Nothing Ever Breaks Except the Heart by Kay Boyle (1942)

This is a love story not of Miss Del Monte who seems to be enamored with the airline deskman Mr McCloskey, but of Mr McCloskey and flying. He has mental problems with flying now and so he can only be behind a desk. He takes Miss Del Monte out on the water to find his wrecked airplane. “She’s out there, tethered on the water, Mr McCloskey said. The plane, he said, a little impatiently, because Miss Del Monde didn’t seem to be able to understand English any more.”