Page 47 of Musical Games
She perked up. ‘How much?’
‘You can drink mine if you want?’
His hands were clenched by his sides. He looked so nervous her heart melted. One day, some lucky, lucky lady was going to be loved by this awkward, beautiful man. She sighed. It just was never going to be her. ‘Will there be midges?’
He shook his head and smiled at the floor. ‘I one hundred per cent guarantee there will not be any midges.’
She folded her arms. ‘No midges and a double dose of champagne. I’m in.’
Oh no.Oh no. Oh fuckity, fuckity, fuck no. Sam stared out the window of the car, her heart in her mouth. She was going to vomit. Jamie was already outside, shaking an older man’s hand and smiling as if he knew him. Behind them in the wide-open field was a huge wicker basket. A burner was mounted on the top filling an enormous red balloon.
So this was how Jamie was showing her more of Scotland. He looked so happy and excited. And she was about to crush all that joy out of him by telling him she was petrified of heights.
The condition was severe. She always requested seats in the middle of an airplane. She couldn’t be in an office with floor-to-ceiling windows if it was above the ground floor. And she couldn’t even handle going on tall escalators in department stores. There was no way in hell she was going to put her trust in a family-sized coffin made of twigs and a load of nylon and hot air.
And where were the other passengers? There was a van with a trailer and two men sporting more tweed and facial hair than she thought possible. Had Jamie arranged this just for her? She dug her nails into her palms, swallowed the rising bile and focused on her breathing.
Breathe in, two, three, four, and hold, two, three, four…
Oh god. Jamie was walking back to the car with beardy-man number one. He opened her door.
‘Sam, I’d like you to meet William, our pilot for the morning. William, this is Sam Adamson.’
The man extended a thick arm. ‘Call me Billy. I’m the owner of Billy’s Balloons. It’s a pleasure to meet you.’
She wiped her clammy palms on the outside of her skirt before she shook his hand.
‘I, I, I’ve never been up in a balloon before.’
His smile was so wide she expected his jaw to dislocate. ‘You’re going to love it. It’s perfect weather and as there’s only the pair of you…’ He broke off to look around the empty landscape surreptitiously as if to check they weren’t being overheard. ‘You can have the bubbles during the flight,’ he whispered. ‘You don’t have to wait until we land.’ He waggled his eyebrows.
Sam glanced at Jamie. She’d never seen anyone look so hopeful and expectant – like he was presenting her with a gift he’d spent a lifetime creating. And she was about to smash it to pieces under the heel of her boots.
‘I can’t wait,’ she replied breathlessly. ‘I’ve heard it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience.’
‘Aye, that it is, lass. You’ll be a completely different person in a couple of hours.’
Yes! A fucking dead one!
Sam laughed maniacally and two grouse bolted from the heather with a flurry and flap of their wings.
Billy led them to the basket and Sam crossed her fingers. She could sense Jamie staring at her.
‘Are you okay?’ he asked.
She opened her eyes wide and pulled the corners of her mouth up until her teeth were showing. ‘Yes, of course.’ Her voice sounded as fake as her face felt. It was as if she’d been Botoxed into expression twenty-three – ‘unbridled joy on opening the worst Christmas present ever’.
‘I couldn’t get a plane to fly us to Shetland. So I thought of this.’
Sam nodded, the pain from her rictus grin helping mask the terror screaming up from her stomach. Where was the door to get into the basket? She could see what appeared to be foot holes in the side. Did she have to climb in?
Jamie was blushing. ‘I forgot about this bit.’ He tentatively held out his hand. She took it, electricity shooting up her arm.
You can do this! Do it for him!
She reached her foot up to the first step, but her skirt was too tight. Billy was in the basket and looked at them over the side.
‘Jamie lad, just lift the wee lass in.’ He grinned reassuringly at Sam. ‘We had someone who was one hundred one in here last week.’
