drew in a deep breath. For some reason she’d never thought of him as another big brother.
She’d never felt the need to become as friendly with him as Megan and Bailey had, but she never knew why she’d been standoffish with him. She’d only accepted that that was the way things were. Why now, all of a sudden, did the thought of him returning to Australia to live and her not seeing him ever again seem like such a big deal?
The very thought made her uneasy.
Three
“Are you okay, Gemma?”
Gemma turned her head to glance over at Callum. What had the pilot just said? They were now cruising at an altitude of 36,000 feet. Was Callum inquiring as to how she felt because she’d suddenly turned green?
Now was not the time to tell him that she had an aversion to flying. Although she’d flown before, that didn’t mean she liked it. In fact, she didn’t. She’d told herself while packing that she could handle the eighteen hours it would take to get to Australia. Now she was having some pretty serious doubts about that.
“Gemma?”
She drew in a deep breath. “Yes, I’m fine.”
“You sure?”
No, she wasn’t sure, but he would be the last person to know. “Yes.”
She turned her head to look out the window and wondered if asking for a window seat had been a wise choice. All she could see were clouds and Callum’s reflection. He smelled good, and she couldn’t help wondering what cologne he was wearing. And he looked good, too. He had arrived to pick her up wearing a pair of jeans, a blue chambray shirt and Western boots. She’d seen him in similar outfits plenty of times, but for some odd reason he seemed different to her today.
“The attendant is about to serve snacks. Are you hungry?”
She turned and met his eyes. They were a beautiful green and she could swear that a strange expression shone in their dark depths. “No, I ate a good breakfast this morning with Ramsey and Chloe.”
He lifted a brow. “You got up at five this morning to do that?”
She smiled. “Yes. All I had to do was set the alarm. I figured if I got up early, then by the time this plane leveled off in the sky I would be ready to take a nap.”
He chuckled. “Does flying bother you?”
“Let’s just say it’s not one of my favorite things to do,” she answered. “There’re other things I prefer doing more. Like getting a root canal or something else equally as enjoyable.”
He threw his head back and laughed, and she liked the sound of it. She’d known him for almost three years and this was the first time she recalled hearing him laugh. He’d always seemed so serious, just like Ramsey. At least that was how Ramsey used to be. She would be one of the first to say that marriage had changed her brother for the better.
“And then,” she added in a soft, thoughtful tone. “My parents were killed in a plane crash and I can’t help but think of that whenever I’m in the air.” She paused a moment. “There was a time after their deaths that I swore I’d never get on a plane,” she said quietly.
Callum did something at that moment she hadn’t expected. He reached out and took her hand in his. His was warm and large and completely covered hers. “How did you overcome that fear?”
She shifted her gaze away from their joined hands to his face and sighed deeply. “I refused to live my life in fear of the unknown. So one day I went to Ramsey and told him I was ready to take my first plane ride. He was working with Dillon at Blue Ridge Land Management at the time and made arrangements to take me on his next business trip. I was fourteen.”
A bright smile touched her lips. “He signed me out of school for a few days and I flew with him to New Mexico. My first encounter with turbulence almost sent me through the roof. But he talked me through it. He even made me write an essay on my airplane experience.”
The flight attendant came around serving drinks and snacks, but Gemma declined everything. Callum took a pack of peanuts and ordered a beer. Gemma had asked for a pillow earlier and adjusted it against her neck as she reclined comfortably in her seat. She had to admit that the first-class seats on this international flight were spacious. And Callum had booked a double-seat row for just the two of them.
Gemma noticed that the attendant had given Callum one or two smiles more than was necessary. The attendant’s obvious interest in her passenger made Gemma think of something. “Is it true that your parents met on a flight to Australia?”
He inclined his head to look at her. “Yes, that’s true. Dad was actually engaged to someone else at the time and was returning home to Australia to help plan his wedding.”
“And he fell for someone else when he was already engaged? “
Callum heard the shock in her voice. Considering what she thought about men deliberately breaking women’s hearts, he decided to explain. “From what I was told, he had asked this woman to marry him and it was to be a marriage of convenience.”
She lifted a brow. “A marriage of convenience for whom? “
“The both of them. She wanted a rich husband and he wanted a wife to start a family. They saw it as the perfect union.”
Gemma nodded. “So love had nothing to do with it?”
“No. He didn’t think such a thing could exist for him until he saw my mother. He was hit between the eyes with a ton of bricks.” Callum chuckled. “Those are his words, not mine.”
“And what happened to the other woman? The one he’d been engaged to at the time?”
He could hear pity in her voice. “Not sure. But I know what didn’t happen to her.”
Gemma lifted a curious brow. “What?”
A smile touched his lips. “She didn’t get the wedding she planned.”
“And you find that amusing?”
“Actually, yes, because it was discovered months later that she was pregnant with another man’s child.”
Gemma gasped sharply and leaned her head closer to Callum’s. “Are you serious?”
“Very much so.”
“The same thing almost happened to Ramsey, but Danielle stopped the wedding,” Gemma said.
“So I heard.”
“And I liked her.”
“I heard that, too. I understand that your entire family did. But then that goes to show.”
She looked over at him. “What?”
“Men aren’t the only ones who can be heartbreakers.”
Surprise swept across her face at his remark. Gemma leaned back against her seat and released her breath in a slow sigh. “I never said they were.”
