Love is the Key

Love is the Key

"I'm Kara Mills for K. A. K. E. We are YOUR local station, and that's your weekend weather."

"Nice job, Kara!" the chief meteorologist for KAKE TV, usually pronounced 'cake', told her new hire.

"Was I really okay?" Kara asked hopefully.

"Okay? You were great!" her new boss told her.

"Thank you, Jill. Thank you so much! And thank you again for hiring me."

"My pleasure, and after watching your first forecast, I have this sense of...validation for having made a very good choice," the older woman told Kara with a laugh.

Jill Asbury was 43 and unfailingly pleasant. She'd been recognized as the "#1 weather forecaster" the last three years running. Not just the city of Wichita where she was born and raised but for the entire state. Jill was well known in the city not only for her TV job but because she was a very attractive woman who still caused many people, most of them men, to tune in just to see her.

She was tall, blonde, and an avid runner who participated in nearly all local 5k and 10k race events; event that were almost always covered by the station giving her even more exposure.

Even in a city of some 380,000 people, most longtime residents were aware Jill had lost her husband to cancer four years ago. Many also knew that for the last year she'd been dating a very successful attorney named Cliff Sullivan, who was a senior partner at a prestigious law firm that was located just a couple of blocks from the TV station where Jill worked.

She liked him well enough, but she just didn't feel the same way about him she'd felt about her late husband. That thought was often on her mind, but she told herself she was unlikely to ever feel that way about anyone ever again, and all lawyer jokes aside, Cliff was a good, decent man who seemed to be crazy about her. And just recently, Jill had made an accidental discovery that appeared to confirm her suspicions.

"So...any plans for the weekend?" Kara asked.

"Well, just between you, me, and the proverbial fence post, I think Cliff is going to propose."

"What? Oh, my God! Jill, that's amazing!" Kara told her. "May I ask what makes you think that?"

"Well, I wasn't snooping. I wasn't even looking. But Cliff left his laundry in the dryer, again, and when I came over for dinner a few days ago, I folded it and put it in his bedroom. I opened one of his dresser drawers and found a small, blue, fuzzy box from a jewelry store in there and nearly fainted."

"Oh, my God!" the younger woman said again as she gave her boss a hug. "I am SO happy for you!"

Jill wasn't about to say she wasn't quite as enthusiastic, but she still wasn't sure how felt, and saying 'yes' was a very, very big step. She'd known she was in love with her late husband after their second date, and he proposed to her just five months after they met. By the time they'd known each other for a year they were married, and Jill had never regretted a single day she'd spent with him.

Jill had no idea, nor did her husband, that he couldn't have children. She'd have married him regardless, but as time went by, Jill ended up burying herself in her work to compensate for the emptiness in her life. She didn't love her husband any less, but he was busy with his own career and time just kept slipping away.

They discussed adopting several times, but by the time they really got serious, they learned that the nagging pain in his lower back wasn't a pulled muscle or sciatica. It was due to Stage IV pancreatic cancer, the first sign of its presence being the dull ache that wouldn't go away.

Just eight months later he was gone, and at 39, Jill once again found herself a single woman. So she spent even more time at work, and as a result, she'd been promoted to chief meteorologist, a job she truly loved. But she knew that given a choice between her career and the chance at being a mother, she'd give up work in a New York minute. Ideally, she'd be able to do both, but were it an either/or kind of thing, being a mom would take precedence—case closed.

And because of that she was well aware that at least some of the reason she'd stayed with Cliff was that time once again seemed to be running out on her. Yes, women had babies in their mid-to-late 40s all the time now, but that didn't make Jill's sense of urgency any less...urgent.

"Oh, thank you, Kara," she replied, a little surprised by the hug. "He told me he's taking me out to dinner on Saturday, so that's when I expect he'll pop the question. But we're both going to the station party on Friday, so if you hear a lot of noise in our direction..."

"Well, trust me, Jill. My lips are sealed!" Kara told her.

Jill was finished for the day, but Kara would be staying for the 10 o'clock news, something she knew to expect for the foreseeable future. But just like Jill had been many years ago, Kara was willing to 'bear any burden' to get where she wanted to go, and that meant Jill also knew the place Kara wanted to go was where Jill was currently standing. But for now, the job was hers, and that was one of the few things in her life she felt was solid and secure.

