Page 82 of Flyboy
"And I can't stay."
18
"Are you sure he doesn't suspect anything," Alyssa asked Maryn as Roark loaded their bags into the back of the big black SUV Jack’s sister had pulled up in.
"Not a thing. The man is working his ass off so he can spend the day with Penny tomorrow at the office without distractions."
"He probably won't want to go to work tomorrow when he finds out you flew in with me and Roark," Penny said, brushing past her as she hopped up into the backseat.
"True, but I'll still take you around," Maryn assured her sister. "Unless we can convince Roark to give you the run of the security—"
"Not a chance in hell, short stuff."
"Hey!" Penny twisted in her seat to look through the back of the SUV at Roark. "You promised."
"I did. But not until you've been through all the other departments."
Penny frown. "Well, that sucks," she muttered.
"Hey! I heard that. Watch the mouth, young lady." Alyssa knew she was supposed to be stern, but she couldn't stop the smile from spreading across her face.
In the last few weeks, ever since Gina had been arrested and charged with multiple offenses, Penny had relaxed. She'd been more open and honest and not afraid to speak her mind. The potty mouth was new but again, Alyssa couldn't really complain. It wasn't like every other word was a curse word. Not like some teenagers—and adults—she encountered.
"C'mon, get in." Roark nudged her as he made his way to the driver's door. "He'll beat us home if we don't get a move on."
"I thought you said we had plenty of time?" She climbed in next to Penny.
"We did. But I made the fatal error of letting Maryn pick us up which means Jack knows we're on the ground and rushing to get out early so he can greet Penny at the house."
"Where is he now?"
Roark ginned at her through the rearview mirror. "Ask your sister."
Alyssa closed her eyes and cursed in her head.
Next to her, Penny laughed and fiddled with her phone. "He's still at the office."
Opening her eyes, Alyssa met Roark's gaze. "You think it's wise she's able to hack into that?"
"Didn't need to hack. Roark gave me my own login," Penny murmured. "Oh, hey, what're Dash and Keaton doing in Jack's office? I thought they were out for the day."
"Distracting him, hopefully," Roark answered.
"And you're right, they were out at a meeting. It finished early and I asked them to head back to the office to keep Jack company and away from the airport," Maryn said. "I wanted to pick you all up for obvious reasons but also because I want to know what the fuck is going on. You have been vague about this trip. I know Penny is here for the summer but, Alyssa, you haven't given me a date you'll be returning to Sunnyville."
She glanced at Penny. They'd kept it a secret because she'd wanted to have all the details ironed out before revealing her plan. And as much as she'd love to tell Maryn that plan, she thought Jack had a right to know first so she went with a vague answer. Again. "A couple of weeks. Mrs. A is taking care of the house and I've taken a few weeks off work to spend time with Penny."
"Hmm…" Maryn stared at her from between the front seats. "I've got my suspicions."
Alyssa shrugged. She wasn't going to say another word about how long she was staying until she'd spoken to Jack.
She hadn't seen him since Monday morning when he'd left their bed to fly to Vegas for the week. In the two weeks since they'd made the decision for Jack to base himself out of Vegas during the week Alyssa had spent a lot of nights in bed alone. She'd had a lot of time to think.
Not that she'd needed more than a few days of lonely nights and dissatisfying video calls. He'd been in Sunnyville for the annual fourth of July pub crawl last weekend, and even though it had been Monday morning when she'd put the first step of her plan into motion, she knew she'd made the decision the first few days after they'd accepted Jack's need to be in Vegas.
She'd spent one week mulling over the idea and three days putting it into motion. As of seven this morning she was on leave without pay from Mercy-Life. An indefinite leave.
Penny leaned in and whispered, "You need to tell him right away."
