Chapter Three
S elah yawned while getting out of her truck, grabbing her hot coffee because May mornings were still sometimes frosty. She zipped her fleece jacket and adjusted the baseball hat on her head, keeping her hair from getting into her face. The ground crunched beneath her feet as she made her way across the field to the launch spot, a more remote area on the Moreno farmland. The rose gold hue of the morning sky kissed what remained of the night away. It was a little later than she liked to start flight days, but her mom had texted, informing her the passengers were running late this morning.
Her sister, twenty-five-year-old Naomi, called a greeting, her caramel-brown hair loosely pulled into a clip. She, like Hailey, had ended up with the taller, more willowy genes of the family, unlike Selah, who had hoarded all the short, curvier ones. If her sisters were sleek, elegant show horses, Selah was a solid workhorse in comparison, her body more practical and compact. But it served her well.
“Mom said you’re doing a proposal flight today?” her sister asked with simmering excitement from where she stood in another truck bed as she pushed a large black nylon bag to the lowered tailgate. One of their father’s upgrades was outfitting his truck with a tailgate that worked as a lift and made it easier to transport the gondola and the enormous envelope bag to the ground.
“Yeah.” This was all Selah wanted to say about it to the great disappointment of her sister, the romantic member of the family. “How’s the set up going?”
“You know, half fine and half annoying.” Naomi jerked her head toward Boone, who casually sat on the already unloaded gondola that was resting on its side on the ground. For some reason, he wasn’t cold like the rest of them, sporting a gray T-shirt with his arms casually crossed and his long legs stretched out before him as he squinted into the horizon. The morning sun’s rays highlighted the tan he got from spending a lot of time outdoors, his brown hair feathering on a breeze. He always looked like he was about to appear in a men’s cologne commercial and had always seemed a little too smooth for both Selah and Naomi—but he was also dependable, which was all Selah cared about.
“Come on, love, don’t be like that. I was just trying to be friendly-like and have a pleasant conversation with you,” he said in a thick English accent, which was odd, because the guy was from Bakersfield and, most of the time, had an accent to match. It also was not so unusual because it was Boone, and there was something about him that always hinted at mischief maker.
While Selah could see why someone like Boone would aggravate her normally easygoing, genuinely honest middle sister, it didn’t bother her as much as it did Naomi, who had taken some personal offense over it. As long as Boone continued showing up, did the work, and didn’t complain much, Selah didn’t care about him or how he liked to rile her sister up. Of course, she’d never admit this to Naomi, nor confess how much she found their antagonistic relationship funny.
“Go on then. Tell your sister what a good match this will be between Miss Featherweight and Lord Muttonchop Dicklespot the Fourth. Do you think there’s already talk among the ton?” Boone continued.
“Oh my God. Will you shut up?” Naomi hollered over her shoulder before turning back to Selah. “I hate that man. We need to fire him. I’m willing to donate whatever share I get from the business to hire anyone else, someone who won’t ruin my love of historical romances.”
Ah, okay, so Boone had found out about that, which explained the weird accent—not that Naomi’s love of swoony period movies and books was much of a secret. But the guy had a knack for finding out about everything, especially where Naomi was concerned, like it was his second job.
“Yeah, well, that’s going to be really hard, since your share of the business is still the same as mine, which is barely enough to live on.”
“Whatever,” Naomi said as she lowered the lift. As Boone got up and dragged the black envelope bag across the ground, her sister went to retrieve a few items from the truck cab. “Here.” She handed Selah a helium balloon and a small white gift bag.
Selah took a quick peek into the bag before giving her sister a pointed look. “Are you kidding me? Rose petals?”
“Tell your sister your other romantic ideas, love.”
The women ignored Boone. Selah also studied the balloon her sister handed her. The latex surface was printed with an embarrassing amount of hearts. “Seriously? No one is going to see this balloon. Just buy a regular one. And I don’t need rose petals when mulch from the farm is free. Stop being extra.” Extra was a great way to describe Naomi.
“Yeah, but see, I was thinking. How many times did Dad get a proposal flight? Lots, right? And we should be doing more to be playing that up... make it a whole experience. Bring in champagne and roses and candles—”
“Candles? On a hot-air balloon?” Selah asked flatly.
“Okay, well, maybe not candles, but I was doing the math, and if we offered a special rate for these kinds of flights instead of the normal standard ones—”
“Look, Naomi, can we talk about this later? I really need to get this done before the passengers show up.” It’s not that Naomi didn’t have good ideas, but it was hard to discuss doing things differently when Selah was trying to get a handle on doing things the standard, boring way.
