Page 18 of Love in the Air at The Cornish Bakery

Chapter Ten

‘Are you both ready? You might want to hold on to the rim of the basket on our ascent.’ Nigel looked over at them and grinned.

Tightening her grip on the edge of the basket, Nina watched as Nigel fired the burner and the balloon rose into the air.

‘You okay?’ Rowan lurched forward as the balloon rose further, knocking into her shoulder. ‘Sorry.’

‘No worries. I’m fine. You?’

‘Good.’ Nodding, he looked over the edge. ‘Wow, look at the view. We’re pretty high up already.’

Turning around, Nina watched as they floated upwards. The school children had lined the edge of the playground, which looked out across the field and were waving and shouting. She couldn’t hear what they were saying, but she waved back, trying to see if she could spot Lauren and Daniel, who worked there. Soon they were higher than the trees, higher than the school building. Taking a deep breath in, Nina grinned. She hadn’t tasted air like this before. Not this fresh and clean.

‘There’s a bottle of bubbly here. Help yourselves.’ Nigel nodded towards a picnic basket sitting by their feet.

‘Brilliant.’ Rubbing his hands together, Rowan knelt down and pulled out two champagne flutes and the bottle. Standing back up, he passed the glasses to Nina. ‘Are you okay holding them?’

‘Yes, just don’t aim the cork up at the balloon.’ Taking the glasses, she grimaced.

‘Huh, good point.’ Looking down over the edge of the basket, Rowan raised his eyebrows. ‘We don’t want to take any chances, do we?’

As he poured the bubbly, Nina watched the same look of concentration flash across his face.

‘What?’

‘Nothing.’ Shrugging, she gave him his glass and turned back around, taking in the view.

‘Is everything okay between us?’ Replacing the bottle, he stood next to her, holding his glass over the rim of the basket.

Frowning, Nina shrugged. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’

‘You’ve just been really quiet with me. When I saw you yesterday in the pub,’ he shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I thought we’d maybe catch up. Chat.’

Taking a long gulp of her drink, Nina bit down on her bottom lip. They didn’t need to have this conversation. Not here. Not miles up above the ground where neither of them could walk off or escape.

‘You’re annoyed with me, aren’t you? What have I done?’ Looking down, he ran his hand across the back of his neck. ‘I don’t understand. We spoke about pies and then I came to the bakery to speak to you, and you were busy. Fair enough. But what did I say that annoyed you?’

She gripped the rim of the basket with her free hand and glanced across at Nigel, who was seemingly oblivious to the conversation unfolding. ‘Can we just drop it?’

‘Why? I don’t understand how I could have offended you.’

‘You haven’t offended me.’ She rolled her eyes. Surely he must understand this isn’t about now? ‘Not these past couple of days.’

‘Then what?’

Were they just going to tap-dance around the real issue for the entirety of their time up in the air? Why hadn’t she just walked away when she’d realised it was him coming? There would have been another point in her life when she’d have had the chance to ride in a hot air balloon. It hadn’t had to have been today. ‘You really expect me to forget everything that happened?’

Turning, Rowan leaned his back against the side of the basket and faced her. ‘Are we talking four years ago?’

Narrowing her eyes, Nina could feel the sting of tears behind her eyes. ‘Yes, we’re talking four years ago now. Just because it was a long time ago, it doesn’t mean I can just forget everything. You might be able to, but I can’t.’

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