Blue Skies (26 page)

April lay on her bed, legs crossed, chatting and laughing. Jared had already fled—she heard the front door slam—so she went to the kitchen, where she found Carlisle sitting at the breakfast bar with a glass of iced tea and a magazine in front of him. She looked at him with utter gratitude and affection. “Will you marry me?”

He let the magazine flop closed. “I don't think so, Nick. You're just not my type.”

 

Joe Riordan called her cell phone on Sunday evening and asked her to stop by his office first thing Monday morning. When she got there, he handed her a piece of paper, a printed e-mail.

Nikki looked up from the page to Riordan. She was a little confused. Not by what Riddle said in his e-mail; that was painfully clear.

“What the fuck is that?” Joe said, not in a patient tone.

She shook her head. “It looks like an e-mail from someone who doesn't know how to send an anonymous e-mail.”

“Nobody is that stupid. Maybe someone hijacked his computer over the weekend.”

“We have locks on our doors. We have passwords.”

“You think it's him?”

“I know he feels this way about me. Frankly, I could give a rat's ass.”

“He feels that way about you because you're a woman?” Joe asked.

“Partly. And partly because I took the airplane away
from him once and told him he was about to make a horseshit landing. And partly because the FAA wasn't going to pass him for check airman and it was looking iffy for Captain, and he'd like everyone to believe it's because I paid them large sums of money and had sex with them rather than because he's a limp stick.”

“Oh, Jesus Christ…”

“I wasn't even close to the situation. Danny Adams, director of training and head of the check airman group, came to me with serious concerns. I wouldn't have been doing my job if I hadn't said something to Riddle.”

“Goddamn it…”

“I suggested that rather than being failed, he take the opportunity to save face. Choosing not to fly is an option. I'll stay current, have my name on the FAA certificate.”

“Son of a bitch…”

“I think he's wrong about the pilots in the first class, Joe. I have good rapport with them. A few of them surprised me by helping me move into my house. The sim went well for everyone but Riddle. I don't think I lack credibility with them because I'm female.”

“Jesus, Mary and Joseph,” he said, rubbing a hand along the back of his neck.

“Well, what the hell do you want me to say?” she demanded rather more hotly than she had intended.

“You don't have to say anything!” he shouted back. “I have a goddamn vice president who can't even send an anonymous e-mail! You can be goddamn sure
that
wasn't on his fancy résumé!”

“Yeah, well, I can't—”

“If he hadn't delivered three excellent manuals into the hands of the FAA just last week, I'd fire the snotty dipshit.”

Nikki's eyes grew huge. She was speechless. “What manuals?” she asked quietly.

“I don't know. I think it was emergency procedures, cockpit check lists and something else.”

Her cheeks were on fire.
Her
manuals. He'd taken them from her office while she was at the simulator and handed them in, taking credit for them.

“At least he's not a total—” Riordan noticed her grim expression. “What? You have something to tell me?”

He said, she said? The chances were pretty good Riordan would believe her over Riddle, especially after this ridiculous e-mail, but she just wasn't sure she wanted to go there. “No,” she said.

He wore a disbelieving smirk and began to nod his head facetiously. “If you have something to say, you'd better say it before the opportunity passes.”

“I have a very sick feeling the opportunity will come again.”

N
ikki put a note with instructions on how to send an anonymous e-mail on top of the printed sheet Riordan had given her and handed it to Crue. “Put this on Bob's desk for me, please,” she said.

Crue glanced at the page very quickly and shot a startled look at Nikki.

“Yeah, I know. Kind of hard to believe, isn't it? By the way, I went over the schedule you put together and I think it might be flawless. You're very good. I'll keep my promise, Crue. But one battle at a time, okay?”

The secretary only nodded, dumbstruck by her boss's e-mail fiasco.

“Did you know about the manuals?” Nikki said.

Crue looked down at her desk.

“I see. Well, there was nothing you could do, I suppose.”

“I was going to tell you,” she said very quietly. “As soon as you got in.”

“That would have been risky for you,” Nikki said.

Crue took on a fiercely proud yet pleading expression. “You understand, I need this job.”

Nikki nodded. “One battle at a time.”

 

The airline was rapidly taking on weight; the countdown to flying paying passengers had begun. The pace
around the office, particularly in reservations, marketing, accounting and among Riordan's staff was picking up speed. Bookings were coming in faster as the date of the inaugural flights approached. Every department fleshed out and grew in size. Nikki, Danny and Eric were ready to begin proving flights with the FAA as soon as the flight attendants passed their aircraft evacuation check.

