Nova

Leah walked out onto the metal walkway until she reached us.

“Firecracker, what are you doing out here? I’ll take you with me,” Pax promised.

“I’m going to ride tandem with Rachel,” she said. “You have stunts you need to do. There’s no chance I’m holding you back from that.”

“No. No way. I’ll take you. I’ll just come back up—”

“Hell yes!” I said. “A girl jump!”

Leah smiled and pulled away from Paxton, her harness already in place and no doubt examined like she was launching into space. If I thought Landon was obsessed with my safety, well, Paxton was ten times worse with Leah.

“This okay with you, mate?” the guide asked, not knowing which guy to ask.

“Well, since she said it’s okay with her, mate, it doesn’t matter what the boys say,” I sang sweetly.

Leah echoed my smile. “I’m quite capable of making my own choices.”

“Fuck my life,” Paxton muttered. “Fine. Rachel—”

“Save it, Wilder. She was my best friend long before she was anything to you,” I said with a grin. “Strap up, Leah!”

“Guys, I’m going to have to ask you to wait off the platform,” the guide said. “We already have a camera out here, and you’re in my way.” He showed them the way off while they sputtered about safety and harnesses.

“Well, girls, what do you want to do? The drop slide? The backward fall? The cutaway?”

Leah blinked up at me, realizing what she’d signed on for. She had been petrified of heights when we were at Dartmouth, but Wilder had helped her work through a ton of it. But having gone through the accident she did a few years ago, it didn’t surprise me to realize some of that fear would linger.

“Cutaway?” I asked Leah. “Instead of rushing off, we hang there for a second, and then they cut the rope.”

“Yeah, that sounds better than just falling off,” she agreed.

They latched us onto the cord and walked us through the procedure once the ride was over. Then they hoisted us until we hung suspended over the platform. We were jostled as we attached to the line that would swing us down the canyon.

“Oh my God, this sucks,” Leah said, gripping her rope. “Talk to me.”

“About what?” I asked, watching the river raging in the canyon beneath us.

“Anything!” she snapped. Then she took a deep breath. “I can’t let him think I’m upset. He’ll freak out.”

“Ready, girls?” the guide asked.

“No!” Leah yelled.

“It’s not bad,” I promised her. “You just let yourself go. The cord does all the work.”

“Not. Ready.”

“She needs a second. Is that okay?” I asked the guide.

The guide looked behind him, where Pax and Landon stood on land, their arms crossed. “You can have as long as you need.”

“Thanks,” I said, shifting us so that I could slip my arm around her. “Are you okay? You don’t have to do this.”

“No. I do. I’m good. I just… Ugh. Distract me for a second. How are things with Landon?”

I blinked at the change of topic. “Great. We’re connecting again, and I’m happy.”

“Do you love him?” she asked.

“What? We’re not talking about this right now.”

“For fuck’s sake, Rachel. I’m dangling three hundred and fifty feet over a river, getting ready to tell this guy that he can cut the rope that’s holding us here. The least you can do is tell me if you’re in love with Landon so I can die peacefully.”

My mouth opened and shut. “Uh. Well. I mean…”

I looked over to where he stood, shifting his weight back and forth in nervousness. He did this kind of thing all the time, so I knew it was worry for me. Ugh, that melty feeling in my heart was back.

“Are you?” she asked, gripping our harnesses like her life depended on her hand positioning.

I would have rather swung down the canyon wall than discuss my freaking feelings.

“Yes,” I finally admitted. “Yes, I’m in love with him. I’m sure it makes me the stupidest woman on the planet, seeing what he did last time we were together, but I honestly can’t stop my traitor of a heart. Are you happy now?”

“You’re not stupid,” she said softly. “He loves you. I know it.”

“Well, love didn’t help us last time.”

“But it will this time. You’ll see,” she said with all the faith in the world. “You just have to let go and trust. I know that’s the hardest part for you—the trust—but you two are more meant to be together than anyone I’ve ever seen.”

I sighed at my sappy, trusting, perfect best friend and wished I saw the world through her eyes. “Letting go is the hard part.”

“Not really. You just fall.” She used my earlier words against me.

“Are you ladies ready?” the guide asked.

“I am,” Leah said, her smile a touch devious.

“You did it on purpose,” I said. “You wanted my confession.”

She shrugged. “Maybe. Now let’s fly, shall we?”

I laughed and hugged her. “I’m so glad I have you.”

“Ditto,” she said. “Cut us loose!”

The guide took out an actual knife and started to saw through the white rope that kept us tethered to the base. In a second we’d be swinging by only the cord.