The Heart Won't Lie Read online

  “Good. Yes. Thursday.” She went to her mail cubby, which was conveniently placed at the bottom of the stack, and got her notices and flyers and a couple of letters from the school district. She’d look at them later.

  Behind her, the door swung open again, only this time there were several teachers coming in, seemingly in the middle of a fierce discussion about the merits of soccer over football.

  She waited until the doorway was clear, then waved her goodbyes. Her phone rang just as she reached the exit to the parking lot. The name on the caller ID stole her breath and her grace. She stumbled, but thankfully didn’t fall.

  Sam Brody. She hadn’t seen him since shortly after Danny died. But she’d thought of him. More often than she should have, considering. But not so much lately.

  She almost let the call go to voice mail, but it was so out of the blue that she couldn’t stand it. She pressed the key. “Hello?”

  “Emma,” he said, and his voice sent a shiver skittering down her back.

  “Sam. It’s been a while.”

  “I know. Too long.”

  She nodded, but held her tongue.

  “Hey, I’m just calling to let you know that we’re neighbors.”

  “What?” Emma looked around, conscious of how loud she’d been. “What do you mean?”

  “I’ve been assigned to Holloman.”

  “Starting when?”

  “Now. I’m on leave, though, for the next ten days. Enough time to find an apartment. Get my bearings.”

  “So you’re here now?”

  “Yeah. I’m here.”

  “Oh. That’s great. That’s...great.”

  “We’ll see, but then, you know how it is, being transferred. A real crapshoot.”

  “I can give you some pointers if you need them,” she said, wincing the moment the words were out of her mouth. It had been a reflex. They’d been friends once. Certainly Sam had been one of Danny’s closest. They’d gone through a lot together, but after the crash, both Sam and John had stopped calling. Not their fault. She’d made it clear she wanted some space. Especially from Sam.

  “That’d be great,” he said. “I was thinking maybe you’d like to go out, have some dinner with me?”

  “Tonight?”

  “Not necessarily,” he said, although he spoke so quickly it was clear that was just what he’d meant. “I’m sure you’re busy. With a...your life. Here. You teaching?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Wow. Great.”

  She thought about telling him dinner wasn’t such a good idea, but the words wouldn’t come. She was walking now, nowhere in particular, down some stairs, past rows of cars. “How about tomorrow night?”

  He sighed. “Tomorrow night would be perfect. You’ll have to say where, though. I’ve got no idea what’s around here.”

  “Are you staying at the base?”

  “Nope. But I’m close to it. So how about you text me the name and location of your favorite restaurant. I’ll meet you there. Tomorrow. Seven okay?”

  “Yeah. Seven’s fine.” Her heels clicked on the concrete during a lull in jet traffic as she slowed to a standstill. “It’ll be good to see you again.”

  “It will. Don’t forget to save the number, now.”

  “I won’t.”

  “Okay. Have a good one.”

  “You, too,” she said, then hung up. When she pressed the keys to put him in her contacts, her hand shook a bit. Probably the surprise. Or maybe it was the surge of adrenaline that had hit her hard.

  She’d loved Danny. She had. But there’d always been a spark between her and Sam. She knew he’d felt it. Their collective discomfort had been masked by the typical craziness that was life back then, especially after they’d been sent to Randolph AFB to finish training and she’d been working forty hours a week as a waitress while getting her degree at Texas A&M. The four of them had still managed to hang out together, and to get into all kinds of mischief. God, pilots were a breed unto themselves. Cocky, stupidly brave and loyal to a fault.

  Sam had never said a word. She’d never given Danny a reason to be concerned. But the attraction had been real and had run deep. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to see him again. Three years had gone by. Enough time for him to have fallen for someone. To be married, even. Maybe the wife was selling their old place. The idea tightened her chest, which was ridiculous. It made sense that Sam would be married now. He was thirty-three, more handsome than was fair and a good guy. Really good. He’d have been snapped up in a heartbeat.

  Although the air force life wasn’t for the weak, even for a spouse. It was a different universe from anything she’d experienced before, and she’d meant to get as far away from that universe as she could. And yet, here she was, in the last place Danny had been assigned. He’d never even gotten to the base. She’d come ahead to get them settled. He’d died a thousand miles away.

  Sam, though. He must have been assigned to the F-22 Raptor, which aside from the remotely piloted aircraft was the largest unit. It was a hotshot plane for the best of the best. She wondered where John was stationed. If he’d gotten married. She had her doubts. He’d loved being a bachelor fighter pilot.

  She’d spent a considerable amount of time with those guys over the years. They’d treated her very nicely, not at all like a Yoko. In fact, they’d gone out of their way to make her feel welcome. But a lot had changed since then. Odds were she’d regret tomorrow night’s dinner. Still, she wasn’t going to back out.

  Maybe it was time she told someone the truth about what had been going on right before Danny died.

  She pressed a hand to her jittery stomach.

  Or maybe not.

  ISBN: 9781460316597

  Copyright © 2013 by Vicki Lewis Thompson

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