With any luck, she might soon find herself engaged, and with a little more luck, a first-time mother before she turned 45, her kind of 'drop dead' date for ever having a baby.

******

"Hey! You must be Dan," a baritone voice boomed.

"Yes, sir."

"Knock off the 'sir' stuff. This isn't the Army, okay?"

"Sorry. Old habits."

"How long were you in?" the older man asked.

"Six years."

"So right out of college then?"

"Yes, s... Right."

"So you were what? A captain?"

"Yes."

"All right, Dan Summers. Welcome to KAKE. Let's get you checked out in our aircraft, shall we?"

"Lead the way," Dan told the senior pilot for the TV station he now worked for as their 'eye in the sky'.

Dan never intended to make a career out of the Army, but he'd stayed a year longer than required because his unit was deploying to Afghanistan, and he wasn't the type of soldier to let the guys he'd trained with bear the burdens of war alone.

So he did 10 months in the God-forsaken hell-hole of the Middle East flying the AH-64 Apache helicopter. Near all of his flight time was spent in close air support missions in support of ground troops in contact with the enemy who needed a little extra firepower in a big hurry.

He came home to Wichita without a scratch, and less than 30 days later had his DD-214 in hand, the paperwork needed to show he'd served honorably. And in a little less than three months after that, he had a job flying the Guimbal Cabri (or 'G2' for short) helicopter, a two-seat light helo made in France that sold for about $400,000 per copy.

He'd spent a month at the station's expense learning to fly it at another location where there was also a simulator, and this would be his first flight with the only other pilot on staff at the station.

Ron King was a 52-year old retired Marine Corps helicopter pilot who'd somehow managed to serve 25 years and never spend a single day in a combat zone. Of course, the military had been mostly out the business of war from the end of Vietnam until the invasion of Iraq, so there were plenty of 'cold warriors' like Ron who'd done what they were told to do and gone where they'd been ordered to go just like Dan had. They'd just never had to do it while knowing the 'thrill' of being shot at by an enemy determined to kill them.

Because of Dan's bona fides, Ron didn't try talking to him like he was some snot-nosed kid. He wasn't deferential by any means, but he treated the younger man with the respect he'd earned even though the older man had been a colonel and would now be his boss.

The checkout flight was less than 30 minutes, and during that time, Ron showed his new partner pretty much every route they typically covered during the morning and evening rush hours and the occasional storm. Not big storms, of course, because the helicopter didn't do well in strong, swirling winds. And then there was also the occasional police chase or some situation in which a pair of overhead eyes were needed until a police helicopter could get airborne.

"The key is to try and not die of boredom," Ron joked as Dan smoothly sat the small craft down in the center of the landing circle.

Dan laughed but Ron warned him he was only partially kidding.

"Once you've done the exact same thing every day for a year or two, you might not find it so funny," the older man warned.

Dan almost told him that after a year of being shot at, he was fine with boring. He didn't because until just recently he'd been the kind of guy who was looking for the next adrenaline rush with no intention of putting down roots. That was particularly true where women were involved, and there had been a lot of them over the years.

Dan wasn't particularly tall or muscular, but he was a very good looking guy nonetheless. He had nearly jet black hair he still wore just above his ears with a shock of it hanging down near his right eyebrow. He was nearly always clean shaven, but his facial hair was so dark it looked like he needed to shave within a few hours of having done so. Deep blue eyes and very white teeth made him what his friends called a 'babe magnet'. The fact that he was also a pilot only added to the mystique and his chances of not going home alone on any given night.

But he didn't say anything because Afghanistan had been a kind of pivotal time in his life. One of his best friends in his squadron had been shot down and killed. He knew that was part of the job, but it wasn't until he helped load the flag-draped body of his fallen comrade onboard an Air Force C-17. He'd been brought in straight from the crash site, his charred remains covered with the US flag then taken just hours later to the waiting aircraft that had dropped off tons of supplies. From there his remains were transported to the morgue in Bagram then finally to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware before being returned to his wife and family for burial about 10 days later.

Ever since, the thought of a more quiet life had begun appealing to him, and he was actually considering finding someone to share it with. It was all new territory for him, to be sure, but the itch to 'put another notch on his bedpost' was no longer demanding to be scratched.

