Page 35 of Love at First Flight

Luckily, the line of questioning shifted to another topic, but he wasn’t sure it was any better. “So, tell us how exactly you met.”

Both he and Selah eyed each other for a moment, each wondering how they were going to answer before he said, “Well, we met when I booked a hot-air balloon ride. She’s one of the top balloon pilots in the area. I highly recommend High Desert Tours.” He didn’t know if her being a top balloonist was true, but he didn’t think anyone, including Bria, was going to fact-check him. How many could there be? Besides, this was a way to at least push her business. “Her and her family’s business have been a great help in making our event at Smith Rock a success. We wouldn’t have gotten as many donations as we did without her and the balloon.”

“But you hired her initially to propose to your girlfriend, right? And Selah was your pilot and now you’re...” Bria prompted him to finish wherever she was trying to direct him with a sweep of her hand.

“Um, well, yes, but...” Dex found all of this odd. Why would anyone in the news care about this? How was his personal life interesting to anyone?

“We didn’t know each other then, but, after that flight, we kept running into each other, and we’re just friends,” Selah jumped in. “And he truly cares about Harper and Smith Rock. It’s... hard to resist that kind of sincere passion.” She paused to drag another curl from her cheek, glancing up at him. “When he asked, I couldn’t say no. Plus, in our business, we want people who ride with us to get an appreciation for all the natural beauty the High Desert has to offer, and that includes the local wildlife.”

Selah’s answer was as lovely as she was. He continued with, “That’s right. We’re essentially on the same side, and I think that’s why the event at the park was so successful and why we’re hoping it continues to draw attention to a very important cause. I guess it doesn’t matter how it started or how we became friends. Life is weird and funny and complicated. Sometimes, things just happen.”

Selah smiled at him. “Yes, exactly. You never know when your basket will tip over or something will just fall out of thin air and land in your lap. Hopefully, the same will happen for Harper and all her wildlife friends too.”

This morning, during his solo interview, he stumbled around and wasn’t as eloquent with his words. Dex was used to talking to the public and educating them, but doing so in front of a camera was something else entirely. By doing this with Selah beside him, all the awkwardness melted away. They didn’t need to be prompted and directed. Together they could control this interview. He felt proud of her and proud of himself.

Bria continued asking her questions, but he no longer worried about what she might lob at them or how she somehow seemed to be knowledgeable about things in his life. He shrugged it off because the woman was a journalist. She had to be good at digging information up. Regardless, he was happy with how the interview went.

Two days later, Dex was again waiting for Selah to come over after work because an email came, informing them the story would air that evening toward the end of the news hour. They agreed it would be fun to have a watch party together, and Selah volunteered to bring some food with her.

Except they didn’t know how to watch the local news because it wasn’t streaming live on any website and neither one of them had cable. But if there was a will, there was a way, and Dex had a lot of “will” where Selah was concerned. After work, he went to the store and purchased a bunny ears antenna for his TV after learning such things still existed. He hadn’t seen them since he was a kid and hung out in Lincoln’s bedroom. He was setting it up when Harper cawed from her usual perch on the porch and heard the bird’s nails pattering excitedly against the wooden railing.

“Here you go, Harp,” Selah said outside before the bird flapped away.

“Are you bringing more gifts for her? She doesn’t need to get any more spoiled,” he yelled from behind the TV as he plugged in a coaxial cable.

“Don’t get jealous. I brought something for you too,” she responded after letting herself in through the screened door.

That perked him up. “Oh, yeah?”

“Don’t get too excited. It’s just dinner. But between delicious homemade Mexican food and a dirty old clip from a lanyard, I think you have the better end of the deal.”

He laughed while setting the bunny ears on the TV stand. Selah had taken a seat on the sofa and was bringing out small Tupperware containers from a paper bag. Putting them on the coffee table, she was careful not to disturb the in-progress jigsaw puzzle there. While he would have preferred his “gift” to be something more personal, like a kiss, he was also excited about the food.

“My mom’s annoyed we’re not watching this news segment at her house because she still wants to have you over for dinner.” Selah rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “But sometimes I just have to, you know, get away. She still insisted on me bringing you over some food, though.”

While he was touched Selah’s mom was sincere in her invitation to have him over, he also didn’t mind having Selah all to himself.

Dex played it casually, taking a seat beside her, accepting one of the plastic containers filled with some type of enchiladas and Spanish rice. The delicious smell enticed him to take a bite, the food still warm. “Oh God. I will go over to your mom’s any day she will have me. Tell her I adore her,” he said, helping himself to more. This was the best thing he’d eaten in a while. His normal fast, easy, and often frozen meals weren’t close in competition to this.

“If I told her that, she’d have you over every day.”

“You say it like it’s a bad thing, but I don’t understand how it could be. I can make stretchy pants on a park ranger look sexy.”

She snorted a laugh, almost losing her own bite of food and quickly lifting a hand to cover her mouth. “No, it’s not... let’s just say that it’s pretty clear you don’t have younger sisters.”

“Only child,” he responded.

“Well, now everything about you makes sense.”

It did? He wasn’t sure how to take that. “Your sisters don’t seem that bad.”

Selah raised her eyebrows, tilting her head as though she was about to add something to the conversation when his phone alarm went off, a reminder the news was about to start. Picking up the remote, he fiddled with it, trying to find the correct input the TV should be on. It took him roughly ten minutes to get it working and find the right channel. It’d been so long, it’s as if he forgot how to use TV the old-fashioned way.

“Oh, I think this is it!” Selah said, touching his arm. They finished eating their dinner and watched several news segments, with theirs coming at the tail end of the hour. She’d long since taken off her shoes and brought her legs up on the couch, shifting to get comfortable.

He’d miss hearing the lead-in playing over a graphic showing an outline of the state with a heart at the center. The text read,Stories from the Heart of Central Oregon. He’d been distracted by Selah, but attempted to focus, feeling nervous at how he was going to look on camera. The segment began with the early morning shot of both of them chatting inside the basket, Bria’s voiceover playing over it.

“When Dexter Westerly, local park ranger at Smith Rock, booked a romantic hot-air balloon flight with High Desert Tours, to propose to his then-girlfriend, he, like many hopefuls, probably imagined it would end in wedding bells. But this story took a different turn.”

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