Redwood Bend

me. So I’ll take the boys to town and I’ll be back.”
She put her hands on her hips. “Don’t you understand ‘no’?”
“No,” he said.

Fourteen

R ight after leaving Katie’s house and dropping off the boys, Dylan parked on the side of a hill that offered a spectator’s view of a lush valley, but his interest was not the view. He had cell reception here. He called Lang. “How’s everything going?”
“Going,” Lang said. “I flew a couple of charters. They didn’t pay enough, but they paid and it was work. We could use more. I was out of town most of last week, but it’s money and I’m encouraged by the business.”
“How’s Mrs. Lang getting along?”
“She’s doing all right, but then Sue Ann always gets along better without me than I do without her.”
“Listen to you,” Dylan said. “She’s stuck at home with five kids, trying to help run an airport, manage the house and everything and you’re whining about doing something you love to do—fly.”
“I know,” he admitted. “She could’ve done better. Boy, am I lucky she didn’t.”
“I remember when you met her,” Dylan said. “It was like you saw her and glazed over…”
“Nah, I didn’t really go into a trance until I talked to her. But I was in big trouble once I slept with her. Shew.” Lang took a breath. “Thank God I’m home for a few days!”
“Eleven years later, still the horn dog for your wife.”
“Hard to get bored with perfection,” he said with a sigh.
Dylan just chuckled to himself. Sue Ann was pretty, but she wasn’t a knockout. She was kind of soft and wholesome-looking, but she had a sharp tongue on her, like someone else Dylan knew. She didn’t suffer fools gladly. She certainly didn’t put up with any of Lang’s shit. “I’m still trying to figure out how that works,” Dylan said. “One look and not only did you know how you felt then, you knew how you were going to feel in twenty years.”
“You see what you want to see, D,” Lang said. “Like we’re the perfect married couple? Hell, we’ve had some knockdowns. I’ve spent my share of nights on the couch. In fact, it’s making up that really gets us into trouble—that’s usually when we slip up and get pregnant.”
“Didn’t you promise her a vasectomy?”
“Yeah, when little D is two, and guess what? He had a birthday just after I got back from our ride. As soon as I can put together some days off, I’m going to get that done. We can’t afford another one. And there are so many kids, I never get any time alone with my wife.”
“Man,” Dylan said. “No one’s ever cutting on me…”
Lang laughed heartily at that. “We’ll talk after you have five kids.”
“Like that’ll ever happen…”
“It’s a pretty simple formula, Dylan. Once I found a woman I loved, I stopped worrying about whether I’d ever find a woman I loved. I ask Sue Ann what I want and she’s only too happy to tell me. And then, my friend, she rewards me. It’s a beautiful thing.”
The reward he was talking about flashed in Dylan’s mind, but the players certainly were not Lang and Mrs. Lang. It was Dylan and Katie, of course. The first image happened to be on the floor. His mouth watered. Then the bed, then the shower, then the bed… He cleared his throat. “Sounds like you know what you’re doing. Even I think you have the perfect life. And everyone knows I’m impossible to please.”
“I don’t think that,” Lang said. “I’ve told you what I think a hundred times, but you don’t listen.”
“Tell me one more time.”
Lang drew an impatient breath. “When I found my woman, I focused on her. You’ll never find your woman, because you’re focused on your silly demons. Demons you barely remember from your childhood anyway. Demons that have nearly died of old age, by the way. Speaking of those demons, how’s the movie business these days? And the family? ”
Dylan was speechless. Had Lang said that before? Was he always living inside his own head, worrying about how certain things would make him feel, not thinking about how other people might feel? But no, that wasn’t right, because he felt very bad about the way he made Katie feel and came back to apologize…came back to apologize because he hadn’t been sleeping and he wanted a clear conscience. And while he’d been gone, Katie had grown thin.
Oh, God, he thought. I was trying not to, but I found her. I can’t stand it, it’s so scary. But I found her. My