Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 93417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Clara smiles like a cat. “If you want to get a license, you come find me. I’m an instructor. I’ve taught many people to fly one of these babies.”
“My summers are free so consider it confirmed. And thank you for fitting us in at the last minute,” I say, and even though Briar told us Clara is a friend of her dad’s, I’m still amazed Briar pulled this off so quickly, booking us a sunset ride just a day after we first mentioned it.
“Anything for Briar,” Clara says.
“I think you mean anything for my dad,” Briar says to the older woman.
“Henry fixed the ignition in my van last week,” she says, then frowns. “Too bad he can’t fix the engines on these balloons.”
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.”
“Small consolation,” Gavin mutters.
I laugh, then tell them more about my family. How my dad and brother came to all my soccer games growing up, then helped me with my rehab when I tore my ACL. How my brother encouraged me to learn yoga and Pilates, then how my dad suggested I study exercise science in college, catching them up to the present day and my dad’s obsession with cats, and my brother’s work helping me launch Flow and Flex Fitness. “And now Griffin helps me with my app. In exchange, I give him yoga for better sex tips.”
“A fair trade,” Hollis says with a laugh.
“What about your dad?” Rhys asks, then chuckles when he must realize how the question sounds.