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I feel his fervor through the phone, and it’s so fucking tempting to grab the lifeline he’s holding out to me, but… “I can’t.”
“What?”
Just saying the words calms my racing pulse to a steady, purposeful rate. The flight attendant returns, and this time she’s not fooling around. Me and another asshole in the row ahead of me are getting serious stink eye. “I can’t do anything about this right now. I’m sitting on a plane about to pull away from the gate, talking to you on borrowed time. Once I hang up I’m out of the loop for at least twenty-four hours.”
“Get off the plane. Whatever you’ve booked, this is more important.”
“No.” The certainty calcifies in my bones. “Kendall needs me. She didn’t plan it, and she didn’t ask me to be there for her, but she needs me right now, and I’m not going to let her down, because I…” The words “I’m in love with her” nearly tumble out, but I bite them back, because Kendall deserves them first. “I’ve got to go, Dad.”
“Wait.” I hear his long exhale, followed by a silent moment while he struggles to choose the right words. “Being there for Kendall is more important to you than fighting for America Rocks?”
“Yes.”
Silence.
Another deep breath follows, and I imagine him loosening the knot in his tie. “All right. I understand. It’s your call. Do what you need to do.”
He’s letting me make this choice—not that he has any other option unless he can teleport me off a plane—but still. Progress.
I disconnect and switch my phone to airplane mode. The flight attendant starts her safety spiel. I close my eyes, exhale slowly, and release my grip on the goal I held in my hand for a whole fucking minute.
The plane backs away from the terminal, and it’s like I’m backing away from my dream. At this very moment, though, there’s something—make that someone—more important than a job. Nigel said as much. He told me there are some things more important than America Rocks, and I’m onto one of them. Kendall. She matters, because I’m in love with her. She’s my priority.
I hope to God I can convince her I should be hers.
