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she was safe on the ground before taking off like a greyhound’s after crossing the finish line. She held her hands in front of her face and willed them to stop shaking, but they were determined to impersonate a wet dog after a bath.
    The door flew open, and David poked his head in. “You okay?”
    All she could do was nod as he reached in and released her harness. She grabbed his arm and climbed out of the plane, not letting go of him when her feet hit the pavement because her legs refused to support her without help.
    “That was a beautiful landing, Charlie,” he said.
    Since she was alive, she had to agree. The line crew surrounded them, all talking at once. Even though all she wanted was to find a quiet place to recover her equilibrium, she high-fived them back and grinned a smile she didn’t really feel.
    “Back to work,” David finally said, dispersing them.
    When they departed and nothing blocked her view, she saw a local news station’s reporter holding up a microphone to one of the firemen. As soon as the reporter realized Charlie wasn’t surrounded by a horde of the airport’s employees, he rushed over, thrusting the mike in her face.
    “Did you think you were going to die?”
    Charlie opened her mouth to tell him to get lost, but David, knowing her too well, pushed her behind him. “Did you get that landing on camera? I sure hope so because it was a thing of beauty.” He whipped out a business card from somewhere on him and handed it to the reporter. “Call me later, and I’ll set you up an interview with her. For now, leave her alone.”
    She leaned her head against David’s back, grateful he’d stopped her from appearing like an ass on that night’s news. The last thing she wanted to do was an interview later, but David would insist. Since he’d just given her time to get her act together, she would do it for him.
    The reporter and his cameraman climbed into their news van and followed the fire truck back to the exit. “Thanks,” Charlie said when it was just her, David, and the plane that had brought her home.
    He turned and pulled her under his arm. “You’re welcome, but don’t think to get out of that interview. They already have it on film so there’s no stopping it going on the air. We’ll put the right spin on it. It’ll be good business.”
    Of course it would be. She was a well-known aerobatic plane pilot, and she was also one of his flight school instructors. He would make sure that last bit of information was included in the interview, no doubt figuring he would get calls from wannabe pilots asking for her as their instructor.
    “Yeah, good business,” she sighed. Her student quota had just gone up. Not that she minded. The extra money was always good, and she enjoyed teaching anyone who loved to fly.
    Gary, the FBO’s head mechanic, rolled up in a tug. “You lost oil pressure?” he asked as he hooked a tow bar to the plane’s wheels.
    With an affirmative nod, Charlie turned to her plane. “Yeah, then the temperature rose. She’s always been steady and reliable. I want to know why.”
    “I’m on it,” Gary said, and then hauled her baby away.
    If anyone could identify the problem, it was Gary. Knowing the Citabria was in good hands, Charlie slid onto the golf cart next to David. As if he understood she needed time to herself, he didn’t talk to her on their way to the FBO. She settled back onto the seat, closed her eyes, and mentally relived the flight from the moment she’d walked around her plane doing her preflight inspection.
    She was a stickler for procedures, and she couldn’t see anything she’d missed that would have warned her of a malfunction. Sometimes shit happened, and that would probably turn out to be the case. Every pilot, especially one who flew aerobatics, had a scare or two in their career.
    But she’d had two in a week, and that bothered her. Even though it had been in two different planes, with two different problems, what were the odds of