just said feels like a gauntlet being thrown down, a proverbial line in the sand—Florida sand in this case.”
“Fine.” Mandy takes a deep breath. “I won’t call, but I have to have my phone in case my mom or dad needs to call me.”
“Deal,” I say, extending my hand. After we shake, I watch as the front of her jacket rises and falls and imagine only a light top, sundress, or bathing suit. Hell, maybe warmer climates are better. “Now that we’re on the same page, are you ready for an adventure?”
Mandy leans forward and places her palm on my cheek. “Malcolm Peppernick, I want to be mad at you, but how can I be mad when you went to all this trouble to steal me away?”
“You can’t,” I agree.
“I’ve never been kidnapped before. Oh,” she says, her tone feigning duress. “Whatever is going to happen to me?”
I reach for her hand and kiss the soft skin of her palm. “I plan to return you Sunday night, perhaps a little sore and worn out, but only because all your wildest fantasies have been fulfilled.”
“It’s been a long time since I’ve entertained fantasies.”
“Then it’s past time to start. Let’s get out of this car, go through security, and get something to eat. I doubt your fantasies include starvation.”
Her eyes widen. “It depends on the cause. A plane crash on a desert island—no. But...that first night when we almost forgot to eat our pizza—that was an acceptable reason for starvation.”
“Oh, but, beautiful, I didn’t forget to eat.”
Mandy shakes her head as pink fills her cheeks in an endearing way. As we get out of my car and I open the trunk, she says, “Hey, that’s my suitcase.”
“Because you’re going on a weekend getaway.”
“Oh, yeah.”
“And we’re not flying over any deserted islands, so no worries.”
“Good to know.”
Chapter Nineteen
Mandy
The roar of the engines has muted to a constant drone as I look around the airplane’s cabin. Sally is looking at me with a big shit-eating grin on her face as she leans forward from the other side of the aisle and lifts her glass of wine my direction. I’ve already told her that I hate her and I’m never speaking to her again, but it doesn’t stop me from lifting my glass to her in an air toast.
Malcolm squeezes my hand. “Are you all right? I had no idea you’ve never flown before.”
My shoulders move up and down. “Again, you could have asked.”
He bends down and plants a kiss on my cheek. “I just did. Are you all right?”
“Well, other than never speaking to my best friend or mother again, I think I’m all right.” I turn and look out the small window. Above the clouds the sun is still shining. As the plane heads south, the sun is moving lower toward the western horizon, casting an amazing array of red, orange, and pink hues through the sky, their shimmers reflecting off the tops of the clouds.
I never really thought about the other side of clouds—the top side. Unlike their underside, which is often gray, the tops are a marvelous mountain range composed of magnitudes of different depths, some as tall as Denali while others appear as cavernous as the Grand Canyon. As we move over them I conjure stories I can tell Jase about mountains of marshmallow fluff. That’s exactly what it looks like—fluff. “It’s like,” I say, “like nothing I ever imagined.”
The four of us are in first class, filling both sides of the aisle. And I can’t stop my glee as I settle against the soft leather seat. When Malcolm first told me what was happening, I was mad. I was upset, but once I gave in to the reality of my ‘kidnapping’—quotes are purposeful—it made everything more exciting.
When we arrived at the airport, my ticket was already on Malcolm’s phone. All it took was showing my ID, checking our bags, and walking through security. Then the next thing I knew, we were sitting at a small airport bar waiting for Sally and Brian as we sipped white wine and ate fried pickles.
You would think being married to a man in the military I would have flown, but I never did. Jackson left for basic training before we were married. Our wedding ceremony was between his training and deployment. If he’d been deployed stateside, I would have gone. That probably would have meant driving, but I would have gone. As it was, moving to my own place was the only independence I experienced. It wasn’t my own place, but ours. A small apartment, even smaller than the one I now share with Jase. Though it belonged to both of us, I was there alone while he was overseas.
At the time, I thought I was grown up with my own space. Truthfully, I had yet to be inducted into adult responsibilities.
While Jackson was protecting our country, I was working and taking classes. I missed out on the support of other army wives by not living near a base, but I didn’t want to leave my parents or his parents to live near strangers, even if they would have a better understanding of what I was going through. In hindsight, I think that was the right decision.
Jackson was home for three months between deployments. That was our most normal feel at married life. During that time, he worked for a recruiting center while awaiting his next assignment. We had hopes for stateside orders and dreams of playing house. That’s why we agreed to start a family.
And then things happened overseas. I follow the news, but I still don’t think the public is given all the information. The army asked for volunteers to go back to the zones, soldiers who knew the terrain. If they didn’t get the number of soldiers they needed via volunteers, they would have chosen them anyway. I think it was one of those requests that you really can’t refuse.
I’m not insinuating that the military is like the mafia, but...
We didn’t find out that I was pregnant until after the paperwork was signed. By then it was too late. The army didn’t assign Jackson a wife. He’d taken one on his own. We’d heard that before. His assignment was only supposed to be for twelve months. The pay was higher than he’d made before due to the increased risk. He’d been there before and had returned. We both thought it would be worth it. Once his second deployment was over, we had visions of a nest egg to live on while we both were able to work on our education. With both sets of parents close by, we knew we’d have help with our growing family.