The Fall in Love Checklist

by Sarah Ready

  I’m currently in the basket of a hot-air balloon in a vacant parking lot a quarter mile away. Karl is parked in a Hummer limo half a block down from the house on Rose Street. I can coordinate the plan from the balloon, yet not be seen by Jack before the big moment.

  “Roger that. Sylvie, Cleo, go ring the bell and get Jack. Gerry stay with the cat. Leave the walkie-talkies on. I’ll monitor,” I say.

  I watch on the video feed as Sylvie and Cleo start sneaking toward the bushes at the side of the house.

  “Meow, this is one feisty cat,” says Gerry. I hear grunting and a scuffle. “Got it, got it. Don’t you worry.”

  Sylvie finally busts through the bushes and Cleo falls into a somersault and pops back up. Then they ruin the special ops vibe by giving each other high fives.

  They’re going to get grass stains all over their wedding outfits. I shrug. Oh well.

  They climb up the front steps to the door.

  “Here we go, dear,” says Sylvie.

  Cleo jabs the doorbell. I hear the chime over the walkie-talkie.

  I hold my breath. The door opens.

  It’s Sissy.

  I breathe.

  “Um, hey guys. What’s up?” she asks. I’d forgotten she knew them from the hair cutting night.

  “Humph, where’s your brother?” asks Cleo.

  “Hello, dear, we’re looking for Jack,” says Sylvie.

  “Seriously? Is Dany okay?” asks Sissy.

  She stands on her tiptoes and tries to look around them.

  “Yes, dear. Of course. We need Jack’s help. See our sweet little kitten climbed up the tree in your back yard and we need Jack to climb up and get her down.”

  “Your kitten?” asks Sissy. She doesn’t sound like she’s buying it.

  “Bah, go get your brother,” says Cleo.

  “Uh, what’s with the donuts?” she asks.

  There’s a long trail of six dozen sprinkle donuts leading to the back yard.

  “And the special ops comm devices? Seriously,” she says.

  “Never mind that, get your brother,” huffs Cleo.

  “Dudes. Jack’s not here. He’s at City Hall having his dreams crushed by the dick.”

  Then, over the walkie-talkie Gerry yelps. “Cat, hey, cat. Not so high.”

  But…Jack is, he’s…what? There’s only one dick I know of that could be crushing Jack’s dreams.

  “Hang on,” I say over the device. “I’m coming.”

  “I’ll be back,” I tell the balloon operator. The short man gapes at me, but I hired him for the day and I’m counting on him to wait.

  I jump out of the balloon. Then I kick off my high heels and run as fast as I can to the house on Rose Street. My feet sting. My sides pinch. I’m out of breath when I bound up the steps.

  Sissy is nibbling on a donut. Sylvie and Cleo are arguing about what to do.

  “What’d you say?” I ask Sissy.

  She looks me over. Her eyes widen. “You’re getting married?”

  I wave away her question. “What did you say about Jack?”

  She frowns. “He’s at City Hall for his housing project bid. But your fiancé is going to get it instead. For his parking garage.” Her shoulders slump then she looks at me and scowls. “So, you’re marrying the dick, huh? Figures.”

  I stomp my foot. “What is with everyone thinking I’d marry Shawn?”

  “Well, dear…” says Sylvie.

  “Yeah. Douchewad was going to send me to jail but Jack saved me, cause we’re family and all. I’m sure he’s being all noble, giving up his dreams, but I say it’s bull. Didn’t think you’d be dumb enough to marry the dick.” She sighs and looks at me with disappointment.

  “Wait. What?” I ask. Jack did what?

  “Ladies,” Gerry calls over the walkie-talkie. “The cat’s gotten a little high.”

  I point at Sissy. “I’m not marrying Shawn. We’re trying to kidnap your brother and take him to his wedding. To me. Also, we want him to follow the trail of sprinkle donuts, climb the tree in the back yard, save a cat so he can feel heroic, and then we can catch him in Sylvie’s yarn trap and fly—”

  “Did you say ‘yarn trap’?” asks Sissy.

  “Um. Yes.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yes.” I nod.

  “And you want to marry Jack?”

