Jay Romney laughed. “I’d be happy to do you a favor, Dylan, but I won’t have to. You’re still a big name around here. I’ll be in touch soon.”
“I’m spending a little time in the mountains, Jay. My cell reception is spotty. Leave a message and I’ll get back to you.”
“Good enough. And hey, nice talking to you. Give my regards to Adele.”
“Absolutely.”
As a kid, Dylan had been cast in an incredibly successful sitcom from the ages of eight to fifteen. He’d also done a couple of big movies, Disney features. His father had been a famous actor before his death when Dylan was twelve and his grandmother, Adele Childress, was still very much alive and working at the age of seventy-six. He was Adele’s only biological grandchild.
Back in Payne, once Dylan accepted there was no way out but to try it Adele’s way, he settled in. He first learned to ride a horse. Then he went camping with the old guy who managed the ranch and was still on their small property to this day. As time went on, Dylan took to driving to Helena and hung out at a small private airport, just watching the planes and gliders take off and land for hours. He talked someone into a ride in a little Cherokee and fell in love. He’d been looking for freedom for years and found it in the sky. He chewed the fat in the little tower and in the airport office and found out how the pilots there got in the business. And finally he screwed up the courage and told his grandmother he wanted to learn to fly, get his pilot’s license.
She said, “Talk to me when you bring home straight A’s and I like your chances.”
He’d never worked so hard, and that was the beginning of his new life. After high school he went to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in the mountains of Prescott, Arizona, and while logging flying and instructor hours, got himself a degree in aviation management. And that’s where he met Lang.
When he learned to fly, life really turned around for him. And here he was, considering going back to that insane movie life. But, at least this time he had a good reason.
There were more airports to visit and Jay would need at least a few days to come up with an idea that might put Dylan to work. And during those few days, Dylan thought he might have to see what could happen if he ran into Katie Malone again.
Five
Dylan hadn’t timed it, but he wasn’t entirely amazed by the coincidence. There seemed to be some invisible and unconscious forces drawing him to Katie Malone and when he got back to Virgin River, she was just coming out of the little prefab schoolhouse at the end of the street, a child on each side of her. She was walking toward her SUV when Dylan pulled right up to her. He cut the engine on the bike, though he stayed astride.
“I’m running into you all over the place,” he said to her.
“I’m not so sure you’re running into me,” she said. Then she pushed her boys off in the direction of her car, telling them to get in and buckle up.
“Totally by chance,” he said. “But I’m glad I did because I wanted to ask you something. Should I apologize for…you know…earlier?”
“Oh, please don’t,” she said, giving her head a shake. “That would make it seem like you regretted it. We are thinking of the same thing, right? The kiss on my porch?”
He nodded his head. “Oh, man, you’re going to get me in so much trouble…”
“Why?” she asked, stepping toward him. “You said you weren’t married. Oh, no, is there a girlfriend? A fiancée?”
“No…”
She grabbed a piece of his shirtsleeve and, lowering her voice slightly, asked, “Are you g*y?”
“No! Jesus, did I seem g*y?”
“I’m no judge of that,” she said.
“There’s no one,” he said, shaking his head. “It’s just that…” He straightened and tightened his hands on the bike grips. It made him very nervous to pretend to be normal. “Listen, how’d you like to go out for ice cream?”
“I can’t,” she said. “I have the boys.”
“We’ll take them.”
“What are you going to do? Put me on the back of the bike with one under each arm?” she asked.
“Sounds like fun, but maybe we should just drive. You have a car.”
“Where?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he said with a shrug. “Fortuna? It’s an adventure. What about it? You don’t have to recalibrate an engine or anything, do you?”
She made a face; it wasn’t unusual for people to tease her about her mechanical skills, especially men. “I suppose we could meet somewhere, if you had any idea where you wanted to go,” she said.
“How about if we really get crazy and go in one car?” he returned.
She looked at her watch. “I don’t know, Dylan. It might be a little too close to dinner to give them ice cream. I try to get a couple of nutrients in them before they pack on the sugar.”
He was stumped about what to do for a minute, looking at his own watch. “Well, how about pizza or burgers and then ice cream…?”
She frowned. “Are you sure you want to do that?”
“Katie! Stop making me work so hard!”
She laughed at him. “All right, park the bike and come with me.”
“I’ll drive,” he said, running his bike up alongside the school, turning it off and following her. And didn’t she get right in the driver’s side. He held the door for her and tried again, saying, “Come on, I’ll drive.”
“No, thank you,” she sweetly answered. And in a whisper, she added, “My car.”
He gritted his teeth into a smile and said, “I’m a pilot, let me drive.”
“No. Boys, this is Dylan. Do you remember Dylan? I don’t think you met him, but he helped change the flat tire. Dylan, jump in the car.” She smiled again. “Go ahead.”
