Page 80 of Plane Passion

“A likely story. Well, next time, pay more attention, wouldja?” Jack narrowed his eyes at the man, who rolled up his window in a hurry. “Now, where were we?” He turned to Ernie and sauntered on as if nothing had happened.

Ernie’s heart was still racing. “You were telling me I look like shit.”

“Ah, yes.” Jack eyed him head to toe with a rueful expression. “Well, I’m just telling it like it is. Don’t shoot the messenger. Let me buy you a…umm…soda, and you can tell me all about your troubles.”

He gestured toward Frankie’s, which was only a few blocks from home. It still had a mug of beer on the sign next to the name in raised red letters. Frankie might have stopped serving booze with the start of Prohibition, but otherwise, the establishment hadn’t changed one iota. The only difference was that everyone brought their own alcohol instead of buying it there. Frankie sold them sodas at the same price they used to pay for drinks and gave them an extra, empty glass for whatever they chose to bring. Too many cops patronized Frankie’s for the place to get busted, and Jack and Ernie had been regulars ever since they were old enough to drink.

They ordered two colas at the bar and took them to a table near the window, along with two empty glasses. Jack produced a flask with a grin and poured a healthy dram of whiskey in each of the empty glasses. “Now, then. Tell me all about why you look like something the cat dragged in.”

Ernie took a long sip. He’d mostly avoided drinking since everything went to hell, but damn, it felt nice sliding down his throat. “I miss flying the mail.” It was as good a place to start as any. Certainly, it beat talking about Millie. “Hell, I miss flying at all. I’m a pilot, for God’s sake, not a carpenter.”

Jack nodded sympathetically. “The boys and I have tried everything we can think of to convince Mr. Dickson to bring you back. He hasn’t hired anyone new yet, so we’re all flying extra days trying to cover your routes. It’s a mess. We miss you something awful. If there’s a way to bring you back, we will.”

It warmed Ernie’s heart to hear that his colleagues were trying so hard. “Thanks, but I’m not holding out much hope. Mr. Dickson never liked me much in the first place.”

He took another sip. Flying the mail was the best job he’d ever had, even if he had to put up with an awful boss. “I’ve been thinking I might reach out to Hawley, see if he can hook me up with something at Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. Maybe they need a test pilot. Hell, I’d even take a job on the factory floor if it meant I got to be near planes again.”

“I think that’s a fine idea! You should ring him.” Jack smiled and raised his glass, taking a sip. “I’m sure he’d help you out.”

“Yeah? You don’t think he’s forgotten us little folk now that he’s married an heiress?” Some people had all the luck. Not that he begrudged Hawley, but it sure would have been nice to have a wife he adored along with having his money troubles wiped away.

Jack chuckled. “I see Hawley all the time. Don’t worry. He hasn’t changed a bit.”

“When do you see Hawley?” Ernie had hardly seen the man at all in God knew how long.

“I go over to his place, and we play chess and watch little Tabitha during Mrs. Hawley’s weekly visits to the airfield. It wasn’t enough to learn to fly. Now, she’s learning barnstorming tricks. That Mrs. Hawley is quite a woman.”

Ernie’s heart squeezed. Aurora Hawley was far too much like Millie. It was a wonder they had never met. He was sure they would have become best friends immediately.

“Have you heard from Millie?” Jack asked lightly, though he must have known darned well that hearing her name would send Ernie in a tailspin.

“Not a word.” Every time the phone rang at home, his heart skipped a beat, hoping it was her. But it never was. “I need to move on. She’s gone for good.”

He emptied his glass, and Jack refilled it.

“That’s women for you.” Jack took a long, slow drink. “One minute you’re on top of the world and the next…nothing.”

The bitter note in his friend’s voice didn’t escape him. Myrtle’s betrayal was a tough pill to swallow. And now that he’d lost Millie, he understood all too well. “Yeah.”

“How’s your family holding up? I know you losing your job has been rough on them too.”

Right. His family. Constance—the whole reason he agreed to come out tonight in the first place. “The family is fine.” More than fine. They’d been so understanding and supportive that it made him want to climb in a hole and never come out. “But, Jack…”

“Yes?” His friend took another sip of his drink.

“Is there something going on between you and Constance?” He held Jack’s gaze and watched his friend’s eyes widen and ears turn bright red.

“Not a thing. She’s like my kid sister. Always has been.” Jack took another long sip of his drink. “You’re imagining things.”

“Am I?” It felt good to turn the attention away from his own wreck of a life. Let Jack feel the heat for a bit.

Jack leaned forward and looked him in the eyes. “I swear to you that I have no designs on your sister. I never have and never will.”

“Good. See that it stays that way.” He sat back in his chair and finished off his drink, then took a sip of cola. God, he was tired. Now that he’d accomplished his mission, he wanted nothing more than to end the evening and head home.

“Don’t think I haven’t noticed that you’re trying to change the subject. At some point, you need to talk about Millie. The only way you’ll move on is if you admit she broke your heart.”

Ernie’s temper flared at his friend’s attempt to draw him out. He knew Jack meant well, but he was really pushing it. “Fine. She broke my heart. Are you happy?”