Redwood Bend (Virgin River #18)(27)

“Okay, listen. I can’t say what I’d do if someone wanted to give me a shitpot full of money just to stand in front of a camera and look pretty, but you don’t have to do it for us. You should only do it for you. Because we might have to make some painful adjustments around here, but we can keep coffee in the pot with a skeleton crew for a long time. A long time, Dylan. Just on our instrument instruction, aircraft storage and maintenance, occasional flight instruction and the odd charter…”

Dylan ground his teeth. “Might be a little more to it than looking pretty…”

“Yeah, yeah… What have you been doing since Stu and I left?”

“Nothing much…”

“But what?”

Dylan didn’t answer.

“Had someone on the back of your bike, did you?” Lang asked, laughter in his voice.

Dylan sighed. “I think I’ll probably head out tomorrow. I’ll let you know if I’m coming back to Payne or going straight to L.A....”

“Stay awhile, D,” he said. “Stay until that doubt is gone from your voice.”

“She’s got a couple of kids, man…”

“You’re great with kids,” Lang said. “And even though you’ve been whistling that old ‘I’m a bad relationship risk’ tune for years, I’ve never seen any evidence of it. You haven’t tripped over the right girl to lock down with, maybe, but your relationships are solid. In fact, if I die, you have permission to marry Sue Ann.”

He laughed in spite of himself. “She wouldn’t have me.”

“There’s nothing for you to hurry back here for, D. You’ve carried this company on your shoulders for a long time and it’s all about to change. Time to chill. Think about the future.”

“I’ll check in when I’m on the road,” he said. “Thanks for holding down the fort.”

“Hey, no problem, buddy. My fort and all my little Indians are here.”

His fort and all his little Indians… Fortunately, Lang knew exactly how lucky he was, so there was no recrimination there. Envy, yes. Since Dylan was a little kid and had that pretend television family, he’d longed for those kinds of ties. And ever since he was a teenager he had known it wasn’t likely to ever happen that way.

But, he wanted to be in only one place—right beside Katie, in her arms. Fearing that, fearing how much he wanted that, he avoided her. The hardest thing right now was knowing he had promised to say goodbye. He wasn’t sure he could get through that. He thought it was probably far safer to run.

He scrolled through his emails on his phone while he was still up high and had service. Several were from Jay, and they all said approximately the same thing. Still talking to people and lining up details for a potential deal—don’t give up on me. I’m getting closer. I’m determined to make this work.

No surprise there—Jay Romney had been in touch with him at least once a year for the past ten years.

He responded to the email. I’m standing by. D.

And then there was an email from his grandmother. She didn’t usually bother with emails. It was short and to the point. I’m tired of being sent to voice mail. Lang finally answered the company phone and while he pretended not to know where you are, he indicated it could be about a girl. If you don’t want me to hunt you down, call me. A.

Okay, now this created a problem. It wasn’t like him to not talk to his grandmother and he hadn’t realized she’d left a lot of voice mails. And he hadn’t discussed a potential movie deal with her for a very good reason—she’d want to give him whatever money he needed. True, if she thought he wanted a film career, she might even encourage him, but she was far too intuitive. If she knew he was too proud to take her money and a movie was the only thing he could think of, she’d push.

But he was without choice. So he called her.

“Gran…”

“Well, finally! So, Lang said you were riding through this little town and you met a girl and you stayed on for a while.”

Dylan was going to kill him. “I stayed to check out the small flying operations in the area. I want to know how they’re holding it together in a down economy with these high fuel costs and I’m throwing out the net for charter contracts. It’s business, Gran.”

“Is she a nice girl?”

He groaned. “I met a girl, that’s accurate. I took her and her children to McDonald’s, took her on a few bike rides, bought her a couple of hamburgers—not a real big deal. There is something else I meant to mention, but since nothing is firm…”

“What?”

“I’ve had a conversation with Jay Romney about work. If it’s the right project and the right terms…”

“Now that stuns me,” she said. There was silence, which was very strange for Adele. “I guess you’ve thought it through…”

“Jay has been in touch now and then over the years, always throwing out the invitation. And now, while business is down and Lang can handle things, it’s not a bad way to earn a little money.”

“The good news is, I think you can trust Jay,” Adele said. “But you haven’t shown an interest in acting since you started flying.”

“I’m motivated,” he said. “Business being what it is, and all.”