With a grrrr under his breath, Dylan walked around the front of the car and got in the passenger side.
Katie twisted around and peered into the backseat. “This is Andy,” she said, pointing left, “and that’s Mitch behind you. Dylan suggested we go out for burgers or something and if you eat a nice dinner, there will be dessert.”
Dylan looked between the boys and Katie a couple of times. Without being asked she said, “You’ll figure it out.”
Dylan could not tell them apart. “There’s not even a stray freckle,” he said. “Seriously!”
“It’s subtle,” she said, putting the big SUV in Drive. Then she looked over at Dylan and said, “Seat belt.”
He did as he was told.
Even though Dylan had spent many hours with Lang and his family, often with kids aged two to ten climbing all over him, he still marveled at Katie’s ability to multitask. She drove that big SUV down the mountain with its winding roads while keeping her boys relatively manageable and trying to carry on a conversation with Dylan. It went something like this:
“Andy, seat belt stays on or I stop the car. So, Dylan, this is how you want to spend your time—by yourself in a town of six hundred, just riding around on your motorcycle? Mitch, window up, please. Huh, Dylan?”
It was kind of hard to know when to jump in with an answer. He gave the short one. “We don’t have any charters right now, so I thought I’d spend the time visiting local airports.”
“That must be a little uncertain on the pocketbook,” she said. And then she peered into the backseat and added, “Andy, if you don’t stop bouncing around, you won’t get ice cream. No, Mitch, I didn’t bring movies. Well, Dylan?”
“Sheesh,” he said, running a hand over his head. “We should’ve put harnesses on ’em and run ’em behind the car.” He turned to face into the backseat. “What did you do at school all day? Color? Nap?”
“It’s not school,” Mitch informed him.
“It’s summer program,” Andy explained. “So we don’t have to be really quiet or spell things.”
“It’s like babysitting,” Mitch said.
“And there’s some little kids who are like two!” Andy added with some disgust. “One of ’em bit another one today and everybody freaked out.”
“We definitely need a little more running and jumping in that program,” Katie muttered. “Well, Dylan? You didn’t answer me.”
He looked at her and, shaking his head, said, “I don’t remember the question!”
And she shot him a grin just as she reached one hand over the seat to snatch a plastic gun that made a very annoying racket out of Andy’s hand while she was maneuvering a curve in the road. “We’re not having that right now,” she said, bringing the weapon to the front seat and cradling it in her lap.
Dylan closed his eyes.
When they got to Fortuna, she was leaning over the steering wheel to look around as she drove and finally she said, “Aha! McDonald’s! You’ll thank me later.”
Dylan had no idea what she meant. They wandered in like a family of four, except that Katie took the lead and did the ordering for the three of them, getting her opened wallet in her hand. She looked over her shoulder and said, “Dylan? What would you like?”
He wasn’t having it. He nudged her aside with a hip, closed his hand over her open wallet to prevent her from pulling out her money, placed his order and paid the bill. “Thank you,” she said. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“I invited you,” he reminded her.
“Yeah, but I get the impression you had no idea what you were getting yourself into.”
It was pretty close to what he expected, but he didn’t share that. He’d had the McDonald’s experience a number of times, but they were his best friend’s kids. Never the kids of some woman who had him doing crazy things!
When their food came, Katie sat on one side of the booth, sandwiched between her boys while Dylan sat on the other side alone. While Dylan worked on his Big Mac and fries he watched with admiration as Katie managed her boys. When Andy laid out and aimed a ketchup packet toward Mitch, raising his fist high to bring it slamming down to fire on his brother, she caught his arm in midair while she was telling Mitch he had to eat at least half of his McNuggets to get dessert. When Mitch pulled a fistful of straws out of his pocket and began firing the paper covers into the air like rockets, she confiscated them while disarming Andy of more concealed ketchup packets. As she did these things, she kept them from blowing bubbles in their drinks, made sure they were eating and explained to Dylan how the town put together and assembled the schoolhouse—men taking time off from work and volunteering their services. And then…
“I have to pee.”
“Me, too.”
“Okay,” Katie said. “Let’s go.”
“Aww, I don’t wanna go in the girls’!”
“Please, I don’t wanna go in the girls’, either!”
“In public places, you cannot use restrooms without an adult you know with you,” Katie said calmly. “It’s a rule and it’s for safety.”
“So no one gets us,” Andy blurted, far too loudly.
“Well, if they’d had dinner with you, they wouldn’t want you, but still…”
“I’ll go,” Dylan said. He shrugged. “I need the restroom anyway. And I used to hate going in the girls’.”
“Sucks, huh?” Mitch asked.
“Anything special I should know?” he asked as he was sliding out of the booth. “Like, should I watch for cherry bombs in toilets?”
