Page 86 of Plane Passion

“You’re giving me my job back, Mr. Burleson?” His voice had a strange breathy quality to it. This was too much to take in. Was it possible?

“Yes,” said Mr. Burleson curtly.

Hot dog! He was back in the airmail! Except… “What about Millie?”

He said it without thinking. It was probably a mistake to let the words out of his mouth. But if Millie got him his job back, returning the favor was the least he could do.

“If you’re asking if she is getting her job back, the answer is no. She didn’t even ask for it, thank God. She may have saved our funding for the airmail operation with her fancy flying, but there are limits to my magnanimity.”

Millie went to Mr. Burleson for him but not for herself? His heart skipped a beat.

“I’m not coming back unless Millie can come back too.” If she was going to go to battle for him, he had to return the favor. He held his breath as he awaited Mr. Burleson’s response.

“I’m afraid that’s out of the question.”

Ernie deflated. Of course, Mr. Burleson wouldn’t agree. He’d probably never wanted her to join in the first place.

“Pritchard, think of your family,” said Mr. Burleson. “Are you truly going to turn this down over a woman?”

Was he?

He clenched his fist around the telephone cord.

Just accept the job. Think of your sisters.

Instead, he said, “I should go to the press, you know.”

Ernest, stop. What are you doing?

“You never gave her a fair chance,” Ernie continued, “and the world should know it. She’s the best pilot I’ve ever seen. You should have counted yourself lucky to have her, and instead you did everything possible to push her out. Would you like women’s liberation protesters outside Heller Airport with lots of photographers taking pictures? Because that can be arranged.”

Now he’d done it. There was no going back after making a threat like that. Either Mr. Burleson would cave, or Ernie’s days with the airmail were over forever.

There was a long silence, followed by a weighty sigh.

“Fine,” Mr. Burleson said at last.

Ernie’s heart soared.

“But the only way we could even consider this is if you marry her. After that tabloid article, it would be indecent to bring her back unwed. We’d be inviting more scandal.”

And his heart sank again. He wanted to propose, but not at Mr. Burleson’s behest.

“No. She comes back regardless, or no deal.”

This was probably the stupidest thing Ernie had ever done, but he couldn’t stop himself. He loved Millie too much to propose because someone else told him to.

The silence on the other end of the phone extended until Ernie could hardly stand it.

“You win,” Mr. Burleson said at last. “Protesters at the airport would be worse than a scandal sheet article. I can’t let you stir up trouble. Just try to stay out of the papers or you’ll make a laughingstock of us all.”

“Thank you, Mr. Burleson! You won’t regret it.”

He won, he won, he won! Now he had to call Millie to give her the good news. Except she’d never given him her number. Damn.

“I regret it already, Pritchard. But you and Miss Aldrich have backed me into a corner. Mr. Dickson is expecting you at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, and you had better not be late.”

Mr. Burleson hung up.