“I . . . want . . . I want to tell you—”
From the nightstand next to them, the alarm on Sam’s phone blared, startling both of them. Sam groaned.
“Ugh, sorry, love,” he said, scooting out from under Ollie so he could reach over and shut off the alarm. He’d forgotten he’d set it to be sure they got up by seven thirty. He hit the button to silence the phone. “That’s... Your mom...” He sighed and shook his head as he turned back to Ollie and gathered him up in his arms again. “Sorry, love, what were you going to say?”
But Ollie mumbled a nonresponse and settled down against Sam, resting his head in the crook of Sam’s shoulder and placing his hand on Sam’s chest, over his T-shirt this time. Sam could feel the slight tension in his boyfriend now, and he tried not to frown as he planted a light kiss on the top of Ollie’s head.
“Um, why—why the alarm?” Ollie asked after another moment.
“Your mom’s instructions. We’re supposed to be ready to go for... something by eight. So—”
“Ah, of course,” Ollie said. Sam felt him relax with a small laugh. “Did she at least tell you what it is this time?”
“Nope.”
“So, we could be... jumping out of a plane, for all you know?”
“Yep.”
“She’s...” Ollie trailed off and shook his head slightly.
“She’s the best,” Sam said, and with a final kiss to the top of Ollie’s head, he added, “But she’ll be really upset with me if we’renotready to go on time. She made me promise. Multiple times.”
Ollie laughed again. “So, I guess we should get up now?”
“Yeah.”
Together, they managed to get up and out of bed, and Sam got dressed first, choosing a comfortable pair of dark gray cargo shorts and a navy blue T-shirt. Then, he made them a quick breakfast while Ollie got dressed. At exactly 8 a.m., they sat in the stools at the island and finished up their cups of coffee while Ollie opened the card from his mom.
Ollie’s eyes widened as he read the message on the inside of the colorful, handmade card. He glanced up at Sam and then back at the card. “What? No way. Sam...”
Sam grinned. “What is it?Arewe jumping out of a plane?”
“No, but... itdoesinvolve flying,” Ollie explained, and with another glance up at Sam, Ollie took a deep breath and started reading. “‘Happy birthday, and I love you! Hope you’re up for anything today, because the sky’s the limit.’ And there’s a little smiley face,” Ollie said, shaking his head. He continued reading. “‘Ron from Friday Harbor Seaplane Tours will be arriving at exactly eight oh five to take you and Sam on a private tour of the San Juan Islands in one of their Dehavilland Beaver seaplanes. Have a great time! Love, XOXOXO, Mom.’”
Sam glanced at the clock on the wall, which had just hit 8:05 a.m. And like clockwork, a knock came at the door. He grinned at Ollie, who was still shaking his head, and then hopped up off his stool.
“Ready for an adventure, love?” Sam offered his hand to Ollie, whose eyes shone with both amusement and excitement.
“Always.”
Chapter 11
The tiny seaplane banked back around to the south, and Ollie sat back in his seat in the front of the cockpit. His cheeks hurt from grinning so much, but he couldn’t wipe the silly smile off his face as he leaned toward the small window on his right side to watch their descent. Sam’s hand settled on his shoulder, and he glanced back behind him. Sam motioned out the window again, then pressed a button on his headset with his free hand.
“There’s more orcas. At least five or six of them,” Sam said, his voice coming in clear over the headset.
Ollie followed the direction Sam was pointing and saw the group of orcas, spy-hopping as they traveled through the San Juan Channel. He nodded and then pressed the button on his own headset to respond.
“It’s amazing.”
Still grinning, Ollie watched the orcas for a few more seconds, able to make out more and more detail as the plane descended toward the water. There were actually six or seven of the whales, including two that were considerably smaller than the others—juveniles, maybe. And they were swimming north.
Next to him, their pilot, Ron, skillfully flew the plane, and within just a few more minutes, the plane’s pontoons touched down smoothly, gliding across the surface of the water toward the seaplane dock. Sam’s hand squeezed Ollie’s shoulder again, and Ollie couldn’t help but look back over his shoulder one more time.
It had been an incredible hour-long flight, with majestic views of the San Juan Islands and the Strait de Juan Fuca and several sightings of gray whales, white-sided dolphins, and orcas. Ron had narrated their trip, showing them several points of interest around San Juan Island, and they’d even flown in awide loop around Orcas Island to the east, the path giving them fantastic, unobstructed views of Mt. Baker on the mainland. Ollie had even gotten to fly the plane for a bit—or at least pretend to, “steering” for a few minutes once they reached their cruising altitude.
And even now, as the plane slowed to a stop and they began to disembark, Ollie still found himself smiling, still feeling so content and happy and just... thrilled to be here and alive and with the man he loved.