She slipped the small gift bag containing the petals under one arm and released the balloon, acting as her pi-ball, into the air. Selah studied its ascent, how it interacted with the wind, while sipping her coffee. It was something she’d done many times with her dad before on launch mornings. Back then, she had so much confidence, more than she realized. It wasn’t that she didn’t know what she was doing. She did. Flying a hot-air balloon was a lot less technical than flying a plane, but without having her captain as a backup, to confirm her observations and flight plans, for all judgment to be on her alone, it left her less secure.
She was so absorbed in the study of the pi-ball, she almost jumped in surprise when discovering a man standing beside her. He also peered upward with his hands on his hips, as though observing the sky with her.
“Holy mother of God,” she said, barely managing to keep her coffee in hand. “Where’d you come from?”
The man jerked a thumb behind him to where her mother was gathering her things and getting out of the company van used to meet passengers at the farm and drive them to the launch area. It was supposed to be Hailey’s job, but once again, her mother was covering for her sister.
“Hey,” the man said. “We’re the passengers for this morning’s flight. Sorry we’re late. I’m Dex. Captain Selah, I hope?” He offered her a hand and a warm smile. He was taller than she had expected. Smile lines fanned from the corners of his eyes, giving the impression of an easy manner about him, like he had a good disposition.
He was left to awkwardly hold his hand out as she stared at him like a starstruck goof, leaving him hanging. “Oh, yes! It’s just Selah,” she managed to say, realizing that the appropriate hand to shake his with still held a cup of coffee. Instead of switching the cup to the other hand, she placed her left hand over the top of his as though she was a high society lady in one of Naomi’s stories and expected him to pay his respects by kissing her knuckles. Rather than coming off as elegant or professional, the whole thing was clumsy. She was flustered and embarrassed and worried she’d come across as some weird, nervous person instead of a calm, competent pilot.
He, at least, didn’t act as if this introduction was anything out of the ordinary as he continued smiling and lightly shook her fingertips, his grip warming her chilled skin, doing a better job than the hot coffee ever could. His gaze remained steady, giving her the desire to dive right into the hazel depths of his eyes.
“Selah,” Dex said. “It’s nice to finally meet you.” He then caught himself holding onto her hand longer than intended, and dropped it quickly, as though snapping himself back to reality. Switching to a crossed-arm stance, he cleared his throat and returned his focus to the pi-ball. “What’s with the balloon?”
With this question, Selah flipped into professional pilot and educator mode. “Before launch, we release a pi-ball to get things like wind speed and direction. We get this from weather reports as well, but this allows me to gauge in real time not only speed but at what elevation. Hot-air balloons don’t have any kind of motor or navigation. The burners merely allow us to get airborne and provide upward mobility.”
“So how do you control where we go, or do you not have any control?”
“Well, that’s why I study the pi-ball. I noticed at one thousand feet up, the balloon shifts directions, the wind going north, northwest. But look at it now.” She pointed toward the pi-ball as if it was clear. “At fifteen hundred feet, it’s now going south. By taking the hot-air balloon up and down to catch these different streams, I can better control the direction. When you’ve been doing it awhile, you start to get a feel of the wind, letting it work with you. Flying a hot-air balloon is both science and art.”
“Yeah, it sounds like it,” he replied, his eyes reflecting amazement and admiration. She blushed but took a quick drink from her coffee to hide it.
“Dex? What the hell? Am I allowed to open my eyes yet?” The annoyed voice came from the open door of the van, snapping them from their current conversation.
Dex shuffled away as though he’d forgotten something important. “God! Sorry, yes!”
The other passenger poked her head from the vehicle as she looked around with an expectant expression on her face, bracing her hands against the sides of the van opening, as though anticipating something amazing before her.
Dex spread his arms, as if making a big reveal. “Surprise!”
Her expression fell to befuddlement with a hint of disappointment, her lips twisting in a slight frown. “You brought me out to... a field?”
Selah exchanged a look with her sister while taking another busy sip of her coffee. To be fair, they were in the middle of a field and with only the gondola, and the fuel tanks for the burners visible at this point, it didn’t appear to be much. But, on the other hand, it was a big goddamn basket, enough to fit at least six people, and should have given some kind of hint.
Dex didn’t appear to be discouraged as he took the woman by the hand, drawing her out of the van. “Come here. I want you to meet someone.” He brought her over to Selah, and she was struck by the woman’s appearance. She looked like she could be a flamenco dancer, simply based on her sharp, striking facial features and graceful height.
