Page 86 of Shine For Me

Fox

As expected, Jas and River are in a world of pain the next day. They both stumble into the kitchen wearing sunglasses and push each other out of the way to reach the coffee pot first.

“I’m not going to say I told you so,” Rose says, eyeing them over the top of her mug.

“I’ll say it,” Alex says brightly. “We all told you not to drink so much, morons. What did you think was going to happen?”

“I thought I could handle my liquor,” River says. “I used to be able to drink way more than that.”

“And then your tolerance went down because you have two kids and you don’t go out any more.”

“God, that’s depressing,” Jasmine says morosely, collapsing into a dining chair and putting her head straight down on the table. “I used to be fun.”

“You’re still fun,” Everly says, patting the top of her head. “You’re just a more chill level of fun.”

“Chill means boring,” Jas says into the table. “I used to be a party girl. I used to go toraves.” She lifts her head and gives River a horrified look. “Whathappenedto me?”

“The two of you own a skateboard park,” Wyatt points out. “You literally spend most of your workday doing tricks on a board. You’re hardly boring and old.”

“You just might need to watch the booze intake a little better these days,” Rose adds.

River plops into the seat next to his wife. “I still think it was worth it,” he says, rubbing her back. “It’s a baby-free weekend, baby. We needed to make the most of it.” He stands very suddenly, his face looking green. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go vomit.”

We somehow manage to get River and Jas out of the house in time to meet June’s brunch reservation. But they’re both still looking pale and sweaty, even after a plate of pancakes—which Everly claims are the best hangover cure known to man. So they decide to skip out on the wine train and go back to the villa.

“Anyone else think they’re faking just so they can have the place to themselves?” Leo asks.

“Who cares,” Everly answers. “They needed a break.”

“We also have a baby,” Will says, gesturing at his wife. “You don’t see us acting like escaped convicts over a weekend away.”

“That’s because Theo is a perfect angel,” Everly says, and Will’s chest puffs out in pride.

“Now she’s going to be his favorite,” I mutter to Rose.

“Harrison has been teething and Poppy had two ear infections in a row,” Everly continues. “Jasmine told me she hasn’t slept for more than two hours straight in the last six weeks.” She shudders, then points at Bodhi. “You better not be expecting babies anytime soon, buddy. I need my beauty sleep.”

Bodhi gets the soppiest expression on his face at the mention of babies, so of course we all have to tease him about that for the entire drive to the train station.

The wine train is exactly what it sounds like—a train ride through the rolling fields of grapes while everyone on board drinks a copious amount of wine. Which means it’s the second day in a row I’m spending pleasantly buzzed. We go back to the villa for lunch and spend some time lazing around by the pool before we have to leave for our hot air balloon reservation. It’s not the most relaxing lounge time I’ve ever experienced, since Everly and Bodhi can barely sit still with her excitement.

“It’s weird,” Bodhi says. “I’ve never given the slightest thought to a hot air balloon ride. But now it’s literally the only thing I want to do in life.”

River and Jas are recovered enough to come with us, but they sit far away from Everly in the van so they won’t have to hear her incessant chatter. My cousin tends to get overly excited about things—but this is not one of those times. The hot air balloon ride turns out to be worthy of every bit of her enthusiasm. It’s honestly one of the coolest things I’ve ever done.

We get to the take-off field when the sky is just starting to turn gold around the edges. Scattered across the field are huge piles of brightly colored nylon. The balloon company’s owner explains that each basket will hold two couples, so we split up into groups. June and I end up with Rose and Leo in front of a rainbow striped balloon. Several men are standing there, directing a blowing fan into the deflated balloon. Our pilot explains that once the balloon starts to take shape, they’ll turn on the gas burner to finish the inflation and we’ll be able to get into the basket.

“You okay?” I ask June, who’s looking at the basket with a tense jaw. In fact, she’s been looking pretty tense ever since we signed the multi-page release form which indicated there was a small, but not-zero, chance we all might die a fiery, balloon-crashing death.

“Yup,” June says, her voice a little high.

It’s pretty obvious she’s nervous but before I can ask her about it, Rose calls us over to take some pictures with our balloon in the background. It’s starting to take shape now, looking more like an actual balloon. We get a few selfies of the four of us before our pilot directs us to climb aboard. The burner continues to pump hot air up into the balloon, which is now standing tall overhead. The pilot gives us a safety spiel—which pretty much amounts to, ‘don’t get close to the burner and don’t lean over the edge.’ June gives a little whimper at that part.

A moment later, my belly swoops as the basket lifts off from the ground. Ours is the first balloon to get into the air and our cousins shout and wave at us from their baskets around the field.

“Oh my God,” Rose says, sounding giddy. “We’re flying!”

“You’re as bad as Everly,” Leo says. “We’re three feet off the ground.” Then he lets out a little yelp as the pilot adjusts the burner and we jerk upwards.