NOELLE STARED AT AIDAN.
She had to say no. She had just revealed her deepest heartaches to him. He felt sorry for her. That was what had prompted this invitation.
But perhaps there was a different way to see it. What if it was an opportunity? This was exactly what her grandfather had wanted her to learn: to say yes to life, instead of no. It was an opportunity to get out of her comfort zone! And she needed to take it.
Plus, ever since the tree had gone up in the living room, she had been aware she had no Christmas gifts to put under it for Tess or Nana or Aidan. And she knew the perfect thing to get them!
If she went to Calgary with Aidan, she could get them each a pair of skates so that they all could skate on the pond Christmas morning, a McGregor tradition.
“You know what?” she said. “Yes, I’ll come.” It was not as if they were marching off to explore the jungles of South America. They were going to Calgary for an afternoon. In the adventure department it probably barely rated.
Except for the helicopter part.
Except for the Aidan Phillips part.
“Good girl,” he said softly.
And just then she realized she did not want him to think of her as a girl, a heartbroken little waif who had been orphaned at twelve. Who wore pajamas with penguins on them and slippers shaped like hairy monsters, and had hardly changed a thing in the room she had had since she was twelve.
That was not how she wanted Aidan Phillips to see her at all. And she was fairly certain, from the way his eyes had rested on her lips a few minutes ago, that maybe that was not how he saw her. Not completely.
“Of course, I’ll ask Nana and Tess to come, too. I wouldn’t want to deprive Tess of my undivided attention on our holiday.”
Why did she feel disappointed, her own words coming back to bite her?
He cocked his head. “What is that noise? Is somebody there?” He stepped in front of her as if he might have to protect her from marauders.
In some ways, it was a very nice feeling to have someone want to protect her. But she had a feeling that Aidan might be trying to protect her from himself, from the attraction that leaped in the air between them. She realized she had told him quite a bit about herself tonight, but she still virtually knew nothing of him. One more excellent reason to go to Calgary with him!
“It’s only horses,” she said.
“I didn’t know there were horses. How have we managed to keep that from Tess?”
“Good question,” she murmured. Should she warn him her grandfather was planning a special Christmas surprise? One that would possibly eclipse even the much-coveted Jerry Juicejar?
It seemed much kinder to just let Aidan enjoy his victory in the Christmas dad department.
Or was it simply duplicitous on her part? Considering her initial hesitation in accepting his invitation to join him on his trip to Calgary, she now didn’t want to do anything to spoil the moment or put her invitation in jeopardy.
The next morning, Tess announced in no uncertain terms she was not leaving the ranch. She was not leaving her new best friend, Smiley. Nana had promised Christmas cookie baking. She wanted to play outside in the snow.
“I agree,” Nana said, seeming pleased by the decision. “It will just make everything simpler if we stay. If you could pick me up a few fresh vegetables, that would be great.”
“Noelle? I need to talk to you for a minute.”
Noelle’s grandfather beckoned her to the hall. He handed her a crumpled roll of bills.
“I wasn’t ’spectin’ Nana. It would just be rude not to have a present for her. Nothing too personal. No jewelry or anything.”
“No, I understand perfectly.” But looking at how flustered her grandfather was, she was not certain that she did.
“So much for Tess wanting my undivided attention,” Aidan said an hour later, after he had filed his flight plan over the phone and they had gone out to the helicopter. He helped Noelle into it. “She’s used to me being away for long periods.”
“I actually think she’s very secure in your love,” Noelle said.
“Huh. I actually think my affections have been replaced by those of a dog. Jerry Juicejar will change all that, though. Take that, Smiley!” Despite making light of it, Noelle could tell it mattered to him that she approved of his parenting. Somehow it felt good that her opinion had value with him.
His good humor, his total lack of nervousness as he went through his preflight checks, helped Noelle feel slightly calmer. Still, when he handed her the earphones her heart was beating way too fast, and her palms were sweating as the engines started and the blades slowly, and then rapidly, began to turn.
“Give me your phone,” he said.
She found it in her purse.
“Unlock it.”
Was this some sort of aviation requirement? She felt so unsophisticated. She unlocked her phone and handed it to him.
He grinned, flipped through it and found the camera. He aimed it at her. “Give me two thumbs up and a big smile,” he instructed.
She did and he took the picture, looked at it and handed it back, pleased.
“Post that on a few of your accounts,” he told her.
She laughed out loud, and somehow didn’t feel as nervous at all.
As they lifted off the ground, the snow kicked up around them in a cloud. The helicopter seemed to be lumbering. Her hands tightened in a knot on her lap.
But when she glanced at his face for reassurance, Aidan was calm and relaxed. Noelle realized that this came to him as naturally as driving a car did to her.
She looked out her window.
Far below them, already, was the ranch house and barn. She was stunned by the beauty of this perspective.
“I feel as if I am looking down on one of those large scenes that model rail enthusiasts build,” she said in wonder.
“Are you still scared?”
She liked the way his voice sounded, coming straight into her ear from the headphones. “What makes you think I was scared?”
“The pulse beating in your throat? The white knuckles?”
