Chapter Twenty-Four
“M om, can we talk to you?” Hailey asked once Selah and Naomi arrived at the farmhouse that day.
The Moreno sisters had already had a conversation about this amongst themselves, with Hailey agreeing to take the lead. Selah realized she didn’t need to take on everything herself. Her sisters were capable and strong, too, when given a little push.
Her mother turned from where she stood at the kitchen counter, kneading some kind of dough. “What is it, mija?” When she noticed her other two daughters as well, her eyes grew wide with worry. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Hailey said, going to her mother’s side. “I... or, rather, we want to discuss Dad’s ashes.”
Elena automatically went sparkly eyed with tears at this. “His ashes? Do we have to talk about this right now? I’m really very busy. Maybe we can talk about this—”
“Mom,” the youngest sister interrupted gently. “Dad wouldn’t want to just sit on a dresser, collecting dust.”
“Oh, no, you don’t understand. I cover it with things so that it won’t get dusty. You can check—”
“That’s not really what I mean. He was a pilot. He wanted to fly. He wanted to be free.” Her sister’s voice cracked, but remained strong. “You know I’m right. It’s what he always wanted. This is important, and we need to honor him.”
Her mother’s focus shifted between each daughter, finding a united front between them. She swiped away a tear, her shoulders dropping. “I know. I know that’s what your father wanted. But I loved him and I don’t... I don’t know how to live without him.”
“I know it’s hard, but we’re ready to do this for him. And if you’re not ready, that’s okay. You can keep some of the ashes, but let us have the rest. Can you do that? Selah said we can take him up on The Blue Wonder one final time and let him go,” Hailey said. “We need our last flight with Dad.”
Elena looked to Selah, who gave her mother a small smile and nod of encouragement, knowing they were all in this difficult situation together, but it needed to be done. “And I can keep some of him?” she asked.
When Hailey had discussed this with Selah, there hadn’t been any mention of letting their mother keep a portion of his ashes, but, she had to admit, it was a good compromise. She was proud of her younger sister for not only tackling a tough situation but also thinking quickly on her feet. It was a moment where she could see her sister growing into the adult she was destined to be.
A few days later, their mother decided to take all of Robert’s ashes on one last final balloon ride. Selah met her family in the launch field with The Blue Wonder . Boone was there as part of the chase crew, but he also brought along his friend, Alan, to help since Naomi would be going up.
Elena stood nearby as everyone prepped for liftoff, clutching the simple metal black box to her chest and crying silent tears.
Then it was time to go.
The family climbed into the gondola after the envelope was fully inflated and ready, and Selah ignited the burner, lifting them from the ground. There was that same familiar prick in her chest, but this one was bittersweet, feeling glad it was finally happening, knowing Robert would have liked this—all his favorite people together in one basket.
As a soft breeze brushed across her skin, she removed her aviators, closing her eyes and immersing herself in the feeling of flight. She realized a person didn’t get this while piloting a plane, at least not in normal circumstances. They may have had the height and the speed, but they didn’t get to feel the wind. They didn’t get bright sunbeams dancing across each molecule of their face that didn’t come through a laminated windscreen first. They didn’t get to feel like a cloud without the constant roar of engines in their ears. There was no experience like a hot-air balloon flight.
“Your dad used to do the same thing,” her mother said. “This is why he loved it so much. Why, in the end, he was happy things worked out the way it did. Every night when we would go to bed, I’d ask him how his day was, and he’d always answer the same way— No regrets .” Elena wiped another tear away. “Oh, Robert. All your daughters are so amazing. Selah does such a good job flying your balloon. Naomi is so creative and comes up with great ideas. And our Hailey has so much spirit and tenacity. You’d be so proud. I am so proud. I couldn’t have done this without any of them. They are my heart.”
Her mother hugged Selah before pulling the other two girls into the hug as well. “I love each of you so much,” she told them, before looking to Selah and asking, “Is it time?”
