Second Chance Destiny Read online

  Second Chance Destiny

  Magnetic North Series

  Kathryn Kaleigh

  To learn more about Kathryn Kaleigh, visit

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  www.kathrynkaleigh.com

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  SECOND CHANCE DESTINY

  PREVIEW: BEGIN AGAIN

  Copyright © 2022 by Kathryn Kaleigh

  All rights reserved.

  Written by Kathryn Kaleigh

  Published by KST Publishing, Inc., 2022

  Cover by Skyhouse24Media

  www.kathrynkaleigh.com

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Any names, characters, places, or incidents are products of the author’s imagination and used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual people, places, of events is purely coincidental or fictionalized.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  1. Noelle Winston

  2. Quinn Worthington

  3. Noelle

  4. Quinn

  5. Noelle

  6. Noelle — Before

  7. Noelle

  8. Quinn

  9. Quinn — Before

  10. Noelle

  11. Noelle —Before

  12. Noelle

  13. Quinn

  14. Noelle

  15. Noelle — Before

  16. Quinn

  17. Noelle

  18. Quinn

  19. Noelle

  20. Quinn

  21. Noelle — Before

  22. Noelle

  23. Quinn

  24. Noelle

  25. Noelle — Before

  26. Quinn

  27. Noelle

  28. Quinn

  29. Noelle

  30. Quinn

  31. Noelle

  32. Noelle — Before

  33. Quinn

  34. Noelle

  35. Quinn

  36. Noelle

  37. Quinn

  38. Noelle

  39. Quinn

  40. Noelle

  41. Quinn

  42. Noelle

  43. Quinn

  44. Noelle

  45. Quinn

  46. Noelle

  Begin Again Preview

  Also by Kathryn Kaleigh

  1

  Noelle Winston

  “Prepare for landing.”

  The pilot’s abrupt command was followed by the flight attendants making one last run through the aisle before taking their seats near the cockpit and buckling in.

  Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport. Both my mother and father still called it Houston Intercontinental Airport. Though the airport was renamed when I was a child, I had no memory of it being called anything other than George Bush Intercontinental Airport.

  The plane’s speed slowed to stabilize the approach and the airplane continued its three-degree angle as it approached the runway. The flaps extended and the spoilers were activated to increase drag.

  Ten years.

  Ten years since I had been home.

  In some ways, I hardly even felt like the same person.

  In other ways, it felt like I’d only left yesterday and everything I’d done and experienced in between faded away into a distant memory. Nothing more than a dream.

  The pitch of the plane’s motor increased as the pilot made adjustments. Either it was windy or the pilot was inexperienced.

  It was a cool, crisp October day. Friday afternoon.

  We made the final descent, gliding over clusters of homes in subdivisions. We were flying low enough to see the outline of swimming pools in the backyards.

  As we flew over the interstate, I leaned back against the seat and checked my seatbelt. It seemed worthless compared to the five-point harness I was used to.

  I pulled out my air pods and slipped them into my ears.

  I didn’t listen to music. I liked it quiet.

  Besides, I had to prepare myself for my interview with Skye Travels.

  Skye Travels was an up and coming private airline. I didn’t remember it from when I lived in Houston ten years ago, but I hadn’t been focused on the world of aviation at the time. In addition to my course work, my activities in the ROTC Silver Wings program had kept every minute of my days more than occupied.

  Until I’d taken those two weeks off at the end of my last semester and before I reported to duty.

  According to my quick dive on the Internet, Skye Travels had cornered the market on private airlines in Houston.

  They also had planes scattered all across the country. Dallas. Mackinac Island. Denver. From what I’d read, Noah Worthington even started the company in Dallas. I was curious about the history of the company, but that would probably require asking someone who worked there. Maybe even Noah Worthington himself.

  The wheels touched down in a remarkably smooth landing as the pilot switched to reverse thrust.

  The cabin shook and people silently braced themselves.

  I sat quietly, mentally going through the motions involved in bringing a plane to the ground, then taxing along the tarmac.

  For most passengers, the flight was over. But I knew how much work the pilots still had to do before the doors opened.

  I had no reason to be nervous. I was a seasoned air force pilot who’d logged an enormous number of flight hours.

  But not in the civilian world.

  There was a chance that Noah wouldn’t hire me for that reason. It took a different skill set to fly passengers from point A to point B while catering to their whims than it did to fly a fighter jet.

