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Prologue

~Landon~

“Are you packed?” h the phone Her voice is husky with sleep, which ht back hoon

“I leave tomorrow, Mia Of course I’m not packed” She snickers I just finished up , rip the zipper of ht”

“I know,” she says quietly “But you’re safe and whole, and you could be dead, Landon, so I’ll take it”

I frown, staring at myself in the mirror as I unzip ain, never pilot a plane again

What the fuck aaveisn’t just what I do, it’s who I am

“You’re overthinking,” Mia says

“I’m a pilot, Mia This is what I love It wasn’t supposed to end like this”

“You’re alive,” she says

“Am I?” I murmur, then shake sfrom an F-16 will cause a crick in the neck And a loss of an inch in height thatwith an entire Naval career

Son of a bitch

“This has been the longest four months of our lives, Landon We’re all anxious to see you”

“I’ll be home in a few days,” I reply as I pull a T-shirt over s in a box that the Navy will have sent to me from Italy

I loved being in Italy for the past few years, and God knows I didn’t plan to leave it like this

But I aht; at least I’m alive and I can walk and live a normal life

I just can’t fly

And that’s what hurts more than any injury from the crash

“What tiet you from the airport?”

“No need,” I reply, regretting callingher up I just didn’t knohat else to do when I came in here and was faced with boxes and the end of a career I love “I’ll get there”

“Landon—”

“It’s okay, really I’ll see you in a few days”

“Be safe,” she says “And, Landon?”

“Yeah”

“It’s going to be okay”

I force a grin and a nod, though she can’t see either “Of course it is”