Selah could understand why someone like Dex, or anyone, would want to marry this woman. It was silly of her to even consider she’d have a shot’s chance in hell at pulling anyone’s attention when this woman existed in the world... that was if she was trying to capture anyone’s attention, which she wasn’t, because she was a professional.
“Ava, this is Selah, our pilot. She’s going to take us on a hot-air balloon ride this morning.”
To the woman’s credit, the disappointment evaporated from her face, replaced with a happier expression. “What? Really? You’re taking me on a hot-air balloon ride? Aw, Dexy.” Ava curled into him, her voice purring.
With that, everything was well again, and Selah went through the process of explaining safety rules for passengers before they pulled The Blue Wonder from the black nylon bag to set things up.
Their two passengers willingly got involved in getting the balloon ready, stretching it out across the surface of the ground in front of the gondola. Although Dex was more into it than Ava. She treated it like a task and with efficiency. Dex asked a lot of questions, wanting to understand everything. Selah may have caught Ava rolling her eyes once or twice, but Selah found his curiosity entertaining. She liked that he took an interest in everything.
Selah distracted herself from thinking about it too much by dragging out a giant fan that would partially inflate the envelope while it was on the ground and the chase crew hooked up the burners inside the basket. Taking people up in a floating device made of fabric, wicker, and metal, with a couple of fuel tanks and the wind to make the whole thing work, was something any pilot took seriously, especially since people were putting their lives in her hands. She needed to get in a pilot frame of mind, and this meant forgetting about Dex and how cute it was when his eyes crinkled with pleasure.
When everything was hooked up, she fitted herself into the gondola, which still rested on its side, and turned on the main burner. As the envelope filled with the heated air, the gondola lifted upright. This was when she felt the coolest, when she let the burner blaze, feeling like the flame-throwing guitar player in the movie Mad Max: Fury Road , as she got the basket in position for loading.
Time to get serious.
He was no different from any other passenger.
He was getting married, and she didn’t need the distraction anyway.
*
“Uh, and there’s Crescent Moon Farms. You can see all the alpacas are already grazing.” Selah made sure to switch to the secondary or whisper burner as she did a burst, creating more hot air pressure within the envelope. It wasn’t as powerful as her main burner, but it was quieter, so as not to scare the animals below.
Even those who grew up in Central Oregon were excited to see things from an entirely new perspective. Except this was one of the few times where Selah struggled to keep things interesting. She was the opening act to something better, trying to keep the audience’s attention until the main act (the proposal) came along. So far, the audience (Ava) was a tough crowd. The woman wasn’t rude, but Selah had the impression that riding in a hot-air balloon wasn’t meeting her usual level of excitement. After making Dex take a dozen photos and videos of her for social media accounts, Ava became resigned to watching the landscape lazily slide by while sighing every so often.
There was a reason High Desert Tours no longer allowed children under twelve on their flights. After the initial excitement in launching up into the air, traveling in a hot-air balloon was a very chill experience. Kids would get bored after about ten minutes, and it made for a long hour-and-a-half flight when they’d start to fuss. Ava wasn’t a child, and she didn’t fuss, but it was clear that she was growing bored as she leaned forward, resting her elbow on the edge of the basket with her chin propped on her hand. Dex didn’t notice her lack of excitement as he pointed out surrounding landmarks, offering regional nature facts like in-flight snacks. If it weren’t for Ava, Selah would have enjoyed this tour immensely. She liked Dex’s enthusiasm. Plus, all she had to do was pilot and leave the tour guide part to him.
“Do you guys ever offer bungee jumping off the balloons?” Ava asked her, interrupting Dex.
“Oh, uh, no.” Her sister, Naomi, may come up with some unique ideas for the business, but even she would never come up with something that wild. Imagining how it would increase their insurance rates, more than they already were, gave Selah sweaty palms.
She pretended to be busy as she checked her tablet and brought out a small handful of the petals her sister packed in the paper bag. She’d much rather have used bark or, even better, a bag of chips because then she’d also have a snack, but the flower petals worked well too. Dropping them off the side of the basket, she watched the petals flutter downward before they were swept away by a strong breeze about two hundred feet below them. This was the stream she planned to take on the return trip.
Ugh, what was taking Dex so long? For some unknown reason, Selah wanted the whole proposal to be done so everyone could move on with their lives. She looked over, catching him watch the petals float away, his hand going to the pocket on the right side of his chest.
