Frank was one of the oldest men I had ever met, his skin looked like the bark of tree. He had three teeth, one on the top and two on the bottom, and the biggest smile I’d ever seen. He was dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, despite the chill of the morning.
‘I’m so glad to help you.’ Frank said, hugging Harry and then me, greeting us like we were long lost friends, which I suppose in a way we were. ‘I was delighted when Harry called. You’ve made so many people happy over the years, and now you two are together. Finding love amongst everyone else’s happiness. I can’t tell you how pleased I am. I want you to meet my boys, the ground crew.’
The boys, as it turned out, were three strapping sons in their forties and two other men who worked for him. Frank ran round getting everything ready for our departure, clearly as fit as the men half his age judging by the way he dealt with the preparations with speed, strength and agility. And slowly the hot air balloons started to fill and rise, tugging on their restraints, desperate to be free.
‘What bloody time of the day is this?’ muttered a voice from behind us.
I turned round to see Badger, Harry’s best friend and my cousin, scowling at us. His ginger beard was hidden inside the top of his coat, his eyes peeping out from underneath his blue and white Chelsea pom-pom hat. ‘It’s bloody freezing.’
I adored Badger. He was one of those solid dependable types that would do anything for anybody. Jack, Badger and I had been quite close growing up, but in recent years we had become even closer after Badger had moved to London too. Jack and Badger went everywhere together, before Jack died. And he was the reason Harry had come into my life, something else to be grateful to Badger for.
I hugged him and he immediately took his hands out of his pockets and hugged me back. Harry hugged him too. Despite the manly size of them both, they always greeted each other with a big hug.
‘What are you doing here?’
‘Cashing in all of Harry’s favours in one day.’ He returned to scowling again. ‘I was in a wonderful sleep this morning when the alarm went off at some ungodly hour.’
‘I needed some help for this one,’ Harry admitted. ‘And there was only one man for the job.’
There was only one man who would get up this early and drive fifty miles to the countryside to help his friend out. Despite Badger’s scowl, I could tell he was pleased about the compliment. Although him being here did put a slight dampener on our nice romantic proposal.
Frank came over to tell us the balloons were ready.
We put the cool box into the basket and Harry helped me in, then held me close like a true boyfriend would do. Though it seemed Badger was to go in the other balloon.
As the cables and ropes were released, our balloons slowly drifted upwards, floating almost aimlessly up into the clouds. It was an incredible experience and I couldn’t take my eyes off the receding landscape below us. We were far out of London now, Harry had driven for over an hour, and as far as the eye could see there were just hills and fields in every direction, all growing smaller by the second. Badger’s balloon bobbed gently after us, the wind blowing us in the same direction.
We levelled out, obviously reaching the optimum height, and Frank turned the burners off. We hovered there in silence, as if we were hanging from the clouds. We didn’t speak, we didn’t need to. The world at our feet said it all.
Suddenly a slice of pure gold shot straight from the horizon, lighting up the landscape below us, banishing the remains of the fading night sky and filling the world with a rosy haze. I watched with sheer joy as the sun appeared and for a few moments it wasn’t the burning ball of heat in the sky that you can never look directly at, but an orb of muted oranges and pinks, like a light bulb that had just been switched on and was yet to reach its full power.
‘It’s beautiful,’ I gasped, realising that Harry’s arm had been around me the whole time and I leaned back into him. I could see Frank watching us out the corner of my eye, a huge grin on his face.
Harry released me and rooted around in the cool box as I returned my attention back to the landscape below, bathed in great swathes of scarlet and gold.
Harry offered Frank a champagne glass but he declined.
‘Frank do you ever get tired of this view, you must see it on an almost daily basis,’ I asked, as Harry filled two glasses with champagne.
‘Nah, I could watch that view every day, ten times a day and I would never get bored of it. Being up here is the most incredible feeling in the world. If I died now, I would die a very happy man.’
I frowned as he unconsciously rubbed his chest. The inappropriate mention of death coupled with this gesture suddenly had me very alert. ‘Are you ok?’
Frank realised what I had been referring to and laughed. ‘I’m fine love, just a bit of indigestion. There’s plenty of life left in this old dog yet, I want to see my great grandchildren before I die, and none of my grandchildren are even married off yet. No, there’s nothing wrong with me apart from my gut complaining about the extra sausage I had for breakfast this morning.’
I smiled, though I was still concerned. Jack’s death had given me a bit of paranoia about it all.
Frank switched on the burners and the roar breaking the silence put an end to any further questions.
Harry passed me my glass of champagne and clinked his glass against mine.
‘To us,’ he said, his dark eyes glinting with mischief.
‘To the best kind of friendship.’
As we both took a sip, he didn’t take his eyes off me and I wished, not for the first time, I could read what was going on in his head.
I remembered again about the forthcoming proposal and the importance of my real reaction.
My heart slammed against my chest. Just to get one kiss in, albeit briefly, would be an amazing end to this wonderful proposal.
We drifted through the sky, the dampness of the clouds clinging to our faces and clothes like cobwebs. Little beads of water clung to Harry’s long eyelashes and I wanted to reach up and wipe them away. But I had to save myself, any inappropriate gestures now could forestall the big kiss I had planned. Would he kiss me back? Oh God I hoped so. What if he didn’t? What if he was repulsed by it? If it was to be a genuine reaction, he had to kiss me back. I wondered how long I could drag it on, how long would be appropriate. What if I was a rubbish kisser? Tongue or no tongue? Maybe I shouldn’t do it at all. No I had to do it, this was my only chance. My heart was hammering so fast against my chest, I felt sure he could feel it, as he wrapped his arms around me, holding me from behind.
Frank was pulling levers and cords behind us and we started to drop gracefully towards the fields. As we drew closer, I could see the bright colourful cars of the chase crew as they attempted to follow our progress. They were still so tiny at this stage, like toy cars in a miniature village.
Harry nudged me gently and pointed me in the direction of Badger’s balloon.
A long banner unfurled from the basket, easily twenty or thirty feet long, and in beautiful hand painted letters – surrounded by flowers, hearts and stars – were the words, ‘Marry Me.’ Upside down.
‘Shit!’ Harry said with vehemence, dropping his hands from me like I was a hot potato.
‘It doesn’t matter.’ I said. ‘It’s lovely, you must have gone to so much trouble for this.’
I quickly grabbed my phone from my pocket and took a few photos.
‘No Suzie, fuck!’
I looked around to see Frank on the floor of the basket, clutching his chest, sweat beading on his forehead, his skin turning a very sickly shade of grey.
I