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I tense. “Wait. Is something wrong with the balloons?”
She laughs. “Just teasing. Everything is fine.”
“Dude, they don’t have engines,” Gavin says.
“I know,” I grumble.
Then Gavin pulls me aside and says in a low voice, “I looked up whether balloon rides are safe and allowed in our contracts. It’s all good.”
I breathe a sigh of relief. “Thanks, man.”
I’m grateful he sensed my concern. I’ve focused so much on taking care of my mom and sisters that it’s second nature to look out for Briar and the crew too. But I’m not the only one taking care of the four of us. We can share the responsibility. That’s a strange new thought but not an unwelcome one. And it’s digging roots inside me as Clara gestures to the big basket at the edge of the field. “Crew’s about ready. Are you, gentlemen?”
We all nod.
She turns to Briar. “And are you ready for your, what is this, your fiftieth flight?”
“Something like that,” Briar says, a smile turning her lips into a tease.
Like she has a secret.
Wait a second. I put two and two together. “Briar, are you a pilot?” I ask, incredulous.
She bobs a shoulder playfully. “I got my pilot’s license in college. I used to work here on the weekends. Clara’s the one who taught me to fly balloons.”
The amount of Briar intel in those sentences is a year’s worth. “I’m gonna need all the details later. But are you going to fly it?” I ask because that’s kind of badass and totally Briar.
“No,” Briar says with a laugh. “I have to do my biennial flight review before I’m comfortable doing that. I’ve been a bad girl and been a little lax. But I’ll do it soon. For now, I’ll go help the ground crew,” she says, then heads off, her ponytail swishing as she goes. She adjusts some of the cables on the huge, majestic balloon, then with the help of the crew, she grabs the edges of the basket and tips it up.
I stare slack-jawed, my heart thudding hard. “Briar’s a balloon pilot,” I say, awed.
Rhys watches, shaking his head. “How is that so hot?”
Gavin lets out a low whistle, then murmurs, “Because she’s capable and still wants us.”
Yup. Nailed it.
A gravelly laugh rips through the air as Clara walks by. “Good luck fighting over her,” she says, then passes us. The three of us smile like we have a secret too.
We don’t have to fight over her whatsoever.
When the balloon is fully inflated and ready for liftoff, we jump inside the basket, joining our girl.
51
HOW TO FLOAT
Briar
It never gets old.
The view from a thousand feet. The vistas of Wine Country. The river, cutting a winding path through Lucky Falls. The sun is beginning to set, casting a warm, golden hue over the vineyards below us.
We’re standing at the edge of the basket, Hollis on one side of me, Rhys the other, Gavin behind me. I point to the edge of the hills, a little town beyond. Maybe, just maybe, my childhood home. I can’t really see it, but I can imagine it’s there. “That’s where I grew up.”
“With your dad and brother?” Gavin asks, like he wants to picture it perfectly.
“Yeah. We were quite a trio. We were Sea Dogs fans though,” I tell them. All three guys wince at once as if they’ve been mortally wounded. “But hey, at least they like hockey.”
