Chapter 107 — Kade

“I’m not sure I like surprises,” Madison said as I went down the pre-take off checklist.

“I’m pretty sure you’ll like this one,” I said.

We were flying a sweet little Cessna today, one of Noah’s private’s jets with the bright red Skye Travels logo across the tail.

If I’d built a company like Skye Travels, I was pretty sure I’d plaster the logo all over everything.

Noah knew the purpose of this trip, but I’d sworn him to secrecy. I hadn’t minded asking him either, since the way I figured it, it was all his fault anyway for sending me off like that to Boston.

Also, how could he possibly not have noticed that his daughter and I had picked up our relationship again?

It was the Saturday after I’d gotten back from my trip to Boston.

I’d called Madison every day of course and we’d texted at random throughout my trip, but there was something different about her.

She was being distant.

I know she understood that I’d had no choice but to take this flight. I hadn’t told her that her father had a doctor’s appointment. That didn’t seem like my information to share.

I couldn’t tell if she was cross with him about it or with me in general.

She also hadn’t said a word about moving to Denver. The couple of times I’d brought it up, she’d quickly changed the subject.

So today was the day I made it all up to her.

She fiddled with her phone as we taxied across the tarmac.

Before long, we got the go ahead to take off.

“You ready?” I asked.

She nodded.

She obviously hadn’t gotten over being cross with me.

I took her hand and pulled her to meet me halfway. I pressed my lips against hers.

It was the first kiss we’d shared since before I left for Boston.

It seemed like forever ago.

Her kiss was definitely not distant or reserved.

I entertained the thought of turning around. We could go on our trip later.

But the traffic controller came through my headset loud and clear.

“Hold that thought,” I said, winking at her.

She smiled at me and turned her attention to the window.

Status quo. Maybe it was my imagination that she was being distant. Maybe, as she would suggest, I was projecting.

The wheels left the ground, and the plane went into ground effect.

We made a slow circle and headed northeast.

Madison turned slowly and looked at me.

Her voice came through my headset loud and clear.

“Kade,” she said. “You’re taking me to Ruston, Louisiana?”

I shrugged. I knew she’d know as soon as our course was set.

She had made this particular flight probably a hundred times over the years.

I was pretty sure she could even have piloted the plane if she had been so inclined.

In between business calls and making arrangements online, I’d had a lot of time to think in Boston.

I’d decided that Ruston—the place where we’d started—was the best place for us to set our course for the future.

It was like making a full circle around and picking up the thread of where we’d gone wrong.

But this time, I was determined that we would get it right.