Nickels (5 page)

His dad was well loved in his unit.  It made Kyle’s life
harder—especially since all he wanted to do was fly.  Every time he got in the
cockpit as a teenager, he had to endure the ribbing about how he had big shoes
to fill.  So, Rick Jacobs’s son wanted to learn to fly.  The constant mention
of his dad’s name is what eventually led him to pick an entirely different type
of aircraft.  He couldn’t stand always being compared to his dad or people
talking about how his dad gave him an advantage.

For the first time in his life, he appreciated his dad’s
power and reputation within the Air Force.  Without it, he would not have this
job.  Even though he couldn’t fly anymore, this job was the closest he could
get—so he took it.

His thoughts drifted to something else weighing on his
heart.  Sooner or later he would have to see
her
.  He would have to talk
to her.  Who was he kidding?  He wanted to talk to her.  It was just odd and
complicated.

The last time he saw her, he was a senior in high school. 
She was a sophomore.  After a year and a half, he still failed to ask her out. 
At that point, it didn’t make sense.  He was leaving for the States.  She still
had two years of high school left.  He was off to college and ROTC.  Then he
had his training and would be stationed who-knows-where-in-the-world.  It would
be stupid to ask her out on one date.

So he hadn’t.  And he spent far too many hours in the years
since regretting it.

Maybe God would give him a second chance there, too.  Was it
too much to hope for?

Since she was close friends with his sister, it was very
likely he would see her—and soon.  He already learned that she was still
single, never married, and no kids.  She had a good job, though his sister
didn’t elaborate much on it.

His heart picked up speed as he remembered the picture Marcy
showed him.  He almost hoped that the picture would have doused cold water on
his infatuated heart—he just needed to get her out of his mind.  It hadn’t. 
She was even more beautiful than he remembered.  She had soft blue eyes,
touched by sadness.  Her long brown hair looked silky.  He could hardly wait to
see her again.

He sighed.  If the rest of the world could hear his
thoughts, they’d think he was a stalker.  He wasn’t.  He had just fallen in
love with a girl from high school that he never even asked out—which might be
sadder in a way.

Swallowing hard, he wondered if he should really call it
love.  Was it possible to fall in love like that?

He shook his head as he pulled off the freeway and onto the
side street to take him to his job.  It was the only thing he could think of to
explain why he thought of her so many times over the years, though they had no
contact.  It might even explain why no woman he dated ever seemed right for
him.  He had been holding on to someone else—to her.

Get your head in the game, Kyle.
  He must let it go
and focus on work.

He pulled into the parking lot of his new job.  He glanced
at the clock on his dash.  Darn it.  The meeting was starting in just a few
minutes.  No chance he would make it in time.  It still took him too long to
get through security.

He should have set an extra alarm last night since he took
one of his pain pills.  He slept like the dead when he was on those things.  He
didn’t hear his alarm.  Thankfully, his nosy little sister called him this
morning just to see how he was doing.  If she hadn’t, he’d still be asleep.

“Jeff,” he greeted the security guard as he entered the
building.

“Sorry we haven’t gotten the paperwork back from HR yet on
the alternate security scanning for you.  We’ll have to give you the full
treatment again today.”

Kyle groaned.  He was going to be very late for his
meeting.  The metal pins they put in his back after his accident did not play
nice with the metal detector.  Since the company he worked for was a DoD
contractor, they had some pretty tough security regulations.  He would get a
full pat-down again today.  He really hoped HR would get his paperwork
processed soon.

After twenty minutes, he finally gained clearance.  He
rushed down the hall to his cube to drop off his stuff.  Then he headed toward
the conference room.  Todd would probably give him endless grief about being
late.

He paused with his hand on the door and took a deep breath. 
This meeting was the kick off to a new project—a project where his military
background and flight experience would be invaluable.  He said a quick prayer
that he might get along with the consultants and that the project would go
well.  And that he would settle into this new life—even if it wasn’t the one he
dreamed of.

Chapter 5

Niki smiled as she got ready for work.  Her newly made over
room turned out perfect.  The tan really popped against the dark wood furniture
of the room.  It looked like it came from the page of a magazine.  The only
thing she did not like was the paint smell, still hanging in the air on Monday
morning.  Hopefully, it would not permeate her clothes especially since she was
on her way out the door to her first day at Helitronics.

Not knowing what kind of office environment she would find,
she opted for a pair of low heeled pumps to go with her black dress slacks and
a pale pink blouse.  While she wanted to dress to impress, she learned early in
her career that it paid to be more conservative on the first day at a new
client.  She wore three inch heels and a skirt to her first manufacturing
client.  She spent that day in the warehouse walking from one end to the other
in July.  Swamp coolers were such a joke.  It just made the hot air a little
less hot and no less sticky.  By the end of the day, her feet blistered
something awful.  She wouldn’t make that mistake again.

Tying her long brown hair back in a low ponytail, she surveyed
her appearance.  Good.  This outfit and hairstyle made her look older, even
with blond highlights streaking her hair from her afternoon in the sun last
week.  She fastened the engraved white gold bracelet around her left wrist,
pausing this morning to read the engraving.  “Nickels.” 
Jack, I hope you
would be proud of me today.

