Chapter 106 — Madison

After work, I went straight home, only to find my sister, Ainsley, sitting on the sofa.

She was wearing a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. No makeup. A full glass of red wine on the coffee table in front of her.

“You’re home early,” she said.

“Not really.” I sat down across from her. Her eyes were red-rimmed.

Ainsley was one of the most put-together people I knew. She was level-headed and also opinionated.

Momma claimed that Ainsley, her oldest daughter, took after Daddy. Anytime any one of us did something Momma didn’t like, she blamed it on Daddy.

And since Ainsley was a pilot like Daddy, she was automatically more like him than the rest of us.

Ainsley claimed that made her Daddy’s favorite.

I, of course, knew that she was mistaken about that.

At the moment, though, something was definitely not right with my sister.

“What’s happened?” I asked.

Ainsley shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

I waited, not saying anything.

“Men,” Ainsley said.

“I figured. So what’s happened?”

“It’s nothing,” she said. “Nothing that an indefinite moratorium won’t fix.”

I laughed. “A moratorium? That sounds serious.”

I tried to remember the guy’s name that she was currently dating.

Ainsley didn’t date anyone steady.

I personally think it was because she worked with men. And pilots weren’t known for their commitment.

If I hadn’t known Kade while we were in college—before he became a pilot—I sometimes wondered if I would feel the same way.

But I trusted Kade.

He’d never given me a reason not to.

Ainsley just shrugged.

“So what are you doing here? Don’t you have a date with Kade?”

“Why would you assume that?” I asked.

“You always have a date with Kade.”

Always was close to right.

“Well,” I said. “Not tonight. Daddy sent him on a trip to Boston.”

Ainsley sat up.

“Overnight then.” It was a statement not a question.

“Actually. It could be as long as a week.”

“Why didn’t he send me?”

I picked up her wine glass and tasted it. “Probably because you don’t work for him.”

“Right,” she said. “Not enough experience.”

It spoke to Daddy’s commitment to his company that he wouldn’t put his own daughter on the payroll until she had what he considered enough experience. And that could take years according to Noah Worthington’s standards.

“You could have gone with him,” Ainsley pointed out.

“Yes. I suppose I could have except that our dear brother Quinn has decided that this is the week I have to train my replacement.”

“I say screw Quinn. He should have done that weeks ago.”

“Agreed,” I said, sitting back with her glass of wine. “You’re not drinking this?”

“Already had one,” she said. “Have you figured out what you’re going to do?”

Ainsley always had been one to cut to the chase. In that way she was not like Daddy, but in my opinion was a lot more like Momma, though Momma denied that particular trait in herself.

I smiled just a little. “I’m getting there,” I said. “I just have a few more things to work out. And it’s fortuitous that you’re here because I need to talk to you about something.”