She could tell even as she opened her eyes at dawn that Jack wasn’t in the condo. He had a presence when he was there, regardless of what room he was in, constantly moving.

Addy stretched out in the bed and pressed deeper into the new, firm mattress. They’d lived together for just five days, and had hardly seen each other in that time. Not that she could complain.

Addy had been quick to sign on for double shifts at the restaurant. She’d trained the new hires herself, and Kenzie was happy to skip out on that aspect of the job.

Jack’s hours at the hospital had quickly increased as the town accepted the medical center as more convenient than the other options—and it didn’t hurt that the new doctors in town looked like they did.

Occasionally, they’d pass each other in the hallway or bump into one another in the kitchen. Those encounters usually entailed a few polite hellos and nothing more. A few times, Addy had been rushing out the door just as Jack arrived home from an eighteen-hour shift at the hospital.

Is this really what married life is like? she wondered. If so, it didn’t seem like she was missing out on much.

Even stretched out, she could tell her feet ached from so many hours at the restaurant. Her right forearm was tired from carrying heavy trays.

Addy reached for the sketchbook she kept beside the bed and flipped to a blank page. With a hard charcoal pencil, she started to sketch the first thing that came to mind. A slice of cherry pie that she’d dropped in the middle of the dining room yesterday.

It had splattered like blood across her white apron and the just-scrubbed floors. Someone at the bar had given her a slow clap.

“Can’t you think about anything besides work?” she asked herself as she filled in the details.

The big pieces of chunky sugar that topped it. The way the baker had tightly folded the crust edge. She hated herself for not being able to turn off work mode, but she finished the sketch.

Complete, she snapped the book shut and pulled herself out of bed. Finally, she’d be able to fully stock the kitchen like she’d promised Jack. What better use of a day off than to trudge through household chores?

Plus, the bathroom lacked everything but a shower liner.

Might as well take care of that, too.

Addy stretched her arms overhead as she walked to the kitchen. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the cool air against her bare midriff as her t-shirt crept up her abdomen. Her eyes snapped open as the side door to the kitchen burst open.

“’Bout time, lazybones,” Jack said. He cradled two coffees from the good drive-thru in his hands.

“Jesus! Jack, I thought you were working today.”

“I was, I just got off. Coffee?”

“Aren’t you… aren’t you tired?”

“Tired? But it’s morning.”

“Yeah, but not for you.”

“Do you want the coffee or not?”

She bit her lip and looked at the two large white paper cups. “What kind is it?”

“Dunno. Americano, I think.”

“Black?”

“What, is my wife racist?”

“I meant… never mind. I like it with a lot of cream and Splenda. Which I’m guessing you don’t have.”

“You guessed right. But I do have sugar and skim milk.”

Addy wrinkled her nose, but took the nearly-empty carton of milk when he handed it to her.

“This expires today,” she said.

“Good thing you’re going to use it, then.” Jack shoved the white and pink bag of sugar with a spoon stuck in it toward her.

Addy added what she thought was the smallest amount possible to make the coffee bearable.

“So! Your day off, right? What’s the plan? What do you want to do?”

She looked up at Jack through her thick lashes. God, he was really raring to go.

“Well, I was going to get the groceries. And the bathroom really needs—”

“I was thinking gliding,” he interrupted.

He’d taken the lid off his own coffee and generously sucked down the steaming liquid.

“Gliding,” she repeated.

“Sure! It’s a great opportunity here, I’ve looked into it. And we’ll get a great view of Reno,” he said with a wink.

“Jack, I don’t really have time for—”

“C’mon, we’re newlyweds, aren’t we? Shouldn’t we be putting tons of pictures on Facebook or something? Polluting all our social media channels with happy photos?”

She paused. He had her, there.

What was the point of this whole sham if they weren’t going to really sell it? Who would be jealous of them if all they did was disappear into their jobs?

“Well, I guess. God, how do you have so much energy? When’s the last time you slept?”

