by A. J. Marcus
“Tell her yourself when we land.” Rose checked a couple of instruments attached to the burner. “We’re good to make it west of town.”
“Excellent.” Chad grinned. “Looks like there’s only a few of us heading that way.”
“Can that be a problem?” Rusty asked. Having never been up in a balloon before, he had no idea what any of the procedures and protocols were.
Chad shook his head. “Not really. We’re all a friendly bunch when it comes to flying, particularly at the festivals like this. It’s too laid-back to really get upset about anything. If we get to the field where we want to land and there’s others wanting to land there too, we’ll just see who gets there first and whose ground crew is ready to get them rolled up and out of the way.”
“Sounds like a lot to keep track of.” Rusty watched some of the other balloons take off toward the west. They seemed to be moving a bit faster than Chad’s balloon was.
“That’s where Rose comes in. She helps coordinate the ground crew. Right now they’re stuck in traffic leaving the launch field, but once they clear that, she’ll let them know where we are, and they’ll follow along, but we’ve got a field on the south side of town that we’ve landed in before, so they know where we’re going.”
“Wow, this is great!” Tyler said as he clicked away on the other side of the gondola. “Rusty, I bet some of these will be perfect for the tourism folks. If the state doesn’t want them, I’m sure I can sell them to the city.”
Balloons dotted the skyline of Albuquerque. The Wells Fargo balloon was close to them, making the stagecoach-shaped balloon the biggest thing in the picture.
“Don’t forget to get releases from everyone,” Chad said. “Particularly if you’re going to be using them in an advertising campaign. It won’t be a problem for most of the pilots.”
“Yep, I’ve got a bunch of forms in my camera bag.” Tyler kept his attention focused on the skyline as they drifted past with other balloons moving in and out of the foreground.
“Yeah,” Rusty said. “We always keep Tyler on the up-and-up with the paperwork.”
Rose laughed. “Someone who can keep Tyler on the up-and-up? This is something I’ve got to see.”
When Chad pulled the lever to give more gas to the burner, all conversation died down for a moment. Rusty took the time to look out over the magnificent vista spread before him. All around them, other balloons drifted along like leaves in various streams. If he blocked out the sound of the burner and the faint smell of gas that he’d figured out was coming from the burner, it was one of the most peaceful experiences he’d ever had. As long as he didn’t look down, he didn’t even really feel like he was hundreds of feet off the ground. It was a strange and ethereal experience.
“What about some shots of the balloons against the mountain?” He tapped Tyler on the shoulder as Chad stopped giving the burner gas.
Tyler turned around and frowned. “The light that way isn’t great.” He tilted his head and studied it for a moment. “I’ll take a few and see if I can fix them in the computer. The light is a lot better toward town.”
“There might be some guys taking off this evening before the Balloon Glow,” Chad said as he leaned against the side of the gondola.
“Can you take us up again?” Tyler asked with a hopeful plea in his voice.
“We weren’t planning on going up tonight,” Chad said, then frowned a bit. “Things are a little tighter right now than I like.”
Rusty turned from the view and looked at Chad. “Tighter?”
“Fuel cost, mostly. Flying a balloon isn’t cheap, even when it’s part of your livelihood.”
“Chad gives balloon tours,” Tyler explained as he moved to the south side of the balloon to take pictures from that angle. “Flies out of Santa Fe.”
“Out of Santa Fe?” Rusty perked up. He lived and worked in Santa Fe. He’d seen a few balloons floating around the area before but couldn’t recall seeing one with alternating pride colors.
Chad nodded. “I mostly float tourists around in the mornings. Nothing major, not like it was a few years ago when the economy was better. Things got tight. I might have to stop doing it for a while if things don’t pick up.”
“That’s not good.” Rusty turned all his attention to Chad. He couldn’t see how a man flying a balloon with pride colors couldn’t be gay, particularly with the crew he had. Chad was strong and handsome, with a rugged face and quick smile—everything Rusty looked for in a man, even if he hadn’t been looking much in the past few years. He had the sudden urge to try to help Chad and hopefully get to know him better.
