Flying Home

It was two in the afternoon, and something had to happen soon if she had any chance of getting back by this evening. She grabbed her bags and purse, then decided to make one last trek to the car rental counter at the far end of the terminal. There was still hope.

As she strode along the concourse, ignoring the gift shops and boutiques on her way, she glanced out the windows overlooking the runway. She saw another small jet taking off, glittering silver in the streaks of sunlight that cut through the gathering grayness of high clouds. She paused to watch the elegant carrier until it was out of sight, thinking that if she only had money, she could charter a plane like that. Well, maybe not like that one, but a plane that could get her home in time.

“That would take a miracle,” she breathed at the same time a man cut across the walkway directly in front of her.

She managed to sidestep any impact, but he never even noticed her, he was so intent on the call he was taking on the cell phone pressed to his ear. There was no three piece business suit on his six-foot-plus frame, but instead, he gave more of an impression of an impatient cowboy, in snug jeans, a sheared wool trimmed denim jacket and scuffed boots that were as well worn as the rest of his getup. A baseball cap was the only thing not determinedly Western about the man.

She watched him stop halfway between where she stood on the walkway and the desk for charter flights over by the windows. He tugged sharply at the dark cap worn over slightly shaggy, midnight-black hair, framing an angular clean shaven face. When someone bumped her from behind, trying to get past her, Merry moved to her right, and off the walkway to get out of the way. The maneuver brought her closer to the man she’d been watching. In fact, she was near enough to hear most of his end of the conversation.

“I’ll check with him as soon as I can.” He listened, glanced around, his dark eyes sliding right past Merry, before he exhaled. “I told you, I’m waiting for clearance.” Pausing, his attention apparently on the tiled floors underfoot now. “Nothing serious. A glitch. You know how it goes.” He checked the watch on his wrist. “Soon. They said it was almost done. Should be up in half an hour at the most.”

While he was speaking, Merry saw a security guard approach the man, then hesitate before he reached out to tap the stranger on the shoulder. At first the man kept talking. “You, too. I’ll call when I get a chance.” The guard tapped his shoulder again, and the man turned to him, but still spoke into the phone as he held up a forefinger to acknowledge the guard. “Let me know if I can help. I have to go,” he said, finishing the call. “What is it?” he asked. The guard straightened a bit before speaking.

“Are you Mr. Gage Carson?” He nodded and the guard looked relieved. “They sent me to let you know the work’s done on your ride, and you’ve been cleared to take off in the next half hour.”

Merry didn’t hear the rest of the conversation between the two men as she stared at Gage Carson. A miracle? She couldn’t believe the luck or Fate or serendipity or whatever was at work here.

Gage Carson. The man, dressed like a roughhewn working cowboy, was the adult version of a young teenager she’d known over twenty years ago in Wolf Lake. Well, she hadn’t actually known him, but she’d seen him enough around town with his two brothers, and she knew of him. Everyone knew the Carsons, and she remembered him all too well.

Now he was within ten feet of her, talking to the guard about his “ride” and “taking off soon.” To make this a true miracle, he had to be going to Wolf Lake. She knew there was an airstrip on the Carson ranch.

The guard nodded at something Gage had said before striding off into the growing crowd from a flight disembarking farther down the concourse. But her full attention was on the man who could just be her own personal savior. All she had to do was figure out the best way to talk him into helping her get back to Wolf Lake.

Suddenly, Gage Carson turned, startling her as he seemed to look right at her. But before she could raise a hand and introduce herself, his gaze skimmed right past her as if she didn’t exist. Abruptly, he made for the nearest desk for the charter businesses near the windows.

It wouldn’t be farfetched, if the man, who led one of the largest construction and architectural corporations in the country, owned one of those sleek corporate jets. Or at least, chartered one of them. Chartering made things a bit more complicated, but it was still doable. She could play on the old hometown connection and snag a ride if the plane was his, and offer to make payments to share the cost of the charter once they got back. One way or another, if he was going to Wolf Lake, she was going too.

She watched him speaking to a woman agent, so attractive that Merry wondered if beautiful women were the only type that the airport employed. The two talked, leaning toward each other across the desk, and although she could only see Gage’s back, she didn’t miss the dazzling smile on the woman’s face as he spoke to her. She was nodding, touching his arm to make a point, and then lifted her hand to break the connection and motion to the row of specialty shops on the far side of the walkway.

Merry’s stomach was in a knot as Gage retraced his steps, coming toward her, then going right past her without looking up. She had to make this happen. She’d do her best to reason with him, and even beg if she had to. She glanced back to the counter, saw the attendant was alone at the desk and boldly crossed to her. Merry made herself smile, knowing it was a mere shadow of the version the woman had offered Gage moments ago. “Can I ask you something?”

The woman looked up and nodded. “Why, of course, that’s why I’m here.”

Merry motioned behind her. “Was that Gage Carson?”

Obviously the wrong way to start the conversation. Privacy had to be one thing a moneyed business, like a luxury jet charter, offered its clientele without any question. The woman’s expression changed from warm to cautious. “Is there a problem?”

