Page 40 of Blue Sky

Paloma pushed me off of her, but I pulled her back into me.

“Morning, Mónica.”

Paloma's cheeks reddened, and she whispered in my ear. “I didn’t want her to know until we became serious.”

“Well, know she knows and we are serious. We have nothing to hide.”

Paloma exhaled and buried her head in my chest.

I turned to Mónica. “Mónica. Do you want to go to San Diego today?”

“You serious?”

“Yup. We are leaving in an hour.”

Mónica ran over to me and hugged me. “I can't believe it. Lo, can we drive around and see where we are going to live?”

Paloma and I made eye contact and her face seemed to fall at the same time that my heart dropped.

San Diego.

Where they had planned to move after I left El Centro. It was only a month away, but it seemed like an eternity.

It was too soon to ask her to move with me to Florida, but I couldn’t imagine my life without Paloma. Without her sisters. And it wasn’t even about me and how I felt about her. What about Sky? Paloma spent more time with her than I did, though that wasn’t by choice. We were deep into our training schedule now and I couldn’t imagine having anyone else take care of Sky. I no longer worried about Sky when I was out flying. I completely focused on my men and my formations knowing that Sky was being loved and attended to. I would either have to hire another nanny back in Florida or ask my in laws to watch her. For the next nine months, I would be traveling every week around the country to different air shows. And then she needed someone to love her when I would deploy next year. Sky needed stability. And I needed someone to miss me while I was gone.

But I had a month. One month to ease into this conversation. One month to make decisions.

“I’m sure Beck will show us around. I’m going to wake up Sky.” Paloma left the kitchen.

I turned my attention back to the eggs and plated the food. Ana María walked out in her favorite Dora the Explorer nightgown.

Mónica ran over to her. “Ana María! We’re going to San Diego.”

“Today?”

“Yes. Today!”

Ana María clasped her hands together and turned to me. “Can we see the baby tigers?”

The tigers. They had been all over the news. A baby tiger had been caught at the border and the Zoo Safari Park had rescued it.

“Sure. We will go to the Zoo Safari Park and the beach.”

Mónica ran down the hallway almost plowing over Paloma and Sky.

"Mónica, Beck said we can go to the beach and the Wild Animal Park. Can you believe it?”

Paloma looked up at me and her confused expression from earlier turned into a hopeful smile. “Yes. I can.”

And this time, Paloma kissed me. In front of Mónica. In front of Ana María. In front of Sky. I kissed her back.

We had nothing to hide.