by Jessica Wood
“Exactly. So it’ll definitely be the best birthday you’ll remember.” He chuckled on the other end of the receiver. “I told you I’m a man of my word. Am I good or am I good?”
I couldn’t help but laugh at his playful personality. As much as I had resisted him before, it was clear to me now why I had never really written him off. There was something comforting and genuine about him. He was straightforward and uncomplicated, and I never had to question how he felt about things. Maybe he’s what I need right now.
I took a deep breath and smiled. “Okay. Pick me up in half an hour.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
When I walked out of the house to meet Ethan thirty minutes later, he was leaning up against his Harley, looking devilishly sexy in his worn-leather jacket, simple white T-shirt, and dark-washed jeans. The sexual allure that made him seem so self-confident was almost palpable in the air around him.
His dark brown eyes lit up the moment he saw me, and my breath caught when I saw his eyes roam down my body as I approached him.
“Ready for some fun, birthday girl?” His warm, seductive smile was devastating, feeling more intimate than a kiss.
“Hi.” I nodded, finding it hard to speak.
He outstretched his arms and pulled me into his hard chest for a hug, and as I disappeared into his protective embrace, I inhaled his scent and relaxed in the comfort of his nearness.
He drew in a deep, audible breath. “You smell amazing.” My skin tingled as I felt his breath against my neck.
After a few moments, I started to feel self-conscious and pulled away from him. I cleared my throat before meeting his intent gaze.
“So what are we going to do today?”
“Well, it’s not a surprise if I tell you, now is it?” He grinned.
I made an exaggerated frown. “So when exactly am I going to find out, then?” I bit my lower lip and wondered if he could detect my nervousness.
“Hop on.” He motioned to the bike. “You’ll find out when we get there.”
Once I got on the bike, he grabbed the extra helmet and put it over my head. Then he paused and stared at me intently. There was something tender about the way he looked at me, as if he were trying to remember every detail of my face before it was too late.
“Ready?” I asked as I shifted in the seat, pretending to not notice his fixed gaze on me.
A warm smile spread across his face. “Do you know how cute you look on a bike?” He tucked the loose strands of hair behind my ears.
“Thanks.” My face grew hot and I forced a smile. I wasn’t sure why I felt so nervous, but I felt my eyes studying the way his lips moved when he spoke.
He got on the bike in front of me and leaned back to check on me one last time. “Ready?”
I nodded. “I think so.”
“Hold on tight. I won’t mind.”
I wrapped my arms around his torso, and my hands felt his powerful well-muscled body as the bike’s engine roared to life.
After about twenty minutes, we turned into a small, rough gravel road that led into a wide, open field.
I frowned, unsure of why we were here. But then I gasped and a wave of panic instantly paralyzed me when my eyes landed on the sign against the building at the end of the parking lot. Freefall Adventures Skydiving School.
“Surprise!” Ethan parked and got off the bike. He removed his helmet as he turned to look at me.
I stared at him blankly with wide eyes and then back at the sign. My face must have been ghostly pale because Ethan’s smile faded a little as he helped me remove my helmet.
“I know this is completely different from a day of apple-picking at Melburn Orchards, but I thought it’d be something that’d be memorable and fun for you to do on your birthday.”
“So…we’re skydiving?” I asked him tentatively.
“Yeah, it’s a little crazy, but it’ll be fun!” he encouraged excitedly. “You can check it off from your bucket list.”
“My bucket list?” I was still dazed from the surprise.
He let out a warm laugh. “Yeah, skydiving’s usually on people’s bucket list of things they want to do before they die.”
Hearing him talk about death made me feel queasy. My chest heaved up and down as I tried to breathe. “I’m not sure, Ethan.” I look at him apologetically. “I don’t know if I can do it.”
