Alissa gazed up into the sky, the morning sun painful in her eyes. She shaded them as she watched the balloons go higher and higher. “They’re so pretty,” she said, marveling at how they expanded and expanded, finally lifting off the ground with nothing but hot air.
Shawn’s arm around her still felt a little surreal, despite the last few days they’d spent together. She’d enjoyed every minute with him, though they still seemed to take jabs at one another from time to time.
His parents had seemed happy that he was back in town, and Alissa couldn’t express how much happier she was. Olympia had been right, and Alissa had made of point of telling her sister that. Encouraging her to get a new boyfriend of her own.
“I can’t,” she’d said. “I have someone coming to rent the other penthouse, and i
