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Prologue
Four years ago
Hailey Moreno was over the moon.
Not in the ridiculously happy, absolutely in love sort of way, but as in over. Finished. She never wanted to see the moon, his phases, or his ridiculously handsome face ever again.
The moon, in this particular case, referred to Ryland Selene, because this was the literal meaning of his surname and—god! She couldn’t believe she’d ever found the whole moon thing charming or that she had found him charming. She hated him, his father, David, and everything connected to Soaring Over Oregon, a rival business of her family’s hot-air balloon company, High Desert Tours.
“How can you do this to me right now, Ry?” Painful tears pricked the corners of her eyes. She dashed them away with a hand, enraged at them appearing in the first place. Her chest filled with justified anger toward Ryland for being the catalyst for her crying.
On the other end of the phone, he replied, “Hailey, if you just listen to reason—”
She’d heard it all before. In fact, she’d heard something similar from David a mere two weeks after her dad died when he called to offer to buy their business. “Honey, I don’t think you fully understand the situation. I think if you and your family just sit down and look at this rationally . . .”
Hailey was about done listening to opinions the Selene family had to offer. “Why are you guys so greedy? You think because my dad is gone, you and David can get your selfish little fingers on our business? Have the sky all to yourself? Well, guess what? Soaring Over Oregon will never be High Desert Tours because no matter how high you fly, you will never be higher than the dirt under your backstabbing feet. I never want to see you again.”
“I know this is hard, and you and your family are struggling right now, but you guys don’t have a captain anymore. We’re just trying to help. We can keep The Blue Wonder in the air, not wrapped up in your barn, collecting dust. Don’t you think Robert would want the balloon to continue flying?”
Imagining her beloved father’s treasured balloon, the one given the nickname due to its blue-colored envelope, sent tears spilling onto her cheeks. She strengthened her voice, refusing to let Ryland know how affected she was. “If you ever talk about my dad again or tell me what you think he wants, I’m going to drive to Bend and rip your ugly-ass balloon to pieces with my bare hands. You didn’t know my dad.”
“I know this isn’t easy. It’s a horrible situation, and we’re just trying to help. I’m not happy about this either.” His voice remained calm, as if he were a service rep dealing with an irate customer. His levelheadedness in the face of her own out-of-control emotions did a good job of aggravating her even more. He wouldn’t yell, and he wouldn’t fight. That wasn’t like Ryland.
Hailey, on the other hand, had spent most nights crying herself to sleep since her father died. Her emotions were so frayed, there was hardly anything holding her together. Yelling at David and Ryland almost felt therapeutic at this point, a natural lightning rod for her to strike.
She wished he’d go against his natural grain and yell at her. Maybe because Hailey felt like she deserved it. She never battled this hard for her father when he was alive. Either way, she wanted nothing but a good fight today. “Oh, I feel so bad for you. Poor, privileged Ryland, with his very much alive dad and successful business. How hard life must be for you. Be so for real with me right now.”
“I’m sorry. All I want to do is be there to hold you,” he replied glumly, his first slip of emotion. If she felt any compassion, Hailey might have given the guy some leeway. But compassion, along with other positive emotions, remained at the bottom of a well in her soul. Anger, bitterness, and sorrow had risen to the top instead.
He continued. “I hate these circumstances as much as you do. You don’t believe me, but I do. But what are you guys going to do? Where’s the money going to come from if there’s no one to fly? I don’t want you to lose the farm. For your family to lose your home. I want to help, and this is the best way we can. There’s no darker motive.”
“Oh, you’re just trying to help? Then why does it feel like you guys get everything and we end up with nothing? Wow. How big of you guys. What will we ever do without you? Or, how about this? You can put the white knight armor away because we don’t need to be rescued. Certainly not by you. We aren’t captain-less. We have Selah, and she’s such an amazing pilot it would make you goddamn cry. She’s going to be better than you or your dad. So you can take your offer and shove it up your selfish ass.”
She hit the disconnect button with as much force as possible and immediately deflated with the agony of her loss. In the span of a month, she’d lost her father and now, Ryland, her secret boyfriend. She’d lost everything.
“What the hell was that all about?” her sister, Naomi, asked as she walked through the office trailer door of High Desert Tours.
Hailey rubbed her tears away, replacing them with a determined scowl and slumping in the office chair, her arms dangling over the sides. “Guess,” she grumbled, hoping Naomi would focus on the important stuff and not wonder why someone from Soaring Over Oregon had called Hailey’s personal cell instead of the business phone line. No one in her family knew about her and Ryland, and she wasn’t about to reveal it now.
“Soaring’s still not taking the hint? Can’t they just leave us alone?”
