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  I walked up to the cockpit and climbed up. Mac was checking her instrument panels and talking to herself as she walked through everything she needed to do.

  “You’ll do fine,” I said.

  “Easy for you to say.”

  “It is. Because you’re a good pilot.”

  She sighed, stopped her frantic checklist, and looked to me. She grinned and kissed me softly on the mouth, lingering for a moment.

  “How about you?” she asked. “You all set?”

  “Yes. I’m heading back to the cabin after you take off and will finish packing our bags.”

  “I should be back in five hours,” she said. “Will that give us enough time to make it to LA in time?”

  “Yes. But even if we’re late, it’s just an awards show. No big deal.”

  Mac searched my eyes for a second, tilting her head to the side. “And you’re sure you’re okay about me coming to the set with you tomorrow? I don’t have to come.”

  I laughed. “Of course you do,” I said. “I want you there.”

  She nodded and looked away as a huge mischievous grin spread across her beautiful face. “I am looking forward to seeing you in superhero spandex.”

  I rolled my eyes with a laugh and nodded back towards the waiting passengers. “Get out of here. Do your job.”

  “You have one of these booked for next week, you know.”

  “I know.” I then kissed her and held her hand. “Seriously. You’ll do fine. Be safe.”

  “I will.”

  “I love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  With that, I hopped down onto the dock and helped the passenger load up. The woman looked at me again and the dawning hit in her eyes. She knew who I was. I waved at her, as if it were no big deal. Because really, it wasn’t. I’m just a normal guy that managed to get extremely lucky… in life, career, and love.

  When they were all aboard, I gave Mac a final kiss and then stood on the doc and watched her float out into the open water. When the engines kicked on, I imagined her inside the cockpit behind the controls, smiling like a kid that has just leaned to ride a bike.

  I watched her speed out and then lift into the air. I lifted my hand in a wave and watched her go until she shrank out of sight.

  I walked back to the Pine Way and checked in on the part-time worker we had hired once we got the plane business up and running. When I was sure everything was okay there, I headed to Mac’s house—which she was insisting that we refer to as our house now.

  On the way, my cellphone rang. I saw from the caller ID that it was Adam.

  “Hey, Adam.”

  “Hey. You’re going to make it to the awards show, right?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “I might be a little late.”

  “No worries. As long as you’re able to make some of the after parties, we should be good. And we’re probably looking at a twelve to fourteen hour day of shooting tomorrow. You okay with that?”

  I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. “I am. Just have someone make sure that Mac has a hotel room somewhere near the studio.”

  “Already done.”

  “Good.”

  He kept going on and on about the next few weeks and all of the things I was expected to do. But I barely heard him. Instead, I was thinking about a night a little less than five months ago where I had stood in a motel room, looking out onto LA. Aubrey had been there with me, confused by my unwillingness to be with her, and I had barely noticed. I had been too hollow, too detached.

  I had fame, I had money, but something had not been right.

  I could barely remember that feeling now. I gazed up into the sky, knowing that I could no longer see the plane, but knowing that Mac was up there somewhere and, I hoped, thinking of me and this new life we were putting together.

  With Mac, that missing piece was there. And although I could still not put a name to that thing that had been missing, I was growing more and more sure by the day that it had been more than simply love. It was more about being whole.

  I thought of David then, as I had done a lot more than usual in the last few weeks. I thought of how he had died in my lap as the helicopter had touched down. I’m not a spiritual kind of guy at all, but there has to be a connection there. I ended up loving his sister, in a state of mind where I would do anything to protect her.

  Had he caught a glimpse of that before he died?

  Had he seen that at some point in the future, I would find his sister and, in loving her, protect her? I like to think that this was so and in seeing that, he was able to leave this world happy and ignorant of the pain from his injuries.

  Had he been granted that peek into the future?

  Sometimes when I fall asleep next to Mac, our arms and legs interlocked, I like to think so.

  ****

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, businesses, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, actual events or locales is purely coincidental.