“Oh,” her father said sagely. “It’s guy trouble, isn’t it?”

  How does he do that? Halle wondered. He was always so well attuned to what was going on with her. It was as if she had written her problems out on her face for him to read.

  But she couldn’t confess what had happened between her and Grayson. She couldn’t stand to hear what he would say if he knew she’d crossed that line with her boss.

  So she kept things vague. “It’s not really guy trouble,” she said, forcing a little laugh. “It’s just my boss.”

  “Grayson Bloom?” her father asked. “I thought you and he were getting along better lately.”

  That’s an understatement. “We were,” she said. “I’m just starting to think we’re too different to make it work.”

  Her father frowned. “Too different? You said you were surprised by how much the two of you had in common.”

  “I was,” she said. “But maybe those were all superficial things. I mean, the fact that he likes to paint—what difference does that make, really?”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” her father said mildly. “I’ve had plenty of bosses who didn’t have any human qualities at all. I’d hate to think that you were working for a hotel tycoon who only cared about money. It’s been nice for me to know that he’s got these other sides to his personality.”

  “Yeah,” Halle allowed. “He could definitely be worse, as a human being.”

  “So what’s the problem?”

  “I guess I let that make me think we were the same kind of person,” Halle said. “And…I’m starting to see that we’re really not.”

  “In what way?”

  She hesitated. She needed to be careful here, so as not to let her father in on what had happened between herself and Grayson. She really didn’t want him to know about that.

  “He’s…self-centered,” she said. “And I don’t mean to say that I’m completely selfless all the time, because I know I’m not—”

  “Give yourself some credit,” her father said. “You’re very selfless, Halle. I know how much you worry about me. More than you should, to be honest.”

  “That’s not completely selfless,” Halle said with a smile. “I have plenty to gain by making sure that you’re doing all right, and you know it.”

  Her father reached out and patted her hand. “So tell me about Mr. Bloom,” he said. “In what way is he self-centered?”

  “Maybe self-centered isn’t the right word,” Halle said. “Maybe what I mean is that he’s entitled. He seems to think that everything is about him getting what he wants. He doesn’t consider other people’s feelings.”

  “That doesn’t sound like what you’ve told me about him,” her father said. “You told me that he was serious about making sure that his employees were happy in their jobs.”

  “Yeah. I used to admire that. Now I’m starting to wonder if it’s just his way of making sure he gets the best possible performance out of them. Happy employees produce better work, right? He even said something like that to me once. He said that you couldn’t get good customer service out of people who weren’t happy in their jobs.”

  “That’s probably true,” her father mused.

  “Well, it’s not as admirable as wanting to take care of your employees because you’re just a decent person,” Halle said.

  “No, it’s not,” her father said. “But why does that bother you, Halle? Isn’t the important thing that he’s providing for his employees—including you? Why are you worried about his motivations?”

  “It’s just…” She sighed. “I have to spend a lot of time around him, you know? And it’s hard to spend time with someone so fundamentally different from who you are.”

  “You’ve got to be able to work with bosses you don’t like,” her father said. “You can’t expect to always have bosses you admire.”

  I like him too much, actually. That’s the real problem here.

  “I know that, Dad,” she said. “But this isn’t a typical situation, you know? It’s not as if I can meet with him once a week and spend the rest of my time at work commiserating about it with coworkers who I actually like. He’s the only person I see. We have to spend hours at a time together. When we’re in foreign countries, he’s usually the only person who even speaks my language. I go days without even having a conversation with anybody else.”

  “I see,” her father said. “So you feel like you do need to like him, at least a little bit.”

  “Something like that.”

  “And you don’t? At all?”

  “I don’t…feel the way I thought I did about him,” she hedged. “I think it’s going to be really hard for me to spend time around him. Really uncomfortable. I’m not looking forward to our next trip together at all.”

  “Well, you don’t want to stay in a job that makes you uncomfortable,” her father said. “Are things really that bad?”

  “They’re not great.” She sighed. “I’m sure I’ve given you a lot of mixed messages when it comes to my feelings about this job, haven’t I?”

  “You have, but that’s okay,” her father said. “You can take your time figuring this out. I don’t want you to feel like you’re committed to something that isn’t right for you.”

  “I quit my job for this,” Halle said. “I was determined to at least give it an honest effort.”

  She didn’t mention the salary Grayson was paying her. She hadn’t talked about that with her father, because she didn’t want him to realize that a huge part of the reason she was staying in this job was out of a desire to help him keep his house. She knew he’d feel guilty if he was aware of that, and that he would tell her she needed to quit and not worry about him.

  And that’s not in the cards. I might give up this job—I’m definitely considering it—but I’ll never give up trying to take care of Dad.

  “Could you get your old job back?” Halle’s father said. “They really liked you there, didn’t they?”

  “They liked me fine,” Halle said, smiling slightly. “I don’t think they liked me as much as you think they did.”

