Sadie
Battle of Balloons
My sister rolls her eyes as she’s never been a fan of Mage Hollow’s annual water balloon bonanza—she says it promotes more violence than it teaches about history. But that’s like Mal to be overly opinionated about something that is fun.
As kids, we didn’t take part until high school.
And even then, I rarely went because I always had something more important to do.
But when I came back from college one summer, Howard convinced me to go, and I found it incredibly cathartic to hurl water-filled sacks at our neighbors, young and old.
Since then, if I’m in town when it happens (only twice), I’ve made it a point to have the whole family attend the event.
And this year, it feels like a no-brainer, like we could all use a moment of joy.
Swiping my now torched eyeliner under Lily’s eyes, there’s a knock at the door.
"Sadie, I think your special friend is here," my mom coos.
Tiny feet pound against the hardwood floor as Magnolia and Poppy race to open the door for Max. My body erupts in goosebumps just knowing he’s here. It’s only been twelve hours since I saw him, but I find myself wanting to be near him.
"Hey Sade." He steps into the dining room, a girl in each of his arms, and my heart beats faster. Leave it to Max to look unfairly attractive in camo shorts, a black t-shirt with the sleeves cut off, and a backward baseball hat. "You in charge of battle makeup?"
He nods toward my niece's face, and I accidentally swipe the black material down her cheek. So much for not being obvious about how much he affects me.
Grabbing a makeup remover cloth, I clean Lily’s face, ensuring she has two perfect rectangles under her eyes. Max watches with rapt attention as the girls wiggle in his arms.
"Aunt Adie, me nest," Poppy yells.
"No, it’s my turn, Poppy. I called it," Magnolia whines.
"Hey, Max." My sister saunters into the room, reaching to grab Poppy from his arm. "Girls, Aunt Sadie will get to both of you. Please be patient."
Max sets Magnolia on her feet, then pulls out a chair next to me. "If you have another one of those, I could help." He nods toward the pencil in my hand, smirking in that delicious way that makes his dimples pop.
Rummaging through my makeup bag, I pull out a liquid version and place it in his awaiting palm. He looks at it, turning it over in his hand as if it's the most foreign thing he’s ever seen. But the girls break my appraisal of Max, pushing each other as they scramble to line up in front of him.
I guess my rating of favorite just took a nosedive.
Max chuckles as Poppy—the sneaky little thing—wins out and Magnolia huffs, moving onto the chair Lily just vacated. Quickly, I draw the lines on Mag’s rosy little cheeks, having minimal to clean up. But when I look at Poppy, a wave of giggles rolls out of me.
Max is struggling. Liquid eyeliner rolls down both her cheeks like some sort of misshapen lightning bolt.
"Need some help?" I ask, biting the inside of my cheek.
He shakes his head, then leans forward to whisper in Poppy’s ear. She giggles, her cheeks turning pink as she nods her head in response to whatever he told her.
"We were going for battle-worn, you know, like she was working so hard it already melted," he explains as my niece hops off the chair and squeals in delight at the sight of herself in the mirror. "Will you do mine exactly like hers, so we can match?"
Covering my mouth with the back of my hand, I stifle the squeak that’s begging to break free. His matching with my niece, his attempt at making her feel special compared to the others—it’s too much for my heart to take. Poppy adores him, and I think I might be falling in love with him too.
"Sure, Casanova." I motion for him to move onto the chair in front of me. "Just be careful not to break her heart, or I might have to kill you."
Max grins, winking at me. "I’ll do my best…" He leans forward, brushing a stray tendril of hair from my face as his lips coast across the shell of my ear. "But I think her aunt might be the one responsible for breaking her heart when she finds out I’m here for you."
My cheeks heat from the proximity, and the words coming out of his mouth. This man—although adorably sweet—is deadly with his tongue, in more ways than one.
"We’ll cross that bridge when we get there." I touch his shoulder, pushing so that he’s sitting upright, and get to work on his makeup. "Have you done this before?"
"The Balloon Bonanza?"
"Yeah." Swiping the liquid stick under his eyes, I do my best to make it look sloppy. "Does your family usually take part?"
He smirks, assisting my attempt at copying Poppy’s face without even trying. "Only every year since the time we could walk. Mabel is like a sniper. I’d watch out for her today."