With a shrug of his broad shoulders, Chad turned back to the burner and gave the lever another pull. When the roar died down, he looked back at Rusty. “The economy is what it is. There’s not much I can do about that.”
Rusty was already trying to put together an ad campaign that could help Chad gain more business. “Yeah, but there might be something we can do to help your business.” He smiled. “It’s part of what I do. Help people make more money.”
“Hey,” Rose interrupted, “we need to start down. Our landing field is right over there.” She pointed to the south, where a couple of other balloons were already down. From their vantage point, the ground crews looked more like mice than people.
“Okay.” Chad pulled a cord that came down the side of the balloon. “I’ll try and set us down as gently as possible.” And they began floating down toward the spot where a chase truck and trailer were pulled back onto the narrow country road that led to the interstate.
The slow dropping sensation was unlike anything Rusty had ever felt before. Like he did when they lifted off, he tried not to look at the ground. Even the little bit he glimpsed just looking out across the landscape was a bit disorienting. But he didn’t want to act scared, not in front of Chad. He wanted to make a good impression. And he knew if he showed weakness around Tyler, he’d never hear the end of it.
“Rusty, drop that line in front of you,” Chad said. “Need to give the ground crew something to grab hold of.”
There was a coil of thick nylon rope attached to a heavy ring on the gondola. Rusty picked it up and dropped it over the side, still trying not to look down.
Chad pulled on the cord near the burner again, then gave a short blast of the burner. He worked the two in tandem for a couple of minutes. Then the rope Rusty dropped over the side went tight right before there was a soft bump. A little bit of dust rose up around them.
“We’re down!” Chad shouted and turned off the burner. Around them, people cheered and shouted.
“Come on.” Tyler touched Rusty’s arm. “We need to get out of the basket and clear the way so the ground crew can do their part and get everything rolled up.”
“Here, I’ll help you.” Chad appeared on Rusty’s other side. He flashed a sexy grin. “Since I’m not on the ground to catch you if you fall over this time, I guess I should keep hold of your hand on the way over the side.”
Rusty smiled back. “Thanks.” He grabbed Chad’s offered hand, again noticing how large and strong it was in his. “I guess this gets easier with practice.” He hopped up on the side of the gondola and swung his legs over. The dusty scrub-covered ground looked more inviting than he’d expected.
“It does. You should come flying with me again.” Chad helped him keep his balance as Rusty put his feet down.
“I think I’d like that.” Rusty couldn’t stop smiling, even as their hands parted. “Actually, if you’re going to be free tonight or tomorrow, I’d like to talk to you about a couple of ideas that I’ve had during the flight about how to drum up business for you.”
A thoughtful line appeared on Chad’s forehead. “I’d like that. Tonight we’ve got the Balloon Glow. After that I’ll be open. And tomorrow morning after we come down. So you’re planning on being around?”
“I’m Tyler’s ride. I’ll be here.”
“Let’s just do dinner tonight,” Tyler said as he hopped out of th
e balloon. “We’re all going to need something after the Balloon Glow.”
“Sounds like a plan, then,” Chad said. “Now let’s get the balloon put up and get back to the launch field.”
Rusty fought the urge to glare at Tyler, who’d just included himself in the dinner plans, but maybe having someone they both knew would be a buffer as Rusty figured out if Chad was interested. He walked over to the nearest chase truck with a picture of the balloon on it and stayed out of the way, as Chad’s crew moved about with little direction to get the balloon folded up and stashed in the big box on the trailer behind the truck. Once they had the basket in the same trailer and everything lashed down, they were on the road. It all seemed to go very quickly, but then Rusty had spent most of the time watching Chad work, enjoying the graceful way he moved and the easy way he joked with his crew. He was relaxed and happy. That made Rusty even more determined to get to know him better and see if there might be a chance they could make a connection, on several levels.
