Read Online Flying High by Gwynne Forster - Free Book Online Page A

busy.”
    “If I hurt my finger, she’ll come. Won’t she?”
    If there was ever a mixture of guilelessness and deviltry, Ricky possessed it in good measure. Nelson didn’t want to encourage that kind of devious plotting, but he couldn’t keep the smile off his face.
    “If she was taking care of another bad little boy, she couldn’t fix your finger, so see that it doesn’t get hurt.”
    “But she said she was coming to see me.”
    “And she will. I’m sure of it. We can’t call her now, but if I talk with her, I’ll tell her you want to know when she’s coming to see you. All right?”
    “I guess. I gotta go help Miss Lena shell the beans.”
    He raised an eyebrow. “You know how to shell beans?”
    “Yes, sir, and I can pull the ends off the string beans, too. Idle hands are the devil’s workers.”
    He stared at the child. “Run that past me again? Oh, well. You’re smart, and I’m proud of you.”
    He was about to turn around and attack the work on his desk when Ricky suddenly ran to him and hugged him, smiled and ran off before Nelson could react. In his mind’s eye, he saw Audrey reach up and kiss his cheek.
    “Oh, hell,” he said, and reached for the telephone.
    “Hello, Audrey,” he said when she answered. “This is Nelson.”
    “Hi, I remembered that you said you’d call me this evening, but I thought you’d call later. How are you?”
    “Work is staring me in the face, and Ricky just laid out a devious plan to get you over here. Plus, I’m dealing with something I’m not familiar with.”
    “What’s that?”
    “Well, two things actually. This woman who keeps fooling around in my head, and this sudden procrastination. I suspect there’s a connection.”
    “At least it’s your head.”
    “Still got the effects of that champagne? Maybe if you hadn’t drunk it after you had that Virginia Blush wine—two glasses, I think—it wouldn’t have done you in so thoroughly.”
    “Whatever, Nelson. You witnessed a first and a last.”
    “I believe that. Ricky will be five the day after tomorrow. Think you could pop by and say hi to him? That would make his day perfect.”
    She didn’t answer immediately, and he wondered at her silence. “Thanks for telling me. Of course I’ll come. But didn’t you think I’d like a chance to get him a present and wrap it nicely?”
    “You just bought him a present. He doesn’t need...”
    “You said it’s his birthday, and I’m not going to visit a five-year-old on his birthday without bringing him a present.”
    “All right. All right. Don’t get uptight. I just remembered it a few minutes ago.”
    “Isn’t he having a party?”
    “I guess I should have planned one, but Lena takes him to preschool, and I don’t know the children or their parents.”
    “Never mind. We’ll give him a party. I’ll be over around four-thirty.”
    “I’ll be waiting to see you.” It was the truth, but he could have kicked himself for telling her.
    “Uh...me too.”
    He didn’t care for the grudging way she said it, but if he mentioned that, he’d give away his feelings. He said, “See you in a couple of days,” and hung up.
    To his amazement, the Commandant’s words came back to him and, when he opened the file and began to read, what he saw there piqued his interest. Immediately, solutions to the problems presented to him began to swim around in his mind. He couldn’t write fast enough, got his mini-recorder and made notes. Nearly two hours later, he heard Lena banging on his room door.
    “I declare, Colonel, Ricky has to eat his supper, and it’s been done I don’t know how long. You all right in there, sir?”
    Reluctantly, he stored the tape recorder in its case, locked the file in his desk, opened the door and gazed down at the distraught woman. “Sorry, but I didn’t hear you knock earlier. I was working.”
    Her face, open and reflecting the caring that she never expressed in words, made his heart race. How had he been so lucky as to