Chapter 10

What had Parker been thinking when he invited Ruby to the balloon festival? He knew her husband had died in a plane crash, and now he was taking her to a festival where he would be flying? Parker had never expected her to actually agree to go away for the weekend with him, though he had desperately wanted her to.

He pulled up in front of Ruby’s house, his heart beating an erratic rhythm. He still wondered if Ruby was seriously going. She had been so emphatic about not spending the weekend with him that her text had completely thrown him off guard.

After he’d called to confirm that there hadn’t been some sort of miscommunication, Parker had immediately packed up all his stuff and wished they could leave that very moment.

Of course, that wasn’t possible between the baby shower and the fact that Parker felt he needed to spend one last night with his family. Ruby had been right—he didn’t know his siblings as well as he wished he did. He’d been so caught up in escaping Amor, he’d somehow forgotten along the way that he had left people behind. This last week had been good for him. It had been good for all of them.

Parker had just stepped out of the car when Ruby opened her front door. She must have been waiting for him, because she had a bag in hand and a resolute look about her.

“All ready to go?” he asked.

Ruby nodded, but her steps faltered.

“Here, I’ll take your bag for you,” Parker said, sprinting across the lawn. He went to take Ruby’s bag from her, but she was holding the straps so tightly, her knuckles were white. Maybe she had changed her mind. “You don’t have to come,” he said. “I won’t be upset. It is kind of a big deal, going away with someone for a weekend, even if it’s just with a friend.” Parker’s voice stuck on the last word. Were they friends? He hoped they were at least that. “If you’re not ready for—”

Ruby pushed her bag into Parker’s chest, and finally let go of the straps. “I am,” she said. “I’m going with you.”

“All right, then,” Parker said, taking the bag down to the car and throwing it in the back seat with his. When he turned back, though, Ruby still hadn’t moved.

“You should probably know that I haven’t been in a car in four years,” Ruby said, her voice trembling slightly.

“I did notice your driver’s license had expired,” Parker said. “But I can drive the whole way. It’s not a big deal.”

Ruby shook her head. “You don’t understand. I haven’t been in a car. Like, at all.”

“At all?” Parker repeated, not sure how anyone could survive without driving somewhere, at least occasionally. “How do you get places?”

“My bike,” Ruby said. “Or walk.”

“So…” Parker said slowly, “if there is somewhere further than riding distance—”

“I don’t go,” Ruby said. She sat down on her front porch step. “My parents died in a car crash.”

“Yes, I remember,” Parker said. That was something his mom hadn’t forgotten to mention. It had shaken the whole town. The mayor and his wife were at a groundbreaking ceremony one morning, and dead by the afternoon. Parker walked back across the grass and sat next to Ruby.

“When the plane crashed just a few weeks later, taking Clark from me—” Her voice broke. “I should have been the one flying him to his competition, but I wasn’t feeling well. I was supposed to be there with him.” Ruby wrung her hands, staring at the ground.

“Have you been outside of Amor since it happened?” Parker asked quietly, unable to imagine what it would be like to be stuck in their small town with no way out.

“No,” Ruby said. “I sold my plane, bought a bike, and…” She waved a hand around. “This has been my life ever since.”

Parker hesitated. He didn’t want Ruby to feel like he was forcing her to do things she didn’t want to do. “Are you sure you’re ready for this?”

Ruby’s gaze snapped up and she looked Parker in the eyes. “Yes. You have to take me away from here, even if it’s only for a couple days. Everyone else’s lives are passing me by, and I’m still stuck. I thought that if I opened a daycare, helping take care of other people’s children, I would be fulfilling a greater calling. And I love what I do. But I also believe I was spared for a reason, and I’m not meant to be miserable.”

Parker marveled at Ruby’s brutal honesty, but also at her strength. He couldn’t imagine having to go through what Ruby had experienced all in the span of a few weeks, then having to live with it the rest of his life. “Then let’s do this thing.” He stood and held his hand out to Ruby.

She looked at it for a moment, before taking it and pulling herself up. Hand in hand, they walked toward the car. When they reached it, Parker opened the passenger door.