He placed his hands on my shoulders and squeezed them gently. “Don’t worry, Liv,” he reassured me. “I would never pressure you to do anything you didn’t want to do. I just wanted to bring you here as an option. I thought it’d be something you’d really enjoy. I’ve done this a number of times here, and it’s completely safe and I trust the instructors here. You wouldn’t be skydiving on your own. It’d be a tandem jump and you’d be strapped onto an experienced diver, so nothing will go wrong. I’ll even personally prepare and check the parachutes you and your instructor will be using.”
“You will?” I met his tender gaze and tried to think through the paralyzing fear.
“You can trust me. I promise.” He gave a reassuring nod. “I’m a certified diver, and I’ve been coming to this place ever since I moved here five years ago.”
“I…” I felt slightly sick to my stomach at the thought of skydiving. I wanted to tell him that I wasn’t sure this was a good idea. It was too sudden, and I wasn’t as adventurous as he seemed to be. I wanted to tell him that I wasn’t ready for this.
But before I could say anything further, something overhead caught my attention.
Up in the clear blue sky, about a dozen tiny colorful specks seemed to move around in various directions. I gasped in awe as I realized that the specks were people that were slowly floating downward on colorful parachutes.
“It’s beautiful, huh?” Ethan followed my gaze with a smile. “There’s nothing like the exhilarating feeling of being up there. The rush. The adrenaline. It really makes you feel alive.”
I just nodded as I watched the parachutes increase in size as they one by one descended to the open field. There was a sheer look of delight and wonder on the faces of the people as they landed on the ground and took off their goggles. Some laughed, some whooped and cheered, and some gave each other high-fives. There was a gleam in all their eyes, and they looked like they were on top of the world.
“So what do you think, Liv?” Ethan looked at me hopefully. “Live a little,” he added with a small, playful nudge.
What am I afraid of? I asked myself. I didn’t think I was afraid of heights. And there was something about Ethan that made me trust him. I knew he wouldn’t allow me to do anything that’d really put me in harm’s way. Then I thought back to the flashback of the roller coaster ride I was on when I was a kid. I remembered the feeling of exhilaration and joy I had had on the ride. I remembered how addicting the rush of adrenaline had been, and how all-consuming it was to be in that moment where all my worries seemed to disappear. I remembered how free it had felt.
“Let’s do it,” I finally said as I met his gaze with a smile.
“Really?” His eyes brightened at my three little words, and I felt a warm glow inside knowing I had that effect on him.
I nodded. “I think this is exactly what I need.”
“Okay. Let’s go.” His smile widened with excitement.
Thirty minutes later, after a brief training session, we were all geared up and waiting for the plane to arrive to pick our group of two dozen people up.
“Ready?” He gave me a reassuring smile as he made his final checks on the straps to my gear.
I took a deep inhale of breath and nodded. I gave him a confident smile but felt myself freak out on the inside.
He leaned down and gently held my face. “It’ll be fun. Trust me.” He smiled. “Since I’m an experienced skydiver, I’ll be jumping solo, and I’ll make sure to be by your side on the jump down.”
“You promise?” I looked at him nervously.
“If I break my promise,” he paused and grinned, “then you can ha
ve your way with me once we land.”
I laughed and playfully slapped his chest.
Just then, Carlos, my tandem instructor, came over. “Ready?” he asked as he gave me a thumbs-up.
“Not really,” I admitted as I gave him a weak smile.
“Carlos, take care of my girl, here.” Ethan gave Carlos a friendly punch on the arm.
I kept my face emotionless, but my heart skipped a beat when I heard Ethan call me his girl.
“You got it, bro.” Then Carlos turned to me. “When we get to five thousand feet from the ground, I will signal to you to pull the cord to release the parachute.”
“What if I forget?” I looked at him in a state of panic.
“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. I’ll pull it for you if you don’t. Plus, Ethan here will save you if anything happens.”
The two laughed.
I frowned but felt slightly better as I looked at Ethan. “How many times have you done this?”
