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Her Reluctant Hero

By Anne Greene

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Chapter 1

1968 – High in the clouds somewhere between Dallas and Tampa.

“I thought I would die.”

A surge of electricity tingled the nape of Laura’s neck. She smoothed her Eastway Airline stewardess uniform over her hips. She’d never expected to see Josh’s dark hair and chiseled features again. Her hand tightened on the edge of the Boeing 737’s bulkhead.
“Josh Langford, that’s the weakest excuse I’ve ever heard.” She braced her long legs against the plane’s turbulence and glared down at the ruggedly handsome six-footer folded into seat 1D.

Passengers all the way back to row fourteen jerked their heads up and stared.
Laura lowered her voice and leaned closer to Josh. “You can’t expect me to believe that’s why you broke our engagement.”

Josh’s incredibly blue eyes gazed up at her. A muscle twitched along his jaw. He reached under his first-class seat, pulled out his attaché, unsnapped the lid, and retrieved a black leather-bound book. He placed his right hand on top of the worn Bible. “I swear on God’s Holy Word, I thought I would die.”

The 737 lurched and shuddered in the violent, stormy turbulence.
Laura staggered, and her shoulder slammed against the bulkhead. Her white, high-heeled Go-Go boots skidded in the aisle, and she lunged for a handhold on the top of Josh’s seat. When she regained her balance, her cheeks burned, and her eyes were level with his. “So, your Twiggy look-alike model didn’t fulfill your dream to live happily ever after?”

“What?” Josh scrubbed a hand over his face like a bewildered pilot whose instruments just failed. “Look, Laura, I only know I need you back in my life.”

Her heart pounded. Outside the porthole window, lightning flashed vivid streaks illuminating slashing rain. The plane bucked and bounced. Sleet hammered the windows. The cabin lights dimmed, faltered, and then returned to full light. The gray walls closed in on her.
No, the storm didn’t cause her jitters. The pleasing baritone, that at one time had thrilled her with a simple hello, now pricked her insides with brittleness.
She stiffened her spine. “Josh, you can’t rock back into my life and expect me to fall into your arms.”

Captain Greene’s voice rumbled over the loud speaker. “Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seat belts. We’re already at thirty thousand feet and are unable to ascend above the storm. The next few minutes will be rough as we fly through the leading edge. Stewardesses, please belt into your jump seats.”
A steep roller-coaster drop made passengers up and down the plane’s aisle gasp. A child screamed and started to cry.

Josh reached into the aisle and grabbed her hands.
Laura clutched his fingers until the plane leveled, then wrenched her hands away. She tugged her pink uniform mini-skirt as far down over her thighs as the thin material would stretch and lurched backward the few paces past the bulkhead that separated first-class passengers from crew.

The plane lunged into a trough.
She tumbled down onto the small platform seat that faced the passengers. After clicking her belt across her lap, she yanked the uncomfortably short polyester skirt as far down as possible. Then pasted her legs together and stared across the few feet of open aisle that separated her from Josh. Oh, how she would love to turn her back and walk away from him as he had from her. Almost three years passing while he trained and then served active duty in the Air Force hadn’t softened the blow.
But the 737’s wild gyrations held her captive.

Why had Josh popped back into her life?

“Why didn’t you answer my letters?” Josh pitched his voice loud enough to be heard above the plane’s humming and the storm’s thunderous noise. His questioning blue eyes begged for an answer.

The plane rocketed up in a stomach-fluttering lift. A woman midway back in the wing section wailed. Laura took the microphone from its nook above her head. “Ladies and gentlemen, please sit back and try to relax during the remainder of the flight. Despite the turbulence, please don’t worry. The pilot has the plane under complete control. We will arrive at the Tampa Airport in approximately one hour. In the meantime, feel free to use your headphones. We have the newest Bob Dylan and Joan Baez releases for your enjoyment. Please extinguish your cigarettes until the Captain turns off the Fasten Seat Belt sign.”
She reset the microphone.

The plane roller-coasted through downdrafts and updrafts. Laura’s stomach followed, and she hung on to both edges of her tiny seat.

As if oblivious to the plane’s erratic path, Josh leaned forward as far as his seat belt allowed and spoke in that smooth, deep voice that had once been able to talk her into almost anything. “Letting you go was the worst mistake of my life.”

Laura’s stomach curled into a loop that had nothing to do with air pockets. She had been so awesomely in love with Josh. But catching him in the model’s arms broke something inside her that never healed. If she couldn’t trust the man she had loved for years and expected to marry, she could have faith in no man.

The plane hit another steep downward trough. Passengers grabbed their loose items to keep them from flying and hung onto the arms of their seats. Most travelers held newspapers and magazines, but the plane’s bucking kept them from reading. Some glanced nervously from the pages, their eyes darting to the windows. Laura glued on a smile and tried to appear calm. Fortunately, she had already gathered the empty lunch and beverage ware and had little more to do until landing … except deal with the one man in the world she least wanted to see.

She leaned forward until her face was level with the man disrupting her life. “Josh.” She spoke just loud enough to be heard above the racket of the storm and the plane’s vibrations. She enunciated clearly because saying the words slashed a new wound deep into her heart, and she didn’t know if she could repeat them. “You are no longer part of my life. I don’t ever want to see you again.”
 

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