  “Yes,” I say.

  “You are so freaking—”

  “Crazy?” asks Cleo.

  “Awesome,” says Sissy.

  “Thank you,” I say.

  There’s a shriek from the back yard.

  We all sprint around the house.

  Gerry is sitting at the bottom of the tree, tangled in yarn, with the cat in her arms.

  “Humph,” says Cleo.

  “You guys seriously thought this yarn donut cat trap thing was going to work?” asks Sissy.

  Gerry is scratching the cat under its chin. I think I hear a purr.

  “I’m adopting this cat. I’ll name her Herbert,” she says.

  We borrowed the cat from Matilda’s animal shelter friends. Clearly, Gerry’s smitten.

  “Change of plans,” I say.

  I turn to Sissy. “Explain to me again what is happening with Jack?”

  So she does.

  “Alright, we’re going to the committee meeting. This was part of our bargain. I should be there. We’ll see what I can do. Also, clearly, we’re still planning on grabbing Jack and taking him to the beach. Got it?”

  Everyone nods.

  “Sissy, are you in?” I ask.

  “Heck yeah. I just need to grab some stuff.”

  “Meet us out front.” I say.

  The girls, Sissy and the cat go with Karl in the Hummer.

  I’m at the hot-air balloon.

  After a few minutes of convincing, and a substantial monetary donation, the balloon operator agrees to make an unexpected stop outside City Hall.

  45

  Jack

  * * *

  “What’s your choice?” asks Shawn.

  I look down at my hands, clenched in fists, and I realize that there’s no choice at all.

  “I don’t want your support,” I say.

  “Listen, Jones —”

  “No. I don’t want your backing, I don’t want your money or your contacts. I get this bid on my own merit, or not at all.”

  “Not at all then.”

  I nod. Probably. Then I make the choice that hurts most. Sissy was right, walking away hurts as much as someone leaving, it just hurts sooner.

  “I can’t let you hurt Sissy.”

  “Good choice.”

  I stare at the closed door of the conference room. Then, “If you agree to leave Sissy alone, erase the video, sign a binding agreement…if you leave Sissy alone, I’ll do what you ask. I’ll never talk to Dany again.”

  “Very good, Jones. Very good.”

  He wins.

  Then I shake my head.

  Try to clear it, because I can’t believe what I’m seeing.

  Dany walks into the conference room. But…she’s in a wedding dress. A white, strapless, glittering wedding dress.

  The breath is knocked from my lungs. She looks beautiful.

  “Dany?” I say. What’s she doing here?

  “Daniella, you look amazing,” says Shawn. He steps forward to kiss her on the check. She side-steps him. Searches the room and stops when she sees me.

  A smile lights her face.

  Sissy pushes in after her, followed by Dany’s friends, Gerry, Sylvie and Cleo.

  “Daniella, what in God’s name?” We all look to the booming voice across the room. It’s Mr. Drake. Displeasure radiates from him.

  Shawn sends me a slanted look. His message is clear. Step aside.

  “What are you doing here?” I ask.

  She wrinkles her nose and gives a grin. Then she points out the window.

  “I thought I’d swing by to help you win your bid. Then maybe get married.”

 
; I look at the window. My mouth falls open as I see what she’s pointing to.

  A hot-air balloon.

  A red and yellow striped hot-air balloon floats outside the window.

  “Be careful here, Jones,” hisses Shawn. “Your choices have consequences.”

  I look between the hot-air balloon and Dany.

  She did this for me. Her gesture couldn’t be clearer. She loves me.

  She loves me.

  She wants to have a life of adventure together.

  Starting now.

  “Be careful. Your career, your sister,” Shawn whispers.

  Right.

  He wins.

  No matter how much I love Dany, or how much she loves me, I can’t let him ruin Sissy’s life.

  “I can’t,” I say to Dany. “I’m sorry.” She’ll never know how much.

  Dany looks at me and I see shock and pain in her eyes.

  “What?” says Sissy. “Bro, don’t be an idiot.”

  “Are you crazy?” says Gerry.

  I look out the window at the hot-air balloon.

  The torch in the hot air balloon, the blazing fire that lifts it catches my eye.