“I’m going to need a moment,” Ruby said, staring inside, as if it were an alien spaceship.

“Take your time.”

Ruby stepped forward as if she were going to get in, but then stepped back. She repeated this process several times before she managed to put one foot in. She glanced back at Parker. “You won’t go over the speed limit?”

“On my honor,” he said, crossing his heart with his finger. He was used to driving at least fifteen over, so he’d better put cruise control on, just to help keep him in check.

Ruby closed her eyes, then jumped into the car, slamming the door behind her. She sat straight and stiff, but she was inside.

Parker walked around the car and got in. Ruby stared ahead. “You going to put your seatbelt on?” he asked.

Ruby glanced down. “Oh. Yeah.” She pulled the strap across her body and clicked it in. “It’s so restrictive,” she said, panic edging her words.

“Would you like to take it off for a bit?” Parker asked. “I won’t make you wear it.”

Ruby shook her head. “Are you kidding? Drive without the proper safety restraints?”

Parker chuckled. There was no winning with her. “So, what do you suggest?”

Ruby sucked in a deep breath. “I’ll wear it,” she finally said. “Just drive before I change my mind.”

“You’re the boss,” Parker said. He buckled his own seatbelt and pulled into the street. He tried not noticing how Ruby gripped the door handle or how her back pressed against her seat, but her anxiety was making him nervous. “Do you think listening to music would help?” he asked.

“Maybe. Can I choose?” Ruby reached over and turned the radio on before Parker had the chance to answer. Cello music flooded the car and Ruby raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t figure you for the classical type.”

“My tastes have refined a bit over the years,” Parker said. “But I listen to a wide variety of music. Anything you like is fine by me.”

Ruby nodded and scanned through the stations, stopping on one that played country music.

“Except for that,” Parker said, with an exaggerated shudder. “If there’s any sort of twang, it’s out.”

“But you said anything I like is fine. And I like country music,” Ruby said. She tilted her head in a way that was so endearing, Parker couldn’t help but give in. Besides, she was finally relaxing a bit, and he didn’t want to jinx it.

“How about a compromise?” Parker asked, merging onto the freeway. “We listen to your country…stuff…for thirty minutes. After that, we listen to something else for the rest of the ride.”

“An hour,” Ruby said.

Parker laughed. “Fine. An hour. But then I get to choose whatever I want.”

“Deal.”

* * * * *

It was an excruciating hour, but Parker somehow made it through. Ruby seemed lost in watching the desert speed by as guitars and banjos played in the background, and Parker was lost in watching Ruby. Good thing the road was so straight, because he had to keep reminding himself to look where they were going. Parker never went over the speed limit, though, just like he’d promised. Ruby seemed more at peace at that moment than she had since he had run into her a few days earlier, and he hoped that he had something to do with it.

When Ruby finally noticed him watching her, she smiled and turned off the radio. “You could have just reminded me that my time was up.”

“That’s not why I was looking at you,” Parker said, turning his gaze back to the road.

“Do I have something on my face?” she asked, flipping down the visor and looking in the small mirror.

“No. In fact, you’ve never looked better,” he said.

Ruby flipped the visor back up, and one side of her mouth pulled up in a crooked smile. “That’s nice of you to say.”

“Only because it’s true.” They drove for another few minutes before Parker asked, “Were you still wanting to listen to music? We could continue listening to country, if you’d like.”

When Ruby didn’t answer right away, Parker glanced sideways at her. Her lips were parted, and she said, “Really?”

He nodded. “I’m just lucky you agreed to come with me this weekend. I think I can sacrifice my ears for a couple more hours if it means you have a more comfortable ride.”

Ruby looked shocked, and mildly impressed, at this. Frankly, so was Parker. Back home in California, he was known as a radio hog. If he was driving, no one else got to choose the music. But Ruby did something to Parker that made him want to do anything just to see her smile.

“Maybe instead of music, we could just talk,” Ruby said. “If that’s okay with you.”