“I’ll tell you why they’re not leaving us alone. It’s because Selah’s acting like she’s considering their offer. Our sister could put a stop to this right now, but she won’t. Whose side is she on? It certainly doesn’t feel like she’s on ours. She wants to give them everything Dad worked his ass off for, like it’s nothing. It should mean more to her than to any of us.” Hailey threw a frustrated hand in the air. All this did was stir up Hailey’s rebellious nature even more, like she had to save the business on her own.
Sighing, Naomi wrapped her light brown hair into a ponytail. “Don’t be too hard on her. She’s being practical, because that’s the only way Selah knows how to be.”
Practical. Reasonable. Rational. These were all things Hailey seemed to lack, apparently. How Selah could be so emotionless in these circumstances was a mystery. Especially with her being the closest to Robert—clearly the favorite out of all of them because Selah had followed in their father’s footsteps and gotten her piloting license. But letting their dad’s dream go didn’t feel right, and she resented the hell out of Selah’s ability to be coolly practical toward something as personal as High Desert Tours.
Hailey hadn’t realized how poor off they were due to Robert’s bad financial decisions before his unexpected death—but she didn’t want to hear it from Selah and especially not from Ryland. None of it felt fair. Screw logic.
With Robert’s death, a teasing rivalry with Soaring Over Oregon had quickly shifted into a bitter one, and she refused to let them win. Handing over The Blue Wonder was nothing but surrender. She’d fight tooth and nail to convince Selah to stay and pilot the balloon herself before Hailey would submit to the Selenes. She owed Robert after putting him through her stubborn and rebellious nature.
It was hard enough to come into the trailer, knowing her dad would never step foot inside of it again, and to make calls to people, explaining why their money would be refunded and flight reservation canceled. With every call, the lump of grief would lodge its way into her throat. Her heart was held together with the barest of threads. She wasn’t strong like Selah. She couldn’t turn everything off and go into robot mode.
Selah hadn’t claimed the title of captain, but she handed out assignments as if she were one. Annoyed, Hailey had sat there, flicking through her social media instead of making any more depressing phone calls, her way of both escaping and protesting, as her sister organized some business paperwork at the other desk.
“How’s it going?” Selah asked as she entered the trailer. She slid her mirrored aviators to the top of her head, which pulled the black curls away from her face. Her gaze fell in Hailey’s direction, which made the judgment targeted.
She’d shrugged in response, returning her attention to her phone screen.
“Really, Hailey? You’ve just been goofing off this whole time? You could have done these calls and finished in an hour. You’ve been milking this task for two days now—”
“Then why don’t you do it?”
Selah glared. “You wanna switch? I’m here dealing with all the creditors and banks and making sure Mom—”
“Yeah, we get it. Selah, our rock, is too busy being the perfect daughter.” It appeared her fight with Ryland hadn’t been enough to sate her needs, and now she was looking to fight everyone. Hailey hated being this way, but her sense of control was lost. She couldn’t help it, especially when Selah stood there with her hands on her hips and her lips in a flat line, not giving Hailey an inch and looking disappointed—something she’d felt many times from her father.
“Hailey,” Naomi cut in with a warning. “We all have things on our lists, and we just need to hold together. None of this is fun for any of us.”
Naomi always stepped in as peacemaker, and somehow Hailey was always in the wrong and Selah in the right. This point being hammered in yet again sent the ball of emotions bursting through her body.
She grabbed her things, snapping her body from the office chair and fighting a desire to race out before she lost the battle against her feelings. “I don’t want to deal with this anymore. You both seem to manage better without me anyway.”
“Hailey,” Naomi implored her, but Selah didn’t say anything.
She couldn’t take it, leaving the trailer and slamming the door behind her. In the sunlight, Hailey couldn’t keep any tears at bay as she rubbed them away with her sleeve, making her way toward the farmhouse she shared with their mother.
“Hailey? Is that you, mija? Do you and your sisters want me to make you smoothies or something?” Elena called from the kitchen.
“I’m good. I don’t know what they want,” she answered while making her way to the stairs.
Her mom popped into the hallway, concern filling her eyes. She was short like Selah, but while her oldest sister exuded a cool detachment, her mother’s vibes were warm and gentle. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, fine. I . . . I don’t feel well. I’m going to lie down.” She turned her head away to hide the tears. Elena had already cried enough these days, and Hailey didn’t want to trigger her mother just because she couldn’t keep it together.
“Oh no. Do you want me to make you tea?”
“I’m okay. I just want to go to my room.” She couldn’t help adding, “The Selenes are nothing but ruthless, horrible vultures, and I hate them.” Then she quickly ascended the rest of the stairs, making her escape and finding sanctuary in her bedroom.
