Nickels (36 page)

“Come on.  Let’s go,” she said, dragging him across the
street towards the three story building.  The restaurant took up only one
corner of the “mall” which was more like a small series of boutique shops.

As they approached the “please wait to be seated” sign, a
young girl offered to seat them.

“Can we sit at the tables looking into the shopping area?”
Niki asked.  “Those are my favorite seats.  It feels kinda like sitting at an
outdoor patio, but without the heat of the outdoors.”

The hostess led them in that direction.

Once at the table, Niki sat facing the shopping area.  Kyle
slowly eased into the chair to her left, giving him a good vantage point to
people watch.  He winced as a sharp pain shot down his leg.  Someday he might
feel normal again.

“How are you feeling?” she asked.

“Caught that, did ya?”  He was hoping she wouldn’t notice.

“Do you want me to drive back?”

“Trying to cut the date short?”

“No.  Just offering, if it would help.”

“We’ll see,” he said, closing the topic as he picked up the
menu.

In a few minutes the server arrived and they placed their
orders.  Once the server left, Niki asked, “So what do you like doing for fun?”

“Riding my bike.  Flying, though that’s not really an option
anymore.  Hanging out with you.”

She smiled and then fell silent.  He glanced out toward the
people walking along the first level of the building.  Suddenly he felt the
need to apologize to her for his behavior in high school.  He wasn’t sure if
she needed to hear it or not.  It was obvious by her initial reaction to him
during his first few weeks at Helitronics, that he hurt her.  He should have
apologized before now.

Just when he was about to speak, the server arrived with
their meals.  Kyle took Niki’s hand and offered up a brief prayer after the
server left.  Inwardly, he said one of his own, hoping what he needed to say
would be well received.

Picking up a French fry, he swirled it around in a pile of
ketchup.  He watched her carefully as she started on her sandwich.  Taking a
deep breath, he plunged ahead.

“I never really apologized to you for how I treated you in
high school, so…  I’m sorry for making life difficult for you then.”

She frowned.  Then she set her sandwich down.  “You know, I
used to think you hated me.”

The words impaled his heart.  It was just as he feared.  His
antics came across so differently than he hoped.

Niki cleared her throat.  “I know now that you were just
being a typical teenage boy, but at the time, it made things hard on me.  Jack
and I were trying to figure out how to manage without our parents.  It wasn’t
easy.”

Kyle swallowed hard.  “I’m really sorry.  I never meant to
hurt you.”

She closed her eyes for a second.  When she opened them, a
light sheen glossed them.  “Thank you.  It means a lot that you apologized.”

“Good.  I would really hate for the past to come between
us.”  Then he flashed her one of those heart-stopping grins.  She smiled back and
he was sure she wouldn’t hold any of the past against him.

Niki beamed inwardly as Kyle pulled the truck to a stop in
front of her house.  She couldn’t remember the last time she was on a date that
she enjoyed so much.  Despite the rocky start to the day, she had a good time.

When he apologized to her at lunch, she felt some of her
barriers begin to crumble away.  It was just another example of how much he
changed between high school and now.  And she really liked who he was now.

“Thought I’d stop in and say hi to my sis,” he said,
following her to the door.

She unlocked both doors and let him in.

Marcy and Chad were seated at the couch. The coffee table
was covered with magazines and papers.  From the look of things, they were deep
into the wedding planning.

“Hey, Kyle,” Marcy greeted.  “Do you think Alana would want
to be the flower girl?”

“I don’t see why not,” Kyle answered as he and Niki settled
onto the couch opposite them.

“Who’s Alana?” Niki asked.

“My—”

“A relative,” Kyle interrupted Marcy’s response as he
shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

Marcy frowned at him.  He gave her a stern look, making Niki
wonder what that was all about.

“Would you call Kelly and ask?” Marcy asked.

“You can call Kelly.”

“I just thought—”

“Fine.  I’ll do it,” he grumbled.  “Then I’ll have her call
you for details, okay?”

Marcy nodded.

Niki caught the tension between Kyle and his sister.  Such
an odd reaction if they were just talking about a cousin or something.  He just
said she was a relative.  Maybe he had a falling out with this Kelly and her
daughter, Alana.  Shrugging the thoughts aside, she picked up one of the many
wedding magazines and flipped through it.

“How big is the wedding going to be?” she asked, not
remembering how much extended family Marcy had.

“Probably around a hundred—mostly Chad’s family.”

“Wedding stuff.  I think that’s my cue,” Kyle said, giving
Niki a peck on the cheek.  “See you tomorrow.”

“Can you let me know soon about Alana?  Chad has a niece who
would be fine, too, but I’d like to have Alana—help her feel more a part of the
family.”

Kyle fiddled with his keys nervously.  “I’ll let you know. 
Stop pestering me.”

Something seemed odd to her.  As Niki locked the door behind
him, she asked Marcy again, “Who’s Alana?”

“I think that’s a question you should ask Kyle.”

