Chapter 104 — Madison

I stayed longer at lunch with Emily than I probably should have. One of the perks of being the boss’s daughter was having flexibility.

Emily and I had changed topics and talked some about her job and what was going on with her, but we’d steered away from any more serious topics.

I stepped off the elevator and walked around the corner to the lobby.

Daddy sat at the reception desk, doing something at the scheduling computer.

Kade stood at the counter with the leather satchel he used to carry his iPad and his travel bag sat at his feet.

My heart lodged in my throat.

Kade was taking a flight.

An overnight flight.

Every day that we were apart, my heart ached.

I knew that we only had a few more days to spend together before we would find ourselves separated by what may as well be thousands of miles.

Again.

Unable to look at Kade, I walked around him and stood in front of my father.

“Daddy?” I asked, forcing a little smile. “What’s going on?”

The founder and CEO of Skye Travels was not supposed to be sitting at the reception desk taking calls and making schedules.

He glanced at me, then turned his attention back to the computer.

“The phone’s still set to the answering service,” he said. “So you’ll need to check that. I cleared out Kade’s schedule for the rest of the week and gave his flights to other pilots.”

“Okay,” I said, setting my purse on the counter. “What’s happened?”

“Mr. Baker had a family emergency. I would have gone myself, but my schedule is already booked. So I gave the flight to Kade.”

I put my hands on the back of the chair and looked over my father’s head at Kade.

Our gazes locked.

“When does he come back?” I asked. It was hard to speak with my heart in my throat.

Kade’s expression was blank.

“I don’t know,” Daddy said. “Mr. Baker needs him to stay until he’s ready to come back.”

Sometimes clients did that. Especially clients like Mr. Baker who had enough money that it didn’t matter to them.

Did Daddy know what he’d done? I hadn’t told him how I felt about Kade.

But wasn’t he the one who’d sent us to Denver together?

“I’ll get out of your hair,” Daddy said, standing up. “You can make sure everything looks good.”

I watched him walk around the counter. He really was clueless.

He stopped and turned around. “Oh. Before I forget. Quinn is supposed to have someone coming this week for you to train. Not sure about the details.”

I shifted my gaze away from Kade to Daddy. If I’d even remotely thought about going with Kade, Daddy just trampled all over that possibility.

I was the only one who could train someone to take my place.

Daddy looked from me to Kade and back again.

It occurred to me then that it wasn’t Daddy who’d set up our trip to Denver together.

It was Momma.

“Kade,” Daddy said. “Mr. Baker is waiting on the tarmac.”