“Just watch for water sports,” she said. “Of all kinds.”
“Gotcha,” he said. “Come on.”
“I’m spending a little time in the mountains, Jay. My cell reception is spotty. Leave a message and I’ll get back to you.”
“Good enough. And hey, nice talking to you. Give my regards to Adele.”
“Absolutely.”
As a kid, Dylan had been cast in an incredibly successful sitcom from the ages of eight to fifteen. He’d also done a couple of big movies, Disney features. His father had been a famous actor before his death when Dylan was twelve and his grandmother, Adele Childress, was still very much alive and working at the age of seventy-six. He was Adele’s only biological grandchild.
Back in Payne, once Dylan accepted there was no way out but to try it Adele’s way, he settled in. He first learned to ride a horse. Then he went camping with the old guy who managed the ranch and was still on their small property to this day. As time went on, Dylan took to driving to Helena and hung out at a small private airport, just watching the planes and gliders take off and land for hours. He talked someone into a ride in a little Cherokee and fell in love. He’d been looking for freedom for years and found it in the sky. He chewed the fat in the little tower and in the airport office and found out how the pilots there got in the business. And finally he screwed up the courage and told his grandmother he wanted to learn to fly, get his pilot’s license.
She said, “Talk to me when you bring home straight A’s and I like your chances.”
He’d never worked so hard, and that was the beginning of his new life. After high school he went to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in the mountains of Prescott, Arizona, and while logging flying and instructor hours, got himself a degree in aviation management. And that’s where he met Lang.
When he learned to fly, life really turned around for him. And here he was, considering going back to that insane movie life. But, at least this time he had a good reason.
There were more airports to visit and Jay would need at least a few days to come up with an idea that might put Dylan to work. And during those few days, Dylan thought he might have to see what could happen if he ran into Katie Malone again.
Five
Dylan hadn’t timed it, but he wasn’t entirely amazed by the coincidence. There seemed to be some invisible and unconscious forces drawing him to Katie Malone and when he got back to Virgin River, she was just coming out of the little prefab schoolhouse at the end of the street, a child on each side of her. She was walking toward her SUV when Dylan pulled right up to her. He cut the engine on the bike, though he stayed astride.
“I’m running into you all over the place,” he said to her.
“I’m not so sure you’re running into me,” she said. Then she pushed her boys off in the direction of her car, telling them to get in and buckle up.
“Totally by chance,” he said. “But I’m glad I did because I wanted to ask you something. Should I apologize for…you know…earlier?”
“Oh, please don’t,” she said, giving her head a shake. “That would make it seem like you regretted it. We are thinking of the same thing, right? The kiss on my porch?”
He nodded his head. “Oh, man, you’re going to get me in so much trouble…”
“Why?” she asked, stepping toward him. “You said you weren’t married. Oh, no, is there a girlfriend? A fiancée?”
“No…”
She grabbed a piece of his shirtsleeve and, lowering her voice slightly, asked, “Are you g*y?”
“No! Jesus, did I seem g*y?”
“I’m no judge of that,” she said.
“There’s no one,” he said, shaking his head. “It’s just that…” He straightened and tightened his hands on the bike grips. It made him very nervous to pretend to be normal. “Listen, how’d you like to go out for ice cream?”
“I can’t,” she said. “I have the boys.”
“We’ll take them.”
“What are you going to do? Put me on the back of the bike with one under each arm?” she asked.
“Sounds like fun, but maybe we should just drive. You have a car.”
“Where?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he said with a shrug. “Fortuna? It’s an adventure. What about it? You don’t have to recalibrate an engine or anything, do you?”
She made a face; it wasn’t unusual for people to tease her about her mechanical skills, especially men. “I suppose we could meet somewhere, if you had any idea where you wanted to go,” she said.
“How about if we really get crazy and go in one car?” he returned.
She looked at her watch. “I don’t know, Dylan. It might be a little too close to dinner to give them ice cream. I try to get a couple of nutrients in them before they pack on the sugar.”
He was stumped about what to do for a minute, looking at his own watch. “Well, how about pizza or burgers and then ice cream…?”
She frowned. “Are you sure you want to do that?”
“Katie! Stop making me work so hard!”
She laughed at him. “All right, park the bike and come with me.”
“I’ll drive,” he said, running his bike up alongside the school, turning it off and following her. And didn’t she get right in the driver’s side. He held the door for her and tried again, saying, “Come on, I’ll drive.”
“No, thank you,” she sweetly answered. And in a whisper, she added, “My car.”
He gritted his teeth into a smile and said, “I’m a pilot, let me drive.”
“No. Boys, this is Dylan. Do you remember Dylan? I don’t think you met him, but he helped change the flat tire. Dylan, jump in the car.” She smiled again. “Go ahead.”
With a grrrr under his breath, Dylan walked around the front of the car and got in the passenger side.