Perhaps the strangest change, and maybe even the biggest, was the way he found himself wondering what it would be like to have a son to do things with. Dan loved sports and as he looked back on the fantastic childhood he'd had with his own father, he could finally see him teaching someone to ride a bike or play catch in the backyard.

All of that and more crossed his mind again in the space of a few seconds, and it was Ron's voice that brought him back to reality.

"There's no ground crew here, Dan," he heard the veteran pilot say.

"We do pretty much everything except for maintenance and refueling so let's get out and tie her down."

It wasn't that Dan was waiting for someone to do that for him. He'd just been daydreaming while the aircraft powered down, and that was all there was to it.

"Right. Sorry. I uh, I tend to get lost deep in thought pretty easily," he told the retired Marine.

Before Ron could come back with a takedown line, Dan said, "That's probably because I have such a shallow mind."

Ron smirked then said, "Don't quit your day job."

Once the little bird was safely tied down Ron suggested going inside and saying hello.

"They're almost always on the air or prepping for a broadcast, but right now is about the best time of the day to introduce you, so let's go 'grip and grin'."

The only person Dan had met was the station manager and two people in HR. The former had to approve his hiring and the latter were essential to getting his pay started. Ironically, it was nowhere near what he'd made on active duty, but it was more than enough to allow him to have a decent apartment, a nice car, and enough to enjoy his new way of life. For now, anyway, that was plenty.

Dan was pretty good with names, but unless the person he was meeting was his boss or a beautiful woman, he'd need to hear it at least one more time to make it stick, and after that he'd know the name for life. Of all the people he met from producers to cameramen, he did manage to keep the name of the station's lead news anchor in active memory. According to Ron, the guy was a prima donna, so not forgetting it wasn't a bad thing.

"The guy's been here for 17 years. He had big dreams of moving on to the national scene but never got the chance. My take is he's bitter and that spills over in the way he treats people. But he doesn't sign my check or write my evaluations, so fu..."

Ron stopped, smiled, then more quietly said, "The heck with him."

Dan politely laughed then nudged Ron.

"Who's that?" he asked just as quietly as he pointed to the most attractive woman he'd seen at the station house.

"Ah. That would be Jill Asbury. Jill's the chief meteorologist around here, and one of the nicest people I've ever met. And I tell you what, if I wasn't a happily married man, I'd be doing my best to get her number."

"Yeah. I see why," the younger replied. "She's..."

Like Ron, Dan stopped, too. He was going to say 'hot' but this woman seemed to exude class, and that word just didn't fit.

"Beautiful?" Ron suggested.

"Yes. Definitely," Dan agreed without taking his eyes of her.

"Oh. Just so you know, Jill lost her husband several years back."

Ron looked right at Dan then said, "Not that a guy your age is ever gonna ask her out. I'd just hate for you to inadvertently say something to offend her because you didn't know."

"No, I'm...I'm glad you told me," Dan said as he stood there still staring at this very attractive older woman who hadn't even looked their way.

"Come on. Let's go say 'hey'," Ron suggested before quietly adding, "and roll your tongue in, would you?"

Dan's tongue wasn't out, of course, but he understood he'd been caught staring, so he made a mental note not to do so again.

As they approached the huge green screen where she'd been rehearsing for the next forecast segment, Jill saw Ron and smiled.

"Hey there!" she said very pleasantly as Ron smiled back and opened his arms for a hug. "It's so good to see you, Ron!"

"You, too, Jill. And I swear you get younger and prettier every time I see you," he told her.

"Ha! Listen to you!" she replied as she looked over at the younger man who was with him.

Before Ron could introduce him, Jill stuck her hand out and said, "You must be our new pilot."

"Oh, right. Yes. That would be me," Dan told her.

"We're so glad to have you here at 'cake'!" she said before introducing herself.

"I'm Dan. Dan Summers," he then told her.

"Yes. That's right. Ron mentioned the name," she said before turning to Ron. "Didn't you tell me he was in the Army just like you?"

Dan tried not to laugh as Ron put his hands on his hips, tilted his head, and gave Jill a mock 'you've gotta be kidding' look.