  I was the daughter of a full bird colonel—retired, so I hadn’t grown up anywhere in particular. But I’d spent five college years in Houston… the longest I’d lived anywhere. So that made me think of Houston as home.

  I didn’t know anyone here. I wasn’t the kind of girl who had girlfriends. I had work friends, but they changed regularly along with my location.

  If I didn’t get this job with Skye Travels, I would have to pick somewhere else to apply. It probably hadn’t been smart to put all my eggs in one basket, especially since I didn’t have a backup plan. No clue where else I would want to live other than Houston.

  It wasn’t like I needed a job—not for money. I was getting full Air Force retirement. But the thought of having endless days with no purpose gave me hives.

  I needed to work and since flying was my life, it made sense that I would apply to work as a pilot. I didn’t have the certifications to apply for commercial jobs. That was okay. I honestly didn’t think a commercial job would keep me busy enough.

  The plane came to a stop and ninety percent of the passengers jumped out of their seats. It wasn’t like they could anywhere until it was time.

  I sat calmly in my seat and waited. The flight wasn’t over until the doors opened and it was my turn to exit the plane.

  All those people standing impatiently did nothing to speed things along.

  I pulled out my phone and switched it from airplane mode.

  With retirement, even at thirty-four, my phone had gone noticeably quiet. Not having any responsibilities meant not having any messages or calls. I had no friends to speak of and other than my parents, I had no family. My parents stayed in Germany after my father retired. We’d never been close, and now, with them living halfway across the world, we had even less need to stay in touch with each other.

  I had nothing against them. They did their thing and I did my thing. With both my father and me being military, our schedules rarely allowed for family time. r />
  That might change now that we were both retired.

  Retired. Such an odd word for me to be using to describe myself.

  If I had anything to do with it, my so-called retirement was going to last about half a minute.

  All I had to do was to convince Noah Worthington to hire me to fly for him.

  Then I could settle into a job that would keep my sufficiently busy in the city that held my fondest memories.

  It wasn’t too much to ask. A meaningful job. A place to call home.

  2

  Quinn Worthington

  Buried beneath paperwork again.

  Soothing classic music spilled out of the phone sitting on my desk and beneath the music was another layer—the heavy sound of jets coming and going.

  I gave my eyes a rest and picked up my cup of coffee, almost too cold to drink.

  As the youngest of five children to airline mogul Noah Worthington, I’d found my way to the position of Vice-President of Skye Travels.

  My father, Noah Worthington, was of course, president and would be until the moment he died. I was content to be vice-president, but I wanted more out of the position than merely being a paper-pusher. I was making progress in adding PR to my position.

  At thirty-five, I already had more responsibility than most people my age. Despite what people liked to assume—since I was the owner’s son—I’d worked my way up from the bottom.

  As far as I was concerned, it was a good use of my business degree.

  Anytime I thought it might not be challenging enough, all I had to was to wait a minute for Noah to give me some new and challenging task.

  Unfortunately, most those tasks involved paper in some way or another.

  Despite cutting my teeth in the air, I’d never had a desire to be a pilot. Learning about engines and aerodynamics and everything aviation had never captured my passion.

  I liked business. So no matter my complaints, I loved my job.

  I pushed back in my chair and looked out over the tarmac. The only person who had a better view was my father. But I could see everything I needed to see.

  The tarmac was just fine. And on days like today I knew I had at least a little bit of my father in me.

  It was Friday afternoon on a crisp October day. I watched in wonder as one of the big commercial jets lifted itself off the ground. I didn’t need to know the hows and whys to find it fascinating.

  Skye Travels had their own area at a corner of the airport. We shared it with other private planes, but for all intents and purposes, we claimed it.

  Noah was interviewing a pilot today. I didn’t know who. It didn’t matter to me until he signed them up. Then I went to work. It was my job to teach them how to use the computer program where everything happened from flights to paydays. If they didn’t learn to use the system, they didn’t get paid.

  For some reason, pilots found it challenging. For me, it was simple.

  My father strode out the back door toward the Cessna Citation sitting outside the hangar. The bright red Skye Travels logo was splashed across the tail.

  My father was an eccentric man. He could afford to be. He’d taken an idea and nurtured it into a thriving business. A man to be envied to be sure.

  His eccentricity manifested itself primarily in his relationships with his pilots.

  He’d been known to open satellite services in states in order to keep pilots with the company. He had two pilots based out of Mackinac Island right now.

  Every time Father did these things, he just added another layer of wealth to his empire. And another layer of paperwork to my job.

