The woman’s eyebrows furrowed. “I’m not a doctor, Dr. Masters. Just a lowly CPA.” Jon glanced at Helen, a bit confused and surprised by her misinformation—Helen usually didn’t get the details wrong. Duffield turned and nodded to the man standing beside her. “This is my associate and chief financial officer, Neil Hudson. Neil, this is Dr. Jon Masters, COO, and Dr. Helen Kaddiri Masters, chairman of the board.”

As they shook hands, they heard a clatter. “Oh, dear, please be careful. Ladies and gentlemen, my daughter. She seems to have a case of the dropsies today.” Duffield rushed over to a sideboard, where a cute little brunette girl of nine or ten had just spilled a cup of orange juice on her dress. The little girl studied Jon for a long moment while her mother cleaned her up. Jon smiled at her, and she smiled back. He found it cute that she had spilled juice on a copy of a technical journal that she had in her lap. Her mother put the engineering journal aside and put a well-worn copy of a children’s book of airplanes on her daughter’s lap.

Jon noticed that the girl was still staring at him, the smile gone, as Duffield returned to the group. Jon winked at her, but she did not respond. Well, Jon never did click well with little kids—probably why he was hesitating having some of his own.

“Would your daughter be more comfortable in the daycare center, with some other children her age?” Helen asked. “It’s just across the courtyard.”

“Or I’d be happy to take her to the park,” Suzanne offered.

Both the elder and younger Duffields looked a bit confused. “No, she’s fine here,” the elder Duffield said coolly.

The numbers guy, Hudson, looked a little aghast for a moment; then, after Duffield glanced at him, he appeared as if he was suppressing a chuckle. “Shall we get started?”

“Of course,” Helen replied. They all took seats around one end of the conference table. “On behalf of everyone here at Sky Masters Inc., welcome to Blytheville and the Arkansas International Jetport. We have a tour of the facilities planned, then lunch, then a briefing on our current projects and plans for future growth. Suzanne?” Suzanne handed her two folders. “Here is our current audited financials and company statements, including the latest Department of Defense and Congressional Budget Office audits and financial condition statements. I’m sure you’ll find that Sky Masters Inc. is well positioned to ride out the shortterm economic slowdown and market situation and get ready to take advantage of new opportunities.”

“So, if you’ll excuse me,” Jon said, rising quickly to his feet. “I’ve got to head back to the labs. But I’ll see you for lunch at twelve-thirty, and then I will make myself available for questions afterward. I hope you have a nice—”