Page 2 of Love at First Flight

He gently patted her back. “Good. Did I tell you I’m getting a new envelope?” The envelope was the balloon portion of a hot-air balloon setup.

“What’s wrong withThe Blue Wonder?”

“Nothing. It’s just time for a change, and it’s blue.”

“I thought you liked blue.”

“I do, but during the summer, it doesn’t really stand out when the sky is the same shade. This one is more colorful. You’ll like it. You can help me name it. With this new envelope, I think business will pick up even more. We’ll do even better than Soaring Over Oregon.” His rivalry with the other hot-air balloon company had always been entertaining. It was fun to play along, as though there was a long and deep hatred for this other company located near Bend. All families should have an imaginary Hatfield and McCoy situation. It kept things interesting.

“They have nothing on you, Captain Picard,” she said, giving him a lazy salute. “What’s the new envelope look like?”

“Nope. Nice try. You’re not going to get it out of me. You’ll just have to wait and see when it comes.” He then peppered her with advice in preparation for her Portland trip, such as getting her tire pressure checked and making sure her phone was fully charged and looking up weather conditions before traveling through the Mount Hood region. “You want to give yourself plenty of time to get there. No opportunity is worth rushing and risking your safety.”

“I know,” she said, already planning to get up early because, in their family, minus Hailey, it was already a habit to do so.

When the morning of her trip arrived, she’d gotten a little later start than she had hoped, but was more than halfway to Portland when her phone rang.

“Hello?” she answered on speaker phone.

“Selah, it’s Elena.” Her mother using her own name when calling her daughter should have been a sign something wasn’t right. It struck Selah as odd, but before she could make a joke, her mother gasped a choked sob. “He’s gone, mija,” and then she rambled more sentences, a mixture of both Spanish and English.

“What? What do you mean?” There was a brief moment of panic, where her heart ascended into her throat, before Selah switched off each emotion. She shifted into calm piloting mode in order to understand what turbulent problem she was about to find herself flying through. “Mom? Mom. I need you to calm down. Take a breath and then tell me what’s going on.” Selah found a road turnout to pull onto.

Taking a long shuddering breath, Elena said, “He’s gone. Your dad died. I tried to wake him, but he wouldn’t wake up. I don’t know—What are we going to do now?” The question ended on a wail as sobs overtook her mother once again.

As close as Selah was with Robert, despite finding herself now entirely captainless, she didn’t fall apart like her mother. Maybe something broke inside her. The sting of tears never crept past the barrier of her eyes, and she quickly blinked those away. “Okay, I’m coming over there. It’s going to be a little bit because I’m currently on the road—”

“Where are you? I don’t want you to get into an accident. Ay, mi roca. I can’t take it if something happens to you too.”

“I’m fine. I’m going to turn around. Did you call an ambulance this morning?” She asked while driving her car onto the opposite side of the highway once it was safe.

“Yes.”

“Okay, good. That’s good. Are Naomi and Hailey with you?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, ask Naomi if she can call Aunt Becky.” Her large extended family lived an hour away, but they were closer in distance than Selah at the moment. Both her Aunt Becky and Uncle José had calming spirits and could provide the strength her mother needed right now. “I think you would feel better if your sister and tío José were there while you waited for me. When I get there, we can all figure out what we need to do together. Okay?”

“Okay, but please be careful, mija. You’ll be strong and steady like a rock, right?”

“I’m going to be careful. I’m coming, okay?”

“Okay.”

Selah wouldn’t go to her interview or any other interview after that. She realized her world had completely shifted then. A tear finally broke free and she angrily dashed it away with the sleeve of her shirt, feeling horrible and selfish to be angry at the universe for snatching away her and her dad’s dream once again.

But she knew there wasn’t any point to her anger.

It was just fate sometimes had terrible timing.

Chapter One

A year and a half later

“Why must Ilose everything?” Elena cried when Selah had confronted her in the High Desert Tours office trailer regarding the family budget.

Selah tapped a pen impatiently on her desk as she tried to keep the conversation from going off the rails, since her mother had been kind enough to bring her an iced coffee midway through her workday. “I’m not asking you to give up everything, Mom. I’m just asking you to not renew a magazine subscription that no one reads. This is about being practical, that’s all.”

---