Kade

I’d missed sitting around eating pizza with Madison.

I’d missed other things, too, of course, but just hanging out with her had been just as important to me as the making out had been.

Well, almost as important.

We’d been good together.

I still didn’t know why I’d let her go.

Probably never would. It was just one of those things that happened.

Seemed like a good idea at the time.

Young and dumb.

I had all kinds of excuses.

I was the one who should have called, but I honestly didn’t know what I would have done if she’d shown up on my doorstep after we moved apart.

I went a little bit wild after I moved away from her.

I didn’t have to be a psychologist to know that it had been my feeble attempt of getting over Madison.

It hadn’t worked.

I’d never stopped thinking about her.

It hadn’t been fair to the other girls I’d dated—a term I used loosely—so I never let things get serious.

Madison was watching me closely. She was trying to figure out what was going on with me.

But I wasn’t ready to tell her.

“How’s your mom doing?” she asked.

Damn it. How did she do that?

“Good,” I said, taking a big bite of pizza to avoid expanding on my answer.

“Quinn said you wanted to move back to be closer to family. That’s why you were giving up your job with the major airline.”

“Apparently I told Quinn too much.”

She laughed.

“That’s what you’re supposed to say, right?” I asked. “when you get tired of the big rat race.”

She shrugged. “I guess.”

It was funny. I was stepping down from the job of a lifetime. Most pilots would kill to have the job I had. But I’d already been there and done that. The novelty had worn off.

And Madison was just now starting her major career.

All that time I’d spent working already, she’d spent in school.

So it was strange that we’d ended up in the same place.

It was Kismet.

“She still living at home?” Madison persisted.

“For now,” I said. If I wasn’t careful, she was going to get it out of me before I even had time to it figure out myself.

Fortunately, for me, the phone rang and Madison, always the responsible one, took the call and went back over to her station.

All I had to do was to hang in there. I’d know more tomorrow what I was dealing with.

If I told Madison, things would become more real.

And I wasn’t ready to deal with real just yet.

Madison smiled at me from across the room as she spoke into her headset.

She was the exception.

I wouldn’t mind getting real with Madison.

Madison

Having pizza with Kade was like sliding back into our college years.

But we weren’t the same.

Eight years had passed since we’d even spoken.

The years didn’t just wash away like they’d never happened.

We’d had eight years of life between now and then.

But being with him felt so right.

Like it had always been meant to be.

I’d been busy at the desk for the last couple of hours. Kade had cleaned up all evidence of the pizza and disappeared back to his office.

It would have been so easy to just walk into his office and wrap my arms around him. 

To rest my cheek against his chest.

To feel safe with him.

I’d always felt safe with Kade.

He’d never done anything to hurt me.

Not until that day we had agreed to… do what? Break up? Take a break? 

We’d never really given it a name, so I never knew exactly what had happened.

I’d just put my head down and focused on graduate school.

The years had slipped past and after a while, I stopped checking for messages from him.

I’d even had to get a new phone that first December and a new number. 

That’s when I knew he wasn’t going to call. He couldn’t.

He didn’t know where to find me.

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on the moment, I had memorized his number.

I actually dialed it once. 

A woman answered the phone and I’d immediately hung up. 

I didn’t want to know.

For all I knew, he could have a girlfriend. 

He could have even been married and I wouldn’t know it.

He could have a child.

That thought held me up for awhile.

I was thankful that it was a busy day in the scheduling department.

The work distracted me from my own thoughts and kept me from walking into Kade’s office and doing something stupid.

I ran a finger over the palm of my hand.

He had a different phone number, too, now.

Too much time had passed for us.

I had some papers I needed to take to Quinn’s office, but I’d been putting it off.

I had to walk past Kade’s office to get to Quinn’s.

Deciding to just get it over with, I gathered up the papers and headed down the hallway toward the offices.

I walked past Kade’s office without even so much as even glancing in his direction.

I was rather proud of myself.

After dropped the papers off on Quinn’s desk, I turned around and came face to face to Kade.

He was leaning against the door, watching me.

His eyes were hooded, like something was bothering him.

This was where I had to tread carefully.

Comforting Kade Johnson had gotten me into trouble before.