An epiphany was coming into focus. Everyone he dated, briefly dated, was so easy to please. They thought he was the catch of the century—he picked the best restaurants, was the best date ever, sharpest dresser (even covered with motor oil from some airplane engine), and they’d sure been willing to give it up right away. He just realized it hadn’t felt real. They always knew him as the owner of a small aircraft operation or an actor. Celebrity.

Katie was tougher and yet, completely authentic. She had fun on the bike; the flying thrilled her. But she didn’t give in to him. She had rules and held to them.

“Can I try?” she asked.

“Gently,” he said. “Pull back, the plane goes up. Push forward, down. Let’s not turn.”

“Oh, thank you,” she said, and she gave it a try. At first she was careful, gently moving the yoke. But then she got a little more aggressive, laughing as she pulled back, pushed forward.

“Okay, okay, you don’t want to put us into a stall.”

“A stall?”

“As in no engine.”

She let go at once. “You fly. I’ll ride.”

“Good idea,” he said with a laugh. “Let’s look at some boats, look for some dolphins.” And he turned out to sea. They saw birds flying under the airplane, a bunch of dolphins jumping, a few fishing boats and a big yacht. And then the plane started to bounce.

“What’s that?”

“Just a little choppy out here, that’s all,” he said.

She was unusually quiet for a moment and Dylan didn’t really notice anything; he was used to turbulence. It was usually especially bad over the Montana mountains. But then he heard that telltale sound from his passenger. “Whoa,” she said. Then, “Ew.”

He glanced over at Katie. She was white as a sheet. He didn’t waste a second. “Katie! Bag!” He pointed to the side pocket. “Bag, bag, bag!”

She turned to look at him, glassy-eyed, confused. He reached across her and pointed closer to the side pocket. “There’s a bag in there if you don’t feel right!”

Weakly, she slipped her hand into the side pocket and pulled out a sick sack. She just held it, like that was the last thing she wanted to think about. And Dylan turned back toward the airport.

He didn’t make it far before she was holding the bag up to her face, retching.

“That a girl,” he said approvingly. “You’ll be fine when we’re on the ground. Ten minutes, tops.”

And she retched again.

Poor kid, he thought. She liked speed and tight turns, but apparently her inner ear wasn’t crazy about turbulence. Now that he considered it, that probably was a little more than she’d have been used to. Certainly not the first candidate for Dramamine....

“Ew,” she said again. “Oh, God.” Then she reached into her purse with a trembling hand for a tissue. While she wiped her mouth, he was on final approach.

He landed smoothly, taxied in and checked his passenger frequently, noting that her color was slowly coming back. He parked the little plane, jumped out and went around to her side to help her.

She held on to that sack protectively, embarrassed. Her head was down, her hair falling in a canopy, hiding her face.

“It’ll be okay, babe,” he said gently. “Happens sometimes. Even to big tough guys.”

Finally she looked up at him, her eyes watering, her face pale. “Now that,” she said, “was a date.”

After a little time in the restroom, splashing her face, braiding her hair and generally putting herself back together, Katie made a miraculous recovery. When she walked outside, she found Dylan leaning against his bike.

“You look a lot better,” he said with a smile.

“It seems to have left me as fast as it arrived. Whew, that was perfectly awful. I’m so sorry. Probably not what you were expecting, huh?”

“It happens,” he said. “Jump on.”

And away they went. He took a side trip through Arcata and stopped first at a drugstore. He left her on the bike and promised to return quickly. When he came back he handed her a small bag. Inside was a toothbrush, paste, mouthwash, disposable wipes and antiseptic hand wash. “I couldn’t think of another thing you might need,” he said. “I’m taking you to a restaurant—we’ll get you some tea and something mild, like mac and cheese.”

“You act like a man who has had a lot of experience with this,” she said.

“You’re my first,” he said. “Not the first passenger or student to get sick, but the first time a girl I was trying to impress… Well, I wanted it to be memorable.”

“It was,” she said. “A lot like morning sickness. One minute you’re going to die, then it’s over and you feel like you could eat a side of beef.”

“Tea and noodles,” he said. “And if it was morning sickness, it had nothing to do with me.”

“Oh, stop complaining.”

He looked over his shoulder at her. “At least you pronounced it a date.”

Dylan took her to a quaint bar; they had to walk up a flight of stairs to the second floor and, given it was still afternoon, they were among just a few diners. The view was of the marshy headlands; the birds were flying low over the tall grasses, the Pacific shining beyond. It was beautiful and so serene. “It looks so harmless out there, doesn’t it?” Katie said. “Some of us know it can really pack a punch. What got you into flying?”

“My grandmother moved us to Montana, where I had no friends or connections and, long story short, out of boredom I was hanging out at the nearest small airport. I started driving my little truck out there and did my homework while watching planes take off and land. Pretty soon I got the courage to wander into the building and asked them how much a ride would cost and they said, ‘Ride in what?’ I wanted to go up in their Lear, but I could afford thirty minutes in a little Cherokee.” He gave a shrug. “I fell in love.”

“I guess you didn’t get sick…”

He shook his head. “Never. I love to do loops and spins and all kinds of crazy stuff. I think I could rock as a test pilot. I was about sixteen when I told my grandmother I wanted to take lessons, get my pilot license, and she said she’d be on board with that if I brought home straight A’s. And did my chores—a lot of which were really crappy chores, pun intended. She bought a place on a lot of land with a barn, a couple of horses, a chicken coop, a couple of cows. Most of my chores involved a shovel and a lot of shit. By the time I was seventeen, I had my license and was instrument qualified. And then I went to Embry-Riddle and majored in aviation.”