“Oh, no,” Merry said quickly. “I just hadn’t heard anything about him being back...in Wolf Lake. You see, our hometown’s so small, everyone knows everything about everybody and no one mentioned he had made a visit.”

“Maybe he hasn’t made it there yet,” the woman offered, confirming to Merry that he was heading there.

Perfect. “Maybe not,” she conceded, trying to control her growing excitement. “I just never expected to see him here, either. You know, on a charter. After all, the word is he’s got tons of money. But maybe it makes more sense to lease instead of buy. I don’t know anything about big business.”

The woman seemed a bit put off by Merry’s confession. “I wouldn’t know, but most men in his position have a company plane. He’s no different.”

His own plane! She felt like screaming, “Yes,” and pumping her fist, but instead she shrugged. “Of course.”

“You’re friends with Mr. Carson?” the woman asked, the smile all but gone now.

“I knew him since we were kids,” she said, deliberately slanting the truth toward the idea that they’d been close. Merry left without another word and carried her bags across to the store that Gage had entered.

She stepped in, and spotted him in a rear display area, looking at snow globes. He lifted one, shook it, put it back, and repeated those actions as he worked his way through about a dozen or so ornaments. She took a breath, tried to still her hammering heart, then headed toward the man.

CHAPTER TWO

“A SNOW GLOBE INSPECTOR?” Merry asked, going for the silly approach as she got within a few feet of Gage Carson. She’d save the serious begging for later, when she worked up the nerve to ask him for a ride on his plane.

The man turned at the sound of her voice, and she met the darkest brown eyes she’d ever looked into. They were narrowed on her, either from puzzlement or annoyance. She wasn’t quite sure. “Are you speaking to me?”

“I’m sorry, I saw you checking out all the snow globes and I had images of...” She shook her head, stopping mid-sentence, knowing that hokey line had run its course. “I’ve always loved snow globes.” That was the truth.

He surprised her by not dismissing her abruptly. “So does my mother, and I need a peace offering of sorts for when I see her. I missed Christmas with the family.” He glanced at the globe in his hand, and then put it back on the shelf. “The thing is, none of these seem right.”

“What does she like—angels, Norman Rockwell scenes, Winnie the Pooh?” She glanced at the American flags encased in three of the globes. “Something patriotic?”

He chuckled roughly at that and shook his head. “No, none of those seems quite right...” Merry scanned the globes and saw a smaller one sitting in a corner and reached for it. “Well, then, how about this?” She held it up to Gage after she shook it so the artificial snow was swirling around a solitary man in buckskins who stood with his head thrown back, and one hand raised to point to something he seemed to be yelling to. Then she saw the shadow on the glass, the smoky silhouette that was barely there, the suggestion of a wolf.

Gage looked at it critically, then slowly took it from her hand and studied it. “Great,” he said as he twirled it in his strong fingers. Then his dark eyes met hers again. “Thank you...” He raised an inquiring eyebrow at her in a question.

“Brenner,” she said. “Merry Brenner.”

He twirled the globe again. “Well, Merry, she’ll love this,” he murmured. Merry had seen Gage’s mother, Lark Carson, a long time ago—a tiny woman with flowing black hair, a ready smile and a real pride in her Indian heritage. As the daughter of the man whose family had given his family name, Wolf, to the town, she could imagine her being particular about the general presentation of the Native spirit, even in a snow globe. And to have a wolf suggested in it would be specific to her. “It will really suit her,” she agreed.

He glanced at her quizzically. “How would you know that?”

She blinked, realizing what she’d said. She couldn’t take it back, so she pushed on. “You are Gage Carson, aren’t you?”

He was obviously surprised. “How do you know me?” he asked, as his gaze flicked over her.

“From Wolf Lake,” she said, letting him digest that and ask his own follow up question.

And he did. “You’re from town?”

“I was, a long time ago, but then I came back for work. I remember the stories about your grandpa helping form Wolf Lake.”

He looked puzzled. “I really don’t remember any Brenners in town.”

“You wouldn’t,” she started to say, ready to tell him her birth name, but she didn’t get the chance before the guard he’d spoken to earlier, came rushing up to him.

“Sir, Mr. Carson? It’s all ready. Just pick up the papers, and head on out.”

“Thanks,” Gage said, and when the guard left, he looked back at Merry as he held up the globe. “Thanks for your input.”

“Sure, no problem,” she barely got the words out before he was on route to pay for the globe before ducking out of the store with the guard. Without a backward glance, he crossed the walkway and veered away from the charter service desk with the blonde still behind it.

Merry could have kicked herself. Talk about handling the situation all wrong! She should have just walked up to him, introduced herself, and immediately asked for a ride on his plane. “Should have, could have, would have, but didn’t,” she muttered, angry with herself as she quickly rushed after him.

Dragging her bag after her with one hand, the duffel in the other, she frantically tried to catch up to him as he cut diagonally across the seating area. His long stride was eating up the distance as he darted toward a side door marked “Private,” where another guard stood.