Another airplane at a bargain price was located, so Nikki prepared to hire another class of ten pilots. Once an operation was up and running, it took two to three months to crew an airplane. If they could get all thirty of their first pilots qualified, Eric could find among them a competent hiring committee, and that would be one more job she could delegate.

Even in the throes of certification, it was personnel issues that kept the chief pilot's office busy. A little background checking, which Dixie was getting very good at, showed one of their new pilots to be saddled with a conniving ex-wife who liked to get on the phone and accuse him of unspeakable things for which there were no police records. For some reason, a lot of pilots had complicated and melodramatic personal lives. Another of their lads had made a rather large blunder in his reported flying hours. He'd also exaggerated his previous employment, adding an awful lot of time with an employer to make himself look more desirable. It was Nikki's first experience with firing someone. Then Danny called to say he was sending a new hire to see her. “He started training really strong, then something happened. He fell apart in the sim, like he couldn't focus. I'm convinced it's a personal problem.”

Blake Thompson, forty, sat in her office staring down at his lap.

“If you're worried about confidentiality, I can do my best to keep whatever you tell me between us,” she said.

He looked up slowly. “Do your best?”

“Obviously, if you have a problem that has to be reported to the FAA…”

“It's nothing like that,” he said. “Look, I've been out of work awhile. I just got this job, just got back in the cockpit, and I can't afford to go another few years without flying.”

“Don't get ahead of yourself. You sure you're going to lose your job? It must be serious if—”

“My brother's in kidney failure,” he said flatly.

Nikki was confused. Brow wrinkled, she waited.

“He needs a kidney.”

“You need some time off?” she asked.

“I just started training,” he said. “And I'm a match.”

“Blake, spit it out. I don't see the problem—other than this isn't a real good time, personally, for you to take a check ride, worrying about your brother the way you are.”

He gave a hollow laugh. “Don't you get it? I have to choose between keeping this job and saving my brother's life.”

She looked at him a long moment. “Why?” she finally asked.

“It'll take months before I'm medically approved to get back in the cockpit! I've worked here three weeks! You gonna let me take three months off after working here for three weeks?”

She folded her hands on top of her desk. “Blake, have you talked to the flight surgeon about your medical? Are you okay to fly with one kidney?”

“Yeah, that's not the issue. It's the time off.”

“No, the time off is not the issue. Haven't you looked
at your benefits package? We don't do sick leave here. If you're sick, you get your base pay until you're well. Your seniority number is not affected.”

The shock registered on his face. “I figured that was for, you know, your basic illnesses. Like the flu.”

“No, it's for any illness or injury. If we couldn't support you helping your brother, would you want to work for us?”

“But how can you do that? How can NCA afford to do that?”

“It's actually more cost effective. Studies have shown that people who don't have, say, six days a year of sick leave don't take time off unless they're really sick, but when employees get a certain number of days, they regard them as vacation. In the end, those long-term absences are few—and Joe would rather you have actual vacation than sick leave. So, the vacation is more than average, the sick leave less.” She smiled at him. “He's not stupid, Blake. Not only is it cheaper in the long run, but happy and healthy employees do better work.”

He shook his head and laughed. “I'm dreaming, aren't I?”

“Go take care of your family business. Let us know what's going on, like where the surgery will take place.”

They both stood and he put out a hand. “Captain Burgess, I don't know how to thank you.”

“Just come back well and ready to get to work.”

It was that piece of business that made her feel all the hard work was worth every second. She knew of no other airline with such a policy.

 

The days were still long, but Nikki was not going back to the office after dinner so much anymore. What she couldn't do in eight to ten hours would have to wait for
the next day; she wasn't going to risk her family or let herself get exhausted this close to the start-up of the operation. The kids had been such great sports about her heavy schedule, and getting home to them at the end of the day was something she looked forward to.

Plus, she
loved
that house. Sitting outside by the pool in the comfortable October evenings as the lights of the city came up was more rejuvenating than a full body massage. She didn't think things like houses mattered to her, so she was surprised by how excited she was about this one. Buck's house was large and perfectly fine, and he kept it in good repair, but it wasn't what she'd call beautiful. The house she'd had her children in had been chosen by Drake, and he'd approved all the furnishings and decor. Sometimes she had felt he only let her live there.

But this house felt like
hers.
Even though Carlisle and the kids had found it, she was the one who brought them all to Nevada. Giving Carlisle and April a free hand with the furnishings didn't make the house feel any less like her haven from the world. Her haven with her loved ones.

She could actually feel her spirits lifting as she pulled into the drive, then into the garage. But as she entered the house through the garage door, she stopped suddenly.

Something was different.