“And started a company?” she asked,

“Does that seem ambitious?” he asked her. “It wasn’t. We couldn’t get hired by the major airlines—not enough hours in the cockpit and no hours in a heavy jet. We couldn’t even get on at the smaller regionals. Lots of training in all things aviation, but without the hours…”

“We?”

“My friend Lang and I. He was with me when we rode through Virgin River. We went to college together and he came back to Montana with me. We started real small and grew, but now…” He shook his head.

“Now?”

“The economy is kicking our ass.”

“Oh, no,” she said. “What will you do?”

“We’ll make changes, probably drastic changes. One of the things I’m supposed to be doing while I’m taking this break in the action is having meetings with airport managers, picking their brains about survival skills. And if possible, picking up charter work. Meanwhile, Lang is running things, beginning to downsize the operation, scheduling and probably operating any charters that come our way. We have to think out of the box now—might be time to consider other work options.” He shook his head. “I’m not sure. I have other ways of earning money, but—”

“Other ways?” she asked.

“We have a snowplow,” he said with a grin. “To keep the runway clear. Maybe we can start plowing roads and driveways in Payne. There are flying jobs all over the place…not always convenient ones, but they’re out there. Contract labor—all over the world. That would be hard on Lang—he’s married and has five kids and usually international jobs take you away for a month or more at a time, at least. He’s pretty committed to Montana—sees it as a good place to bring up the kids. Last year one of our pilots left for Nigeria—it was a one-year contract and it was good money. But it was a long way from home. And we like that little airport. We built it.”

She leaned her chin on her hand. “This must be very tough for you.”

“It’s a challenge, that’s for sure. Pretty soon we’re going to have to let people go. I hate to do that. They’re all good, loyal people. In most cases, my neighbors.”

She smiled at him. “There’s a lot more to you than meets the eye,” she said.

He also leaned his chin on his hand. “And what meets the eye, Katie Malone?”

“Hoodlum,” she said. “Biker bum. Ne’er do well. Notorious flirt. Opportunist…”

“Hey! I’m only an opportunist in the best possible way—the kind who will start a company that puts a few people to work.”

Her expression softened and grew serious. “I do know how it is to have your own company and to have it mean the world. I had a hardware store with my brother, remember. It was doing well when some jackass burned it down and sent us into hiding. Conner talks about maybe rebuilding. Maybe around Virgin River. But…”

“But…?” he prompted.

“But it took the store burning down for him to see that he needed a little more balance in his life, that he’d been working too hard and wanted more time to relax, more time with the boys and with his woman.” She shook her head. “I’ve never really seen Conner like this. He’s mellowed out a lot.”

“Couldn’t prove it by me,” Dylan said. “He pretty much snarls when he sees me, which fortunately isn’t too often.”

She giggled. “I told you—he’d like to pick my boyfriends.”

“Am I your boyfriend now? After the plane ride, even considering…?”

She ignored him and asked, “Tell me more about your company. Your airplanes, your barn, your best friend, your town, your grandmother…”

Dylan tried to remember how many times he’d been asked questions like these by lovely young women. The answer was never. Oh, he’d been asked about his famous grandmother, about his days in Hollywood, about how big his company was and how many planes he had and they stopped just short of asking what his bank balance was. But about his best friend? His barn? His town? Was it like this just because Katie Malone didn’t really know a thing about him?

He found himself talking and talking. He loved telling about how his grandmother took charge and found a place off the grid for them to live while he struggled to enter adulthood; about Lang and Sue Ann; about going to high school in Payne, college in the Prescott mountains. He told her about the girl he took to the senior prom, and had her laughing when he told the story of Lang falling for Mrs. Lang and how Sue Ann pinned his ears back and just wouldn’t take any of his big-city, playboy crap.

Then he asked her all about growing up in a hardware store, asked what kind of high school experience she had. “I’d like to teach while my kids are in school. It would be perfect for me. I’m sorry about the store, of course, but teaching and coaching girls’ athletics—that’s more me.” Then she grinned and said, “As long as I stay on the ground, I guess.”

Even though they lingered a long time over their dinner, it was still early evening when they headed for Virgin River. He took her off the road just long enough to view the sunset over the Pacific, then on to the little town, to her cabin.

He’d never felt closer to a woman in his adult life.

And then they were standing there, in front of that little cabin. All around them in the darkness were the noises of the forest, the crickets and squawks and occasional rustling sounds, but Katie just stood on the first step of the porch, looking into his burning blue eyes. He gently touched her cheek and the line of her jaw. He kissed the left corner of her mouth, then the right.

“This is going to be goodbye, I guess,” she said.

“That would probably be for the best,” he said. “You don’t want to get mixed up with me. You don’t want to put your boys through that…”

“Dylan, understand something—I will always take care of my kids first. Always. If I thought being around you was bad for them in any way… They’re first, that’s all. I could love you more than life itself and they would still be first. It’s a commitment a mother makes when she has children. And besides, I’m not so sure you’re bad for them. You’re a very nice guy.”

“But I should probably get out of here…” And he touched her lips again, more seriously. He covered her mouth in a hot, demanding kiss that robbed her of breath. “Unless…” And he kissed her some more.

“Unless…?” she asked weakly.

“Unless you want me to stay for a couple of hours…and make sure you never forget me.”

“Hmm,” she said, leaning toward him for more of his mouth. “Tempting. But unnecessary. I’ll never forget you, Dylan. I’ve had a very fun couple of weeks. Thank you.”

“Katie, Katie…I hate to leave you…”