  “I took a flight once that you were working,” her father reminded her. “That time I went to St. Louis. Remember?”

  “How could I forget?” It had been about eight years ago, when Halle had been early in her career, and her father had gotten such a kick out of seeing her on the job that he still talked about it. It had become something of a family joke, the extent to which he liked to bring it up. But Halle appreciated knowing that he was proud of her.

  “I’ve never had such good service on a flight,” her father said. “They’re insane if they pass up on an opportunity to get you back. Of course they’d take you, if you wanted to come.”

  “You’re biased, Dad,” Halle said fondly.

  “I’m not biased. I know good service when I see it.”

  “I could probably get that job back, if I really wanted to,” Halle said. “If nothing else, I have good tenure there. It would be easier for them to take me back than to train a new flight attendant. I might not be able to get a job at the same airline, but I’m sure there’s some airline out there that would take me.”

  “Well, if you’re really not happy with things, leave this job,” her father said. “There’s no shame in it.”

  “You wouldn’t think of me as a quitter if I did?”

  “It’s not bad to quit things that aren’t right for you,” her father said. “What if nobody ever left a bad relationship because they didn’t want to be a quitter? Everyone would be stuck married to their first boyfriend or girlfriend. It would be madness.”

  Halle laughed. “I’d be married to Dylan Sanderson.”

  “That idiot,” her father said. “I remember him. He had the tips of his hair dyed blue.”

  “I thought he was so cool when I was in high school,” Halle laughed.

  “You did,” her father agreed. “I just had to bite my tongue every time he was around. But eventually, you wised up, and you weren’t afraid to leave him behind. That was the right choice, and the same goes for this, if you’ve decided it isn’t a good fit.”

  Halle sighed. “Thanks, Dad,” she said. “I really don’t want you to be disappointed in me.”

  “I could never be disappointed in you,” he assured her. “The only thing that matters to me is that you’re happy. Just take care of yourself and it’ll all be fine.”

  Halle nodded appreciatively. Talking to her dad always made her feel better.

  She had decided to stay the night. As she settled into her own childhood bedroom for the night, she considered what her father had said.

  I could quit.

  And honestly, she probably should.

  She had done her best to stay at the job and keep things professional between herself and Grayson, but he had seemed almost unwilling to allow it. As soon as he had noticed her pulling away, he had confronted her about it. He had taken her out to dinner, insisted on treating it like a date, and then he had slept with her.

  And then, the morning after, he had begun to pull away.

  It’s not that he doesn’t want there to be any distance between us. He just wants to control it.

  And that was completely unfair.

  She couldn’t work for him anymore. Not now that she could see how cavalier he was willing to be with her feelings. And it was especially hurtful given the fact that he had gotten her to open up about her loneliness, about her struggles with relationships. Why would he have done that?

  Had it all been a trick to get her into bed?

  She didn’t want to think so. A week ago, she would have said that he was better than that. Right now, she just didn’t want to believe that she was stupid enough to have fallen for such a thing.

  Either way, working for him would be unbearable now.

  I’ll finish out the month, she decided.

  There was one trip left on the books this month. They were going to Barbados. And Halle might have hated the idea of more time spent with Grayson, but she didn’t want to miss out on Barbados.

  And one more month’s salary will give me the money I need to pay off Dad’s mortgage.

  That was what this had all been about, after all. Taking care of her father.

  She felt herself smile at the thought of what he would say when she handed him the deed to his house. He would tell her she shouldn’t have done it, of course, but Halle also knew that he would be completely relieved at no longer having to worry about losing the place.

  And once that’s taken care of, I don’t really need to stay at this job anymore. I’ll have enough money to hold me over while I look for something else.

  She lay back on her bed, satisfied with her decision. One more month, and then she was out for good.

  Chapter 16

  Halle

  Halle stood on the tarmac, looking up at Grayson’s jet. In spite of herself, she was a little bit sad. Today was her last flight with him. It was the last time she would ride on this elaborate plane. And it was also the last time she would see Grayson himself.

  It felt like the end of something significant.

  She didn’t know why it should feel that way. It wasn’t like she’d been working for him for such a long time. A phase of her life was ending, for sure, but not a very big one. In a month’s time, she probably wouldn’t even be thinking about this anymore.

  Why is that so hard to believe?

  She had given Grayson her notice a week ago. He had had the nerve to seem surprised by it, and had even asked her why she was leaving. Thinking that if he couldn’t figure it out on his own, she wasn’t going to waste her time trying to explain it to him, she had simply said that the job wasn’t a good fit for her anymore. She thought that, on some level, he must know what her real reason was, but he’d persisted in pretending that he had no idea.

  Since she’d given notice, they had barely spoken. The only words he’d had for her were basic instructions—asking for drink refills or for her to fetch or file papers that he needed. She’d followed every instruction without protest, hoping to make their remaining time together as free of conflict as possible.

  And it seemed that that was going to be easy, given that he was all but ignoring her.