“Sure,” Parker said. He wanted to learn more about Ruby—what made her tick?

“Let’s do the question game,” Ruby suggested.

“What’s that?” Parker asked.

“Well, it’s not really a game, but more of a way to get to the good stuff.”

If this was Ruby’s way to discover all the skeletons in Parker’s closet, he’d rather turn the country music back on. “Can I be the one who asks the questions?”

“We take turns,” Ruby said. “But the thing is, everyone has to answer. So don’t ask a question you don’t want to answer yourself.”

Maybe this would be okay. “I’ll go first,” Parker said before Ruby could appoint herself.

“Okay. Shoot.”

“Do you miss flying?”

Ruby folded her arms and leaned against the car door. He instantly regretted asking such a personal question straight out of the chute. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked that. I’ll choose a different question,” he said.

“No. It’s fine,” Ruby said after a moment. “Though it’s not really fair, because you don’t fly, so it’s not a question you have to answer.”

If she only knew. “Seriously, I’ll just choose a different one,” Parker said, staring straight ahead, not sure how to tell her the real reason he was going to the balloon festival.

“Yes, I miss it,” Ruby said, before he could come up with something else. “I could have gone to any college I wanted to after high school, but I had already received my pilot’s license, and couldn’t imagine doing anything else. I saw a business opportunity flying as a charter pilot here in Amor, and I jumped at the chance.” She paused. “I always felt invincible when I flew—like no matter what was going on, I could leave it behind on the ground. Nothing could touch me once I was above the clouds.”

“I know the feeling,” Parker said. When Ruby’s gaze snapped toward him, he realized he’d spoken out loud.

“What do you mean?” she asked. “Do you fly?”

“Here and there,” he said with a shrug, like it was no big deal.

“I didn’t realize you had your pilot’s license,” she said.

“I don’t.” Except he had started his own economic consulting company so he’d have the flexibility to compete and fly his balloon whenever possible. He even had his own crew that would be meeting them at the festival. Crap. Parker needed to tell Ruby the truth or things could get really awkward, fast. “Look, Ruby, there’s something you should probably know before we get there.”

Ruby waited, watching him.

“I don’t just go to balloon festivals to watch them.” Parker hoped she’d understand what he was trying to tell her, but she continued watching him, waiting for him to continue. “You see…I…” The words stuck in Parker’s throat.

“Honestly, whatever your reason for attending balloon festivals, it can’t be that bad,” Ruby said. “What, do you travel around the country following the festivals or something?”

Parker nodded. “Yes, I do.”

Ruby laughed. “That’s it? It’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Hot air balloons are fascinating, and lots of people follow the festivals around.”

“It’s why I started my own business, so I would be able to take off whenever I wanted.”

Ruby gaped. “Wow, that’s dedication. Your whole life revolves around these things?”

“And the competitions,” Parker said.

“What exactly do you do for work that lets you get away with that?”

Parker breathed a sigh of relief that the conversation was taking a different turn. He’d tell her that he owned his own balloon. Eventually. “It’s an economic consulting firm. I have a few guys who work under me, and I know in advance when the events will happen, so it’s not a big deal for them to take over while I’m gone.”

Ruby whistled. “Sounds fancy, which explains the car.”

Parker had never thought of his car as fancy. In the Ivy League world, his car was akin to scrap metal. But in Amor? It might as well have been a gold-plated limo. “I guess I’ve done all right.”

“Are the rumors true, that you went to a crazy expensive school to get that type of gig?”

Man, Ruby just wouldn’t let up. Parker nodded and shifted in his seat, uncomfortable with the direction she was going with this. Was no topic safe? “Fancy school, fancy job,” he said.

“So…the exact opposite of Amor.”

Ruby astounded Parker with how blunt, and honest, she was. It was refreshing, and yet, it would be okay if she at least pretended that she didn’t see right through him. “Yup. And that was on purpose.”

“Just couldn’t wait to leave us all behind in the dust, huh?”

Okay, now she was just being mean. “How about some music?” Parker cranked up the radio, and he didn’t give Ruby a chance to choose the station this time.