She laughed and unknotted her hands. It added to her sense of wonder that he had observed her so closely, cared. “All over being scared,” she said.
“Good. Flying is actually safer than being in your own bathroom.”
“What?”
“Statistically you are much safer here than in your own bathroom. You’d be astounded by the number of deaths annually in the powder room.”
“How?” she said skeptically.
“I’m assuming wet, slippery surfaces, but I’d have to look at the statistics more closely. You aren’t supposed to express doubt! You’re just supposed to be reassured.”
“Humph! Who studies those kinds of statistics?” she asked.
“Nerds, like me.”
He was about the furthest thing from a nerd that she could possibly think of, but glancing at him, she realized he already knew that. He didn’t need any reassurances from her. He was teasing her. She loved it!
“Getting ready to land,” he said.
“That was unbelievably fast.”
“Between the higher speed you can attain and the fact that you can travel in pretty much a straight line, it is really fast. It’s a very efficient way for me to visit our job sites.”
“And you love to fly,” she said.
Aidan smiled.
She loved to make him smile.
“Yes, I do.”
He had a vehicle in a parking stall reserved for him at the airport. It was a luxury four-wheel drive with a cute little car seat installed in the second row.
It was the antithesis of her little car, and not like anything her grandfather had ever had at the ranch. Mitchell had always liked sports cars—probably an early warning sign that he was looking for adventure. Still, he had not been able to afford new models, so she had never been in a vehicle with a seat warmer built in.
“This is decadent,” she said as her seat began to heat up in the vehicle, chilly from being parked so long. “Helicopters, heated seats.” She almost said, A person could get used to this, but the very thought drew her up short.
She had said yes unexpectedly to an adventure. There was no sense thinking the course of her whole life was changed. That she was in some way tangling with Aidan Phillips in ways that would last. In fact, it would be downright dangerous to indulge in such thoughts.
On the other hand, didn’t she overthink everything?
Couldn’t she just enjoy this day for exactly what it was? Wasn’t that what adventure implied? A delight in the moment, in the unexpected, without trying to read the future, plan ahead, figure out everything into the next millennium?
“Jerry has been delivered to my office, so I thought we’d stop in there, and then maybe head to that new mall. I know you probably have your own things you want to do, but I was hoping you’d help me with something. You mentioned all the small things little girls like. What did you say, hair ribbons and teddy bears. New pajamas? Maybe a bracelet?”
“I’d love to help you with that.”
His office was at the heart of the steel-and-glass forest that was downtown Calgary. Noelle worked down here herself, so she knew what a nightmare parking was. She took transit.
But he slipped into an underground spot reserved for him, and they took a posh elevator to the top floor.
His office was stunningly elegant: exotic hardwoods, glass, stylish furniture and great art.
He greeted everyone by name, including the maintenance man. He asked after one employee’s child by name, asking how the Christmas concert had gone. Noelle could tell his employees didn’t just respect him; they revered him.
It was quite a different picture than what Noelle had imagined when she had first met him—she’d seen him as high-powered and cynical. There was another side to him that he was not quick to let people see. She suspected it was an honor that she was seeing it just days after he’d landed in her life.
They went into his office. It was a corner space with floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over the whole city. Should she take a picture of this to post, too? To show what dizzying heights she was dancing with? But somehow, she seemed to have lost her taste for posting her adventures for the public. Wouldn’t everyone just see what she realized herself?
“Spectacular,” she whispered, but the truth was she didn’t feel all that good about it. Instead, she was feeling totally out of her league. Yes, it was an honor that she was seeing another side of him, but it deepened a sense of inadequacy in her.
He was not the kind of man a girl should fall in love with.
The thought made her heart stand still. Was she falling in love with him? Silly. You could not fall in love in days, could you? In mere hours?
And yet, she felt something for him that was unlike anything she had ever felt before. She had certainly never felt like this with Mitchell—as if her very skin was tingling with aliveness.
“This is what’s spectacular!”
He pounced on a package that had been left on his desk.
She looked at the happiness in his face, and again chided herself. Did she always have to be so serious? To the point of being ludicrous?
Of course she was not falling for Aidan Phillips! It was easy to get swept away by helicopters and luxury cars and a fancy office and an entire adoring staff.
“Come look,” he said with boyish enthusiasm.
She could not resist. She went over to him and peeked over his shoulder at the package in his hand.
“Oh, my,” she said. “Jerry Juicejar is ugly!”
He shouted with laughter, and Noelle looked at his face, luminous with delight, with joy that he was doing something for his daughter.
“This should make up for Disneyland Disaster,” he proclaimed.
And she had to nudge away the thought that whatever she was feeling had very little to do with helicopters and luxury vehicles.
It had to do with cutting down trees and sitting in haylofts and seeing the expression on his face whenever he looked at his daughter.
It had to do with recognizing the value of those moments without any need, whatsoever, to put them in a post to share with the world.
He glanced over his shoulder at her. “What?” he asked.
“Nothing,” Noelle said and then added brightly, “We better get on with our shopping. Between the two of us we have quite a bit to accomplish yet.”