THE CROWDS at the launch field that night were nearly as thick as the ones in the morning had been. Rusty followed Tyler through the throng but kept bumping into his back when Tyler stopped to take pictures of the balloons flashing their burners in the night. The overall effect of the glowing balloons was so different than the spectacle of the morning launch. They reminded Rusty of paper lanterns with tiny candles in them that he’d seen in movies.
“There he is.” Tyler pointed through the crowd at Chad’s balloon with its pride spectrums glowing brightly before the burner died down.
Rusty’s heart beat a little faster. He’d thought about Chad all afternoon, ever since Chad had dropped him and Tyler off at Rusty’s Land Rover before driving back onto the launch field for some kind of pilots’ competition that Tyler wasn’t interested in going to. He’d wanted to get back to the hotel and go through the images he’d taken at the launch and from Chad’s balloon. Rusty had used the time to start investigating how he could help Chad’s business. He’d started by looking up the website he’d seen listed on the side of one of the chase cars. Then he’d compared Chad’s site to other balloon tour businesses. If what he saw was any indication of profitability, there wasn’t much difference, but he wanted to talk to Chad about it and see what they could do to make Chad stand out. As he followed Tyler through the mass of people, using the balloon as a beacon, he wiped his suddenly sweaty palms on his pants. Rusty chided himself and tried to think of Chad as a potential client, no matter how attractive he found him.
“Hey, Chad!” Tyler shouted above the noise of the burners going off.
Chad turned and seemed to scan the crowd for a moment before he spotted them and waved. “Hey, Tyler, Rusty!”
Like most of the others, Chad’s balloon was securely tethered to a series of stakes. The lines presented additional obstacles. Rusty managed to not trip on them as the ground crew opened a way for them to slip beside the gondola.
“I swear this place is crazy,” Tyler said. “More people every year.”
“Mass Ascension this morning set a new record,” Chad said. He reached a hand over the top of the basket, shaking Tyler’s hand, then Rusty’s. “Glad you two could make it. We still on for dinner after this?”
“Sure!” Rusty shouted, then realized there weren’t any burners going at that moment. All the balloons had gone dark. His voice would’ve carried just fine.
Chad smiled at him. “Cool.”
Through a distant speaker, an announcer called for all pilots to fire up their burners for a long glow. Every balloon on the field blazed bright. The sudden roar of the burners through the silence that had descended on the field was startling. Then everyone around them cheered, adding to the overall cacophony. Rusty shuddered as the sounds crashed into him. For a second he almost added his voice to it all but didn’t. He just beamed up at Chad while Chad pulled the burner lever. The fire from the jet was bright on Chad’s face, showing it off in a starkness Rusty hadn’t noticed before. There was an intensity in Chad’s features that made him even more handsome than he’d been earlier.
Then suddenly Chad turned loose of the lever, as did the other pilots, and the field was again plunged into darkness.
“You two should wander about a bit,” Chad suggested. “Actually head up the hill, get above the crowd. Tyler could get some good shots from up there.”
Tyler held up his camera. “I already did. I made us take nearly an hour to get down to you.”
“Wow, have we been going that long?” Chad turned and watched as the balloons in the next aisle over glowed in a wave that swept across the field. “We’re nearly done, then.”
“Cool.” As soon as the word left his lips, Rusty wanted to hit himself. He sounded like a stupid schoolkid, not a sophisticated adult. It wasn’t like him at all.
The wave of burns came upon them, and Chad pulled his lever, cutting any response for several minutes until the entire field glowed with the balloons’ candles.
Then silence descended on them.
“Rose, we’ve only got a couple more group glows, right?” Chad hollered.
“Right. Both waves similar to the last one,” Rose replied. “Then a final long burn.”
The next wave came at them from the north end of the field as entire rows of balloons blazed to life, then darkened. The final wave came from the west, and the burners stayed on until they were all glowing. Then the field went dark.
After the final long glow, Chad didn’t turn off the burner. “We’ve got to wait until there’s room for us to lay her down,” he explained. “So while we’re waiting, where did you want to go for dinner?”
“I know this is rather cliché, but I know a nice Mexican place not far from here,” Rusty replied.
