Crashed into Love: Episode Five Read Online Free

fingers. “What is it?”
    He grinned, motioning with his eyebrows for me to read.
    I scanned the page. It showed my account with the areoclub. My heart sped up to gallop around my chest. “This can’t be right.” My balance, which normally equalled a few hundred for my next flight or exam, had exploded to over thirty thousand dollars. The exact amount, not including the ten thousand from the pay out from Kiwi Air, I needed to pass my commercial license. Chills pinpricked my spine. “Where did this cash come from? Someone must have made a mistake.”
    He shook his head. “I checked when I saw it a week ago. It’s not a mistake. It’s yours.”
    “That can’t be true. I don’t have that sort of money.”
    “It came from Liam. With explicit instructions the money is to be used in the next six months to finish your license.”
    My eyes flew wide. “Liam paid for me? He can’t do that.” The memory of him telling me on the beach, just before we awoke, crashed into me. He wanted to pay for me. It was a business expense. I jumped off my stool. “Do you know where he is? Has he done it?” Was he opening his business? How could he though, he didn’t know how to fly…unless… did he remember? Damn him for not having a phone or an address or something so I could track him down.
    “I don’t know what you mean by ‘has he done it?’ but I’m telling you everything I know. The transfer came through with a few lines of instruction from the bank. That’s it. I can’t even track where the money was deposited from. If I knew, I’d go and speak to the man myself. I heard about his injury and hope he’s not wallowing somewhere. I’d help him relearn in a heartbeat if he needed help.” He yanked the paper out of my hands. “But he’s given you a gift. You don’t have to go back to work for Kiwi Air. You and me, we can focus on your lessons fulltime. You’re so close. Don’t stop. Don’t let fear win.”
    Anger blossomed. “I don’t want to let the fear win, Theo. But it has. I get shaky and clammy when I think of going up there again. I don’t think I can.” Why did Liam pay for me? He must’ve known I’d struggle with going back, or was I just being a big wuss and making it a lot harder? The money taunted me—if I could find the courage, I could be fully qualified in months. I could leave for good. But I couldn’t leave. I’d have to find a way to pay Liam back. I wouldn’t take his money.
    A small trickle of who I’d been before the crash settled into me. Liam gave me the tools to turn from air-hostess to commercial pilot. The knowledge he believed in me, even when he wasn’t with me, slowly unlocked my prison of terror.
    Theo stood and pulled me into a hug.
    I froze. Two hugs in one day… wow.
    “I love it when I witness that.”
    I pulled back. “Witness what?”
    “The passion seeping back in. I see the spark that is Nina Poppins building again. She’s in there… you just need to move forward.”
    I dropped my eyes. Was Theo right? Was the tickling, unfurling sensation inside the real me breaking free?
    If Liam could face dealing with a brain injury on his own, I could go back to who I truly was. I wasn’t a moper or a weak-willed scared little thing. I loved heat and dance. I loved color and corsets. I loved flying and… Liam. My eyes widened as I made the connection. Flying equalled Liam. In a roundabout stupid way, I associated my loss of Liam with the loss of flying. God, I was screwed up. If anything, flying would bring me closer to Liam. Being inside a cockpit would remind me of him. And it would give me back my future.
    “You’re right,” I murmured.
    Theo cocked his head. “Oh, I like it when you say that. Say it again.” He laughed.
    The banter that flowed so easily between us came back, and for the first time since I awoke from fantasy-Liam-land, I grasped the small ribbon of happiness. “You’re right. I will fly again.”
    He clapped his hands. “Excellent. No time