Her eyes burned and she sniffed, barely keeping the tears at
bay.  It would not do to show up red-eyed.

She carefully tucked her emotions away, same as she always
did.  She could not afford to think about her loneliness or her losses right
now.  This was the biggest day of her career.  She had to stay strong.

Coffee, granola bar, purse, phone, laptop.  All items
accounted for.  She set everything in its place in her car then punched the
button to lift the garage door.

Her first stop of the morning was Elite’s office.  Brian
asked her to meet him there to go over a few things before the meeting with
Helitronics at ten.  As was his custom, he would personally attend the first
meeting before handing over the project to his people.

She pulled into her usual parking space, turned off the car,
and loaded her items up to the second floor office.  Brian was there waiting. 
She dropped her items in a nearby cube, before joining him in his office.

“Here’s the rundown of the project,” he said.  “We’re
programming the aviation systems for the latest model helicopter for the Air
Force Combat Search and Rescue units.  You know CSAR?”

Niki held back a sigh.  Of course she knew.  After four
years on a military base and going to school with lifetime military brats, she
felt quite comfortable with military lingo.

“Helitronics has hired a former pilot as the flight
consultant on the project.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is that we are
inheriting some pretty terrible code.”

Niki nodded as she took notes on her laptop.

“Seems the previous firm, while supplying engineers with the
proper clearance, failed to choose qualified ones.  They were scheduled to have
the code loaded into the simulators by the end of this month.  From what
Russell tells me, they are not even close.  So, Helitronics fired the other
firm and set new deadlines, though they are still pretty tight.

“The project manager is from Helitronics.  You and the team
will be reporting to him.  You’ve got Doug and Jake again.  And Scott.  I think
you worked with him for that medical client.”

She nodded again.

Brian looked down at his watch.  “This morning’s the
meet-and-greet.  Then we jump in with both feet this afternoon.  Any
questions?”

After she asked several questions about the condition of the
code, programming language, and projected deadlines, Brian suggested they head
over to Helitronics.  She grabbed her things and followed him to his car.

The drive from Elite’s office only took ten minutes. 
Unfortunately, going through security took nearly fifteen minutes.  They
examined her phone, her laptop, her lip gloss—everything.  She forgot what a
daily ordeal working for DoD clients presented.  But it was worth it.

Finally, with two minutes to spare, Brian and Niki were led
back to the conference room.  Russell handled the introductions since he knew
everyone from both Elite and Helitronics.

“Todd Graham,” Russell said, “allow me to introduce Niki
Turner.  She’s our technical lead.  I believe you know Brian Forbes.”

Turning to Niki, Russell added, “Todd is the Project
Manager.”

She extended her hand towards the tall thin man who looked
as if a slight breeze might knock him over.  Todd shook her hand, but not
before scrutinizing her with his dark brown eyes.  Something about the look put
her on edge.

“So, Niki, is it?” he said with a touch of suspicion.  “How
old are you?”

If this was her first client, she might have retreated into
a corner—at least mentally.  But it wasn’t.  By now she was used to being asked
her age, no matter how inappropriate.  It still irked her.  No one ever asked
Russell’s age, and he was only two years older than her.

“Todd, a pleasure to meet you.  I’m sure you will find my
skills are ready for any challenge you throw my way.”

Brian’s quick nod told her she performed perfectly.

Russell cleared his throat, drawing everyone’s attention. 
“And this is Alan Mitchel.  He’s the business analyst who has worked on the
specs for this project from the beginning.  I think you’ll find his experience
on the project helpful.”

Niki shook Alan’s hand, noting his light touch.  He seemed a
bit nervous, or maybe it was his wire framed glasses that gave her that
impression.  He was the same height as her.  She placed his age somewhere in his
mid-thirties.

“Alan,” she said repeating his name softly.  That little
trick helped her more times than she cared to admit.  She could be good at
remembering names when she wanted to.

When they all took their seats, she thought there was one
introduction missing—the helicopter pilot.  She looked around the room again. 
Nope.  Todd and Alan were the only people from Helitronics.  Perhaps, they
would meet him later.

As the meeting neared the twenty minute mark, the door
opened behind Niki.

“Sorry, I’m late,” a male voice said.  “I guess security
still hasn’t figured out how to deal with my shrapnel.  I keep hoping one of
these days they’ll figure it out.”

Niki, back still towards the door, tensed at the sound of
his light laughter.  She knew that laugh—heard it far too many times for her
own taste.  And it brought back some pretty bad memories.

Turning slowly like the end of a merry-go-round ride, her
stomach knotted into a rock hard ball.  Kyle Jacobs was the pilot.

Kyle glanced at the woman seated at the table.  He saw
enough of her face to know it was her.  He wasn’t ready to see her yet.  And he
never expected to see her here—not at his job.

No, he planned a much more subtle greeting.  Perhaps one
that included flowers.  At the very least, he could have disguised a visit to
his sister, making sure it was a time when Niki would be home.  In fact, he
could think of a thousand better ways to get reacquainted and not one of them
had to do with working on the same project.