“I’ve lost count,” he admitted with a grin. “I’m one of the instructors here on some weekends for fun.”
Just then the plane arrived and I felt my heart’s pounding go into overdrive. Carlos secured my harness onto the straps of his gear and gave me another thumbs-up. I returned the thumbs-up, but didn’t feel as confident. We piled into the small plane with about a dozen other student/instructor tandem pairings. Within minutes we were ascending up in the air, and I felt my nerves take over.
Ethan sat across the row from me and he reached over to grab my shaky hand. Our eyes met, and the calm in his eyes relaxed me a little.
“Happy birthday, Liv! Don’t worry. I’ll be beside you the entire time. Take a leap of faith.” He chuckled. “Pun intended.”
I glared at him for making such a joke at a time like this.
He laughed. “Seriously, though, have fun. This is for you, Liv.” He squeezed my hand.
“I know you’ve probably been worrying a lot lately about your past and getting back your memories. You need to remind yourself to relax and let go. Don’t waste your time worrying, and enjoy living in the present. Life is waiting.”
I smiled back, grateful for his encouraging words. He was right. I needed to stop wasting my time worrying about the past and the future. Those weren’t things I could control. I needed to live in the present and enjoy everything life had to offer.
Just then, a crew member at the front of the plane informed us that we’d reached our height of 13,500 feet as he slid open the door to the plane.
I felt a gush of wind hit my face as I stared in horror at the opened door with wide eyes.
“We’re up first,” Carlos reminded me as we were the pair at the front of the two rows of divers. I felt a sense of dread and excitement wash over me as Carlos got up from our seat, pulling me up with him.
“Oh God.” I exhaled sharply. My legs felt weak as we walked the few steps to the door that let out to the open sky.
“Liv.” I turned back to meet Ethan’s encouraging gaze. “Remember to just let go and live in the moment.” He smiled. “I’ll find you guys in the air on the way down.”
I gave a small nod as I turned back to the doorway and looked out to the 13,500 feet of emptiness between my feet and the distant ground below. What did I get myself into? I thought to myself as I froze at the sight of the world before my eyes.
“Okay, on three, we jump,” I heard Carlos’s voice behind me.
I nodded as I forced my eyes to stay open, remembering how much that had helped on the roller coaster when I was young. I crossed my arms and held them against my chest like I had learned during the training session.
“One…two….three!”
I held my breath as we leaped out of the plane. But the second my feet left the platform, I began to scream my lungs out.
I had expected an intense lurch in my stomach much like the feeling of going down on a roller coaster but with more force.
But to my surprise, that unpleasant feeling wasn’t there. Instead, I felt a powerful surge of adrenaline that I’d never felt before course through me as strong gusts of wind blew against my face and body as we free-fell toward the ground.
Just then I saw Ethan several yards away in the sky. Like me and Carlos, he was in a horizontal position as if he were lying on his stomach with his hands and feet above the ground. I moved my hands against the strong wind to wave at him. The moment he spotted me, I watched in amazement as he propelled himself gracefully toward me as if he were flying across the sky.
I tried to speak but the torpedo wind filled my opened mouth, like a high-powered hair dryer was blowing in front of it. Then I remembered that Ethan told me we wouldn’t be able to hear anything during the free-fall because we were falling at such a high speed.
Ethan smiled as he gave me two thumbs-up.
I returned the two thumbs-up and felt giddiness replace the nervousness I had just felt. My heart raced against my chest, and I knew that it had nothing to do with the fact that I was plummeting to the ground at 120 miles an hour, and everything to do with Ethan.
Suddenly, Ethan reached forward and grabbed my arms and I found myself spinning in a circle with him in the sky. Then he pulled me closer to him and before I knew what was happening, our lips met in a passionate kiss that shook me to my core and sent another rush of adrenaline to crash through me. His lips were soft yet hard, gentle yet demanding, as they eagerly devoured mine. My head buzzed with excitement as my body tingled in anticipation for more.
