The Top Gun's Return

After that, neither of them spoke again until they reached the dorms. Then Sammi June told Cory where to turn and where to park in the visitors' section of the parking lot. Since it was moving day, they were lucky to find one, happening along just as someone else was pulling out.

Although she didn't really need him to, and certainly didn't expect him to, Cory turned off the motor and got out to help her wrestle her bike out of the trunk. When the bike was once more upright with both wheels on the ground, Sammi June flexed her fingers on the handlebars in a fidgety sort of way and thought about saying goodbye. The thought made her heart stumble and her breath grow shallow.

Before she could make the words come out of her mouth, Cory smiled at her and said, 'How 'bout those directions, now?'

She flipped back her hair-casual, composed-and said, 'Oh, sure. Got a pencil?'

He opened the back driver's side door, took out a laptop computer and set it on the hood of the car. 'Oh, cool,' said Sammi June, as he opened it and booted it up. She told him her parents' address, phone number and directions to their house, and watched over his shoulder while he entered the information into the laptop. She was thinking that she really liked the way he smelled, and was trying hard not to sniff audibly.

When he finished he closed the laptop and put it back in the car, then turned to her, smiling in an odd sort of way. Reluctantly, she wondered Could it be…? And her heart gave a sickening lurch, because she knew that now he was going to have to say goodbye, and probably tell her something like…he guessed he'd see her tomorrow. But all at once, tomorrow seemed an eternity away.

'I don't suppose,' she heard herself say, in a disgustingly breathless, eager voice, 'you'd like to help me load my stuff in my truck?'

His eyebrows went up and he said warily, 'I don't know, how much stuff are we talking about?' But she could see that his eyes were laughing.

She gave him a sly, sideways look. 'Oh…you know, the usual-clothes, books…computer.'

'Uh-huh.' He was gazing up at the dorm. 'Which floor?'

'Fifth-but there's an elevator.'

Muttering, 'Why do I get the feeling I've been had?' he locked up the car and pocketed the keys while Sammi June stood by, holding her bike and grinning with an irrational joy.

They walked toward the dorm, one on either side of the bicycle, neither of them in any hurry. Halfway there, Cory looked over at her and asked somberly, 'Is this a test?'

She repeated it, not understanding, and as she did, she felt her gaze collide with his and stick like glue. It seemed impossible to pull away from those terribly intent, all-too-perceptive eyes.

'To see if I'm young enough to keep up with you?' he said, and smiled.

Sammi June laughed, and in the warmth of that smile, felt all her fears of a short while ago fade away, like fog in the sunshine.

* * *

Jessie closed the lid of the old-fashioned hard-type suitcase, snapped the latches shut and straightened. What else? Had she forgotten anything? Tristan had assured her the lake house was completely furnished and fully equipped, but Jessie was taking no chances. She'd filled Momma's old suitcase with sheets, towels and cleaning supplies, just in case. Food, though, was another matter. She had no idea what to take, or how far from grocery stores and restaurants this lake house was. She was going to have to ask Tris, she realized with a sigh.

She stood gnawing on her lip and thinking dejectedly about that, and how awkward and uncomfortable things still were between them-Jessie tiptoeing around like a hunter trying not to wake up a sleeping rhinoceros, and Tristan being determinedly upbeat in an effort to convince her she had no cause to worry about him. Would things ever be right and easy for them again? There were barriers between them-huge barriers, impenetrable as the prison walls he'd supposedly left behind.

A tiny movement drew her eyes to the window, where two people were coming along the lane from the direction of the woods. Sammi June and Cory, back from an introductory tour of the place. As Jessie watched the two of them walking together, side by side, not touching, she felt an odd little ripple in her belly. Emotions stirred through her-not alarm or dread or dismay, exactly…and maybe there was even some happiness in the mix, and excitement, too-the kind of emotions that make a mother smile misty-eyed and at the same time tremble in fear. My daughter's in love. The body language was unmistakable. And unless she was very much mistaken, the feeling was mutual. Like mother, like daughter, she thought.

* * *

Tristan was on the front porch, enjoying the soft feel of humidity on his skin, thinking how much he'd missed this, the gentle easing of Southern springs into muggy summers…distant rumblings that weren't bombs or tanks but only friendly afternoon thundershowers…whippoorwills calling and bats swooping in the dusk. I'm a lucky man, he thought as he watched his daughter and the man responsible for his resurrection come toward him across the just-mowed lawn. A lucky, lucky man. And Cory's right-I need to stop dwelling on the past and start thinking about the future. Particularly on how I'm gonna make a future with my wife and child.

As always, when he thought about that, he felt doubts come to cloud his vision and darken his soul. The future? But I can't even figure out where I fit into their lives here and now.

But now he shook them off and called out, 'Hey, 'bout time you guys decided to come home. Sammi June, I was just about to talk to your mother about food.'

Behind him, the screen door banged, and Jessie said, 'That's good, because I was about to ask you the same thing. What are we gonna take with us tomorrow?'

Tristan smiled at her and shrugged. 'I don't know-the usual stuff, I guess. Hamburgers, hotdogs…chicken. We can stop at a grocery store on the way…pick up whatever we need. No, I was thinking more in terms of now. Tonight. What're we doing for dinner? Barbecuing? Sandwiches? Or-does your mother have something exotic planned?'

'Momma's got a church thing,' Jessie said. 'They're fixin' to spend tomorrow sprucing up the cemetery, like they do every Memorial Day weekend, so I guess this evening's the planning session. Anyway, they're havin' a pot- luck supper at the church, so we're on our own.'

'Well,' said Sammi June, 'don't worry about us.' Tristan turned his head to look at her. She and Cory were standing at the bottom of the steps, side by side, not looking at each other. And it occurred to Tristan all at once that, even in the dwindling light, her eyes seemed to be glowing. He felt an odd little vibration begin, just behind his breastbone.

'Cory and I are going out,' Sammi June announced.

Tristan frowned. Behind him he heard Jess make a soft, wordless sound, like a cough. 'What do you mean 'out'?'

'I mean, out-out.' Now she did look at Pearson, and not only were her eyes glowing, so were her cheeks.

Tristan's heart gave a sickening lurch. In that moment she reminded him so much of someone…someone he'd known a long time ago… 'Wait just a minute,' he began.

'We're gonna go into town, have dinner…maybe see a movie. Come on, Dad, it's my first day of vacation-I'm not gonna spend it sitting at home. Anyway-' she grinned wickedly and gave a kind of wiggle that made Tristan's hair stand on end '-I want to show Cory the local night-life. If he thinks he can handle it.'

Jess made a strangled sound that could have been laughter or dismay. Tristan opened his mouth, but couldn't think of a response, because in his mind he was trumpeting all sorts of dire paternal threats and proclamations, the kinds of things fathers of daughters have always thought, but these days, at least, are seldom foolish enough to say out loud: Over my dead body! I'm gonna lock you in your room until you're forty and strangle with my bare hands any man who dares to touch you!

'I don't think that's such a good idea,' he mumbled at last, scowling, realizing he sounded more pouty than paternal. 'You're gonna need to get up early tomorrow morning.'

Sammi June's laugh was incredulous. 'Dad, hello. I'm used to studying until four in the morning, then getting up three hours later to take a test. It's not like I'm a child, can't