I drain the last of my sweet iced tea and toss the empty paper cup into the large plastic bag Cassie and I are using as a trash bag.

“How’d you find this place?”

After I got an order of baby back ribs, jalapeno corn bread, and sweet tea, Cassie directed me to a quiet lake in the middle of a state park. She directed me to drive the truck under a massive weeping willow tree that hides it from anyone who happens to use the access road, but still lets us catch glimpses of the lake through the long swaying strands.

We set up a makeshift picnic in the bed of my truck. Most of my dates have taken place at some of the finest five-star establishments in the world, but I’ve never enjoyed sitting in those places as much as I do sitting here beside Cassie with our feet dangling off the end of the tailgate.

The park isn’t all that far from my family’s compound, though I haven’t ever spent much time exploring it.

“My dad used to bring me here when I was a kid. We’d either go hiking or fishing.” Cassie spreads a pat of butter onto a thick slice of yellow bread. “It’s always been one of my favorite places, but I haven’t been here in a long time.”

I pop open one of the to-go boxes and look down at the pile of ribs laying on a piece of tin foil. The spicy aroma of the BBQ sauce they’re coated in tickles my nose. “What about Sally, didn’t she come with you?”

Cassie laughs. The sound kind of erupts from somewhere deep within her and colors the air. It’s a good sound, one that she should make more often.

“Sally was a girly girl. Once in a great while she’d come out here, but she usually spent the time reading. Fishing for blue gills and looking for salamanders wasn’t her thing. I was my dad’s tomboy daughter, and she was my mom’s beauty queen. Considering how miserable my mother can be, I got the good end of the deal.”

I use my teeth and rip a hunk of meat from one of the short, flat bones. It tastes every bit as good as it looks. I finish chewing and swallow before asking the question that’s been burning in my mind for the better part of the day.

“What happened to her?”

“A guy. She was twenty-one at the time, and I think I was sixteen, almost seventeen at the time. He was a stunt pilot for some traveling daredevil act. Both of my parents hated him, but I thought he was cute and funny. I think dating him was Sally’s one form of rebellion. Up until that point, she’d been the perfect daughter. A straight A student, a beauty queen, she was a pre-med student.” Cassie shoots me a sideways glance. “I was the exact opposite. At the time I hated her, and I’ll probably feel guilty about that until the day I die.”

Unable to resist, I reach out and rest a hand on her shoulder, hoping it gives her some comfort. “I think most siblings hate one another at some point in their life.”

Cassie shrugs. “Yeah, I know that, but considering how things turned out, I don’t feel any better. Teenage me was just as bitchy as I am now, and most of that temper was directed at Sally.”

Which goes a long way toward explaining why she’s so good with her sister.

“What happened with the pilot?”

“He’d been working a lot of hours and had just finished a multi-state tour. According to the people he worked with, during that time, he’d developed a few new tricks. We assume that he wanted to impress Sally and talked her into going up with him. He made a mistake during one of the tricks and hooked the edge of his right wing in a power line and lost control. The plane hit the ground so hard, it basically broke apart at the seams. Sally’s spine was crushed and she has permanent brain damage. Her boyfriend was instantly killed. Our best guess is that he was tired, and fatigue caused him to make a stupid mistake.”

My heart breaks for both Sally and Cassie. No teenager should have to go through something like that. “I can’t imagine how horrible that must have been.”

“It ripped my family apart. My dad was a pilot and I think he blamed himself. He thought he should have been able to do something to stop Sally from getting in the plane that night. He basically shut down until he died of cancer two years later.”

Leaving yet another hole in Cassie’s life. I just want to hold her close and do everything in my power to prevent anything else bad happening to her. Of course, if I tried, she’d probably rip my arms right out of my shoulders.

Cassie stares at her knees. “This can’t possibly be the type of conversation you planned on having tonight.”

“I wanted to get to know you better and now I think I do. That’s all that matters. I don’t think there are any rules about all date conversations having to be cheerful.”

Cassie doesn’t respond.

I struggle to come up with a way to keep the conversational ball rolling.

“I’m surprised you went on to become a pilot.” It sounds like a lame question, but it’s the only thing I can think of.

Cassie shrugs and picks at her own pile of ribs. “My grandfather was a navy pilot. My dad did a stint as a commercial passenger pilot before deciding that he preferred teaching flying and working as a crop duster. Flying is in my blood. I never wanted to do anything but fly planes. Sally’s accident didn’t change that, though it has made me more cautious. I nearly flipped out when we were going to Morocco and you said you were tired. That’s my biggest fear.”

“Understandable.”

I finish off the last rib and toss the to-go container in the makeshift trash bag.

“What about you? Why’d you become a pilot?”

“Kind of the same way you did. It’s in my blood, though the only person in my family other than me with any interest in flying is my great aunt.”

Cassie’s eyes widen. “Your great aunt was a pilot?”

“She’d tell you she still is a pilot. The only reason she’s not flying is because my family says she’s too old and won’t let her. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that she’s still figuring out a way to sneak in a flight here and there. She’s a crafty old woman. She taught me how to fly.”

My Aunt Evie’s name is on the tip of my tongue, but I force myself not to say it. As soon as she hears it, she’ll know my true identity. This is the first opportunity I’ve ever had to get to know a woman without her knowing that I’m filthy rich. And while not telling Cassie who I am makes me feel guilty, the guilt doesn’t override my desire to have her get to know me without the issue of money between us.

Cassie places her plastic knife and fork on top of the pile of bones in her to-go container and tosses it into the trash bag. “Maybe the fact that you grew up around a female pilot is the reason why you don’t have any trouble respecting my ability to handle a plane.”

“You might be right. My aunt knew the guy who founded Northwest Airline,” I tell Cassie.

“Really? I’d heard he was a decent pilot and a good guy. When the company hired me, some of his people were still in place and it was a decent place to work.” Her brow furrows. “Speaking of which, shouldn’t we take the information that Lynette is embezzling money from the company to the authorities? It shouldn’t be hard to prove. You wrote down all the account numbers, so even if she cleaned up the files after we left, the cops would still have something to look into.”

I run a hand through my hair. “I think what we saw in Lynette’s financial records is just the tip of the iceberg. I think Northwest is involved in something far worse than skimming money off the payroll.”