Just then, Carlos reminded us of his presence when he moved his arm in between us and pointed at the pressure gauge strapped around his wrist. I stared at Carlos’s hand and then at Ethan in confusion. He smiled before letting go of my arms. I watched with wide eyes as he pulled his parachute and was shot up to standing position as Carlos and I continued to fall.
It wasn’t until Carlos pulled our parachute that I realized what he was trying to signal me to do. We were pulled up to standing position and began to float the rest of the way down to the ground.
“Did you have fun?” Carlos asked, now that we could finally hear each other.
“That was incredible,” I yelled in a rush.
“You did great! And it looks like Ethan thought the same thing.” I could hear the amusement in his words.
I laughed and thought about our kiss. While it’d been completely unexpected, I realized that it was exactly what I’d wanted—what I’d needed today.
As my thoughts delved deeper into the memory of that kiss, another flashback broke through my consciousness.
“Where are we going?” I asked as he guided me up a grassy hill.
“It’s my special place that I like to go to when I want to feel happy.”
My arm still throbbed in pain from earlier tonight and I thought about my father’s outburst. It was happening more and more frequently now. “I can’t be out for too long. They don’t know I snuck out of the house. My mom might check to see if I finished all my homework before bed.”
“Don’t worry. I just wanted to show you something. It’ll make you smile.”
Finally we got up the hill and found ourselves on the edge of a flat, grassy meadow lit up by moonlight.
He ran to the middle of the clearing where the grass was still soft and undisturbed.
“Come here and lie down next to me.”
I looked around the serene meadow and realized why he must have enjoyed this place. There was a line of trees that surrounded the half of the perimeter that faced the neighborhood. The opened half of the perimeter overlooked the small stream that ran through the far end of the neighborhood.
I walked over and lay down next to him.
“Why are we lying down?” I turned to face him.
He reached between us and grabbed my hand. “Look up there.” He pointed to the dark evening sky with his other hand.
A gasp escaped my lips when I saw what he wanted me to see.
Thousands of bright, brilliant stars glittered the sky as far as th
e eyes could see.
“It’s beautiful.”
“Yeah, it is. I come here when I’m sad about something. It reminds me of how magical and big this world is.”
I smiled and then giggled. “You sound so grown-up.”
“Well, that’s because I’m fourteen and you’re only twelve,” he teased playfully.
I frowned and turned my head to face him. “Are you going to stop hanging out with me when you start high school this fall?”
He turned his attention away from the stars and met my gaze. “No, of course not. Besides, you just live next door. You can always come over to hang out.”
“But what if you get a high school girlfriend?” I asked tentatively. “She might not want you to hang out with me. Sandy said that you’d have a girlfriend soon.”
“Don’t listen to my sister. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”
“But she’s a year older than you. She’s already in high school.”
“I won’t have a high school girlfriend.”
“Really?” I didn’t believe him, and I felt a numbing pain tighten my chest.
“I won’t,” he held my gaze, “because I already have one.”
The moonlight shimmered against his eyes as he looked at me. I wasn’t sure why but I felt nervous. He’d never looked at me this way before.
“Who’s your girlfriend?” I was scared to know the answer. Was it Mary Jane from next door? Or Susie from down the street? Or was it the pretty girl from his eighth-grade class, the one who looked like she could be on the cover of the magazine, Seventeen?
Suddenly, before I knew what was happening, he leaned his face toward me and kissed me.
I felt a rush of happiness run through my body as I moved my lips to kiss him back. His soft lips were sweet and gentle as they explored mine, and I felt my heart soar with glee as he gave me the answer to his question.
He was right, this place was special, and it did make me happy. This was where I experienced my first kiss.
The impact of the grassy field against my feet brought me back to the present. I blinked, trying to let my newest memory sink in. I touched my lips, reveling in the memory of the two kisses I’d just experienced.