  I’m taken back again to the smoke, the coughing, the dying, the shame…I’m caught in it. Except, then the torch flickers. The balloon sways in the wind, pulling at the weighted ropes. And it hits me. Fire can burn and destroy. It did. But it can also lift you up. Take you to new beginnings.

  “Daniella,” begins Shawn, “Jones is no good. I want you back. Look, I made a mistake. I’m sure your mother told you—”

  “Shawn,” says Dany.

  “Yes?” he asks.

  “Stop talking.”

  Then she walks over to me and puts her hand on my heart. “Do you love me?” she asks.

  I swallow and I can’t not tell her, even if I’ll never be with her. “Yes,” I whisper.

  She nods. “That’s what I thought.”

  Then she walks to the front of the conference room. She has the attention of the entire committee.

  “Members of the committee,” says Dany. “I apologize for the interruption. If you could give me a moment of your time. Today, you have an important decision to make. You have two bids before you. The first is from a man who has integrity, passion, and heart. He looks at buildings like they’re people. When a building needs a little TLC, or is past its prime, he loves it and fixes it up and helps it become beautiful again. Or if it’s a warehouse, he helps it find a new purpose in housing families. When he looks at a building he sees worth and value. He doesn’t tear things down or throw them away. He cares.”

  I watch as Dany speaks to the committee, but whether they say yes or no to my bid doesn’t matter anymore. Because I hear what she’s saying about me.

  “The second man tears down. If he sees an older building, or a building that needs rehab, or one that’s not bringing in enough revenue, he tears it down. He demolishes it and puts up a new structure, until eventually he either sells that or tears that one down too. He doesn’t value. He doesn’t care. If the building makes him money, he’s satisfied. If it becomes a bother or stops pleasing him, he demolishes it.”

  Dany looks at Shawn and he shifts under her words.

  “Choose carefully,” she says, “a man who values, or a man who tears down.”

  “Hear, hear,” says Sylvie.

  “I implore you, Mr. Atler”—she nods at Rick—“Ms. Smith, Mr. Rudolph, Mr. Polinski, Mrs. Hirsch…” Does she know all the committee members? “I implore you to choose the bid that will give the city what it needs most. Heart.”

  “Now, now, Daniella,” says Mr. Atler. “You don’t understand.”

  “See here. We’ve already decided on the proposals. The Boreman proposal is best for the city,” says Mr. Polinski.

  Dany frowns. “That’s a shame. I think that you’re making a mistake.”

  Joy fills me. She believes in me.

  Shawn looks between Dany and me. A calculating gleam enters his eyes.

  He steps forward. “Look, Daniella. I didn’t want to have to tell you this, but Jack’s been manipulating you.”

  “Pardon me?” says Dany.

  “Jones here. His entire purpose has been to get close to you so that you’ll attempt to swing the vote in his favor. Looks like he succeeded admirably. Woo the Drake girl to win the vote. Wasn’t that his plan, Rick? John? From the beginning?”

  Mr. Atler’s face reddens and he looks away from me. “Sorry, Daniella,” he says.

  “I didn’t want to tell you,” says her father.

  Dany looks between us all, confused, hurt.

  “If you could get a vulnerable woman to love you, you could get her to do anything, even further your business ambitions. Right, Jones?” says Shawn.

  “No,” I say. I’m shaking my head. But my heart is in my gut. Dany looks between Shawn, Mr. Atler, her father, and me.

  “Step aside,” says Shawn. He’s reminding me of what’s at stake.

  The torch from the balloon flickers again. Fire.

  It’s your fault. Your love is suffering.

  “Is that true? Were you using me?” asks Dany. She looks small. Confused. I want to go to her and tell her that it isn’t. That I never would’ve done anything like that. But I can’t.

  “It’s true,” I say.

  Her face leaches of color.

  “I started with the intent to use you. I’m sorry.”

  She shakes her head and a single tear falls down her face.

  “Gentlemen, ladies, can we resume our meeting? Histrionics outside,” says Mr. Drake.

  Dany closes her eyes.

  “But it stopped being that way. Dany, look at me.”