“Okay,” she said skeptically, unable to shake the awful
feeling that she was on the outside of another one of Kyle’s secrets.

As Kyle walked to his truck, he bit back a curse.  Here he
was the one who brought up the topic of kids, yet he failed to fess up that
Alana was his daughter.  Marcy almost said it.  He wasn’t sure if Niki would
care or not.

But, things were going so good right now.  He didn’t want to
take a chance.  It was only last night that she agreed to date him—way too soon
for the by-the-way-I-got-really-drunk-in-college-and-knocked-up-my-friend
speech.

Eventually he would have to tell her.  He would be flying up
to Colorado Springs in a few weeks to visit Alana.  After a few trips, Niki
would start to wonder.  It was only natural.

He started his truck and drove home.  Once inside his
townhouse, he sat down on the couch and propped his elbows on his knees.

Niki was—what had Marcy called her?  Fragile.  He saw it
this morning with her hesitation in holding hands with him at church.  When she
started whispering to Joe, he was sure she was already having doubts.

Hopefully, those doubts were all centered around her job and
not around him.

What if he told her about Alana?  If she was waffling about
their relationship, his secret would only fuel her rejection of him.  He waited
too long for this chance with her.  He couldn’t  screw it up now.

The only thing to do was to wait.  When the time was right
to tell her, he would know.  He just prayed that she would take it well.

Chapter 33

One month.  That was a record for Niki’s dating life. 
Things with Kyle were still pretty good.  He was very careful at work to keep
things professional, though he did take her on a lunch date last week.  Her new
weekend routine often included a dinner date with Kyle on Friday night, wedding
planning with Marcy on Saturday morning, time with Kyle on Saturday evening,
Sunday morning church, and Sunday afternoon another date with Kyle.  Between
work and fun, she saw him seven days a week—except for the one weekend he had
to fly out of town.

Life felt better.  She could honestly say she was happy, for
the first time in a very long time.

Even work seemed to take a lead from her personal life. 
Todd stopped his threats, though she still thought they could resurface at a
moment’s notice if he perceived her as stepping out of line.  The live flight
trial was in an hour—a week ahead of schedule and without Todd shaving off any
time unannounced.

Niki climbed into her car headed toward the Air Park.  Kyle
asked if she wanted to ride with him, but she was planning on going straight
home from the live exercise to cut off some of the long commute.

She found a parking space as close as she could to the
Helitronics hangar, hoping she wouldn’t have to walk too far in her heels—such
a poor choice of shoes for the day.  The sun beat down on the pavement, still
hovering over a hundred degrees.  Normal temperatures for mid-September.  Kyle
and Doug were waiting at the hangar entrance watching as the test helicopter
was wheeled from the hangar.  She moved to stand next to Kyle, her excitement
building.

“Nervous?” he asked.

“A little.”

“Don’t be.  We’ve tested this thing like crazy.  I don’t
anticipate any issues.”

As the pilot, Melissa Wakefield, walked down the line, she
greeted Todd, Alan, Kyle, and the big wigs from Helitronics.  She smiled at
Niki and her team before climbing into the cockpit.  As the engine whirred to
life, the wind whipped Niki’s hair in her face.  She reached up and held it
back with her hand, wishing she’d thought to bring a ponytail holder or clip.

Kyle’s eyes glowed with excitement and she wondered if he
wished he was in the pilot’s seat or if witnessing this exercise brought back
any painful memories.  If they were not here on business, she would have laced
her fingers with his.  As it was, she remained content to stand next to him.

Melissa lifted the metal beast off the ground in fluid
motion.  She pointed the chopper north and started the first series of
motions.  The crowd moved to the inside of the hangar to listen to her audio
and watch the series of video feeds hooked up to the helicopter.  Kyle muttered
“good” and “right on” several times as Melissa completed various stages of the
testing successfully.

Niki waited, growing more nervous towards the end of the
testing, though she shouldn’t.  She just wanted to see this thing to a
successful and happy conclusion.

During the last maneuver, Melissa’s tone over the radio
became strained.  Kyle tensed next to Niki, sending her senses on edge. 
Something was wrong.  Melissa started relaying some of the readings on her
instruments, explaining that the helicopter just didn’t feel right.  Kyle moved
closer to look at the instruments.  He shook his head and got on the radio to
Melissa saying he didn’t see what she was seeing.

Melissa managed to get the chopper back into the Air Park
property.  Niki stood still as she watched from the hangar doorway.  The
helicopter approached the landing pad much too quickly.  Melissa’s voice
shrieked over the radio.  The aircraft crumbled into a ball of twisted metal as
it impacted the ground.  The rotor snagged on the asphalt and parts of the
blades littered the ground.

Red flashing lights zoomed in front of Niki—the flight tower
must have anticipated the need.  Kyle ran from the hangar towards the heaping
pile of metal and debris.  Emergency workers rushed to extract a motionless
Melissa from the wreckage.  They laid her body on the stretcher and loaded her
into the ambulance.