He laughed. “I’m your ride to San Diego.”
“Wait,” Alana said, putting the pieces together. “Marissa said Adam’s lieutenant was picking us up. You were Adam’s commanding officer in Afghanistan?”
“Two tours,” Nate confirmed, his smile flashing on. “Small world.”
“Well, then, you’ll be pleased to meet Adam’s mother, Darla Collins.”
Without seeming to move, Nate straightened his shoulders and spine. “Mrs. Collins, it’s an honor to meet you. Your son is one of the finest Marines I’ve ever served with, and a good man.”
“Thank you,” she said, clearly touched by his heartfelt words. “He’s spoken very highly of you.”
“I’ll tell you stories once we get airborne,” he said with a smile. “Is that the dress?”
“This is the dress,” she confirmed.
“Let’s get that stowed.”
The pilot took the cases from Lucas and they made their way into the jet. Darla carefully placed the dress in the hanging bag locker. Alana settled into a seat by the window and buckled up. Lucas eased into the seat next to her.
“You know him?”
“Oh, yes,” she said as she powered down her phone, laptop, and other electronics. “Let’s see. His mother and my mother served on several of the same boards, and his father was a big contributor to the Senator’s reelection campaigns. He went to the University of Chicago’s Lab School while Freddie and I were at Miss Porter’s, then I was at Bryn Mawr while he was at Brown, then he went through Officer Candidate School and joined the Marine Corps. So other than a few social events we’ve lost touch.”
“This is his plane.”
She smiled. “You’re familiar with Ayrshire Warwick Incorporated?” At his nod, she continued. “That’s his family’s business.”
Lucas’s brows lifted. “What exactly are you doing in Walkers Ford?”
The plane taxied down the tarmac to the runway. “Working as a contract librarian,” she said lightly.
“Why?”
“I needed a break,” she reminded him.
He thought about this for a moment. “A person with your connections would have access to houses all over the world. You could do anything, go anywhere. But you decided to come to a tiny town on the eastern edge of nothing and redesign a library.”
“You sound like my mother,” she said.
“Not what I usually want to hear from the woman I’m sleeping with, but I’ll take it for now.”
The pilot announced takeoff. Nate buckled himself into a seat next to Darla, and for a few minutes the only sound in the cabin was the pilot’s voice, describing their route to San Diego and dinging off the Fasten Seat Belt sign. Nate took over his role as host and got everyone drinks and snacks. After carrying a blanket and pillow to the back row, he settled in across from Alana.
“Hi again, stranger,” he said with a smile.
She smiled back, enjoying the company of someone she could relax with.
“Mrs. Collins was up until three finishing the dress, so she’s going to take a nap,” Nate continued, then studied Lucas for a quick second. “Where did you serve?”
Lucas gave him a half smile. “Aurora, Five Points, and Federal Boulevard in Denver. I was a cop in Denver for ten years, and spent six of those on the DEA task force.”
“Lucas is chief of police for Walkers Ford,” Alana said.
“Your hometown?” Nate said.
“My parents are from there. I grew up in Denver, but spent summers in South Dakota with my grandparents. My parents are musicians, and they toured during the summer. A tour was no place for a young child, they said, and my grandparents agreed.”
Nate laughed. “What about as a teenager?”
“No way would they let me come. Besides, by then I wanted to go back to Walkers Ford. It’s home.”
Alana broke off a section of blueberry muffin. “So when Adam took Marissa sailing in Chicago, it was on . . . no, don’t tell me . . . it’s in there somewhere . . . the Resolute?”
Nate laughed. “Nice memory. The last time you were out on her, we were both still in braces.”
“It was a beautiful day,” Alana said. “And a beautiful boat. She’s a Herreshoff yacht, right?”
“Built in the 1920s, overhauled in the ’70s, overhauled again when I got home a year ago.” He looked at Lucas. “I’m guessing you didn’t do much sailing in Denver.”
“Hiking, mountain biking, and rock climbing,” Lucas said.
Nate’s eyes lit up. “Climbed any of the big peaks?”
“All of them. You?”
Nate shook his head. “If I had leave overseas, I found a boat with a sail.”
“So what happened when they came to visit?” Alana asked.