Katie twisted around and peered into the backseat. “This is Andy,” she said, pointing left, “and that’s Mitch behind you. Dylan suggested we go out for burgers or something and if you eat a nice dinner, there will be dessert.”
Dylan looked between the boys and Katie a couple of times. Without being asked she said, “You’ll figure it out.”
Dylan could not tell them apart. “There’s not even a stray freckle,” he said. “Seriously!”
“It’s subtle,” she said, putting the big SUV in Drive. Then she looked over at Dylan and said, “Seat belt.”
He did as he was told.
Even though Dylan had spent many hours with Lang and his family, often with kids aged two to ten climbing all over him, he still marveled at Katie’s ability to multitask. She drove that big SUV down the mountain with its winding roads while keeping her boys relatively manageable and trying to carry on a conversation with Dylan. It went something like this:
“Andy, seat belt stays on or I stop the car. So, Dylan, this is how you want to spend your time—by yourself in a town of six hundred, just riding around on your motorcycle? Mitch, window up, please. Huh, Dylan?”
It was kind of hard to know when to jump in with an answer. He gave the short one. “We don’t have any charters right now, so I thought I’d spend the time visiting local airports.”
“That must be a little uncertain on the pocketbook,” she said. And then she peered into the backseat and added, “Andy, if you don’t stop bouncing around, you won’t get ice cream. No, Mitch, I didn’t bring movies. Well, Dylan?”
“Sheesh,” he said, running a hand over his head. “We should’ve put harnesses on ’em and run ’em behind the car.” He turned to face into the backseat. “What did you do at school all day? Color? Nap?”
“It’s not school,” Mitch informed him.
“It’s summer program,” Andy explained. “So we don’t have to be really quiet or spell things.”
“It’s like babysitting,” Mitch said.
“And there’s some little kids who are like two!” Andy added with some disgust. “One of ’em bit another one today and everybody freaked out.”
“We definitely need a little more running and jumping in that program,” Katie muttered. “Well, Dylan? You didn’t answer me.”
He looked at her and, shaking his head, said, “I don’t remember the question!”
And she shot him a grin just as she reached one hand over the seat to snatch a plastic gun that made a very annoying racket out of Andy’s hand while she was maneuvering a curve in the road. “We’re not having that right now,” she said, bringing the weapon to the front seat and cradling it in her lap.
Dylan closed his eyes.
When they got to Fortuna, she was leaning over the steering wheel to look around as she drove and finally she said, “Aha! McDonald’s! You’ll thank me later.”
Dylan had no idea what she meant. They wandered in like a family of four, except that Katie took the lead and did the ordering for the three of them, getting her opened wallet in her hand. She looked over her shoulder and said, “Dylan? What would you like?”
He wasn’t having it. He nudged her aside with a hip, closed his hand over her open wallet to prevent her from pulling out her money, placed his order and paid the bill. “Thank you,” she said. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“I invited you,” he reminded her.
“Yeah, but I get the impression you had no idea what you were getting yourself into.”
It was pretty close to what he expected, but he didn’t share that. He’d had the McDonald’s experience a number of times, but they were his best friend’s kids. Never the kids of some woman who had him doing crazy things!
When their food came, Katie sat on one side of the booth, sandwiched between her boys while Dylan sat on the other side alone. While Dylan worked on his Big Mac and fries he watched with admiration as Katie managed her boys. When Andy laid out and aimed a ketchup packet toward Mitch, raising his fist high to bring it slamming down to fire on his brother, she caught his arm in midair while she was telling Mitch he had to eat at least half of his McNuggets to get dessert. When Mitch pulled a fistful of straws out of his pocket and began firing the paper covers into the air like rockets, she confiscated them while disarming Andy of more concealed ketchup packets. As she did these things, she kept them from blowing bubbles in their drinks, made sure they were eating and explained to Dylan how the town put together and assembled the schoolhouse—men taking time off from work and volunteering their services. And then…
“I have to pee.”
“Me, too.”
“Okay,” Katie said. “Let’s go.”
“Aww, I don’t wanna go in the girls’!”
“Please, I don’t wanna go in the girls’, either!”
“In public places, you cannot use restrooms without an adult you know with you,” Katie said calmly. “It’s a rule and it’s for safety.”
“So no one gets us,” Andy blurted, far too loudly.
“Well, if they’d had dinner with you, they wouldn’t want you, but still…”
“I’ll go,” Dylan said. He shrugged. “I need the restroom anyway. And I used to hate going in the girls’.”
“Sucks, huh?” Mitch asked.
“Anything special I should know?” he asked as he was sliding out of the booth. “Like, should I watch for cherry bombs in toilets?”
“Just watch for water sports,” she said. “Of all kinds.”
“Gotcha,” he said. “Come on.”
