Her Alaskan Pilot: An Alaskan Hero Novel Page 2

  With sudden clarity, he realized he didn’t want to see her leave. She would leave—there was no getting around that—but he didn’t have to watch her go.

  Having some focus, he headed to the parking lot. He’d get his dog Duke, then fly out to the lodge. He’d promised his sister-in-law he’d do some deck repairs this summer. No time like the present. All he needed was some paint from the hardware store and he’d be gone. Time to leave Fairbanks for a while.

  He marched around the corner toward the parking lot and almost ran smack dab into Chryssa.

  “Whoa, sorry,” Travis said.

  “No. It was my fault. Sorry,” Chryssa replied.

  Did her eyes look puffy or did he just not notice before? “Chryssa, are you okay?”

  She gave a half-hearted shrug. “I’m fine.”

  Travis didn’t believe her for a second. “Daphne said you’re going to leave for the day. It’s no problem. I’m sure you have a lot to take care of.”

  Chryssa sniffed and continued toward her car.

  Guilt consumed him, although he wasn’t sure why. Maybe because he hadn’t appreciated her enough. Maybe she was leaving because there was no future for her with Tundra Air, but that didn’t seem right. They were a small company, but they were growing. If she wanted to stay, he could make it worth her while.

  He didn’t know why he didn’t think of it sooner.

  “Hey, Chryssa, can you hold on a second?” he called out.

  She stood by the side of her car with her keys in hand and glanced up.

  “I probably haven’t been appreciative of everything you’ve done for me.” Travis approached her. “I mean, when I first started Tundra Air, I was pretty much a one-man show, but you came in and made everything run so smoothly. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

  “Thank you, Travis,” she said. Her eyes were a greenish-gold color. He’d never noticed before. Her blonde hair fell in thick waves almost to her elbows.

  “I guess what I’m saying is, I should have… I want to give you more compensation. Like, stock options. My brothers own shares in Tundra Air and I want to give you the same.”

  She looked at him with a blank expression. He couldn’t for the life of him think what she wanted to say, but clearly, she was holding back.

  She pushed the button on her key fob to unlock her blue Ford Escape. “I’m not interested in purchasing stock options.”

  “No, no,” Travis declared. “I’ll give you some.” He puffed up with pride. “It’s the least I can do.”

  Chryssa opened the door of her vehicle and slid into the driver’s seat. “No thanks.”

  Travis stood unmoving. Shocked. He’d offered her something only members of his family had. Didn’t she understand how special that made her?

  Then she did something even more shocking. She slammed the door and drove away.

  “Damn.” He wasn’t sure how long he stood there watching her retreat. She didn’t drive slowly either. A big cloud of dust followed in her wake.

  “Travis?” Daphne called out to him.

  “Yes.” He strode back toward the Tundra Air Administrative building.

  “We had a pilot call in sick. Since you’re here, I thought I’d ask you to cover, but we have plenty of other pilots I can call if you don’t want to.”

  “No. I mean yes, I’ll cover.” Nothing sounded better than spending some time in the sky. He’d spent too much time on the ground lately, and right now, flying sounded like pure heaven.

  CHAPTER 3

  For Chryssa, the next two days at Tundra Air went by fast. If Travis came to the office, it was only to check in, then he quickly left.

  Daphne handled things well. Chryssa knew everything would be fine. It wasn’t as if Tundra Air would stop running when she left. She’d taught Daphne well and was confident the transition would go smoothly.

  She’d been packing up boxes at a frenzied pace and had completed about two-thirds of the job. Keeping busy filled her brain with thoughts that didn’t include Travis. She had so much to look forward to. Her Alaskan apartment came furnished and she never liked the green color of the sofa and love seat. Maybe once she settled in Arizona, with the lower cost of living, she could afford to buy her own furniture. A southwest palette of gold and red sounded appealing. Something different from what she currently had.

  Exhausted, she looked at herself in the mirror and noted the bags under her eyes. She needed some sleep. Or maybe she needed a new look. If she was going to completely uproot and change her life, why not change other things too?