She was afraid to move. The hair at the nape of her neck prickled and her pulse picked up speed. She took two cautious steps toward the kitchen, praying it was not so.

“Well, there you are, Nicole,” Opal said.

Oh, God, it
was
her and her obnoxious white poodle. Her cologne scented the air—gaggingly sweet. It would
be a year before that cloying smell would be out of the walls. Nikki knew when Opal was in the same city, much less her own house. Damn. April must have known Opal was coming and kept it from her.

“Mother,” she said. “When did you get here?”

“Just this afternoon, maybe two hours ago. April wanted to call you at the office and tell you we'd arrived, but I wouldn't let her. I wanted to be a surprise.” She cradled Precious in the crook of her arm, stroking him.

“And so you are,” Nikki said. There stood Opal in the kitchen, with Jared and April at the breakfast bar. April had that wild-eyed, perplexed look on her face that said,
I didn't know!
But Nikki didn't believe it for one second.

“That charming young homosexual fixed up a guest bed for me. I must say you have surprised and impressed me, Nicole. I am astonished at your good taste and sense of style.” She let her gaze drift about in appreciation of the house and its decor.

Jared rolled his eyes and April looked petrified, as though Nikki might beat her later.

“Where is Carlisle?” she asked tentatively.

“I believe he's in his little guest house. He said something about work.”

“Well, since you're in good hands, let me go tell him I'm home. I'll be right back.”

Nikki went to the casita, muttering under her breath that she was not going to be able to do this. She could not have Opal here for long; it would give her gastroenteritis. In fact, she felt her stomach begin to rumble at the thought. Why hadn't she forbidden April from inviting Opal to visit? Because A, Opal was her grandmother and she deserved to have a grandmother who loved her, even if it was Opal; and B, April probably
would have encouraged her visit, anyway. Nikki just hoped she could hold her tongue; she had a tendency to confront her mother and turn an unpleasant situation into an all-out bloody fight, which made her feel worse in the end.

She tapped on Carlisle's door and waited. “Coming,” he called. When he finally got there, he was shirtless and in his uniform pants, a towel around his neck and his hair wet from the shower.

“Do you have to work or are you running away from home?” she asked.

He laughed and held the door open for her. “I do have to work, actually. I was called in because of a shortage. I think the feisty union devils are throwing their weight around. Just a two-day trip.”

“I apologize for Opal. I can't do anything about her.”

“Not to worry, Nick. She doesn't bother me as much as she bothers you.”

“Oh, come on. She's even more offensive than Buck. At least Buck is joking around, but I know in his heart he loves you like a son. Opal…?”

“She did ask me if I thought it wise to have someone of my homosexual persuasion minding the children.”

“No!” Nikki almost shouted, amazed at the things Opal would say. “I hope you slapped her.”

He shrugged. “I just told her that if Rosie O'Donnell could manage, I could.” He grinned. “Your mother
loves
Rosie.”

“Maybe she won't stay long,” Nikki said hopefully.

Carlisle lifted one brow in a devilish gesture. “She likes your house, Nikki. She mentioned that she likes Vegas in the wintertime.”

Nikki thought about that for a moment and said, “I'm going to kill myself.”

When she went back to the kitchen, her mother was not there, but April was. Jared had obviously escaped; he was not inclined to hang out with his grandmother and sister. “Mom, I had absolutely no idea….” April whispered this, looking around guiltily. Nikki saw the shifting shadows of her mother's shape on the patio. She was outside; the door was ajar.

“But you told me you invited her.”

“Yes, but I didn't think she'd just
come.
Without calling. Without asking. She's never done anything like that before.”

“Yes, she has. The whole time I was growing up she would just appear, out of the blue. It was only with your father that she was cautious, because she didn't want to make him angry and lose her nice accommodations. But…”

Had Opal really appeared out of the blue when Nikki was growing up, or had Buck not warned her because for years after Opal left them, Nikki would throw a holy fit at the mere thought of her visit. She was an incorrigible monster where her mother was concerned. Even though Opal probably deserved her behavior, Nikki had to concede she'd been a horrid kid.

Then when she was about sixteen, there had been a shift in her behavior. Just when other teenage girls were beginning to rebel, Nikki straightened up and bore Opal's visits more stoically. Lucille, who owned the café at the airport, had said to her, “One day you're going to realize she could have taken you with her. Buck wouldn't have had a prayer of getting custody of you, the way he is, raising you at an airport, never making curfews, feeding you every meal at my lunch counter, letting you go to school in your pajamas if it suits you.
If you don't start being nice to Opal, she's going to think Buck's lost control of you and take you home with her.”