“Sure.” Chuck helped Sebastian use a tow bar to pull the Cessna out of the hangar, then looked at his watch. “I’ve got an appointment down the alley. Have fun.” A moment later, he strolled away with a bag of tools over his shoulder.
Sebastian told the reporters, “I need to run my checklist. There’s a restroom back by the office, and there’s a vending machine in there if you want anything.”
“There’s your chance to eat dessert first,” Roz murmured to Alden as Sebastian got started on preflight checks.
He snorted. “No, thanks. I’d rather have a nice dinner later with you.”
“Or would you rather go to the Rusty Rocket?”
Alden smiled. “I had to do something to pass the time before I met you. It’s a dive, but they have good bands.”
“You’ll have to take me sometime.”
Alden and Roz each took advantage of the restroom, then Roz checked her camera to be sure she had a fresh battery and plenty of room on the memory cards.
It took Sebastian just over ten minutes to complete his checks, punctuated by a couple of reverberating sneezes, and then he invited them to climb aboard. No stairs were needed—the plane wasn’t that big. Roz and Alden entered the door under the wing on the passenger side.
“I want to sit in the back so I can move from window to window,” Roz said as she ducked into the second row, which had two seats. The plane had only four, and calling it cozy was generous.
“I love the front,” Alden said with a touch of sarcasm as he settled in the seat next to their pilot, who handed them headphones with a microphone attached so they could talk.
Sebastian touched buttons and switches while scanning a laminated checklist. “Make sure your harnesses are secure for takeoff. You might be able to move around later. Waist first, then click in the shoulder straps.”
Alden was way ahead of him, door secured and already buckled in, and Roz buckled hers, too, after a minute of figuring out the system. Though she hoped to free herself later and shoot from both sides of the plane.
Her adrenaline jumped as Sebastian turned a key and the engine roared to life. After more checks, he called out on the radio. “Comet Cove traffic. November one seven niner Bay Rays, departing runway one-one southbound. Comet Cove traffic,” he repeated.
Roz chuckled at the “Bay Rays.” Hardcore baseball fan, indeed.
No one called back, and Sebastian took a good look around to make sure no one was leaving or landing before he lined up for takeoff. And then they were rolling down the runway with the sun behind them.
“You two all right?” Sebastian asked, his voice slightly distorted through the headset.
“All good,” Roz said.
“Fine,” Alden answered. Was he?
Roz reached forward and touched his shoulder, and he shot her a smile over his shoulder. He seemed fine. But she wondered if she should’ve bought him a chocolate bar anyway.
“Takeoff,” Sebastian said.
They lifted off the ground, wobbling a bit, climbing. She could’ve sworn the engine hiccuped, and Alden sent their pilot a sharp look. But Sebastian’s face betrayed no concern, so Roz decided not to worry either. He knew what he was doing.
The view quickly captured her attention as he banked the plane toward the south. “We’ll look at the studio lot first, and then I’ll show you all of Comet Cove if you’re interested,” Sebastian said.
“Awesome,” Roz answered.
Sunset was still more than an hour away, but the aging daylight touched the sky with magic. Only a few wisps of cloud remained after the earlier rain, and they glowed with a pale amber light against a sky of softened blue.
The plane leveled, and Roz looked out and snapped photos of the land below where it abutted the Indian River Lagoon. She wasn’t a hundred percent sure she was shooting the right thing, as there weren’t a lot of buildings south of the airport, but then she saw the tiny facades of the fake street and zoomed in to snap several pictures.
Now that she knew she was looking in the right place, it was easy to find the lake Sebastian had mentioned. It was definitely woodsy around it. There was a lot of space and a lot of potential. She popped open her seat harness and moved to the other side to take more pictures.
“Got it?” came Sebastian’s voice in her ear.
“Got it!” she said, and he changed direction, arcing north even as he gained altitude. The engine coughed again.
She and Alden exchanged a glance.
