Her perfectly shaped brows sprang upward, making it clear that his answer had taken her completely by surprise.
Gage chuckled. “I kid you not. My sister spent hours when we were growing up perfecting the art of keeping that thing going around and around. Every time my brother Reed and I tried to master that particular skill, the hoop would drop to the ground like it was coated in oil and filled with cement.”
She laughed, a soft, lilting sound. “I would have so loved to have been there to see that.”
“Be thankful you never had the opportunity,” he told her with a grin. “I promise you it wasn’t a pretty sight. Reed and I looked like a couple of marionettes whose strings had broken where they should have been attached to our hips.”
“Oh, the image that stirs in my mind,” she replied.
His gaze returned to the expanse of water they were flying over. One lined by jagged mountains covered in pines and rocky outcrops. “How about you?” he asked, determined to steer the conversation away from his hula-hooping shame.
“What about me?”
He glanced her way. “Other than a passion for taking pictures, made clear by the professional-looking camera bag you carry, what are some of the things that call out to you?”
“Adventure,” she replied without hesitation. “Traveling. A starlit sky—something that is rarely visible from the balcony of my apartment near downtown Seattle. And dogs.”
“Which you can’t have where you’re living currently?” he asked.
“No, but my sister has a dog. An Australian shepherd named Mac. So I get to fill my need for canine affection whenever I leave the city to go to Jade’s house.”
“Jade?”
“My younger sister,” she replied. “She and her husband, David, got married last February. They decided to expand their family about five months ago, adopting Mac from a nearby animal rescue. So I guess you could say I’m officially an aunt.”
He chuckled. “I guess you are. Have you always lived in Seattle?”
Lifting her camera, she snapped another picture of something that caught her eye down below. “No. I grew up in Oregon. My parents and Jade still live there. But our family sort of began in Alaska.”
“Sort of?” he asked, his interest definitely piqued.
“My parents met while working here as wildlife biologists. I grew up hearing all about Alaska’s unforgettable untamed beauty.” She looked over at him with a smile. “You know, it’s possible they visited Conley Island at some point during their time here. They worked and traveled all over Alaska.”
“Wouldn’t that be a small world,” he acknowledged, returning her smile before shifting his gaze back to the flight path ahead. “What did your parents like most about Alaska?”
It took a moment for her to answer, that brief hesitation causing Gage to glance her way. “The Northern Lights,” she answered. “They still talk about coming back to visit someday. At one point, they considered retiring to Alaska, but then Jade got married. Mom and Dad know that grandchildren won’t be far behind their new grandfurbaby.”
He nodded. “My mom and dad would hate the thought of being away from their grandchildren too. But they understand that Reed and Julia will end up wherever their hearts lead them to be.”
“Not yours?”
“My heart is here,” he answered, his attention returning to the familiar landscape that was part of Conley Island. “So I can understand your parents’ desire to return to Alaska.”
“I can too.” Twisting slightly, Aurora went back to admiring the view below.
Shifting his full focus to the controls in front of him, he said, “Secure your camera. We’re going to be landing.”
She did so without question. “Your family’s island is much larger than I expected it to be.”
“We don’t own the island,” he clarified as he prepared for their landing. “But we do own a good chunk of the land on this side of Conley Island.”
“It’s beautiful,” she said, the words coming out as a sigh as the plane descended.
“Your timing is perfect. The fall leaves still have a brilliance to them. Another week into September and you wouldn’t be seeing this.”
“I love capturing the subtle and not-so-subtle differences found in the changing of seasons.”
“Something tells me a tree is never just a tree to you,” he said with a grin as he eased the plane down, the floats gliding smoothly across the surface of the water.
