Day's End by Colleen Vanderlinden Page A

loved getting these little glimpses of how Ryan came to be who he is. I’d known that his grandparents were the bedrock of who he was, but seeing the details like this meant a lot.
    We all sat down to dinner, then had possibly the world’s best chocolate cheesecake for dessert. We spent a little more time talking over coffee, Ryan’s grandparents regaling me with stories from Ryan’s youth, mostly about times he’d gotten in trouble. By the time we were getting ready to go, my face hurt from smiling, and my stomach was so full I felt ready to burst.
    Ryan’s grandparents walked us out. I shook hands with his grandfather again, and Tina pulled me into a strong hug.
    “It was nice meeting you. Thank you for everything,” I said to her as I hugged her back.
    “Thank you for making him happy,” she whispered. “He hasn’t had enough of that. Thank you,” she repeated. She pulled back and smiled at me. “You are welcome here any time. Okay?”
    “Thank you,” I said. Ryan leaned down to kiss his grandma on the cheek and give her a hug, and then he took my hand and we started walking across the yard to the mini jet, his grandparents watching from their back porch.
    “Don’t forget to get working on some babies for us!” Tina called, and Ryan’s head fell forward in resignation. I laughed and shook my head, and then he laughed too. He helped me up into the plane, and we both waved at his grandparents one more time before he started doing his flight prep.
    A few minutes later, we were in the air, heading back toward Detroit.
    “She really wants those great grandkids,” I said after a while and he laughed.
    “Yeah, she does. You probably won’t stop hearing about it, like, ever.”
    I laughed.
    “They’re lovely, Ryan. Thank you for taking me to meet them. I can see both of them in you.”
    “I wish I’d been able to spend more time with your mom,” he said, and I leaned forward and squeezed his shoulder lightly. “I had a feeling she was on your mind tonight, with all of this.”
    “She was. And she would have loved your grandparents.” It was one more thing in the long list of things I loved about Ryan. Death makes some people uncomfortable, which is totally understandable. They want to pretend it doesn’t exist. They dance around talking about the dead as if that makes everything better for those who are left behind. But it made me feel better to talk about my mother, to remember her, and he seemed to understand that. He wasn’t afraid to mention her, and he didn’t expect me to just move on with my life as if her loss hadn’t affected me at all. In some ways, it had changed everything, and he knew it.
    We flew the rest of the way home, and I was relieved, if a little nervous, when we landed on the flight deck.
    “We don’t have to do anything tonight,” Ryan said softly as we landed. “You’re nervous.”
    “It should annoy me that you can do that,” I told him.
    “I’m sorry.”
    “Don’t be. I don’t mind you knowing how I feel. Anyone else, I’d feel uncomfortable about that.” He landed the plane, and we got out. He spoke to the flight crew for a few minutes while I waited. Monster was there, hanging out with some of his old flight crew buddies, and I chatted with him for a minute. Once Ryan was finished, he walked toward me. Monster headed off with his friends, and Ryan and I stood there for a few awkward moments.
    “Come on,” I said. I took his hand and pulled him out of the flight bay and toward the elevators. Once we were inside, I stood on tiptoe and kissed him, and his arms went around me immediately, his mouth warm, demanding, breathtaking as he kissed me back. He held me tight against his body, pressing me between his solid frame and the wall of the elevator.
    My heart felt like it was about to pound out of my chest.
    Ryan broke our kiss and pressed his lips to my neck. “We don’t have to do anything,” he said quietly. “It’s okay.”
    “I want to.”
    He