  Father also had interesting ways of interviewing pilots. A way that made the businessman in me cringe. As his son, I just shrugged it off. It seemed to work. Noah only hired the best.

  Sometimes he just met with them and had a friendly conversation about nothing in particular in his office.

  Sometimes he had them fly for him.

  Either way, I was pretty sure he knew who he was going to hire before he ever laid eyes on them.

  Father reached the airplane and opened the door. It looked like today was going to be one of those times when the interviewee got to pilot a plane for him.

  Interesting. Sometimes I’d like to be inside my father’s head to see just how he made his business decisions.

  After hiring pilots, Father often brought them to our weekly family dinners, often with interesting ramifications. Two of my four sisters had married pilots Father had introduced them to.

  We’d had a couple of female pilots working for us over the years. Father never brought them home. It made me wonder if he didn’t introduce my sisters to certain pilots on purpose.

  I wouldn’t put it past him.

  At any rate, the fact that he never brought the female pilots around led me to believe that he respected my wishes.

  I didn’t date and I’d made that clear to my family.

  It wasn’t that I didn’t like women.

  On the contrary.

  It was just that there was one particular girl who had stolen my heart.

  It had been a ridiculously long time ago… ten years, but I had not changed my mind.

  Her name was Noelle and she was the girl I was going to marry.

  All I had to was to find her again.

  3

  Noelle

  Stepping off the elevator into the third-floor office space of Skye Travels, I was greeted by their logo splashed across the wall in front of me.

  The lobby area to the left was large and spacious. Comfortable air chairs and a couple of sofas that were nicer than most people had in their homes.

  Wearing high heels that I was most definitely not used to, I walked toward the receptionist, dragging my one suitcase behind me. I was accustomed to the whole flight suit attire including boots—flat boots.

  In fact, this interview had sent me shopping for the kind of clothes I’d had no need for… well… since ever. I’d gone from being a college student to being in uniform.

  “Hi.” The receptionist smiled when I approached her desk.

  Her name tag identified her an Jan.

  “I’m here for an interview,” I said. “with Noah Worthington.”

  “He’s expecting you,” she said.

  I certainly hoped so, but the relief was involuntary. I waited for her to instruct me on where I should wait.

  “He asked that you meet him on the tarmac,” she said, glancing down at my suitcase. “You can leave that here.”

  Then she answered the phone and turned her attention to her computer.

  “Okay,” I said, but Jan had already dismissed me.

  When I didn’t move, she glanced at me and pointed in the general direction of the tarmac.

  I went to the window and looked down.

  A little Cessna Citation sat there with the door open.

  Seemed a little backwards to me, but I was certain he had a reason for showing me one of his planes before the interview. Maybe the plane was about leave.

  Either way, it was interesting. I could fly that little Cessna in my sleep.

  Not one to question authority, I left my suitcase behind Jan and went back down the elevator. Apparently I was on my own in finding my way out to the tarmac. Very unusual. I hadn’t been in the private sector since college.

  Maybe things had changed.

  Or maybe it was just Noah Worthington. One of the things, besides being based in Houston, that had attracted me to Skye Travels was Noah himself. When I’d mentioned his name to some of the guys who kept up with the private sector of aviation, they’d all said the same thing.

  Noah only hired the best and he took a personal interest in his people.

  No one had said anything to prepare me for the way this particular interview was going.

  Stepping off the elevator and heading toward what looked like a back door, I squared my shoulders.

  I could be flexible. Being in the military hadn’t taken all the flexibility out of me.
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  I pushed open the door to the familiar scent of jet fuel coming in on the autumn breeze.

  One thing hadn’t changed. I loved Autumn.

  Autumn held a special place in my heart.

  Since the airplane had the Skye Travels logo splashed across the tail, I had to assume that I was supposed to meet Noah there.

  The man who came to the door of the plane as I walked up matched the pictures I’d seen.

  But something about his sideways grin looked familiar.

  I quickly dismissed it. This wasn’t the time or place for thinking about such memories. Using the strong mental will power I’d developed in the military, I set the memories aside.

  “Thought we’d take this plane up for a spin,” Noah said. “You wanna drive?”

  4

  Quinn

  After going to the break room to get a fresh cup of coffee, I came back to stand at the window in my office.

  Looks like today’s interviewee was one of the lucky ones who got to fly as part of the interview. Lucky being relative.

  As far as I knew that wasn’t standard in the industry, but it didn’t matter. As the owner of a private company, Noah could do whatever he wanted to do.