Page 57 of Love at First Flight

“You didn’t tell Selah about Dex’s interview?”

“No, I thought you did.”

“Why would I tell her? You always tell her everything.”

“Mija, I asked you,Are you telling your sister about this?And you saidUh-huhand you were doing this...” Her mother mimicked her sister frantically typing on an invisible phone with great exaggeration.

“I don’t remember that. I wasn’t listening. I was busy talking to someone.”

“And who were you talking to that was more important than your own sister?” her mother asked.

“I don’t know... someone.”

“Okay, stop. Stop!” Selah said, cutting in. “I don’t care about any of this. As far as communication goes, this family is the worst. Now, what interview are you talking about?”

“TheWake Up, USAinterview!” her mother said.

“Oh my God! I can’t believe you haven’t seen this. No wait, let me show you,” her youngest sister said, pulling her cell phone from her pocket. “Ugh, why don’t I have any reception? Can’t we get Wi-Fi on this balloon?”

“He loves you, mija!” Elena said, jumping in, her eyes glittering with excitement.

“What?” Her family had lost their ever-loving minds. “Do you know anything about this?” Selah asked her calmer sister, Naomi.

She shook her head. “This is the first I’m hearing about it. I wasn’t there.”

“Can’t we go down any faster?” Hailey asked.

“No,” Selah responded. “Why can’t you just tell me?”

“I already did, mija. He loves you.”

“Okay, so Dex is there doing the interview and that crow of his just flies out of nowhere, landing right onto his arm. Maybe that guy is some kind of wizard or something... it was pretty badass—”

“Get to the important part, Hailey.”

“Oh, yeah. So, Wanda—you know, the one with the big blond hair—she’s asking him about you and the whole proposal thing, blah blah blah.” Hailey rolls her eyes. “And Dex just says, yes, you’re friends and you really mean a lot to him and he admires you, and something about your piloting voice. I don’t know, he was kind of rambling. That part was a little weird.”

Selah covered the smile spreading across her face with a hand. The whole thing made her want to burst out laughing.

“Anyway, and that guy host... What’s his name? Jim something? He’s a real old man bitch. He just makes some kind of bad joke about sometimes you just need to get back on the hot-air balloon again and something about a rebound. If I was him, I’d be embarrassed because, for real, it was so awkward. And Dex, who has this serious look on his face, kind of stern, says, no, his relationship with you would never be a rebound for him. In fact, he says, if he actually believed in that stuff, then, technically, his last ex would be the rebound because they started seeing each other three weeks after his live-in girlfriend left. It was just supposed to be a casual thing, but it went on for too long and his ex was right to turn down his proposal. They didn’t belong together. With you, he’s removing the ‘re’ in ‘rebound’ and he’s just bound. This is one hundred percent grade-A truth, no lie. And then he said that if it was possible, he wanted to take you on a date. But he understood if, like Harper, you needed to spread your wings, and he fully supported you in finding your dream wherever that took you.”

Selah was in full disbelief, staring at her family as though this would help to make things clearer.

“I swear to God, Selah, that’s what happened. He said he wasboundto you,” Hailey said.

“And no one thought to tell me?” Selah was overwhelmed by this information. After all the things she had said to him, it wasn’t fair he should still want to be there for her. She’d hurt him terribly, and since she didn’t know how many days it had been since he’d given the interview, he probably assumed her silence was an answer. She wanted nothing more than to see him and tell him she was switching off autopilot, and she wanted the full experience with him. Unfortunately, she was stuck up here until they reached a coordinated landing spot.

“God. This is so romantic,” Naomi said, bringing a hand to her chest. “I mean, it was pretty obvious he fell hard for you, but to tell everyone on national TV? You need to do something for him too.”

“Like what?” she asked.

“Oh, how about we take this balloon to his house or Smith Rock? Which one do you think is the best place to find him? We can land there, and then you find him and grab him and kiss.”

Selah gave her romantic sister a flat look. “Are you kidding? We’d have no chase crew—”

“This is your time to do some special grand gesture, like in the movies.”

“If they ever do a movie based on my love life, they can land the balloon wherever their movie magic ass wants. But in real life, that’s not practical. We’re staying on course. Besides, when I do see him, I don’t want my whole family there.”

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