Of course, that statement was a little harder to follow through with when I was standing on a platform a hundred and sixty feet in the air and ready to plunge through a forest down a mountainside on a thin metal cable. They had rigged it so that Pete would be following a hundred feet or so behind me on the cable filming my experience through the trees as Jason stood at the landing area with another camera to capture my arrival. This would have been something Ryan would have dearly loved to do, and just before I stepped off into air, I wished I had brought him along.
It felt like I was literally flying through the trees, with the only sound (besides my initial scream) being the sound of the equipment sliding over the metal cable. Pete told me to feel free to ham-it-up on the zip-line, so seconds after launching I went arabesque and then (praying the whole time the guy who hooked me up was telling me the truth about what I could do) I flipped upside down, flying head first over the river. I righted myself as I neared the landing, I could hear the cable brakes being applied and my 50 mile-per-hour flight was coming to an end.
“That was freaking awesome!” I yelled to Jason as they were unhooking me. Just then Pete arrived, laughing about my reaction to the adventure.
“Okay, Leese, are you ready to go bungee jumping?”
I nodded enthusiastically, my throat at the moment too dry for words.
We made it to the bungee jumping site and I had to admit this was a hundred times more frightening than flying down a cable. This was like suicide with a safety net, “I honestly don’t know if I can do this,” I admitted, trying to worm my way out of diving off the bridge.
“Come on, Leese, you’ll love it. Give it a try.”
“Oh, really? Have you ever jumped, Jason?”
“As a matter of fact, yes, I have.”
“Great. You do it first and then I’ll do it.”
“I’ll go you one better, I’ll do it with you.”
Worry shot through my mind. If I wasn’t sure that I trusted (basically) a giant rubber band to save me from a smashing death, did I really trust it to hold two of us from diving to our demise?
“You’re always in the palm of God’s hand, Leese, no matter where you are,” Pete added.
He was right, and my confidence re-bloomed.
Jason and I were tethered to a giant bungee line as we moved cautiously out onto the tiny platform. I was shivering uncontrollably, not so much from the cool air, but from terror. Jason wrapped me in his arms and asked if I was ready. It was at that moment I realized he might have ulterior motives for volunteering. He wasn’t much older than me and he certainly seemed to enjoy an opportunity to body-hug me.
“Okay?” Jason asked.
Before I could open my mouth, he had pushed off from the platform and we were swan-diving to the shallow river below. I know my scream was piercing, but I didn’t close my eyes as the earth rushed up to greet us. Suddenly I felt the tension in the line and our decent slowed as we neared the water. I stretched my arms over my head to try to reach it, but we were a couple feet shy of being close enough to get wet. The line pulled us back skyward and then sent us, once more gently toward the river.
I was laughing and crying at the same time. What an adventure Canada was turning out to be.
Jason was only laughing, but still holding me tightly as we dangled upside down. “Want to do it alone now?”
“No. Once was enough of a thrill. You guys are just going to have to show this with you in it. I’m done.”
I could tell at that moment he wasn’t going to mind being in the clip.
The plane was repaired by night fall, but they wanted to run a couple more tests and said we would take off about four a.m. We landed in Colorado at around eight in the morning as I told the guys goodbye and jumped into my Aero and headed home. I couldn’t wait to pounce on the bed and wake Ryan and tell him what I had done.
I pulled up to the house and didn’t bother to grab my bag. I was going to be loading the car for the new house in a few hours anyway, but I had to tell my adventure to him before I exploded.
I unlocked the door and headed straight for his bedroom, surprised that his door was nearly closed. He never closed his door. I could see his arm hanging off the side of the bed in what appeared to be in an unnatural position. Panic gripped me. I had the sudden feeling something was horribly wrong. My heart was lunging against my breastbone as I softly called his name and gave the door a gentle push.
The sight that greeted me froze me to the earth. It was not at all what I had feared to find-and for a jealous split second it was almost worse. He was asleep in the tangled bedding-with Candace.
The air caught in my throat as his sleepy face raised my direction. He tried to right himself in the bed, but she had crowded him too close to the edge and he fell out onto the floor-stark naked.
“Ah, shit!” I exclaimed, turning swiftly and then clamping my hand on my mouth over the remark. I jerked his door closed and headed for the front door.
“Leese, don’t go,” I heard his voice as I gripped the door knob.
“I’ll-I’ll be-back-I just can’t…” I went out the door and jumped into my car; I was so dumbfounded I just simply drove without thinking.
I wanted him to find someone, someone who could mean to him what Micah meant to me, but why did it hit me so hard? If I could have Micah back right at this very moment, would I turn and leave Ryan without a second thought? I knew I would.
How could I be so selfish? He needed someone who could give him everything I couldn’t, and I should be happy for them both. Then there was the embarrassing moment of seeing him nude. I was trying to stop seeing it inside my head and suddenly the humor of the whole thing hit me and I began to laugh. I was flying in there to tell him about my ‘great’ adventure and instead stumbled on to what had been his great adventure.
I turned the car around and drove to the bistro and bought breakfast for three and then drove the two blocks back to the house. My hands were shaking so badly I hoped I wouldn’t spill the coffee before I got it inside to the table.
Just as I reached the door, he opened it for me. His face was deep red and I had to do my best not to look at him at the moment. Candace was sitting on the sofa in his tee-shirt and a pair of underwear. I didn’t particularly care to see her dressed that way. She was taking a little too much liberty in what was, at least until I took my bags out of the house today, still me and Ryan’s place. I ignored her attire and asked if they were hungry.
“Starving, actually,” she spoke up, following me to the table.
I wanted to say, ‘yeah, sex will do that to an appetite,’ but I kept my mouth shut.
“So, how was Canada?” he asked, pulling out a chair for me.
“I really wish I’d brought you along,” I blurted, not thinking that it would sound like I wanted to prevent what occurred between the two of them. “I-I-mean the plane had hydraulic problems and…”
I could see a worried expression come over his face at the mention of airplane trouble.
“Anyway,” I continued, “Pete and Jason talked me into a day of adventure; I went down a mountain on a zip-line at about fifty miles an hour, and then Jason and I went bungee jumping.”
“Bungee jumping?” Ryan raised an eyebrow at the same moment a little crooked grin appeared on his face.
“It was terrifying,” I confessed, “you’d have loved it. So-Candace-you must have stayed the night,” I said trying to keep the little quiver out of my voice. “You must be playing hooky today.”
“No,” she laughed. “It’s a record day, so I don’t have anything to do until three when I go into work.”
“Oh,” was all I could come up with.
“I’m going to go take a shower,” she said, drinking the last of her coffee and rising from the table. “Do you want to take one with me?” she reached over and was tugging Ryan’s hand toward the bedroom.