  She looked at her calendar to count how many days she had left in Fairbanks and what she wanted to accomplish in that time.

  She had an appointment with her stylist in fifteen minutes. Her subconscious must have been reminding her about the date and how she should consider changing her look. After a quick shower, she headed to Jacquie’s in-home salon. This was perfect timing.

  She wasn’t even sure what kind of change she wanted, but decided before she even set foot inside the one-room salon that she’d go along with whatever Jacquie suggested.

  Chryssa had told Jacquie six months ago about her job search when she first started looking. She had looked for positions around Fairbanks, but there were only two small galleries with employees who would likely never leave. Chryssa slid into the salon chair. “What do you think? I’m up for a change.”

  “You’ve got a lot of change going on in your life.” Jacquie ran her hands through Chryssa’s long locks. “What if we did something really crazy?” They both looked into the mirror at themselves. Jacquie pursed her lips and tilted her head to the side. “Like go back to your natural hair color?”

  “Whoa!” Chryssa exclaimed. “That’s crazy talk. I haven’t been a brunette since my college days when I couldn’t afford to get my hair highlighted.”

  “Well, we’ll add highlights, but we’ll put in varying shades of brown and red, not blonde.”

  Chryssa tipped her head. Since change was the current theme of her life, why not go big? “I think you’re right. I should embrace the real me—which includes my hair color. Time to make me the brunette I was born to be.”

  Over the next hour, Chryssa told Jacquie everything. Every detail of how and when she’d given her resignation. She even told her about Travis’ stock options offer.

  Chryssa’s decision to leave hadn’t come lightly. She’d agonized about leaving her home, about leaving Travis. But there came a time in every woman’s life when she had to pull up her big-girl panties and make tough decisions.

  That decision was long overdue.

  She’d given Travis every hint imaginable, especially this past year. She’d doubled her efforts by wearing dresses to work, by claiming she had dates—hoping to make him jealous—when she really didn’t. Travis saw her as nothing but a friend, employee, and colleague.

  Jacquie painted color on her hair while Chryssa handed her sheets of foil. The process was routine and predictable, but Chryssa felt anything but normal. Her hair would look different and she would be different. No more tears. No more wishing her life had taken another path. She would turn twenty-eight soon. Way past time to pursue her art and a new career. Way past time to live someplace else and experience life outside of Alaska. Way past time to give up on any kind of future with Travis Forrester.

  After almost an hour under the lights to seal the new color in her hair, she determined that, like a butterfly who’d been in its cocoon, she’d emerge as a better version of herself. She had a new job and a new future ahead of her. She had every reason to be hopeful about that future.

  * * *

  TRAVIS HAD GOTTEN side-tracked covering flights for the sick pilot, but now that scheduling had gone back to normal, he decided to make that trip to the lodge to work on the deck repairs. He’d promised his brother Zak and Zak’s wife, Sabrina. Time to keep that promise.

  He’d flown cargo to McGrath and back and was about to head for home. His mom watched Duke during the day,
so he’d go to her place first, but before he left the airport, he checked the admin building to see if Chryssa was in.

  He poked his head inside, glanced around and didn’t see her. He turned to Daphne. “Is Chryssa here?”

  “Nope. You just missed her. We were thinking to have a party for her tomorrow. Will you be here?”

  “A going away party?” he asked.

  “More like a, we wish you the best in your new life, party.”

  A pang of something hit him in the chest. “Yeah. I keep thinking in terms of her leaving Tundra Air, but she’s leaving the state, isn’t she?”

  Daphne sighed. “Yes, she is.”

  He supposed her leaving had put a tightness in his chest. He’d planned on heading to Gold Creek tonight, but it could wait another day until after Chryssa’s farewell party. “Yes, of course I’ll be here. What time?”

  “Noon. I ordered a cake and some sandwiches and drinks. Just for the office. Nothing big, but I thought we should do something.”