  I walk to her and take her hands in mine. She lifts her face. I want to get lost in her eyes. I use them as a bridge to tell her everything I’ve been scared of.

  “I couldn’t woo you, because you wooed me. From the second you mentioned a Phillips head, and your list, everything about you pulled me in. I fell in love. I love you. Remember when you asked about the rest of your list? The list that lasts the rest of your life? I want that. I want to be there with you.”

  “Jones. Do this and you kiss your career goodbye. Kiss your criminal sister goodbye,” says Shawn.

  He wins.

  Then Sissy steps forward.

  “Dude. Committee dudes. I found some interesting papers you might like to see. Now, I’m only an innocent and naïve kid, but these papers I found, ahem, belonging to Boreman Group, look like, um…embezzlement,” says Sissy. “These are copies. Take as many as you want.”

  My heart stops and then starts up again. My brilliant, wily sister.

  The members of the committee crowd forward.

  The room is in a state of shock. I want to hug my sister. She’s finally using her con artist skills for the power of good. It looks like Shawn, not Sissy, will be the one spending time in the criminal justice system.

  I look at Dany…does this mean? She winks and I have the overwhelming urge to take her in my arms.

  “Do you need a yarn trap?” whispers Sylvie.

  “Daniella, this is unacceptable. Escort your”—Mr. Drake waves his hands—“friends outside. We’ll discuss your wedding attire at the conclusion of the meeting. Shawn will be ready after.”

  Dany shakes her head, “Why does everyone… Father, I’m not marrying Shawn. Also, your recent life choices are extremely questionable.”

  “Daniella,” he says.

  “Daniella, please,” says Shawn at the same time.

  She turns and points at him. “No. No more. Leave me, leave Jack, and leave Sissy alone. Don’t you dare try anything. You and I are done.”

  The girls clap and cheer.

  Dany smiles. “Father, Shawn, members of the committee. If you’ll excuse me, I have a hot-air balloon to catch.” She turns to me. “You coming?”

  Joy fills me. “We’re doing this?”

  “Oh yeah,” she says. “Sylvie, now it’s time for
the yarn trap,” she calls.

  Sylvie throws a big net of yarn over us.

  Then Cleo hoists a 1990s boombox over her head and hits the play button.

  “See you fuddies later,” Cleo says.

  Dany and I are marched to the hot-air balloon to the music of an old-school beat. We’re thrown in the basket.

  “Thanks for waiting, now we’re ready,” says Dany.

  The man gets to work sending the balloon into the sky.

  “Where to?” I ask.

  I feel like the whole world is laid out before us.

  “A beach wedding,” she says, in a half question, half statement.

  I let out a laugh.

  “Dany, a man likes to propose.”

  “Told you, Miss,” says a crackly voice.

  “Is that a walkie-talkie?” I ask.

  Dany laughs and turns off the device.

  She leans into me. I put my arm around her as we rise into the air. There’s no one in the world I’d rather be doing this with.

  “Jack.” She looks up at me, her eyes serious, “I wanted to do something big. I wanted you to know that I’ve been wrong and scared. I love you. I don’t need to be the Dany of the past. Or the Dany from a list. I just need to be me. I’d love it if you’d come along for the ride.”

  These are the best words I’ve ever heard.

  “I love you,” I say. “I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you. I’m sorry it took me so long to learn how to say it out loud.”

  I lean forward and take her mouth. She tastes like home. My home. My future.

  I run my hands over her bare shoulders and down to the soft fabric of her wedding dress.

  We float on the wind, toward the shore.

  Thought returns. I pull away. Her wedding dress.

  We’re headed toward the beach. To number ten, have a beach wedding.

  “Dany,” I say. I shake my head and run my hands through my hair. “Are you taking me to our beach wedding?”

  “Maybe?” she says.

  I let out a long laugh. “You are incredible.”

  “You like the idea?” she asks.

  I shake my head. “No.”

  “No?”

  I reach out and run my hand over her lip. Her shoulders tense. She’s scared. She doesn’t need to be.

  “I want to marry you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. But I don’t want to be a number on a list to be checked off. Will you still have me, will you still marry me, even if it isn’t on the beach, as a number ten?”