A single father was not someone she had experience with. She wasn’t sure what his life must be like. Olivia didn’t have to worry about anyone else’s schedule. When she wanted to do something, she checked her work calendar first and that was all.
Oh, no. She was shallow.
“Why haven’t you flown since you left?” he asked.
Olivia stared at the controls in front of her. The urge to grab hold was strong, but she fisted her hands in her lap. Everything before her was the past, not her future.
“Probably for the same reasons you’re not married.”
Silence settled over the airways and she wondered if she’d stepped over the line. Obviously, she had, but she didn’t want to delve into her issues any more than he did.
After a moment of tension-filled silence, Jackson’s gruff chuckle came through. “You really don’t want to talk about this, do you? Fine. I’m not married because when I was in the air force my wife gave birth while I was overseas. When she decided she didn’t want to be a parent, I knew I had to give up my career and step up to the plate. She was a heartless mother and signed her rights over as she rushed to get out of town. So, I’ve been a little too busy to date, let alone remarry.”
Olivia stared at the horizon where the darkness met the city lights. She wasn’t sure what to say. She hadn’t fully expected him to open up, so that was shocking in itself, but the picture he painted was heartbreaking.
His wife had left him and a newborn baby? She wanted to compare the parallel childhood she had to his instance, but she’d been eighteen when she’d walked away from her father.
“Nothing to say?” he asked. “You don’t want to share with the class your little secrets?”
Olivia tucked her hands beneath her legs. Part of her wanted to feel those controls once again, part of her wanted him to land this thing because she couldn’t handle being wrapped in all these memories.
“I don’t know what to say,” she murmured. “But no, I don’t want to share anything. I just want to sell this airport. I can’t have this in my life.”
“Wanting to cut those final ties? I guess being a city girl now you’re more concerned with promotions, getting to the top of that corporate ladder, and forgetting your roots.”
Olivia knew anything she said would only make her sound like she hated this place, so she remained silent.
“I guess it’s easier to move on than it is to water those roots, huh?”
Swallowing that lump of remorse, Olivia refused to answer. No, she didn’t want to revisit the past. Obviously, that was the entire point of trying to get out from under this burden.
“You can buy my half,” she suggested, as if that solution would wrap up this mess in a neat package.
“In a perfect world I would. But I have bills to pay and no extra cash.”
“How about a loan?”
“My wife pretty much destroyed my credit while I was overseas. I’m still digging out of that mess.”
Who was this woman he’d been married to? She left a newborn baby and had demolished Jackson’s finances all while he was fighting for their country. What was wrong with people?
“I’m sure there’s something we can work out,” she murmured, more talking to herself than anything. She refused to believe there was no way around this.
“Why don’t I get the property appraised and let’s take it from there.”
Jackson started their descent and part of Olivia was thankful their time was drawing to an end. The other part, the one she wished would shut up and get out of her head, wanted to learn more about the man who stood in her way. She wanted to know what happened after she left, how his relationship was with her father. Most likely Jackson was the exact child her father had wanted. With his love of aviation, Jackson made the perfect replacement once Olivia was gone. Hell, Jackson had been perfect while Olivia had still lived here. Maybe that was just another reason why her father stayed at the airport so often—he’d had someone to bond with.
Olivia couldn’t deny the hurt. She couldn’t deny that when she’d secretly wished her father would put her ahead of everything else, but instead he’d turned to the skies, to Jackson.
“You can do what you want, but you’d be wasting your time.” His voice came through seconds before he tapped the control and announced his landing. “This is my life, Livie. You wouldn’t like it too much if someone showed up at your place of employment one day and told you to give everything up.”
“This isn’t the same thing,” she argued.
“It’s exactly the same thing, I just reversed the scenario.”
He wasn’t going to make her feel guilty. Hadn’t she already had that pep talk with herself? The whole single father, ex-soldier, small-town hunk was too damn appealing on levels she couldn’t even address in her own mind. She refused to let him get to her, but that grip she had on the control was starting to slip. If she didn’t watch herself, she’d lose more than just this sale.
As he lined up with the airstrip, Olivia’s trained eye instantly went to the lights to the left of the runway to make sure all three were green for a safe landing.
“You’re a great pilot,” she found herself saying. “You can tell you have a passion.”
“I would’ve still been in the air force had my life not taken a different turn,” he explained. The plane made a gentle bump as the wheels hit the pavement. “But Piper is the best thing that’s ever happened to me and I wouldn’t change a thing.”
“Not every parent would have given everything up like that.”
“I never walk away from what’s mine. Not even when my marriage was falling apart. I would’ve stuck it out to make things work.”
Olivia didn’t