  He nodded. “Yes. Great idea. Thank you for taking care of that.” That pang hit him again, and he suspected it was guilt. He should have thought of a party for her since he’d known her longer than anyone else.

  Disappointed not to see Chryssa, he headed to his mom’s place. When Travis arrived at her house, Duke bounded through the front yard and propped his paws up on the fence in greeting. The five-year-old lab-husky mix got the luxury of being babysat by Travis’ mom so he wouldn’t have to be locked in a kennel all day while Travis worked. His mother stood up from weeding a row of radishes.

  Travis reached over the fence and rubbed Duke’s neck. “Hi, Mom. How was Duke today?”

  “He didn’t run off, if that’s what you’re asking.” She took off her gardening gloves and wiped the sweat from her brow.

  “Where’s Fiona?” he asked.

  “She’s gone to the lake with the Carters.”

  “Was she late to practice yesterday?”

  “Yes.” She tucked her garden gloves into the front pocket of her apron.

  “Figures.”

  “Son, she’s not as dedicated as you were at that age. Nobody can make her skate.” His mother walked to the edge of the front yard, closer to him. “Speaking of skating…Trent Harrington called again.”

  “Again? He’s recruiting you to lean on me now? I’m going to have to change my phone number to get him off my back.”

  “You should help him out. Better yet, do it for the kids. They need good coaches at those clinics.”

  “I’m not a coach, Mom.”

  “You could be.” His mother went back to her garden. “You could do this favor for Trent. He’s Dane’s line mate and one of his best friends. I think he had another coach in mind, but the guy canceled on him.”

  Travis stopped scratching Duke’s head and looked squarely at her. “Give it a rest, Mom.”

  “Fine,” she huffed and went back to weeding.

  “Speaking of favors, Sabrina is calling one in. She wants me to repair those steps at the lodge.”

  “Did you tell her you’d do it?” His mother kept weeding, her back to him.

  “I told her I’d do it sometime this summer.”

  “That staircase needs new paint too.”

  “Yes, you’re right. It’s long overdue.” He walked to the gate and inside the fence. Duke set a stick at his feet to throw. Travis couldn’t resist and threw the stick across the yard. “I guess you haven’t heard. Don’t know why you would. Did you know that Chryssa has put in her resignation?”

  His mom stopped weeding, stood up, and frowned. “Really? She’s been with you a long time.”

  Travis didn’t know why but telling his mom made it even more real and that pang hit him again. “She’s been with me from the beginning.”

  His mom nodded slowly. “She sure has.”

  Duke dropped the stick at his feet. “They’re having a going away party for her at work tomorrow. She’s moving to Arizona.”

  Molly peered at him in that motherly way she always did. “How do you feel about that?”

  Travis threw the stick. “I’m upset, of course. But she has an opportunity to work in a gallery. You know she’s an artist, right? She paints.”

  She wiped her brow. “Yes, I know that.”

  Duke returned, set the stick down, and waited. Travis retrieved it. “She paints really well. I have several hung up at the office that she’s done.”

  “Yes, I know.”

  Travis threw the stick as far as he could. “Why can’t she be an artist and work at a gallery here?”

  His mother shrugged. “I don’t know. You’d need to ask her that.”

  “She said it’s a great opportunity, so I guess I can’t begrudge her that.”

  “No, you can’t.” His mother fidgeted with her gardening gloves, deep in thought.

  “What is it?” Travis asked.

  “Oh, I don’t know. I guess I just always thought… Oh, never mind. Are you giving her a going away gift? Please tell me that you are, a bonus of some kind maybe?”

  Duke left the stick at his feet and sat patiently.

  “I’m not sure she’d take a bonus, or maybe she would. But I feel like I should do something more for her, something more than giving her money. I mean, she deserves it. Tundra Air would not be what it is without her.”

  “I remember her from high school. She was in Dane’s class. She worked at the concessions stand during hockey games. I always got hot cocoa from her. She was a hard worker even then.” She stared absently in the distance. “Although sometimes she’d get distracted watching the games.”

