Page 60 of 12 Days

This sets off Sean on his own laughing jag, and I’m having a terrific time sharing a moment with these four men. This is part of that feeling of fulfillment, of realized fantasy, that I was thinking about earlier.

I’m anticipating a few more fantasies coming true not long from now?maybe even up in the air.

After our little laugh session, the astonishingly sexy quartet leads me to the balloon’s basket and assists me as I climb in first?each of them gingerly touching my arms or my upper back as they do.

The operator?a short, unassuming man who looks past retirement age?nods at me smilingly as I’m the first to climb in.

“Lovely day for a flight,” he observes with a thick Maine accent.

By the time I notice the insanely upscale looking picnic spreads laid out at my feet, the men have already boarded, and we’re rapidly leaving the ground.

“Take off time.”

The operator’s announcement comes a couple minutes late, but that doesn’t bother me even a little, not while I’m watching the ground disappear, the terrain I’m so familiar with retreat as we venture into the sky.

“How could it get any better than this?” I scream happily at the ground.

It’s just hitting me?the lengths these guys have gone through, the planning and the work they’ve put in?all for me.

“It starts to get even better with the gourmet bruschetta, the Brie and prosciutto sandwiches, the lemon pine-nut biscotti, and all the other things we have in case you don’t want any of that.”

Ford’s booming voice reading me the picnic menu is going extremely well with the views of the peaceful, increasingly rural-looking landscape hundreds of feet below us.

“Not to mention the amazing fucking champagne,” mentions Ethan.

I turn away from the view to face my balloon-mates.

“What about dessert?” I inquire.

“The biscotti is only the start,” Ford assures me.

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