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“We are absolutely up for it.” Christy didn’t even look at Henry.
“Whatever,” Henry muttered, tightening his hold on the harness straps.
Bjørn pushed down the gleeful expression and jammed the stick to the side, flipping the helicopter in a roll. Christy screamed, a smile stretching across her face. Henry’s eyes widened as the color leeched from his face.
“We good?” Bjørn leveled back out and looked in the mirror for the answer.
“Yes!” Christy’s yell made him chuckle, while Henry nodded reluctantly beside her.
“You sure?” Bjørn raised his eyebrow in challenge.
“I can handle anything you dish out.” Henry glared at Bjørn’s reflection.
“Just in case, there are barf bags in the pocket on the side of your seat.” Bjørn shrugged, then glanced around, making a big deal about pretending to be lost. “Oh, wait. We’re going the wrong way.”
He maneuvered the cyclic and collective, causing the chopper to do a back flip, rotating halfway through the flip so the nose pointed the opposite direction. Christy’s squeal filled with laughter, forcing one from Bjørn’s chest. A glance in the mirror found Henry suppressing his gags.
Bjørn pushed the helicopter faster, the expansive blue-green of the ocean skimming past below them, increasing to top speed as they approached the glacier’s face. He angled his girl up when it looked like they would hit the ice block and rocketed toward the clouds.
“Wahoo!” Christy screamed from the back, mirroring his own excitement.
He shot past the glacier’s top, reaching higher into the sky. Finally, he flipped the bird backward and dived toward earth. He loved flying. Loved the rush of adrenaline only found behind the stick of his pretty girl.
“Oh, no,” was the only warning before Henry’s retching filled the cockpit.
“This is totally awesome!” Christy’s yell quickly followed, and Bjørn wasn’t sure if it was Henry's upchucking or the flight that gave her such joy.
Taking pity on the man, Bjørn leveled Annie out and slowed to ease onto the landing spot. Bjørn’s oldest brother, Gunnar, waited next to his dogsled team for the next leg of the couple’s adventure tour. His arms crossed his chest, and he shook his head in disbelief. Bjørn waved through the windshield as he set the bird down and switched everything off.
“Thanks for flying Rebel Air.” Bjørn pulled off his headset and turned in his seat with a smile. “Hope you enjoyed the adventure.”
“Oh, my. That was so much fun,” Christy gushed as she leaned forward and clasped his arm. “Thank you for making this flight extra special.”
Her lips tweaked as she tilted her head to Henry. Man, this woman had to get rid of that dead weight. She was too adventurous to let Henry ruin her life.
“My pleasure.” Bjørn pointed toward Gunnar and the dogs. “The next leg might not have as many thrills, but the company is a lot cuter. The dogs, not the knucklehead brother of mine.”
She grabbed her stuff and left the helicopter, not waiting for Henry to follow. Bjørn didn’t see their relationship lasting much longer. He extended the lidded trash can he kept stashed toward Henry, who tossed the bag in with a huff and exited without a word. Bjørn saluted to Gunnar, then fired Annie back up. As far as tours went, Henry aside, Bjørn’s future was off to a soaring start.
Sadie Wilde tightened her ponytail and yanked the cuffs of her long-sleeved T-shirt down, making sure the fabric covered her scars. She turned one way, then the other in the tiny mirror mounted above the utility sink the teeny bathroom sported. The only other thing in the room was a metal cupboard from the last century hanging over the toilet that they’d painted a cheery teal to hide its age.
Leaning closer to check the reflection of her face, her heart sank into her gut, making it tumble like three week old puppies. Should she have let her sister Violet do her makeup like she’d begged? Would Sadie look washed out for the camera with her typical swipe of mascara and tinted lip balm?
“Who cares?” Sadie rolled her eyes, then stared herself down in the mirror. “Keep it together, Sade. This is important to the kennel. It could be the break we need to rock it. No one else can do this like you. You’re the face of North STAR Kennel. You’ve got this.”
“Talking to yourself again?” Denali Wilde, Sadie’s best friend and cousin, spoke from where she leaned against the doorjamb, making Sadie jump and whack her head on the cupboard.
“Ouch.” She cringed as she rubbed the side of her head and glared at Denali, who had doubled over with laughter. “Not that funny.”
“Are you kidding me?” Denali stood up, wiping her finger under her watering eyes. “First you stand there talking to yourself, then you fling your head right into the cabinet.” She sighed. “I wish I’d caught that on video. We could have Violet put it on our YouTube channel under behind-the-scenes or something.”
“Har. Har. Chuck it up, Buttercup.” Sadie leaned against the sink. “I don’t remember you volunteering to be interviewed by Nature Channel. If I remember right, your exact words were ‘I’ll be in front of the camera when penguins fly to Alaska and take up residence.’”
Denali’s lips tweaked up on one side of her face. It was good to see her smile and to hear her laugh. After Denali’s high school boyfriend had left her pregnant after graduation to chase his hockey dreams of fame, Sadie’s cousin had lost her sparkle. Being a single mom would do that. Make one weary and hesitant. Not that they all didn’t adore Sawyer and wouldn’t do anything for the spunky eleven-year-old.
Denali had wanted to put Sawyer first in everything, though, barely dating anyone the last eleven years. She was tenacious like that, too willing to go down with her lonely ship, even with lifeboats poised and ready. It was a horrible trait when it came to her not opening her caring heart to possibilities for love, but an amazing one when it came to business partners. Though Denali said she wouldn’t go in front of the camera, if it meant the business succeeded, she’d be there with her favorite lipstick on.
Sadie cocked her head to the side. Maybe she should let Denali spruce up her makeup? Except for the lips, she was more subtle in her style than Violet was.