"What? What did I say that was so bad?" she asked, looking first at Ron then at Dan.

"Ron was a Marine, and the only thing worse you can accuse a Marine of than being a soldier is being a sailor," Dan told her with a smile.

"Well, at least someone around here understands!" Ron said, still (mostly) pretending to be offended.

"Oh. Well—excuse ME!" Jill said, also pretending to be extremely sorry before laughing.

When she finished she got serious then offered a sincere apology and a promise to never again forget. As she did, Dan couldn't help but stare again as Jill was every bit as attractive as Ron had said and just as classy as he'd assumed.

"We'll let you get back to work. We just finished Dan's checkout flight, and I wanted to introduce him."

"I'm so glad you did!" Jill said to Ron before turning to Dan. "Don't be a stranger, okay? Just because you don't work inside doesn't mean you're not a part of the 'cake' family."

Feeling his oats, Ron made his first age-related comment about his fellow pilot, mostly thinking it would boost his credibility with Jill.

"Right. With Dan being the baby of the family, right?"

He laughed, and Jill did, too, but it wasn't sincere. She was just being nice, and Dan could tell she didn't think that was funny at all. But because she clearly was a classy woman she didn't mention it and politely played along.

"He doesn't look that young to me," Jill told him as she smiled at Dan as a way of letting him know how she felt without really taking sides.

"We're outta here, Jill. You take care," Ron said, ignoring her reply.

"You, too, Ron. And Dan," she said with a wink to the 'baby of the family'.

"So, what'd you think?" Ron asked after they were out of earshot.

"I'm impressed. And she's even more attractive than I thought."

"That she is, but let's go say 'hi' to someone you might actually have a shot at dating."

Kara was in her cubicle working on the forecast after Jill's when Ron walked up.

"Hello there, young lady," he said.

The young woman was so focused on the data she was analyzing she had no idea anyone was even there.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Kara said at the sound of the deep, male voice after she noticed Ron.

"Sorry. Didn't meant to scare you. I just wanted to introduce the newest member of our team."

Kara looked at Dan, and when she did, she quickly looked away for a second. He was so attractive it caught her by surprise and she needed a second to collect herself.

"Hi. I'm Dan. Summers," he told her with a smile.

"Oh. Hi. I'm...Kara Mills," she told him, a nervous smile on her face.

"So now you're not the newest person here anymore," Ron told her. "We've got someone else to make the coffee now."

"What?" Kara said with a little shake of her head having no idea what Ron just told her. She didn't even drink coffee, and she was too flustered by this new pilot's presence to know what he'd said anyway.

"I was just mentioning that you're not the last person hired anymore."

"Oh. Right. Yes. I...I guess that's true," Kara told him without taking her eyes off of the gorgeous new member of the 'cake' family.

"We won't keep you," Dan told her with a smile.

"You're...you're not bothering me," Kara let him know.

Ron leaned down a little then said, "And yes, he is single."

Kara's eyes got big when he said that. It wasn't just that it was inappropriate for the work environment, but she knew she'd been staring and felt like she'd just been called out.

Dan smiled again then said to Kara, "You gotta excuse Ron. He's a Marine, and well, they're not always the most...couth...among us."

Trying to recover, Kara managed a little laugh.

"No problem! Ron is a really good guy," she told them both before smiling and saying, "and I'm really glad you stopped by. Um...both of you."

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Kara," Dan told her sincerely.

There was a flyer on the wall of her cubicle, so Kara decided to be a little bolder than normal and said, "Oh, Dan? The station is having a get together this Friday. You should come."

It wasn't lost on Dan or Ron that she only looked at the 'newest family member' when she spoke.

Dan bent over and took a better look then said, "Oh, okay. Well, maybe I'll see you there."

Kara smiled happily and said, "I'd like that," before turning back around.

This time, Ron's comment after they walked away was, "She's a real cutie pie, huh?"

"Yeah. Sure. She's very...cute."

"And single. And about your age I do believe."

Kara was definitely cute, and until recently, she just was exactly the kind of woman Dan typically went for. Then again 'went for' was almost funny because his relationships with the women he did 'go for' typically lasted one night or every now and then, maybe a few days or even a week. The last time he'd had a girlfriend he'd been a sophomore in college, and that ended after three months.