He grinned at her but stayed silent. That look made her heart start to beat faster.

“Well?” she asked to fill the silence.

“I just slept seven straight hours in the break room at the hospital. Totally recharged my batteries.”

“You slept there? You didn’t have night rotations? Why didn’t you come home?” It felt alien to say home, but Addy didn’t know how to take it back.

“You miss me?” he asked with a wink.

“No! I just meant—”

“Addy. I know it’s weird to have me sleeping in here. I finished my rotation, it was the middle of the night, and I knew I’d probably wake you up if I came home. There was a bed right there. It’s not like the couch here is the king of comfort, you know.”

“Sorry,” she said, and lowered her eyes.

“Don’t be. So? Gliding?”

“Let me get my camera.”

Addy threw on a pair of jeans, grabbed her purse and DSLR, and shoved her sunglasses on as she swept her hair into a messy ponytail.

Jack held the door of his Jeep open for her—the passenger side was the only part of the car that had some semblance of a door, though it was just a frame.

“Oh, so is this like a real date?” she teased.

He just shrugged and jumped into his side. As they merged onto the highway, the wind and sounds of Tahoe raged against her.

Of all the cars to pick, he had to go with an open Jeep with no top or sides. But she had to admit it fit him. He looks so comfortable like this, wind in his hair, a man in control of his surroundings.

“Care for a detour?” he called to her over the wind.

“What do you have in mind?”

“Maybe a drive by Jeremy’s father’s current construction project? He’s working on it, right?”

“Yeah, how—how do you know that?”

“Not hard to find things out in a small town,” he said, and smiled over at her.

As they approached the site, flaggers pumped their hands at Jack and gestured at him to slow down. Addy spotted Jeremy’s truck immediately, the biggest one on site.

As they crawled by, she saw Jeremy’s broad back. He wore that Metallica t-shirt she’d always hated.

Jeremy felt their eyes on him and turned slowly. The hard hat he wore cast a mean shadow across his face. Addy grinned over at Jack.

“I think it worked,” she said.

“Of course it did, love.”

Jack maneuvered the Jeep up a dirty trail she’d never noticed before. As they climbed to a high point, she saw an unfamiliar Jeep, one with actual doors, and a man with what looked like a strange, supersized paper plane on the cliff.

“What is this, Jack?” she asked nervously. “I thought we were going hang gliding.”

“I never said hang. I said gliding. Like a sailplane.”

“A plane?”

Jack grabbed a small backpack out of the backseat and jumped out. “Coming?” he asked.

She scrambled after him and caught up just as he slapped the glider professional on the back. “Is this, like, skydiving?” she asked. “Like tandem, or whatever it’s called? Are you taking us up?” she asked the man in the official jacket with the “Sail Away” logo.

“Me?” the guide asked. He looked vaguely familiar. Addy was sure they’d probably gone to school together. “I mean, I can. But Jack said—”

“I’m an experienced pilot,” Jack told her. “Done this tons of times, don’t worry.”

“Don’t worry?” she repeated, incredulous.

“Okay, now, since Jack is licensed and he’s piloting, I just need to go over the basic safety procedures for you, Addy.”

The guide began to tick off his prepared speech, but her heart hammered so heavily in her head she couldn’t digest anything he said. Instead, she took in the glider, aware of how flimsy it looked.

The actual plane part was tiny, and the wings and tail stretched out long and slender. It was like a pretty supermodel version of a plane.

“Got it?”

“Sorry, what?” she asked sheepishly and looked at the guide.

“Just sign the waiver, here, in all the blank boxes.”

She looked to Jack.

“Go ahead,” he said. “Trust me.”

Addy didn’t know what made her do it, but she watched her hand take the pen and signed her life away. She couldn’t have stopped it if she wanted to. And she wasn’t sure what she wanted anymore.

“These look like paper planes gone wrong,” she said as Jack grabbed her hand and led her to the cockpit.

He laughed, but when she saw how close they had to sit together, her fear began to transition to excitement.

