Crashed into Love: Episode Five Read Online Free Page A

like the present.” Holding his hand out, he said, “The sky awaits you, Poppins. Let’s see if you can tame her.”

Chapter Thirty-Seven
Liam
     
    T he controls taunted me with skipping memories. Try as I might, I couldn’t hold onto any of the fleeting thoughts or knowledge from my past. I still couldn’t understand why the wayward shrapnel destroyed my training as a pilot. Why not erase  my memories on how to tie a shoelace or ride a bike? Other little things were missing too, like forgetting recipes I knew by heart, or not remembering any phone numbers for family that I dialled almost every day before the crash. And the majority of my education was gone. Right down to dreaded calculus I took as extra credit when I was sixteen.
    “You ready, Mikin?”
    My eyes flew to Jeff, my flight instructor, mentor, and soon-to-be business partner. His island skin and dark hair complimented his black eyes. The nerves I’d battled with for three months galloped back. What if I crapped out and crashed again? God, did I really want to do this? I was kidding myself to think I was ready. I wasn’t.
    Swallowing hard, I nodded. “Yep.”
    Jeff motioned that I had control and I inched onto the runway, lining up for take-off. Every judder of the tires sent coils of apprehension through me. It was second nature—how to direct the plane and what button to push—completely ingrained into my muscle memory. I did things unconsciously. Things that showed me I knew how to fly, even if my brain pretended otherwise.
    Traffic control came clear and loud through my headset with a French twang. “Air Tahiti Nui, india golf sixty-three you have permission. Open skies in front.”
    “Roger that.” My voice was tight, concentration screaming with intensity. This was it. My first solo takeoff since I crashed with John Anderson. The thought of Samoa buried me with emotions. Every day was an inhuman struggle not to lift the phone and call Nina, to reach out and talk to her. God, I needed someone to talk to. But at the same time, I made a pact to do this on my own. To save myself and not be a burden to anyone.
    Jeff cocked his head. “Ready when you are.”
    Taking a deep breath, I pushed the throttle forward. The Boeing 737-300 lurched into motion, gobbling up tarmac until the Papette Aeroporto was a blur of arched roofs and French-Polynesian architecture.
    My stomach stayed behind as I eased on the controls and pulled the heavy beast into the air.
    Two hundred metres above ground.
    One thousand metres.
    Three thousand.
    I pressed the button to retract the landing gear, and suffered a flashback of the airplane dissection Nikolai had overseen. Then again, what I remembered wasn’t true. I hadn’t had the guts to go and see what the real damage was. The moment Nik agreed to get me off the island, I’d cleared myself with Doctor Ali’tasi, grabbed some clothes from the hospital gift shop, and requested he drop me off at the airport.
    He hadn’t done it willingly. His hazel eyes reprimanding me for leaving—for not having the guts to stay.
    When I’d given him the note to pass to Nina, my heart wrenched. What if she fell in love with him in my absence? I hated my insecurities, but it just confirmed why I needed to leave. I couldn’t ask Nina to support me—not when I didn’t know whether I could relearn. Doctor Alea had mentioned the pathways to learn something as complicated as flying might have been damaged too, and if that had happened, I wouldn’t want to be around myself, let alone Nina. She’d be better off without me.
    It helped already having connections in Tahiti, being in touch with a few officials while arranging my future business permits meant I was able to pull a few strings. Now I sat beside the guy who’d offered me three aircraft in turn for a commission cut, let me crash on his couch, and was a qualified pilot willing to help me relearn how to do the thing I loved most. Well, second most.
    I sighed heavily. Nina.
    God,