Not Yet Yours

Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty-One

Liam

“ I t’s really nice isn’t it,” Harriet says. “Do you think you’ll buy it?”

“I’ll certainly be putting an offer in,” I tell her. “There are a few little tweaks to be made, and that red carpet has to go, but otherwise, it’s all better than I expected it to be, to be honest.”

“Ah no. The red carpet was my favorite part,” Harriet teases me, and we laugh.

“Are you ready for some lunch?” I ask. “Because I have a surprise for you later.”

“Don’t you think bringing me here was enough of a surprise?” Harriet says but she’s smiling, and she looks pleased.

“I can cancel it,” I say, and she shakes her head, and we laugh.

We head out of the room and go down to the restaurant. We could go out for lunch, but I really want to try, see, and experience as much of what the hotel has to offer as I can. I order tamales and Harriet orders a quesadilla. They come out quickly and they are the best tamales I have ever had. Harriet says hers is delicious too and that’s another plus point for the hotel.

“Do you mind if we have dinner here tonight?” I ask. “I’d like to try their dinner options.”

“Sure,” Harriet says.

We finish our lunch and then it’s time for us to leave the hotel for Harriet’s surprise. I lead her outside and turn left and we start walking along the sidewalk.

“Can you give me a hint?” Harriet says as we walk, and I shake my head and laugh at her impatience.

“It’s not even a ten-minute walk and then you will see what it is,” I say.

Harriet keeps bugging me for clues and I keep refusing to give them to her, then we turn a corner and the place we’re heading to comes into sight and Harriet’s jaw drops as she sees the giant red, green, yellow, and blue hot air balloon in the near distance.

“Is that…? Are we…?” she stutters.

“Yup,” I say, and she squeals with delight which makes me laugh and then she stops walking and grabs my wrist to stop me too. She throws her arms around me and kisses me full on the mouth.

“I can’t believe we’re going to do this,” she says. “It’s something I’ve wanted to do for as long as I can remember. I… wait. Max told you, didn’t she?”

“She might have mentioned something in passing,” I confess and we’re both still laughing as Harriet slips her hand into mine and practically runs me the rest of the way to the balloon flight center.

We sit through a brief safety talk and then we’re led out of the center and over to the balloon. We get into the basket and our operator gets in with us and makes sure the basket is secure.

“Ready?” he asks, and we both nod our heads.

With a lurch, the balloon floats up off the ground and Harriet reaches for my hand again. She grips it hard enough to hurt, but I don’t try to pull free. After a few minutes, her grip relaxes and she’s beaming and leaning over the side of the basket pointing things out to me. It’s amazing floating up into the air, watching the ground below and everything on it seeming to get smaller and smaller. It feels more freeing than flying in a plane or a helicopter and I enjoy it as much as I think Harriet is.

As she stands looking out over the ground, she looks so young and vibrant, her cheeks flushed pink, the tendrils of her hair floating around her head, and her eyes alive with excitement. I want to hold her, to kiss her, to love her. I have to make this girl mine. I still don’t know what is getting in the way of us being together but I’m not giving up on Harriet. Not now and not ever.

I want to ask her more about why she doesn’t want a relationship, but not now. I don’t want to risk spoiling this moment. But I do need to know. I can fix whatever it is she needs fixing if I only know what’s broken.