If he’s an experienced pilot, you’re safe. Right?

As they climbed in, she quickly reached for the seatbelt while Jack gave the guide a thumbs up. Addy pulled the camera strap over her neck.

“Ready?” Jack asked. Addy shook her head no, but Jack started the winch and almost immediately they were off the ground.

“Oh my God,” she said as she watched the ground disappear below them. “This thing goes fast.”

She gripped the edge of her seat.

Jack laughed. “Relax!”

“That’s easy for you to say.”

Still, after a couple of minutes, it was clear that he really did know what he was doing. The way he expertly guided the glider put her at ease—or as much as could be expected.

“Wow. It really is beautiful,” she said under her breath. She’d never seen her small town like this before. Slowly, Addy lifted her camera and began to take photos.

“You know, the first time I was in a glider? I was just a kid. My dad took me up. Been addicted ever since,” Jack said. “I even thought about being a pilot.”

“I thought you were,” she said, and shot him a look.

“You know what I mean. A commercial pilot.”

“So why didn’t you?”

“Eh, you know how it is. Lawyer or doctor, those were the only two possible professions approved by the family. Doctor seemed a little more exciting than lawyer.”

“High standards in your family. I’m sure your wife the waitress will fit right in,” she said. Addy meant it as a joke, but knew it didn’t sound that way.

Maybe because you aren’t really joking.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Jack said quickly. “I mean, those standards are just for me—”

“You know, I like this a lot more than flying in real planes,” she said, eager to change the subject.

Inside, though, she thought: what do you mean those standards are just for you?

“Yeah?”

“I’ve only flown a handful of times, though. Mostly just to Arizona or New Mexico for college. And I had to take Xanax just to make it seem okay.”

“You did? Sorry, I didn’t know. You seem okay right now, though.”

“Yeah,” she agreed. “Maybe it’s more the airport and all the rules you have to follow …”

“We’ll need to get you a passport.”

“Sorry? Is there… something planned?”

“No, not at the moment. But planning isn’t my thing. You should always have a passport with plenty of pages waiting to go though.”

“Oh, well. Okay. Kenzie has one.”

“Yeah? She travel a lot?”

Addy laughed. “Hardly. One road trip to Tijuana for spring break and the car broke down halfway to California.”

“Bummer. I’m guessing you’ve never been removed from a flight, then?” he asked. “Given your limited flight experience and all.”

“Uh, no. Definitely not. I bet you have, though.”

“You would win with that bet,” he said.

Addy was silent as she mulled everything over. How did I end up here, looking down on my little town with some crazy wealthy doctor adrenaline junkie?

“Did we mess up our lives?” she finally asked. “Not getting the annulment right away?”

“Well… I’m having a good time. Aren’t you?”

“Sure,” she said. “I mean … how can I complain?”

“I think we’re alright, then. Oh, look! A river.”

“No, that’s Martis Creek Lake,” she said.

Addy spent the rest of the flight pointing out landmarks she knew, and steered clear of any serious talk.

It’s better this way, she thought. Light and easy. I mean, it’s just a couple of months, right?

“Time to head back,” Jack said as he glanced at his watch.

“Already?” she asked.

He laughed. “You want more?”

“It just went so fast.”

As they started to descend, she felt the panic set in that she’d felt before at airports. Jack grabbed her hand reassuringly. Addy held her breath as the ground got closer and let it out in a gust of relief as they touched down.

Jack jumped out and leaned down to help her out.

“Okay?” he asked.

She was aware of how closely they were pressed against one another. As she nodded and gazed up, she thought there was a flicker of interest in his eyes. Jack looked down to her lips, and she licked them out of instinct.

“Smile,” he said, and whipped out his phone.

He held it above them and kissed her on the cheek for the selfie. Addy felt her face flush.

I’m not disappointed, she told herself. This is all just to show Jeremy that he messed up, anyway.

It would just be a lot easier if Jack wasn’t so damn handsome.