Page 68 of Forever Fickle

HOT CAKES

Jace sat on the plane,trying desperately to hold everything in as he stared out the window of the airplane, waiting. He knew this day was coming but had never imagined it would be so hard.

Karen’s beautiful face had this look on it he would never forget – as if someone had been tortured, broken, and only held this blank stare now, in complete shock. His sweet girl held the most tender heart he’d ever beheld.

“Hey Gorgeous, is this seat taken?” a woman said to him from the aisle, interrupting his thoughts that were focused on reliving those moments that made him smile. Those would get him through the next few weeks and months until he could hold Karen again.

“I dunno,” Jace muttered, feeling almost disgusted. “Check your ticket and move on…”

Sitting there, the crowd getting on the plane started to thin and Jace felt his breath escape him gratefully as an older man sat down beside him.

“Are you okay, son?” the man said kindly, looking at him. “I’m Sam. My wife and I are from D.C. and I can’t wait to see her. Is your family waiting there too?”

“Jace,” he admitted, surprising himself as he turned to give the man a slight shake who was kind enough to say hello and volunteer so much information. “No, the girl I love is here.”

“Why are you leaving?”

“Duty calls,” Jace admitted. “Air Force.”

“Ahhh… retired Navy. I understand, son. I completely understand. Deployments are the hardest thing, aren’t they?”

“Yes, sir. They really are,” he said softly, feeling that overwhelming sense of loss wipe through him all over again as the plane started to move away from the gate.

For a brief moment, Jace felt panic unlike any other where he wanted to get off the plane – and considered what going A.W.O.L. would do to him… and then sighed with resignation.

He couldn’t do that – any of that.

That wasn’t in him, nor would Karen look at him the same. He would finish his time and then come home… with an occasional trip home in the meantime.

“She’ll be okay,” Sam said gently. “You will be too. It hurts, but she’ll be waiting and those reunions when you come home are so worth it.”

Jace nodded, feeling tears sting his eyes as the plane lifted off easily from the runway, yanking him farther from Karen at over five hundred miles an hour as they surged into the air.

“You sure about that, Sam?”

“Focus on the next time you are in port… I mean, ‘next time you are home’,” the man smiled, creasing his weathered face as he patted Jace’s knee knowingly. “It will give you both something to look forward to and work towards. I would also start writing that first letter because I guarantee your girl is waiting on it. I bet the stewardess could get you some paper…”

“I’m good,” Jace interrupted, realizing Sam was right. He pulled out his phone and immediately started typing an email to Karen. “Thanks, Sam. I really appreciate it.”

“Of course, kiddo,” Sam smiled. “It used to irritate me when people would ask me if I knew ‘so-and-so’ in the Navy… because there are only thousands-upon-thousands of people stationed on a base, right?” he hesitated, smiling sadly, his expression turning proud again as he spoke, pointing at Jace’s uniform.

“My boy is in the Air Force, too – a pilot. I’m not going to ask if you know him because this is a very big world, but if you ever meet an arrogant kid that goes by the call sign Vapor? He’s an okay young man. I promise.”

“The world gets smaller all the time, Sam,” Jace said in shock, looking at the man’s face for any traces of resemblance to the cocky kid that showed up on base a month ago while Reaper was gone. “Is he stationed in Ghazni? I actually just had a pilot named Vapor assigned to my squad not too long ago.”

“You know him?” Sam asked, stunned, before smiling and wiping his eyes. “He’s got a mouth on him. That’s my stepson. I think he gets it from his biological father, but I’ve raised him since he was seven. I married his mother. He’s so smart, such a good young man, but he sure makes me want to throttle him sometimes. Naturally, I don’t – but out of respect for his beautiful mama.”

Jace and Sam both laughed softly, glancing at each other in shared understanding.Vapor was… something,Jace mused. He could barely stand the guy and his attitude. He was one of those guys who walked around with a chip on his shoulder all the time, like he had something to prove.

“Tell me about your girl,” Sam invited politely, “And maybe you can tell Matthew to write his mother once he gets settled. She,we, both miss him terribly and hope he is doing well.”

“I’ll pass along the message,” Jace acknowledged, smiling softly to himself as he closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. “Karen is a miracle to me… she’s got this way that she lights up a room, Sam…”

* * *

Jace was runningto catch his connecting flight from D.C. to Heathrow in what felt like moments later, feeling already better just reliving the last five days, unburdening his soul, and listening to advice from Vapor’s dad.

As he got to the gate, they were already boarding the plane.

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