  She made her way over to the plane and boarded. It was empty.

  That was strange. The plane was never empty by the time she got here. She’d beaten Grayson to the plane several times—he never seemed to be that attached to keeping his schedule—but even on those occasions, the pilot had always been here, preparing for takeoff.

  I guess we’re going to be leaving pretty late, if the pilot isn’t even here yet.

  The door to the cockpit stood open, and Halle peeked inside. Sure enough, it was empty. There was no sign that anyone had been here recently.

  I wonder where he is.

  She shrugged. There was no point in worrying about it. She had her own preflight tasks to attend to. She went back into the cabin and started preparing it for their journey to Barbados, trying not to think about the fact that if this trip had been taking place a couple of weeks ago, she would have been able to look forward to spending time with Grayson on the island.

  I don’t need to be with Grayson in order to have a good time on a tropical island, for God’s sake. This is still going to be a great experience, even though I’ll be on my own.

  It wasn’t as if she wasn’t used to being on her own. She had been independent for years. She’d let all those conversations with Grayson about loneliness get into her head, maybe, she thought as she wiped down the plane’s seats. She’d let him make her think she was lonely too. Ridiculous. She had been fine for years before she had met him. She wasn’t lonely. She was perfectly happy on her own.

  Maybe it’s better that I’ll be doing Barbados without him. This way, I’ll be sure to do what I want, instead of letting him make decisions for the both of us like he always does.

  That sounded good, and she would almost have believed it, if not for the fact that she’d always liked the choices Grayson had made for them. Everywhere he had taken her during their time together had been an adventure.

  She heard the sound of someone coming up the steps of the plane and turned, expecting to see the pilot.

  But it wasn’t the pilot. It was Grayson. He gave her a brusque nod and strode past her into his conference room, shutting the door firmly behind him.

  She sighed. This was the way it had been between them since she’d told him she was leaving.

  At least this is the last fight.

  One more round trip, and then she wouldn’t have to deal with this anymore.

  And she would have achieved everything she had set out to do. She would be able to secure her father’s house for him. She would be able to make sure that he was taken care of.

  Why should I feel sad about this?

  I don’t feel sad about this. I’m fine. Everything is fine.

  She finished up her preflight work. It was now about five minutes before their scheduled departure time. Steeling herself, she went and knocked on the conference room door.

  “What?” an irritable voice called.

  She took a breath. “May I come in?”

  “Whatever you want.”

  She rolled her eyes. He was behaving so petulantly. But then again, this was probably the first time in his life anyone had ever told him he couldn’t have what he wanted. Of course he didn’t know how to deal with it.

  She opened the door and went in. Grayson didn’t look up from the pile of papers on the table in front of him, and though Halle could tell he was just moving them around to avoid giving her his attention, it still reminded her painfully of the morning after they’d slept together and the way he had avoided looking at her then.

  This time, she wasn’t going to wait for him to get over himself. “I thought you should know,” she said, “the pilot isn’t here yet.”

  His head jerked up. “What?”

  “The pilot’s not here,” she repeated. “We’re supposed to be wheels-up in about five minutes, and we’re definitely not going to make that. I don’t know if you want to call him or what. I just thought you ought to know.”

  “Thanks,” he murmured grudgingly, like he resented having to say it.

  Halle shrugged. If he wanted to be that way about it, that was his problem.

  Grayson reached for his phone and pressed a few buttons to dial. He had it on speaker, so Halle was able to hear what was happening on the other end.

  The phone rang several times.

  There was no answer.

  “Oh, what the hell,” Grayson mumbled.

  “He’s not answering?”

  “You just heard me call him, didn’t you? Did you hear anyone answer?”

  “Don’t take it out on me,” Halle said. “I’m not the one who isn’t taking your call.”

  Grayson scowled but said nothing.

  “What are we going to do?” Halle asked. “Can we find another pilot at the last minute? Or will we have to reschedule the trip?”

  I really hope we don’t have to do that. She’d mentally prepared herself for the fact that this was going to be her last trip with Grayson. If she had to wait a week for it now, it was going to make it that much more difficult to keep her mind in a healthy place about him.

  “We can’t reschedule the trip,” Grayson said. “I have an important meeting. I have to be there.”

  “Okay,” Halle said. “Then we’re going to have to find another pilot, right? Do you have a list of contacts? I can start making some calls.”

  But a strange look had come over Grayson’s face.

  “What?” Halle asked. “What are you thinking? Why do you look like that?”

  “We have a pilot,” Grayson said.

  “What?”

  “I’m a qualified pilot.”

  She frowned. “I thought you said you were only qualified to fly this plane if you had an instructor with you.”

  He waved a hand. “That’s a technicality.”

  “It doesn’t seem like one,” Halle said.

  “I know how to fly the plane,” he said. “I’ve flown it dozens of times. I could have qualified to fly without an instructor if I had wanted to. I just never had the time to sit the exam. But I’m perfectly fine to fly.”