  “I barely remember her at all,” Travis said off-handedly before pitching the stick again.

  His mother narrowed her gaze at him. Flattened her lips as though willing herself not to speak. “Maybe you should pay more attention.”

  Maybe he should. In fact, he wanted to do something really nice for Chryssa. But what? Duke dropped the stick at his feet again and he threw it across the yard. He’d have to spend more time thinking about it, but he’d have to think quickly. The party was tomorrow. “You’re off dog-sitting duty for a couple days. I’ll grab some dinner, go to the hardware store to get paint and fly to the lodge for the weekend.”

  “I’m sure Sabrina and Zak will really appreciate it.” She rested her forearms on the fence. “It’ll take you a couple of days.”

  “I bet I can be done by the end of the weekend.” Travis walked alongside the fence and opened the gate. “Here, boy.”

  Duke bounded to the gate and jumped on Travis.

  His mom swatted the dirt off her apron. “I’m glad you’re taking some time for yourself and helping Zak in the process. I’m sure you’ll fit some fishing time in too. It will be great. When does Chryssa leave?”

  Duke pranced at his side. “Next week.”

  His mom had a faraway look in her eyes. “What if you took her to the lodge for the weekend?”

  The idea had never occurred to him, but everyone loved going to the lodge. It was a great place to relax and unwind. Chryssa painted landscapes. She might really like it. She deserved a vacation. “I like that idea, but wouldn’t they be booked?”

  “You won’t know unless you call Zak and ask him.”

  “I’ll do that. Thanks, Mom. And thanks for taking care of Duke.”

  “No problem, son.”

  Travis opened the driver’s side door. Duke jumped into the front seat of his beat-up F150 Ford truck. Travis had promised Zak that’d he’d work on the deck, and he admitted he would love to get some fishing in while he was there. Letting Chryssa spend an all-expense paid weekend at the remote fishing lodge might be the perfect going away gift for her. It was special and unique, just like her.

  Closing the truck’s door, he looked at Duke’s cheerful brown eyes and pink tongue. “I wonder what Chryssa will think of this idea.”

  He turned the key and backed out of his mom’s driveway. He gazed at Duke from the corner of his ey
e. “Don’t look at me like that.” He turned the steering wheel toward his apartment. “Yeah, I know. I’m supposed to be going up there to repair and paint the deck. At least that was the plan—mostly.”

  Travis drove three miles to the hills west of Fairbanks. Could he find a way to convince Chryssa to stay? And would that even be the right thing to do? If she wanted to leave, then certainly it wasn’t right of him to try and change her mind. He pulled his truck into the garage. None of these ideas mattered if the lodge was booked. He called his brother, Zak.

  “You’re finally doing the deck repairs?” Zak inquired. “What’s the deal? Is mom making you?”

  “Yeah, right,” Travis responded in a dry tone. “I said I would do them and I plan on coming up this weekend. I rearranged my flight schedule.”

  “Glad to hear the deck will get fixed.”

  “I’m bringing paint, too.”

  “Sabrina will be happy to hear this.”

  “Say. Got a question. You don’t happen to have an extra room at the lodge available, do you?”

  “Actually, if you can believe it, we had a last-minute cancellation. What, you don’t want to stay in the guest cabin?”

  “No, the cabin is fine for me, but my administrative assistant Chryssa gave her resignation, and I wanted to give her something special as a going away gift. I thought a weekend at the lodge would be nice.”

  “I remember Chryssa. She paints too, right?”

  Damn it. Why did everyone know the significance of her painting except him? “Yes, she does.”

  “She’s the one who keeps everything in order at Tundra Air, isn’t she? How are you going to run things without her?”

  “I’m hoping to find a way to convince her to stay, even though I think she’s got her mind made up.”

  Zak chuckled through the other end of the phone line. “You were always good at putting on the charm to get your way.”

  Travis scowled into the phone. “Shut up. I would love for her to stay, but she has all the arrangements made. She’s already accepted another job in Arizona.”

  “I see.”