Jesse: Merry Christmas, Cowboy. Lynnette Kent
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nodded. “Most of the time.”
“Do you get lonely?”
She’d already divined more secrets tonight than he was comfortable with. “After growing up with the pack of them following me around? I’m enjoying the peace and quiet.” He patted the roof of the truck. “I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon, about one-thirty. Drive carefully.”
“Right. And you be sure to get lots of sleep, so I won’t be nervous while we fly tomorrow.” Her smile was rueful. “More nervous than I already am, anyway.”
His tired brain picked up the hint. “Is this your first time flying?”
Janie nodded. “I’m an aeronautical virgin, so to speak.”
He laughed. “I’ll be gentle.” Stepping back, he shut the door and then called through the glass, “Thanks for the ride home.”
“You’re welcome.” She waved, shifted the truck into four-wheel drive and drove away, leaving Jesse standing outside in the false twilight of a snowy night.
He stood there for quite some time, watching the snow fall while he wondered what else Janie Hansen might know about him that he wished she didn’t.
THE FLIGHT TURNED OUT to be easier—and yet more difficult—than Janie could have imagined.
Her mother’s doctor had provided a sedative for the trip, and even half a dose kept Abby Hansen too sleepy to get upset about leaving the house in a truck she didn’t recognize for a place she didn’t know. Janie hated the dull, lifeless expression on her mother’s face as they drove the snowy roads toward the Codys’ property, but if the alternative was hysteria, she’d take dull.
Once she reached the Cottonwood Ranch, she saw that Jesse had seen to it that the ranch roads were cleared, as well as the runway. That would be the advantage of having a crew of cowboys ready to take whatever orders came into the boss’s head. She reached the runway without a problem, having ridden the land on horseback for years with Elly, Jesse’s sister. The storm had passed to the east, leaving a cloudless blue sky above the snow-blanketed prairie. Jesse’s plane sat there gleaming in the sunlight—ready, Janie gathered, to take off.
She wished she could say the same. Not knowing what to expect and anticipating looking down from this small craft to the earth thousands of feet below only made her feel sick to her stomach. Maybe she should have taken one of her mom’s pills.
Getting her mother onto the plane took her mind off her own anxiety. Abigail had fallen asleep on the ride from town and was startled to be woken up. She didn’t recognize Jesse, and his attempts at friendliness didn’t reassure her.
“Where is he taking us?” Abby whispered to Janie as they crossed the tarmac toward the plane. “Is he some kind of new doctor?”
“No, Mom. Just a friend. We’re going to see Mark at the rodeo, remember?”
“Mark’s a good boy. And he’s the best bull rider in the world. He’s going to win, isn’t he?”
They reached the bottom of the steps that led up into the plane. “Yes, he is.” Janie glanced back at Jesse and saw his rueful smile. “Let me help you up the steps, okay?”
The passenger cabin reminded Janie of a luxurious motor home she’d seen once at a big rodeo, with reclining armchair seats that swiveled in all directions and an up-to-date TV and music system. The walls were paneled with beautiful wood, thick carpet covered the floor and a small kitchen offered snacks and drinks of all kinds.
The thought that Mark was now part of a family that could afford such luxury made Janie shake her head. What sane person wouldn’t choose this lifestyle, given the option?
Abigail didn’t like the smallness of the plane, but the sedative made her too tired to do more than talk about her feelings.
“There’s not enough room,” she said, her voice fretful. “Only a few seats. Where will everyone else sit, Janie?”
“Don’t worry, they’ll find a place, Mom. Why don’t you lean back and let me fasten your seat belt?” By the time she got Abby settled and interested in a travel magazine with lots of photographs, Jesse had climbed aboard, shutting the door behind him.
“Ready?” Underneath the sheepskin coat, he wore the standard rodeo “uniform”—good jeans with one of his trophy belt buckles, dressy boots and a Western shirt in a soft blue chambray that made his eyes an even brighter blue by comparison. Weak-kneed with nerves and longing, Janie sank into the seat beside her mother. “Um…sure.” Her hands shook as she buckled her own belt.
Jesse grinned. “You don’t sound too sure. I promise, everything will be fine. The weather is great, the plane’s in perfect condition, and I am a terrific pilot.”
She couldn’t resist a little dig. “Modest, too.”
“Always. Just relax, and we’ll be flying high in no time.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Janie muttered.
She could see him in the pilot’s chair from where she sat. He donned a set of earphones, then flipped switches, turned knobs and consulted charts, plus a hundred other complicated motions she guessed were necessary to make the plane function. Finally, with a slight bump, they started rolling along the ground.
Janie looked over at her mother, who was asleep again, her head resting against the butterscotch-colored leather of her seat, the magazine in her lap. Janie realized her own hands now gripped the arm-rests, but just when she thought she might loosen her hold, they hit another bump. Then another. Were they going to die now?
In the next moment, though, the front end of the plane lifted. The noise of wheels on pavement stopped, and she knew they’d taken off. The plane was flying.
She was flying.
A glance out the window showed her the ground falling away, the sky growing larger, enfolding them, sup porting them…and then the wonders of a bird’s-eye view as they flew southwest, across Yellowstone, the Tetons and Utah. Abby stayed asleep, so before too long, Jesse had lured Janie to the cockpit so they could talk about the wonders she saw beneath the wings.
“I don’t want to land,” she confessed at last, as they neared Las Vegas and the desert floor came closer. “The magic’s in the sky.”
Jesse grinned. “Well, we’ve got to fly back next weekend. Something to look forward to.”
Before she could respond, a cry came from the cabin behind them. “Janie? Janie, help me!”
When she reached her mother, Abby grabbed her arm with both hands. “Janie, what’s happening? Where am I? What is this place?”
“Shh, Mom. Shh. It’s okay.” Janie knelt next to her mother’s chair, trying to be calm despite the pain of fingernails digging into her arm. “We’re going to Las Vegas, remember? Mark’s riding in the National Finals and we get to watch. We took an airplane, so we didn’t have to drive so far. Remember?”
But Abby didn’t remember and Janie spent the rest of the flight trying to reassure her and calm her down, thankful for the seat belt which kept her mother in the chair. Her moans and cries would be easily heard by Jesse up in the cockpit. The last twenty minutes of the trip approached Janie’s worst fears.
Just as her mother had subsided for a moment, Jesse’s voice came over the intercom. “Janie, sorry to bother you, but you’ll need to be in a seat with a safety belt for the next few minutes while we land.”
At the sound of the disembodied voice, Abby became agitated again. With her arm still in her mother’s grip, Janie sat in the seat facing Abby’s and leaned forward to ease the strain on her shoulder. She couldn’t begin to imagine how they would get the hysterical woman off the plane and into a car, much less through a crowded hotel lobby, onto an elevator and settled in a hotel room.
What a terrible