Somehow, I’m not in the slightest bit surprised to hear that. Mabel O’Reilly is one of a kind—she’s definitely the type to take you out when you don’t see it coming.
"And will the ladies in the enormous hats be out there today?" They were perfectly nice, cutting up the dance floor last night without a care in the world. But something tells me that getting soaked in Mage Square wasn’t on their itinerary.
Max chuckles, smiling so big that his eyebrows nearly touch his hairline. "Nah, Ollie said they wouldn’t be into it. They will relax at the manor today, then tomorrow I think they rented some sort of yacht for the fireworks."
"That sounds about right, though it would’ve been fun to watch them out there." I finish up his face, turning to throw all the supplies back in my black makeup bag. "Are you going on the yacht?"
He shakes his head. "No, I was actually hoping you’d—"
"Sadie Marie… are you ready to go? We’re going to be late if you don’t stop flirting and get a move on," Dee Dee sings from the front door, cutting off Max’s question.
"Yeah, Mom. We’re coming." Max stands from his chair, extending a hand to me as I do the same. "She just had to get that dig in," I grumble under my breath.
Slipping into my sneakers by the front door, I tie my tennis shoes quickly as Max helps Sebastian load two huge buckets filled with water balloons into the back of Max’s truck—every family has to bring twenty balloons for each participant.
But before we load into the vehicles to drive uptown, Max calls everyone for a meeting in the front yard.
Kneeling down so he’s eye level with the little girls, he gives us a pep talk.
"Okay, little ladies, there are going to be a lot of people where we’re going.
I need you to promise me you’ll stay close to one of the adults at all times.
" Seb lifts his chin in approval. "Water balloons are going to be flying, so make sure you tell us if you don’t want to get wet so we can keep you guarded. "
"I’m going to throw so many!" Mag’s shouts.
"I’ll throw more than you do, Magnolia. You’re still little," Lily chimes in.
"I stay with Max," Poppy leans toward him, placing her tiny hand on his knee.
Max grins up at me, a mischievous look that says, I told you so from our previous discussion.
"Okay, as for the adults, I’ve never lost this competition.
But my family will gun for us since I switched teams this year.
Target my mom because she’s slippery and will get you when you’re not looking.
Remember, the rules state that once you’ve been hit three times, you exit the playing field.
If you’re out, tell someone in our group so we can cover the little girls.
" My heart beats rapidly in awe of how much care he’s putting into making sure my nieces remain safe, and we know the rules.
It’s a glimpse into how I assume he is as a coach—thorough and unwavering in his conviction.
"There’s a spot near the far left corner that has three barricades set up.
If we can hide behind those, we should be good to go. "
My mother claps, bouncing up and down like he just gave us a super inspiring speech. My sister looks down at him with adoration, probably thankful for his thoughtfulness, and Seb slaps him on the back.
"Okay, everyone, load up." I grab Max’s hand, pulling him back to standing. "We’ll meet you in the lot behind Union. Lonnie gave us permission to park there."
My family piles into my sister’s van while Max hoists me into his front seat. Once inside, he tugs on my belt, making sure it’s secure, and backs out of the driveway.
"That was sweet." I toy with the edge of my black biker shorts.
Max flips on his turn signal, eyes trained on the road to avoid pedestrians. Some people walk to the event—we would if we didn’t have to carry so many balloons.
"I want them to have fun, but it would be easy to lose a kid up there." He shrugs. "Just want to make sure it ends up a good memory and no little girls run into the street chasing balloons."
Groaning at the callback to my mishap with Poppy, I stare out the window. He wasn’t kidding about the size of the event. I think it’s nearly tripled since the last time I participated based on the crowd forming.
We pull into the lot, finding an open spot at the end. Mal and the rest of my family park next to us, piling out of the van before I can unbuckle my seatbelt. Reaching for the red button, Max leans over, stopping my movement when he presses his lips to mine. His kiss is claiming, chaste but urgent.
"Sorry, I’ve been holding that back for the last hour."
Rolling my lips in, I fight a smile. "You don’t have to apologize. You can do that whenever you want."
"Good to know."
He leaps from the truck, helping me down before grabbing one of our buckets to carry around the corner and into the square. Mal, Mom, the girls, and I follow closely behind, with Seb bringing up the rear.