God. Was the ring loose inside his pocket at two thousand feet in the air? She didn’t notice any jewelry box outline or anything. When her gaze lifted, it caught his. It was a pair of eyes she wanted to look right back and see her.
Of course, this wouldn’t happen because he was already taken... and also because she was wearing a pair of aviators and a hat, giving her protection from the weather and any unwanted scrutiny. Dex blinked, his attention shifting away as he cleared his throat and nervously ran a hand through recently trimmed hair, as though trying to make himself more presentable as he positioned himself closer to Ava.
“Hey, is that an eagle over there?” Dex asked, pointing in a direction for his girlfriend to follow.
“Where?” she asked, shading her eyes with a hand.
There wasn’t any eagle. Dex’s hand went into the pocket of his flannel shirt while he knelt on the floor of the gondola, producing a small ring glittering between two pinched fingers.
“Dex, are you sure you saw an eagle? I don’t see anything.” Ava was oblivious to the kneeling man behind her, as she continued searching the sky for something eagle-like. It started to feel uncomfortably long as seconds ticked by and the woman wasn’t turning around.
“I... uh, thought I saw it flying around to the other side. Maybe look over there,” he said.
“No, wait, I do think I see an eagle. Or is that a hawk? You’re usually pretty good with birds. Are you sure you didn’t mistake an eagle for a hawk, Dexy? Wait until your fellow rangers hear about this. At this rate, this is the only good story you’re going to give me about this trip.”
“Except the eagle just landed on the basket behind you!”
“What? Where?” Ava finally turned, her expression shifting to confusion when she only found Selah.
Selah gave a small finger wave before pointing downward, so Ava wouldn’t miss the proposal. It was clear when the moment clicked for the woman as she gave a sharp gasp, one hand covering her mouth. “What? No! Are you being for real right now?”
With his face tilting toward her, Dex continued kneeling and holding up the ring. “Ava Vasco, the moment I saw you, I thought you were the most beautiful woman I have ever known. Will you please continue making me the luckiest guy by becoming my wife?”
Maybe it was Selah’s bitter jealousy because, while the proposal was nice, it wasn’t the best one she’d ever witnessed. In fact, the previous fall, there’d been a man who could barely get a word out because he couldn’t stop weeping about how much he loved his partner. Then the boyfriend started crying and they’d clung to each other, mixing tears and snot bubbles. Selah was pretty sure sharing snot bubbles was a sign of true love.
She didn’t know what Ava was thinking, but Selah was disappointed Dex’s words had sounded... well, practiced and composed, and not very unique. There was little sign of weeping or snot bubbles forthcoming. He did look happy, hopeful, and this was a typical Hallmark picture proposal, except Selah felt nothing. Not that it mattered, because she wasn’t the one being proposed to. Also, it could be because most of her emotions remained boxed up, stored in her emotional attic, since Robert passed away. Why drag them out for this?
To muster something extra, Selah tossed a few of the rose petals toward the couple. Naomi would have been proud of that, at least. The action, though, was half-hearted and lackluster since she tossed them at their feet in order to avoid the burners. She wouldn’t want to risk bringing the whole balloon down just for romance.
Ava had what appeared to be a million emotions passing through her. Bringing her hand down revealed a large smile. “Oh, Dexy.” Her hand reached out, taking the ring between her fingers to study it closer. “Oh, Dexy,” she repeated.
The first time Ava said this, Selah thought the woman had been so overwhelmed with happiness and shock she was having trouble reacting. When she repeated herself a second time, Selah had an inkling of doubt drop into her stomach. The smile appeared strained, not reaching Ava’s eyes.
As much as she wasn’t into this particular proposal, Selah did not want this to turn into a bad news day. For one thing, as long as The Blue Wonder had been in service with her dad, their marriage proposals had a one hundred percent “yes” rate. She didn’t want it to get around that there was a bad proposal connected to the business under her piloting, especially when things were already hard enough. What if this gave Soaring Over Oregon the edge they needed to put the Moreno women out of business?
And, secondly, she liked Dex. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy, and she could set her inconvenient crush aside. If he loved Ava, then she wanted to see the woman fling herself into his arms and provide the couple with a happy ending they should have.
Dex remained kneeled on the basket floor, his smile blissfully unaware, oblivious to Selah’s growing concerns for him. When Ava tore her gaze from the ring to Dex, the smile became more strained.
Oh shit . Selah was stuck on a hot-air balloon, with no way to escape, and about to witness a situation turn horribly awkward.