I’d never really gotten to work on my flirting, and Jackson was probably too mature to want to flirt with me anyway. But that didn’t stop me from sneaking glances at him.
I turned around to look back at the coach area, but the curtain was down and I couldn’t see much.
“Nervous?” Jackson asked.
I jerked my head around. Was I being that obvious? Although I was more excited than nervous to be sitting next to him. “About what?”
“Takeoff.”
“No. I just haven’t flown on this type of plane before.” I pushed the plastic window shade up and then pulled it back down. The window was very grimy. “Would you like the window seat?”
“No. It's easier for me to fit on the aisle row.”
I noticed Jackson watching me, so I put my hands in my lap to force myself to stop messing with everything around me. “If you change your mind, let me know. The scenery when we fly over Colorado is amazing. Everything before that is just green fields. I know we need them, but they aren’t much to look at.”
“Have you flown to Seattle often?” he asked.
“Some,” I said. “What are you going to do when you get to Alaska?”
“Camp. Hunt. Fish. Go stay at my grandfather’s cabin.”
“I’ve never camped.”
“Never?”
“Not even once. Well. Not if you don’t count a tent in my backyard.”
“I don’t count your backyard,” he said.
“I didn’t think you would. You probably are one of those people who can camp without a tent or a sleeping bag.”
A small smile crossed his face. We paused our conversation as the flight attendant came by to show us the exit rows, and to go over the safety features. Finally it was our turn to take off.
As the plane rattled down the runway, I poked his leg with my pillow. “Am I right? Do you sleep out under the stars or on a tree branch? Or hanging off a cliff in a hammock that you tied to a rock?”
“How do you even know about that if you don’t camp?”
“I’ve read about it. And I have friends who do it.” I kicked at his seat. “Come on. Tell me.”
“Yes. I have camped without a tent. And I have slept in a tree, but it wasn’t for fun.” He shifted in his seat. Even in the first class seat, which was bigger than the coach from what I’d heard, his muscular body barely fit.
Over and over, my eyes were drawn to his defined biceps. And his strong jawline, where he hadn’t shaved that morning. “Oh for work. So you can’t give details on that.”
“Right. Are you wanting to camp outside? That sounds ambitious for a first try.”
I fiddled with the blanket the attendant handed to me. “I think I better start with the tent.”
“If you wanted to, then why didn’t you camp?”
“My parents are extremely overprotective in some ways. And extremely controlling in others. They didn’t approve.”
“Camping’s pretty safe. I mean, it’s not one-hundred percent safe, but it’s close.”
“They’re not rational. They are absolutely crushed that I’m a photographer. They wanted me to go to law school, or med school, which is what everyone in our family does unless they go to West Point or the Air Force Academy.”
“Did you ever consider any of those?”
The thought of me at West Point was laughable. “No. You saw me. I’d have no clue about the rules and regulations. The level of discipline required by all of those is not something I have in me.”
“I’m not creative. You would be horrified to see the photos I’ve taken.”
“I can teach you.”
He shook his head. “I doubt that. Why don’t you show me some of yours instead?”
“Okay. I’ll never refuse to show off my work.” I pulled out my phone and hit a few buttons. “These are the ones that have won awards, or been on display.”
As I leaned in closer to Jackson, I could smell just a hint of his cologne. He smelled amazing, like fresh cedar. I wanted to lay my head on his shoulder, but I restrained myself. I opened the album I was most proud of.
There were an array of photos. A few that were local, like the botanical gardens in Atlanta, and a few national landmarks like the waterfalls in Yosemite, and the view from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Then he got to my international photos. I had a dolphin in Belize, the iconic Amalfi Coast in Greece, and a cafe in Belarus.
“Is that Minsk? In Belarus?” he asked, pointing to the photos.
“Yes. I visited with my dad. He had a business trip to Poland, so we made the rounds. I’m assuming you’ve been to that cafe if you recognized it.”
Jackson didn’t say anything. His eyes looked kind of far away. I didn’t think we had any troops in Belarus, but what did I know? Something had caught his attention. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” he said, but he didn’t keep scrolling through the photos.
I was a master at changing the subject. “You want those photography lessons now?”
He rubbed his face. “Yes.”
I felt bad. That photo had obviously bothered him, but I was going to act like nothing happened. That was always a reliable strategy. “First, do you have any photos you can show me? So I can see what we need to work on?”
He pulled his phone out and scrolled for a few seconds then handed it to me. “Hmm. I see what you mean.” All of his photos were really far away. “I can’t tell who anyone is. I can definitely teach you.” For the next forty-five minutes, I explained techniques to him. How to frame a shot, and the best way to capture the focal point.
By the time I was done, he didn’t have that weird look on his face any more. “Just wait. Everyone’s going to be really impressed when you start taking great photos.”
He laughed. “I’m sure my team will really appreciate it. Actually, my buddy’s wife will. She’s always getting onto us because she says we all look the same in the pictures. Next time we’re deployed I’ll make him do a photoshoot and I’ll send them to her.”
“Are you married?” I asked. It felt a little personal, asking that, but if he was married, I’d back off. If I were Jackson’s wife, I would not be happy to see another woman sitting so close to him. Especially if I knew she was fantasizing about him, and trying to stay close enough to breathe in the scent of his cologne.
“No. No wife,” he said.
“Girlfriend?” Now I was just being nosy.
“No. No girlfriend either. What about you?”
“I’m single. Very single.”
“Recent breakup?”
“Nope. No breakups.”
“None at all?” he asked.
“I’ve dated. But I’ve never had a serious relationship.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“No. There’s not. But it’s not because I chose it. I would have happily dated. But my overbearing parents made it tough,” I explained.
“You are twenty-two now. You can tell them to leave you alone. Or just not tell them what you’re doing. That’s what most people do.”
That wasn’t an option until now, thanks to me not putting my foot down. And while my parents had never threatened to cut me off financially, or quit paying for my college tuition if I didn’t do what they wanted, the threat was implied. “You know, it took me awhile to get there, but I’ve finally arrived.”