"What took you so long to get here?", Claire chides us as she opens the front door, because we are almost an hour late. I look at her apologizingly. After all it is my fault that we are not on time. I was the one who had to get all my belongings from the apartment and with the help of Dave I loaded them into his trunk. A week and a half ago I arrived with my rucksack. Today, I had my rucksack and two bags filled with cloths that Claire gave me.
"Sorry Mum, we had a few things to take care off.", Dave says and brushes his arm against mine. And all I can start to think of, what this arm and the fingers attached to it, can do to me.
"I see. And what did I hear about you being unconscious in the air today?" She looks at him with wrinkled lips and a raised eyebrow as we step into the house, and she closes the door. Quickly she gives him a once over and doesn't really look pleased.
Both of us got checked out after the landing. Daphne wasn't even a bit worried about me but asked me tons of questions about how all my memory came back and if I feel different now. While my physical didn't take long, Dave's was pretty extensively. I had lunch and even a short coffee push in the afternoon. He wasn't amused about his examination, but he put up with it. He knew full well that if he hadn't done it, he wouldn't be on a plane for the next few days.
"You make it sound like I died up there.", Dave says and shakes his head, before he pulls her into a tight hug.
"No, I am not. We all know what kind of risks we take in our jobs. But I am your mother and I worry nonetheless." She hits him on his shoulder.
"Please don't do that to me anymore. I think my heart wouldn't be able to take it."
"Come on Mum, you know I am not reckless up there. I still don't know what exactly made me pass out, but I am in excellent physical health. You can check with Daphne." Claire sighs at the words of her son and then turns to me.
"You flew again. I am so proud of you, Taylor.", she tells me, before pulling me into a tight hug.
"Dinner is already waiting, and I know Will is starving. He is all moody."
We walk through their living room outside to their deck. While their backyard is beautiful, Dave's is more breathtaking because he has this wonderful view of the mountains and all the greenery around the property.
"Hi kids, you are finally here.", Wifi greets us when he turns around from the grill. Yeah, he is really into the whole BBQ thing. I can see Dave stopping next to me, but he doesn't put an arm around me. It feels so weird after a weekend of being touched, kissed and held by him, that we don't have any form of body contact. My hand itches to take his, but I keep myself in control.
"Good job landing that Viper today, kiddo."
"Yeah, but it was more like a Navy landing than an Air Force one.", I tell him, and he laughs at my joke, but I can see Claire's confused face.
"I already picked up a lot about all of your pilot lingo, but what's that?", she asks us as she sits down at the table. I look to Dave and his lips twitch amused.
"You do the Air Force explanation, and I will do the Navy one.", he chuckles, and I turn to his mum sighing. I can sense there is a joke or something like that coming from him.
"Well, we in the Air Force are always trying to land with the back tires going down first and then the front one. A lot of us like to use the whole runway to not overuse the landing gear, because it can be damaged when you land too forcefully and then you wouldn't be flying for the next few days. I guess, you could compare our landings to those you experience when flying with an airline. Gentile and gracefully like a swan.", I tell her and Dave laughs.
"You couldn't have described that better. Our landings in the Navy are more like belly flops into a pool. As we normally don't have a long runway, we land with all three tires almost at the same time. It looks brutal and your whole body can feel it. Especially when you land on a carrier and the hook connects to the cable. Your body is thrown forwards." Thinking about it, I notice something, that hasn't occurred to me.
YOU ARE READING
Fly Away - a fighter pilot story
Romance"Is it becoming your habit to run away from me?", he says as he has caught up to me and is now walking next to me on my left. I stop and he does the same. Again, I look at him and shake my head. "Lieutenant Commander Johnson with all due respect, bu...