“Great.” Chad chuckled. “I guess we live in New Mexico, we have to like Mexican, right?”
“Right.” Rusty joined in his laugh. Then he glanced about for Tyler. He’d been so focused on Chad and the balloon, he’d lost track of him. “Hey, do you see Tyler?”
Chad shook his head and gave the burner a quick blast.
“He’s talking to some woman over there.” Rose pointed into the crowd.
Rusty craned his head and could just barely make out Tyler’s familiar form among all the people. “I’ll be right back.”
“Okay.” Chad gave another quick burn.
Shaking his head, Rusty walked through the ring of ground crew and back into the mass of people. He had no doubt that Tyler had spotted a pretty set of boobs and decided he needed to try to talk his way into them.
“Hey, Tyler.” Rusty touched Tyler’s shoulder.
Tyler glanced back at him. “Hey, Rusty, I was about to come find you. This is Candice.” He gestured to the buxom brunette in a torn Balloon Fiesta T-shirt that was straining to contain her upper body.
“Hey.” She gave Rusty a quick wave.
“Hi.” Rusty cocked his head and decided she was a little more skanky than Tyler’s normal conquest.
“So, Rusty, do you and Chad mind if I skip dinner tonight?” Tyler glanced between Rusty and the woman. “Candice is a model, and we were talking about getting her some pictures for her portfolio.”
It wasn’t the first time Rusty had heard that tale. “I guess not. So I’ll see you at the hotel in the morning.” Tyler’s escapades were the main reason they’d stopped sharing hotel rooms years earlier.
“Sure.” Tyler grinned. “You’re the best, bud.” He clapped Rusty on the shoulder. “Now go have a nice dinner with Chad. Unless I miss my guess, he might be interested.”
Rusty blinked and for a moment wondered if Tyler had been trying to set him up with Chad. “What?”
The balloons around them gave short blasts, blaring out Tyler’s response.
“Okay, you guys have fun.”
He caught Candice’s arm and steered her through the crowd as Rusty turned back to the balloon, where Chad was beginning to direct the ground crew in getting the envelope down and put away.
; RUSTY FINISHED looking at his menu and set it on the table, having made his selection. Nearby, the wandering four-piece mariachi band in their authentic clothing serenaded a young couple who looked overly nervous at the attention they were receiving.
Chad chuckled as he set his menu down on the table. “I’d forgotten about this place.”
“I come here every opportunity I get.” Rusty flashed him a warm smile. Hearing Chad’s chuckle told him he’d made a good choice in restaurants. That made him happy. “With all the places changing frequently the past few years, the fact that they’ve stayed the same here is a good thing.”
Their waiter appeared and took their order, then hurried off.
Rusty picked up a tortilla chip and dipped it into the salsa. “So how long have you had your balloon business?”
“Only a couple of years.” Chad settled back in his chair. “I got the balloon about ten years ago. It was a gift from my grandfather when I graduated college. He loved flying, and we both enjoyed going to balloon festivals. After we went on a flight during my junior year, we were both hooked. I got my pilot’s license during my senior year. That was a bit hard, making sure I kept my grades up to graduate and score high enough on the pilot’s exam to get my license, but I did it.”
“So you’re a bit of an overachiever.” Rusty reached for another chip. He liked men with drive, and it sounded like Chad had that.
Chad started to reach for a chip and paused as if waiting for Rusty to get his first. “You might say that. I did the corporate management thing right out of college and was good at it.”
“What changed?” Even if he did work at a midsized ad agency, Rusty understood the corporate management type. He had to if he was going to be able to help them grow their businesses.
“I think I did,” Chad said after swallowing his bite of chip and salsa. “I started seeing what making big bucks in that environment did to people, and I didn’t like it. My college boyfriend was a totally different person after two years in the boardroom. When I stopped and really looked at myself, I saw similar changes starting in me. The smartphones were more important than face-to-face communication. Long hours spent in meetings. Even when I went to the gym, I kept my phone on me in case a call or e-mail came in that needed my attention. Then Grandpa died.”