They were about as high as Selah wanted to go. Checking the landscape beneath them, she confirmed it was the wild, untamed land of the High Desert in the farthest corner of the Moreno farmland. She dropped a handful of the bark chunks she’d collected earlier from beneath her mother’s marionberry plant, testing the wind direction. “Do it on that side,” Selah informed them. “That way, it won’t blow back on us.”
Hailey helped her mother open the urn, removing the plastic bag containing the white, brittle flakes of Robert’s remains. They undid the metal tie at the top. “Are you sure you don’t want to keep any of it? It’s okay if you do,” Hailey said.
Her mother lifted her chin in a show of strength. “No. You’re right. This is what he would have wanted.”
Tipping the bag over the side, the wind took Robert away. He was flying, he was free and, in a way, Selah was free too.
There was something odd in letting go. One always assumed it would be the hardest thing in the world, but when the time was right, it was also easy. The weirdest part was that Selah didn’t feel that way about the business. Earlier that week, she had talked to another potential pilot and he hadn’t felt right, either, but maybe it was because she was looking for another Robert and there wasn’t another one. He was one of a kind. She was trying to have it both ways in getting someone else to take over because she was afraid she’d never live up to her dad, while also finding no one worthy enough to take over his legacy because they wouldn’t love The Blue Wonder and the business as much as she and her dad did.
Yes, she’d made mistakes and she might make a few more in her career. There was an old piloting joke that, technically, every landing was a crash landing... the only difference was if anyone noticed or not. Truth be told, she knew her father wasn’t perfect, but as much as she pondered the idea that roadblocks had been thrown at him, it was also true he had picked his ultimate path. He hadn’t given up. He’d chosen this. He’d chosen her. And that wasn’t fate. That was love.
They were all his legacy.
She sniffed away her emotion and cleared her throat. “I think... I’m going to stay.”
Her mother whipped around from her spot at the side of the basket, touching her chest with a gasp.
“What do you mean by that?” Naomi asked, since no one else was taking the initiative.
“I think I want to continue flying for High Desert Tours, if I can count on Naomi and Hailey to help—”
Her sisters screamed before wrapping their arms around her in a wild hug.
“You can count on us! I’m going to be so on top of it. I promise,” Hailey cried.
“Okay, okay. Everyone needs to calm down, as we’re still a thousand feet in the air.” Selah slid on her aviators. “If I’m going to be captain, I’m in charge up here. When it comes to the balloon or flights or anything relating to them, I have the final say. You will listen to me. The other particulars surrounding the business on the ground, we can talk about who will be in charge of what. Is that a deal?”
Her sisters exchanged glances with each other and grinned. “Yes, Captain,” they said in unison.
“Oh, Selah,” her mother said. “This would make your dad so happy.”
“You have to call her ‘Captain.’ Didn’t you just hear her?” Hailey said, her eyes sparkling with happiness.
“Ay, mija, you watch yourself. I’m still your mother and I can call you what I want. But your sister will make a very good captain. She will always be as strong and sturdy as a rock.”
“Only when I’m in the air. On the ground, maybe I don’t have to be a rock all the time.”
“Yes, okay,” Elena replied. “On the ground, we will be your rock. Okay?”
“Yeah, sounds good.” Selah smiled through tears.
With the balloon sinking to a lower altitude and the return trip in progress, she took a deep breath and looked at the far landscape toward the Three Sisters Mountain Range. This was her home. She felt connected to it like never before, even to the rugged, rocky landscape of Smith Rock. She wondered about Dex, hoping he was okay, wishing more than anything she could talk to him again.
“Are you going to tell him?” Hailey asked, seeming to read her mind. “I mean, you have to now.”
“Because I’m staying?”
“Well that, and because of the interview—Wait a minute? Ma? Ma!” Hailey called, trying to get her mother’s attention away from a conversation she was having with Naomi.
“What? God, Hailey, stop shouting—”
“You didn’t tell Selah about Dex’s interview?”
“No, I thought you did.”
“Why would I tell her? You always tell her everything.”
“Mija, I asked you, Are you telling your sister about this? And you said Uh-huh and you were doing this...” Her mother mimicked her sister frantically typing on an invisible phone with great exaggeration.
