Free The Sisterhood of the Queen Mamas by Annie Jones

needed help.
    Of course, that didn’t mean I’d given up on Bernadette. And, to my surprise, Bernadette hadn’t entirely given up on herself, either.
    “Is there room…that is, could that thing still get off the ground with one more passenger?” She flipped back her black hair and marched right up to Sammy. Shoulders back and eyes on the balloon overhead, she wet her lips, then glanced at everyone gathered there, one by one. “I am the one giving the tour today, after all. Seems like up in the air is as good a place to start as any.”
    “What do you think?” Jake moved to put himself between Sammy and Chloe, who were waiting in the basket.
    “I think our girl is actually standing up for herself a little,” Maxine whispered in my ear, giving the young woman a solid thumbs-up.
    Sammy nodded. “No problem. Chloe knows how to work it from in there. That’s how safe it is. You’ll see. You only go up high enough to see the ground and the rooftops of nearby houses.”
    “All right, then. Let’s go,” Bernadette got in, and when Jake joined her, I got the distinct feeling that she would have felt lighter than air even without the basket and the blast from the flame.
    “You’re a good man, Reverend,” I said quietly, then stepped away and tipped my head back.
    The flame flared. The balloon loomed above us. It took my breath away, but I still found enough to whisper a little prayer. “Please, Lord, keep these passengers safe. Help us all to know the right thing to do to be of help and service to our fellow man. And let us know that we do not always have the big picture but You do and that is where we will place our trust.”
    “Hey, I can see the whole lot,” Bernadette shouted. “There, see, Reverend Cordell? The number one-ten spray painted on the asphalt? That’s where I set up my booth.”
    “I’m sure it’s lovely,” he shouted back.
    “Mine’s next to it.” Chloe reached out over the edge of the basket to point. The whole thing rocked, just slightly.
    Maxine gulped.
    “Do you see anything that might be considered a problem that we need to look into?” Now I was shouting.
    “Yeah, like does Odessa have any cavities?” Maxine called up.
    I frowned at her.
    “Hey, I thought as long as they were up above us and you had your mouth open…Oh, who am I kidding? You always have your mouth open. Lots of time to check your teeth, girl.”
    “I see a bridge, but it’s not the dental kind,” Jake called, playing along. “And I see…”
    He paused, shaded his eyes with one hand, then said something to the girls. Both of them turned in the direction he had been facing and shaded their eyes, too.
    Talk about something piquing a person’s curiosity!
    “What?” I shouted up, wishing I had overcome my reticence and taken the ride so I could see for myself. “What is it? Is it something our action council should delve into?”
    “I think maybe it is.” Jake did not look down, but Bernadette did.
    “What is it?” I jumped. More a hop, really, as if that teensy bit of extra height would, I don’t know…either let me see what they saw or help them hear me better. “What do you see?”
    “Not what,” Bernadette answered. “Who.”
    “Who?” Even Maxine had to get in on that question, and we both hooted it together.
    “Jan Belmont.” Bernadette enunciated every syllable.
    “Is she…What?” I wondered whether I would recognize the woman’s car on sight, as they must have with their view of the grounds. “Is she headed this way?”
    “I hope not,” Jake said.
    “Why?” I asked.
    “Because it would be a long way for her to jump.” His gaze remained fixed in the distance.
    “Jump?” I did it again myself, just a small leap for my kind—the old-lady kind. I couldn’t help it. This whole conversation made me want to do… something. “Where is she?”
    “Sitting on a roof.” Jake shook his head.
    A roof. The roof. The place from which her husband had fallen and altered the course