After shutting the door, she toed off her shoes and crawled under her bedcovers, which wasn’t difficult since it hadn’t been made. She’d already been conveniently wearing her nightclothes of a tank top and flannel shorts, a past Christmas gift from her mother. If her sisters had noticed her living in her pajamas or her using dry shampoo on her curly hair exclusively rather than shower with water and real shampoo, they hadn’t said anything. Not that she would have cared. All she could do was burrow into her bed and disappear for a bit.
Hot tears rolled freely, dropping off the bridge of her nose and falling onto her silk pillowcase. Hailey should be pulling her weight more, being someone strong for their mother to lean against, for her sisters to count on, but she just . . . couldn’t. Her whole world had shut down. The person who was supposed to be around forever, her dad, wasn’t here anymore. What the hell was she supposed to do now?
Across from her bed was a white mirrored dresser. It held a bunch of knickknacks, her ring light, and makeup. She’d tried to do a pretty organizer influencer setup once, but it hadn’t lasted. These days she was too chaotic.
Behind all the clutter, there was a tiny framed photo her mom had given to her as a birthday gift. The picture, taken of her and her dad in The Blue Wonder, had been included in a gift bag. Robert had his arms raised, showing off the thing he loved most, wearing his standard “Captain” baseball hat. His crooked smile revealed one chipped front tooth. He was as big in life as his balloon. Hailey, on the other hand, was in her typical unserious pose—her tongue out to the side, winking, and with one hand formed in a slanted peace sign. It had been funny to be gifted this particular photo since Hailey had purposely not cooperated. She’d been mad at having to get up early to help with The Blue Wonder because Robert wanted to take her on a flight with only the two of them.
As was typical of their time together, Robert had tried to push some wisdom on her, but she hadn’t heard it. Instead, she’d heard the judgment and disappointment. Because when he’d pointed out that the things on social media were disposable garbage and didn’t matter and weren’t important, it felt like he was telling her that her gossipy vlog, Hailey’s Tea Time, was garbage and the stuff she cared about didn’t matter. All it did was make her dig her heels in more, to prove she could make it matter. He didn’t understand her and had probably wished she were more like Selah. And now that Robert was dead, she regretted she wasn’t able to give him a version of herself that did things that mattered. It was all too late. Hailey roughly wiped a hand under her runny nose, tired of feeling snotty and teary and not being able to do anything about it. The framed photo sat on her dresser, serving as a stark reminder of everything, regardless of how much she tried to bury it under the clutter.
Her phone, with the purple glittery case and dangling starry phone charm, buzzed with a notification. “I feel like I’m doing this all wrong. Do you think you can sneak away so we can meet somewhere to talk? I’ll come to Terrebonne.”
This message from Ryland served as another reminder, a different one. He used to send similar messages, and they’d filled her heart with sparks of excitement. She’d answered them at the expense of betraying her family, all in order to have some fun, to be wild and rebellious without anyone knowing. It had been thrilling, reckless abandonment to kiss Ryland—and sometimes do more than kissing—under her family’s nose while her dad made comments about how Soaring Over Oregon was their greatest adversary. She used to laugh at finding herself in a real Romeo and Juliet-type of situation.
How foolish those Shakespearean star-crossed lovers had been, and how silly and immature she’d been. Except Ryland was no Romeo. He’d made these horrible phone calls on David’s behalf, which proved she meant less to him than she’d realized. She’d been ridiculous for feeling anything deeper for Ryland when he hadn’t felt the same. He, like his father, just wanted their business.
And, yet, she couldn’t stop feeling conflicted, wanting nothing more than to see him, to invite him over to her family’s farmhouse, to introduce him to her mother, like she’d been planning on doing before Robert died, to no longer hide their relationship.
There was no way she was going to tell her family anything about him now. This was one of those embarrassing bits of history she’d take to the goddamn grave. Everyone should have at least one deep, dark secret, and he was hers. No matter how much she wanted to curl into his arms and let him soothe her, it was impossible. Go figure—she also resented the hell out of him for not being here to comfort her.
The whole thing was complicated, but it was easier to remain furious.
Stop bullying us. Leave me alone forever. She blocked and deleted Ryland from her phone.
Hailey didn’t put her phone away, though, opening her favorite video-based social media app, and hitting record—not caring her eyes were rimmed in red and her nose swollen and raw. Whatever. She’d disconnect from her life with people who didn’t actually know her, people who’d give her the distraction and attention—people who didn’t see her as a disappointment and a place where she felt like she mattered. Her social media followers of Hailey’s Tea Time had been with her through all kinds of journeys, from when she was happily over the moon at the beginning of her relationship to where it was now. The Romeo and Juliet relationship ended exactly where it was fated to be.
Dead.
End of Excerpt