“I don’t remember that. I wasn’t listening. I was busy talking to someone.”
“And who were you talking to that was more important than your own sister?” her mother asked.
“I don’t know... someone.”
“Okay, stop. Stop!” Selah said, cutting in. “I don’t care about any of this. As far as communication goes, this family is the worst. Now, what interview are you talking about?”
“The Wake Up, USA interview!” her mother said.
“Oh my God! I can’t believe you haven’t seen this. No wait, let me show you,” her youngest sister said, pulling her cell phone from her pocket. “Ugh, why don’t I have any reception? Can’t we get Wi-Fi on this balloon?”
“He loves you, mija!” Elena said, jumping in, her eyes glittering with excitement.
“What?” Her family had lost their ever-loving minds. “Do you know anything about this?” Selah asked her calmer sister, Naomi.
She shook her head. “This is the first I’m hearing about it. I wasn’t there.”
“Can’t we go down any faster?” Hailey asked.
“No,” Selah responded. “Why can’t you just tell me?”
“I already did, mija. He loves you.”
“Okay, so Dex is there doing the interview and that crow of his just flies out of nowhere, landing right onto his arm. Maybe that guy is some kind of wizard or something... it was pretty badass—”
“Get to the important part, Hailey.”
“Oh, yeah. So, Wanda—you know, the one with the big blond hair—she’s asking him about you and the whole proposal thing, blah blah blah.” Hailey rolls her eyes. “And Dex just says, yes, you’re friends and you really mean a lot to him and he admires you, and something about your piloting voice. I don’t know, he was kind of rambling. That part was a little weird.”
Selah covered the smile spreading across her face with a hand. The whole thing made her want to burst out laughing.
“Anyway, and that guy host... What’s his name? Jim something? He’s a real old man bitch. He just makes some kind of bad joke about sometimes you just need to get back on the hot-air balloon again and something about a rebound. If I was him, I’d be embarrassed because, for real, it was so awkward. And Dex, who has this serious look on his face, kind of stern, says, no, his relationship with you would never be a rebound for him. In fact, he says, if he actually believed in that stuff, then, technically, his last ex would be the rebound because they started seeing each other three weeks after his live-in girlfriend left. It was just supposed to be a casual thing, but it went on for too long and his ex was right to turn down his proposal. They didn’t belong together. With you, he’s removing the ‘re’ in ‘rebound’ and he’s just bound. This is one hundred percent grade-A truth, no lie. And then he said that if it was possible, he wanted to take you on a date. But he understood if, like Harper, you needed to spread your wings, and he fully supported you in finding your dream wherever that took you.”
Selah was in full disbelief, staring at her family as though this would help to make things clearer.
“I swear to God, Selah, that’s what happened. He said he was bound to you,” Hailey said.
“And no one thought to tell me?” Selah was overwhelmed by this information. After all the things she had said to him, it wasn’t fair he should still want to be there for her. She’d hurt him terribly, and since she didn’t know how many days it had been since he’d given the interview, he probably assumed her silence was an answer. She wanted nothing more than to see him and tell him she was switching off autopilot, and she wanted the full experience with him. Unfortunately, she was stuck up here until they reached a coordinated landing spot.
“God. This is so romantic,” Naomi said, bringing a hand to her chest. “I mean, it was pretty obvious he fell hard for you, but to tell everyone on national TV? You need to do something for him too.”
“Like what?” she asked.
“Oh, how about we take this balloon to his house or Smith Rock? Which one do you think is the best place to find him? We can land there, and then you find him and grab him and kiss.”
Selah gave her romantic sister a flat look. “Are you kidding? We’d have no chase crew—”
“This is your time to do some special grand gesture, like in the movies.”
“If they ever do a movie based on my love life, they can land the balloon wherever their movie magic ass wants. But in real life, that’s not practical. We’re staying on course. Besides, when I do see him, I don’t want my whole family there.”
“Ooh, Captain Selah wants Ranger Dex all to herself.” Hailey pumped her eyebrows suggestively.
Hell, yeah, she did. She wanted him all to herself because she was bound to him as well, and needed to show him in all the ways possible.