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“I suppose so.” I could hear her sigh. “I know I needed to move out here, but I still miss you being around all the time.”
“I miss you, too, Mom.”
“I thought I might come your way for Thanksgiving,” Mom said. “I don’t expect you to cook or anything—we could just go out if you like.”
“Go out for Thanksgiving? No way!” I laughed. “We can cook together. I’d love to see you.”
“I’ll make the arrangements!” Mom said.
Aiden beckoned me, and I took a deep breath.
“Hey, Mom? I have to run, but I’ll call you back this weekend, okay?”
“Of course. Just don’t do anything crazy!”
My heart began to beat faster.
“Um…crazy?” I asked. Was there really some deep mother’s intuition at work here? Did she know I
was about to do something life-threatening?
Good lord, what was I thinking?
“Well, I know you don’t get along with your new boss,” Mom explained. “Just don’t do anything to get yourself fired or get so fed up you quit without having a backup plan.”
“Oh!” I wiped a bit of sweat off my brow. “I won’t do that. I swear.”
“Good girl. I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Sounds good, Mom. I love you!”
“I love you, too, dear.”
I ended the call and took another deep breath. I turned the phone off and placed it in my purse before walking back to the plane. One of the workers took all our valuables, including Aiden’s baseball cap, and promised to lock them up until we got down.
If we got down in one piece, of course.
“All ready?” Greg asked.
“No!” I screamed in my head. Outwardly I smiled and nodded.
Greg climbed up into the plane first and then motioned to me to join him.
“Come on and sit right here,” he said as he patted his thighs.
“On your lap?” I asked.
“Between my legs,” he corrected. “We’re going to be pretty cozy on the way up.”
I sat between his legs, and then Mike climbed in and sat between mine. Aiden sat in front of Mike, and we all sandwiched ourselves into the small aircraft. There were three other jumpers going with us—one of them in tandem like Aiden and I were. The other two were experienced jumpers and going on their own.
“Getting personal again,” Greg warned as he began to buckle his harness to the back of mine. His hands came around my front as he checked the latches around my chest. I tried not to lean too far back against him, but it was nearly impossible in the close quarters. By the time we reached fourteen thousand feet, my back hurt from trying to sit up straight, so I gave up and rested against his chest.
“We’re good!” the pilot called from the cockpit. “Fourteen thousand five hundred feet.”
The door on the side of the plane opened, and I peered around Mike’s shoulder into nothing but blue sky and a few wispy clouds.
Holy crap! What was I thinking?
