Opening the sack, she pulled out a pair of silver ballet slippers. Just her size.
"You thought of everything." She had to have him help her because she fumbled the shoes twice, distracted by the sight of yellow, blue, red and orange silk rising higher just outside the car.
"I would have tried to get us here earlier if I'd known you wanted to see this part." His warm hands tugged her shoes into place before he helped her out of the car. He reached back in the limo and withdrew a length of fuzzy mohair and cashmere that at first she thought was a blanket, but he unfurled it and laid it around her shoulders. A burgundy-colored pashmina fell around her. "The pilot said it will be cooler once we're up there."
A red carpet lined her path from the car door to the balloon basket. While the limo driver exchanged words with the crew that operated the balloon, Adelaide had a moment to catch her breath and take in the full extent of her surprise. Blasts of heat passed her shoulders in rhythmic waves each time the pilot pulled the cord to unleash flames into the air that kept the balloon filled.
"I just can't believe how huge it is up close." She'd seen hot-air balloons in the sky before and admired their beauty, but she'd never dreamed of riding in one. "And I can't imagine what made you think to do this tonight, but I'm so excited I feel...breathless."
He tucked her close to his side as they walked the carpeted path together. "The best part hasn't started. I hear it's incredible to go up in one of these things."
"You've never done this either?" That made it feel all the more special, that she could share a first with him. She felt like a medieval princess, traipsing through the countryside in her designer gown, the layers of handkerchief hem blowing gently against her calves as they walked.
"No. This is just for you, Adelaide." He stopped as they reached the balloon basket, his eyes serious. Intense.
"Any special occasion?" Curious, she wasn't sure why he'd put so much effort into a special night for them now.
As much as she wanted to believe that he'd planned a fairy-tale date just to romance her, a cynical part of her couldn't help but wonder why.
"I'm sorry I put you on the spot when I announced our engagement. Consider this my apology, since that's not how I should have treated a friend." He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it.
Her heart melted. Just turned to gooey mush. She would have swooned into his arms if the pilot hadn't turned to them right then and introduced himself.
While the pilot-Jim-went over a few safety precautions and briefly outlined the plan for their hour-long flight, Adelaide stared at Dempsey and felt herself falling faster. She'd tried to keep herself so safe with him, from him. But her mother was right, and this man had always had a piece of her heart. How on earth could she maintain her defenses around a man who bought her a Versace gown to take her on a hot-air balloon ride?
She hadn't heard any of Jim's speech by the time Dempsey lifted Adelaide in his arms and set her on her feet inside the basket. He vaulted in behind her, their portion of the basket separated from Jim's by a waist-high wall. Moments later, the ground crew let go of their tethers and the balloon lifted them into the air so smoothly and silently it felt like magic.
Her heart soared along with the rest of her.
Impulsively, she slid her arms around Dempsey's waist and tucked her head against his shoulder. He'd said he wanted to apologize for not being a better friend. Could that mean he wanted to be...more?
"Do you like it?" His hand gripped her shoulder through the pashmina, a warm weight connecting them.
They stared out their side of the basket while Jim took care of maneuvering the balloon from his own side. It felt private enough, especially with all the open air around them.
"I love it." She peered up at him as the world fell away beneath them. "I've never had anyone do something so special for me."
"Good." He kissed her temple while the limo below them became a toy-size plaything. "Because the past two weeks have been something special for me. I wanted you to know that, even if this engagement got off to an awkward beginning, it's been...eye-opening."
She reached for the edge of the basket and gripped it, feeling as though she needed an anchor in a world suddenly off-kilter. What was he saying? Had her mother guessed correctly that Dempsey cared more than she'd realized?
"How so?" Her voice was a thin crack of sound in the cool air, and she tugged the pashmina closer around her. The landscape spread out below them like a patchwork quilt of green squares dotted with gray rocky patches and splashes of blue.
"We make a great team, for one thing." He turned her toward him, his hands on her shoulders. "You have to know that. And you've spent years helping me to be more successful, always giving me far more help than what I could ever pay you for. I want you to know that teamwork goes both ways, and I can help you, too."
He withdrew a piece of paper from the breast pocket of his tuxedo. It fluttered a little in the breeze as the temperature cooled.
"What is it?" She didn't take it, afraid it would blow away.
"The deed to the manufacturing facility you looked at with Evan last week." He tucked the paper into her beaded satin purse that sat on the floor of the balloon basket and straightened.
"You bought it?" She wasn't sure what to say, since she'd told him she didn't want this to be a Reynaud enterprise. "You haven't even seen it. I was going to ask you what you thought when we got back home-"
"I toured it Thursday before practice. It's a good investment."
The balloon dipped, jarring her, but no more than his words.
He'd toured it and bought it without speaking to her. She didn't want to ruin their balloon ride by complaining about what he'd obviously meant as a generous gesture. But she couldn't help the frustration bubbling up that he hadn't at least spoken to her about it.
"I hadn't even run the numbers on the operating costs yet." She didn't want to feel tears burning the backs of her eyes. She understood him well enough to know his heart was in the right place. But how could he be friends with her for so long and not understand how important it was for her to make her own decisions regarding her business? "I hadn't decided for sure yet-"
"You showed me the business plan, remember? I ran the numbers. You can afford the expenses easily now."
Except she needed to make those decisions, not him. Didn't he have any faith in her business judgment?
"Perhaps." She watched an eagle soaring nearby, the sight so incredible, but more difficult to enjoy when her world felt as if it was fracturing. "But I can't accept a gift-"
"I know you don't want anything handed to you, Addy, but this is no more of a gift than all the ways you've anticipated my every need for years. How many times have you worked more than forty hours in a week without compensation?"
"I'm a salaried employee," she reminded him, still feeling off balance.
"In a job that you took to help me. Don't try to make the deed mean more than it does, Adelaide. You've worked hard for me and I'm finally in a position to achieve everything I've always wanted with the Hurricanes this year. Let me be a small part of your dream, too."
Some of her defensiveness eased. She had to admit, it was a thoughtful gesture. A generous one, too, even if a bit high-handed. And the way he'd worded it made her feel a teeny bit more entitled to the gift, even though it far surpassed the monetary value of what she'd done for him. Still, the gift left her feeling a little hollow inside when she'd just convinced herself that he'd taken her on a balloon ride because he'd realized some deeper affection for her.
"Can I think about it before I accept it?" She cleared her throat, trying not to reveal the letdown she felt. The wind whipped a piece of her hair free from her updo, the long strand twining around her neck.
"No. You can sell it if you don't want to use the facility. But it's yours, Addy. That's done." He reached to sweep aside the hair and tucked it into one of the tiny rhinestone butterflies that held spare strands. "I have one other gift for you, and I want you to really consider it."
That seriousness in his eyes again. The look that had made her nervous all week. What on earth was on the man's mind?
When he reached into his breast pocket again, her heart about stopped. He pulled out a ring box.