Page 1 of Dear Alaskan Bush Pilot
1
EMERY
On these rare warm summer days, like today, in Frontier, Alaska, it's hard to stay inside and focus on my work. The lobby of our small airport hub has just emptied with the afternoon flight to Anchorage heading down the runway.
I’m sitting at the front desk, filling out the inventory spreadsheet when the door opens, and a nice breeze blows some of the papers on my desk onto the floor. I try to grab for them, but some of them float down and under the old counter.
"Sorry about that," My friend Aurora says as she walks in with her carry-on luggage bag wheeled behind her.
“No worries,” I say, leaving the papers to pick up later. “What are you doing here?”
“I told you,” she sighs. “I’m meeting my match tonight in Fairbanks.”
“I thought you gave up dating websites.”
Aurora is a hopeless romantic but refuses to wait around for love to find her. She’s been onTundra Dates,Kodiak Romance Connections, and countless other sites but still hasn’t found her “true love.”
"I did. But I found a new match-making site a few days ago that seems really promising. It's calledMeridian Matchmakers. Their successful love connection percentage is the highest I've ever seen."
“And they’ve already found you someone?”
“Yeah,” she smiles. “Isn’t that amazing?”
"Sure is," I try to match her enthusiasm, but I've seen her get hurt before. I'm usually the one there to pick up the pieces for her when she gets her heart broken. "Just try to keep your expectations in check."
“Don’t worry about me.”
“You know I can’t do that. I’ve been looking out for you since our school days. Why would I stop now?”
A familiar green and white Cessna lands on the runway just outside the windows of the lobby. My heartbeat picks up with excitement. It's been three days since Jack headed up to Barrow.
“You should joinMeridianwith me,” Aurora says, drawing my attention back to her.
“I don’t think so.”
“What? Why not?”
“I’m not looking for a guy.”
Aurora rolls her eyes. “Please don’t tell me you are still holding a torch for Jack.”
“Fine, then I won’t.” I close the binder in front of me and turn to put it on the shelf behind me.
“Em, it’s been almost two years. Don’t you think that if something was going to happen between you two that it would have happened by now?”
Jack stops at the window and talks with Sergei, the new cargo loader. He runs his hands through his wind-blown hair and nods at something Sergei says to him. The dimple in his right cheek appears when he smiles, and I feel the butterflies in my stomach begin their familiar dance inside me whenever he’s near.
“Earth to Emery.” Aurora’s hand waves in front of my face.
“What?” I recoil and turn back to her.
The smug smile on her face tells me that there is no point in trying to lie about my feelings for Jack. She’s known about my crush on him since the day he showed up in Frontier. And to her credit, she doesn’t give me crap about my unrequited love for him—until now.
“You are hopeless.”
“I know,” I sigh and thump my head down on the counter. “I don’t need you to say it because anything you are about to say, I’ve said to myself a thousand times.”
The door from the loading bay opens, and Aurora smacks my head to make me sit up.
