Page 27 of Love at First Flight

Like what kind of weird questions?

She watched the bubbles appear and then disappear again before he finally responded.

I don’t know. Just stuff I wasn’t expecting. It’s not that big of a deal.

Selah was curious, because maybe he was right and Hailey had done something magical for them. It would be nice for her youngest sister to finally do something to benefit the business for once, even if Selah didn’t consider it to be real work. “Have you been on Hailey’s Loop account lately?” she asked her sister.

“You know I stopped using that app. It was too much of a time suck.”

“Yeah,” she agreed, going to the barely used app that she’d only downloaded because Hailey kept sending her links to videos, and it was the best way to view them. She went to her sister’s page, clicking on the video with a thumbnail of Harper. The video was the crow with some kind of sparkly flashing filter, giving Harper different looks as though she was going to visit the bird version of a dance club or something. Sometimes different accessories and outfits were superimposed over Harper’s image, like a crown or heart sunglasses.

Her sister, Hailey, appeared in the corner of this changing imagery of sparkle vomit, wearing a feather boa and singing what sounded like some made-up-on-the-spot song. Her sister had a good singing voice, but this was some weird catchy jingle where she repeated the words “the crow” over some generic beats. Selah had no idea what she was even watching and clearly didn’t understand today’s youth. At least her sister ended the song with “Harper needs your help” and added a link to a donation page.

“What in the world was that?” Naomi asked her, while inspecting the ends of her hair.

“I don’t know. I just asked her to do a few simple videos of the event and that’s what she did.”

Her sister looked at the screen over Selah’s shoulder. “Wow, it got a lot of views, though.”

“Yeah, I guess people really like nonsense these days.” This was why it was better for Naomi to deal with PR for the company instead of Hailey or Selah.

Her sister laughed. “Hopefully, it translated into a lot of donations for that crow. Do you think that explains the extra business?”

“Maybe—but she didn’t even mention High Desert Tours. Why can’t she just do what I ask?”

“We’re your sisters. I think sometimes you forget that.”

She wasn’t sure this was true and the words annoyed her, which didn’t help her current bad mood. Before she could say anything in her defense, her sister said, “Wait... what video is that?”

When Naomi pointed to it on Selah’s phone, she accidentally touched it and it started playing.

It was filmed in Hailey’s bedroom, the camera set in front of her while she did her makeup, talking as though already in the middle of a conversation. “Gah, stop asking about R. No updates except hate him with my life.”

Selah was about to flick the video away, because she couldn’t care less about any of this, but before she could, her sister rambled on. “Besides, I have some new tea and this is delicious, so you’re gonna want to pay attention, besties. Okay, so, that video with the crow, my sister asked me to do that. This crow was injured and one of the park rangers rescued it and now he wants to do a rehabilitation thing to, I guess, rescue more crows. I mean, crows can be in my crew and are cool but, whatever, it’s weird.” Hailey moved on to applying eyeliner. “Well, this same park ranger actually took a ride in my sister’s hot-air balloon a few months ago. Remember, she’s a pilot for my family’s business and stuff. He took the ride because he was planning on proposing to his girlfriend. This is the guy.” An image of Dex from the Smith Rock event appeared behind her sister’s shoulder.

“Yeah, he’s nice, but so mid, like mid-mid. And a hot-air balloon ride proposal? Yeah, okay, like watch a TV show or something for some inspiration, friend, because, ugh, cringe. Anyway, the girl said no. She didn’t want to marry him. And then when they landed, the basket tipped over and my sister fell right on top of him. Literally. One hundred percent true story.”

Selah’s heart dropped, making her want to crawl into the deepest hole. What the hell was she going to tell Dex? She had told her mother about the failed proposal and what had happened afterwards, but she hadn’t told anyone else. Naomi had kind of been there and only knew some of it. It was clear her mother wasn’t the most discreet person and neither was Hailey. Either way, it was Selah’s fault her family was publicly humiliating him.

Hailey pulled out a tube of lip gloss, going back to putting on her makeup. “But that’s not the end of the story. Because he’s been totally making eyes at my sister, the same sister who was at his proposal rejection. I’m not even lying. Look at exhibit one.”

It cut to a video from the event and her sister had caught a moment where Dex happened to be looking off in the same direction of her balloon. He could have been looking at anything or nothing. The park was a large place with a lot of activity. Of course, it didn’t help that Selah herself seemed to be gazing in his direction at the same time. As if to emphasize the point, cartoon hearts were added to the video before it cut back to Hailey. “Yeah, and that happened all day. I mean, God, they weren’t even being discreet about it. And Selah is super insistent that there’s nothing between them, but like, be for real with us, sis. They went through this whole thing about why they’d never get together. Doth protests and all that. So is my sister secretly dating the crow park ranger guy? The same guy she had a front row seat for him getting his heart stomped on? Did something else happen on that balloon ride? Did the basket and her falling on him really happen by accident? Hmm.”

It cut to another video, this time taken from a slight distance away but showing the area near the restroom where Dex was leaning over her. They looked as if they were involved in an intimate conversation instead of something that could be innocent for a number of reasons that Selah couldn’t think of at the moment. “Gross. Seriously. Get a private hot-air balloon, you guys. Ha!”

Her sister then did several rapid air kisses by pressing her palms to her lips and said, “This has been your Hailey Tea Time, besties!”

Selah turned off the video, setting her phone on her desk before turning her focus on Naomi and crossing her arms. “Did you know about this?”

Her sister’s eyes widened as she lifted her hands in surrender. “No, I swear. I had no idea she—”

At that moment, the sister in question came parading through the door with an iced coffee drink in a teal tumbler. “Oh my God. I have to show you the color of this nail polish, because it’s about to become my whole personality—”

“What the fuck, Hailey? I am so pissed off right now, I don’t even want to look at you.”

Her sister paused, her shocked gaze switching between Naomi and Selah. “What did I do?” If she suspected the reason for Selah’s anger, she was doing a good job pretending to be ignorant because, by all appearances, she was perplexed.

Naomi cut in. “We saw the Loop video you did about Selah and the park ranger—”

---