Half Empty (First Wives, #2)(13)

“That’s not good,” Wade said, looking behind him toward Nita. “Is everything okay up there?” He pointed toward the cockpit door.

“Just lightning, like the pilot said.”

Wade turned his wild eyes on Trina.

“Hey, it’s fine.”

“Easy for you to say. Musicians always die in small plane crashes.”

Trina couldn’t help but take the blame for being on the plane with a storm approaching. Not that she felt they were at risk of falling out of the sky, but Wade obviously considered it a high probability.

“Do you need me to come over there and sit next to you?” she asked, trying to tease him.

His eyes locked on hers. “Don’t you dare take that seat belt off.”

The plane started to descend and bank to the left. Trina tried to see the ground but only saw clouds.

“Does your friend still play the drums with you?”

“What?”

“The drums. You said you had a friend who played when you were a kid.”

Wade shook his head. “No. He ah . . .”

Trina noticed his hands fisting on the armrest. His knuckles turned white.

“He what?” Trina kept her concern about the bad weather to herself. As flights went, this was one she could have done without. The small plane made it worse.

“Married his high school sweetheart, had a daughter within the first year.”

“Married life and your job aren’t compatible?”

“I’m not sure about that. Drew didn’t have the same drive. Took the excuse of a wife and a kid to stop trying and went to work with his father.” Wade looked out the window again and released a relieved sigh. “Land. I see land.”

Trina leaned forward and rested a hand on his knee. “Hey . . .”

He turned her way and tried to smile.

He sucked at it.

“I’m sorry. This was a bad idea.”

Wade covered her hand with his and squeezed. “It was my bad idea.”

“You were just trying to get me to go out with you.”

There was a pause and a tilt of his head that she’d seen him do before. “I think after this flight, the least you can do is say yes to a date.”

Oh, yeah, he was definitely playing it hard. Not that she thought for a second his anxiety about the flight was a show. White knuckles and wild eyes were a dead giveaway.

“How about dinner at whatever hotel we muster up once we land?”

His thumb stroked her fingers.

On instinct, she pulled away, only to have him hold her tighter. “That was a given. I’m talking about when we get back to Texas. I still need to teach you the two-step.”

The plane rocked back and forth as the runway approached. Wade squeezed her hand a little tighter.

“Who says I don’t already know the two-step?”

“Do you?”

“It’s two steps, how hard can it be?”

The first punch to the tarmac and Wade squeezed her hand hard enough to have her tense. Once the wheels made decent contact and the nose bounced before leveling out, Trina placed her free hand over his fist.

Wade glanced at his hand. “Oh, damn, sorry.” He let her go the second he realized the grip he had.

Trina shook out her hand with a laugh. “I don’t need my hand for the rest of the day anyway.”

Tilting his head back and closing his eyes, Wade let his shoulders fall. “That was not fun.”

“We landed. We’re good.”

“Little lady, I haven’t worked this hard for a date since I was in Miss Kuhnar’s third grade class.”

She laughed. “Third grade? You started early.”

“Patty refused to let me walk her home up until the last week of school.”

Trina had a strong desire to learn more about Patty.

The airplane came to a stop, and Nita stood from her seat as quickly as she could.

“Sincere apologies, Mr. Thomas.”

Relaxed now, Wade flirted with his eyes and put Nita at ease. “I’ll use this in a song,” he told her.

The younger woman seemed to like that idea. “I can’t wait to hear it.”

Wade winked.



“Do you know who Wade Thomas is?” Avery glanced up from her cell phone to find Lori’s and Shannon’s eyes.

“The name sounds familiar,” Lori said.

Avery turned her phone around and showed the others the image on her screen. “He’s a country western singer. A friggin’ musician!”

Lori blinked. “Okay . . .”

“Trina is in a private plane with a cowboy rock star. This isn’t good.” Avery hated to think of her vulnerable friend being taken advantage of by some sweet-talking, yes, ma’am kinda man that had women throwing themselves at him in a different city every night.

Shannon and Lori didn’t share her distress.

“Remember Miguel?”

They all exchanged glances in a memory of the man that had latched on to Trina during their weeklong cruise in the Mediterranean last year. The man had put drugs into Trina’s drink, his intentions never truly revealed, since they had intercepted their friend before anything tragic happened.

“One case of bad judgment isn’t a reason to assume Trina isn’t capable of picking up a decent guy,” Shannon said.