“Did which?”
“Both.”
Silas shook his head, took my hand, and led me through the tall grass. We carefully hiked up a steep hill in bare feet for a while, the sound of falling water breaking the gentle, late-spring day. We reached a stream that came out of the dense forest and followed along its bank for a bit. The walk helped keep me warm… sorta, but holy fuck, not wearing pants in this cool weather and being from California? I might die. Silas didn’t seem the least bit bothered.
Eventually the roaring of falling water reached a peak and we came to the edge of a cliff. I gripped Silas’s arm tight as he led me through the stream and onto what I presumed was the Rock—a huge boulder overlooking the drop into the pool below.
“The water is freezing!” I shouted.
“It’s running off the mountains.”
“It’s, like, thirty degrees!” I protested.
“Yeah. It’s exhilarating,” Silas answered with a big grin.
“No way. I’m not jumping off a cliff into ice water,” I said, clinging to him.
“Believe me, it’s worth it. At least once in your life.”
“Why?”
“To say you did.” Silas leaned down and kissed my mouth before prying my hold free. Then he turned, ran to the edge, and leaped off. His voice carried as he fell, echoing among the mountains before making a giant splash. A moment later he let out a high-pitched laugh. “Oh shit! Gideon, come on!”
I hesitantly looked over the cliff to see Silas treading water. “No!”
“Come on! You’ll be okay!”
“I think you’re insane!”
“Take a chance! Don’t be afraid!” he called back.
I stepped away, rubbing my arms vigorously. The air around the water was colder than elsewhere, and hard goose bumps were forming on me. I had zero desire to freeze my balls off. This was not a fun date. What was Silas thinking?
I closed my eyes. The knot of anxiety that I’d been carrying around for so long… in that moment, the last remnants finally dissolved. I made a decision to do something that wouldn’t make me famous, in a place where day-to-day living wasn’t cutthroat but simply average. I had decided to give up fighting to be the best tattoo artist when I wasn’t, and that was all there was to it. Instead I could be a good chef to people who appreciated the skills I had, even if I was nowhere near the number onefood artist, as Silas called me. And maybe there was nothing all that thrilling about Nowhereville, New Hampshire, but I couldn’t remember ever being this happy before.
Happy with waking up to a routine and a sweet guy and just living life.
And if something went wrong, Silas would be there to catch me.
There wasn’t anything to regret, and nothing to be afraid of.
I opened my eyes, ran to the edge, and dived off the cliff.
To say the water was cold upon impact was the world’s biggest fucking understatement. I shot upward, coughing and sputtering and yelping so high-pitched, only a little girl should have hit those notes.
Silas was laughing as he grabbed my hand and brought us to the bank. “Fun, right?”
“F-fun?” I asked, wrapping my arms around myself. “You’re c-crazy! You h-hear me!Crazy!”
He pulled me close and held me tight, kissing the top of my head, forehead, nose, and down to my mouth. “Welcome to New Hampshire.”
“Gee,thanks. Live f-free or d-die when your boyfriend tosses you off a ledge,” I said, teeth chattering.
“Ass,” Silas chuckled, then kissed me again. “Come on. I packed towels and food in the car.”
Silas held my hand again, tugging me close as he took a different path back down to where we had parked. It was a quick trip without having to climb the hill and go along the stream like we did to first reach the Rock. We got to his car after a few minutes, and the first thing I noticed was….
“Where did our clothes go?”
