“Elle, come meet Jason,” Charles said, grinning cheekily. “Jason, this is my friend Elle. She’s new to town and I thought we better give her the grand tour.”
Jason was a stocky man in aviator sunglasses and a blue flight jumpsuit, like he’d just stepped off the set ofTop Gun.
“I think we can handle that,” Jason answered. “Hop on in and we’ll get going.”
While Jason disconnected the fuel line and jumped in the pilot’s seat, Charles grabbed my hand to squeeze gently.
“Excited?” he asked, already knowing the answer.
“I sort of hate you right now,” I told him.
“Yeah, but you sort of love me, too.” He took me by the waist, threatening a kiss while Jason sat in the bird doing his pre-flight checklist.
“Pfft. I haven’t totally decided not to push you out the door of this thing.”
Charles pressed a brief kiss to my temple. “Like I said, you’re going to love it.”
The helicopter’s engine whirred to life, the blades slowly rotating while Charles helped me into the rear passenger seat. He pulled the harness seatbelt over my shoulders and clicked it into place, then pulled a headset down from overhead and fit it over my ears.
“So we can talk to each other,” he said.
“Yeah, I figured that part out for myself.”
He just grinned, enjoying my malcontent. “Relax. It isn’t scary at all.”
“That’s how I know you’re lying.”
Then, instead of climbing into the back beside me, Charles took a seat beside the pilot.
“What’s the matter?” I said into the headset’s microphone while the blades outside grew louder. “Afraid to sit next to me?”
“I wouldn’t want to obstruct your view.”
As a kid, I’d reluctantly let my best friend peer pressure me onto a rollercoaster once. I spent the entire ride looking straight down at my feet and digging my nails into his arm. I guess Charles knew better than to let me draw blood.
“Everybody comfy?” Jason asked.
“Nope,” I answered.
“Alright. Then here we go.”
With a little jostle, the ground suddenly fell away and that awful weightless feeling churned my stomach. Even in planes, takeoff was always the worst part. My knee bounced relentlessly, so vigorously that I thought I might shake the whole chopper as we climbed higher, over the trees and through the valley.
“Come on,” Charles’s voice said through my headphones. “You have to see this view. It’s incredible. We’re coming up on the town.”
Before I knew it, we were far above the heart of Maplewood Creek. The giant Christmas tree. The skating rink. All the people and decorations evident from above, like looking down on a huge snow globe.
“I can see The Snowdrift,” I said. “And Pops’s inflatable reindeer. Hey, and there’s the Grover’s Hardware yeti.”
From up here, it looked like a tiny toy village. We soared over the ski resort and traced the curve of the slopes. The lift looked much less daunting from up here. Then we circled around toward the chalet and all the immaculate mansions nestled in the snowy pines. I pressed my face against the window to peer down at the frozen lake, the hot springs hidden deep in the forest. I was so fascinated with the landscape that I completely forgot to be scared. Until I heard Jason speak his next terrifying words.
“Ready to take the stick?”
“I’ve got the stick,” Charles answered.
“The bird is yours.”
“You’re not seriously letting him fly this thing?!” I screeched.
