Page 52 of A Thousand Second Chances

We get our tickets, and I opt for the most basic course on Percy’s behalf, earning a grateful smile from him. A guide leads us around the building to a practice area with a few ropes, logs, and other obstacles set up. I suppress a grimace when I see the harried family already there, the kids in some sort of improvised wrestling match.Oh, joy.

It doesn’t take long for an instructor to arrive with a slew of safety harnesses for us. The guy is buff and kinda cute despite his scraggly beard and wild hair. I catch Percy giving him furtive looks and fight down a surge of jealousy. He can look at whoever he damn well wants to. It’s not like we’re together…or like he’d ever leave the closet enough to make a move anyway.

Putting on the harness proves simple enough, especially since I’ve worn similar get-ups before. I finish tightening my straps, wincing a little at how snug it is around my groin, then turn to check on Percy. I snort when I find him a tangled mess.

“Aren’t you supposed to be the smart one?” I tease.

“These clasps and cords make no sense! I slipped it on my legs like the guy said, but I can’t seem to secure it right.”

A quick glance reveals the instructor is in his own personal hell as he tries to wrangle five hyperenergetic kids into their harnesses. The parents offer little help as they take advantage of the break. We could wait for him to finish, which could take anywhere from a minute to an hour. Or…

Swallowing, I step toward Percy. “Here, let me help you. You’ve got it twisted up.”

My hands move toward the tangled straps around his legs, and he takes a quick step back, his cheeks reddening. “No, that’s okay. I’ve got it.”

I roll my eyes. “Clearly.”

Percy hesitates, fingers hovering uncertainly over the mess of cords and buckles. “Really, it’s fine. I can—”

My patience runs out, and I slap his hands away to start working on the straps. “For God’s sake, Perce, we’ve beeninsideeach other. I think we can handle a little physical contact without imploding.”

His body goes rigid as my fingers accidentally brush over his thighs, and I pause, worried I’d taken that too far. I don’t want to make him uncomfortable. I look up. “Is this okay?”

He remains tense but jerks a nod, so I keep going. As I untangle his harness, I try to stay focused on the task at hand rather than the heat radiating from his body, so close I could stretch out my fingers and…

“There, done,” I say a bit breathlessly as I step back. “Harness properly equipped so you won’t fall to your death.”

He pales. “Thanks for that lovely image.”

I grin. “You’re welcome.”

Eventually, the instructor finishes outfitting the family and gives us the usual safety spiel. I look around the forested area we’ll be traversing, only half paying attention. Percy, however, hangs on every word, his eyes wide. Maybe I’m a bit of a sadist because, honestly, his terror is kind of adorable.

After running through the basics—never take off your harness, never unhook yourself from the safety line, don’t do anything stupid—the instructor makes us practice on the mini-course they have set up here. Supposedly, it contains everything we’ll encounter on the actual course, including balance beams, unstable wooden platforms, and a short zipline at the end.

“These gloves smell like they haven’t been washed in years,” Percy says, wrinkling his nose as he slips them on.

“That’s because they probably haven’t.”

“And that zipline looks a bit wobbly, don’t you think?”

“It’s like three feet off the ground, Perce. Pretty sure you could stand up and walk it if you wanted.”

“Yeah,” he insists. “But ifthisone is in poor repair, then therealone probably is as well. Maybe we should—”

“Perce.” My voice wavers between annoyance and amusement. “Ipromisenothing bad is going to happen. I’ll be right there next to you the entire time. Okay?”

He swallows, meeting and holding my gaze. “Okay.”

Heat tingles down my spine, and this time I’m the first to look away. To my immense relief, the instructor lets Percy and me go before the family, perhaps rightly surmising how much it would suck being stuck behind that group of rowdy kids. I navigate the practice course with ease, stumbling only a little over an intersection plate where you have to twist your carabiner a certain way to shift it from one safety line to another.

Then it’s Percy’s turn. I watch with bated breath as he replicates what I’d done. He moves far slower than I had, pausing at each new obstacle to take it in and frequently fumbling with his carabiner. But he gets through it. When he reaches the short zipline at the end, he hesitates, eyeing the gap nervously. I resist the urge to shout encouragements, worried that’ll only make him more flustered. Instead, I give him a confident smile when he glances over.

Come on, Perce. You’ve got this!

His face firms with resolve, and then he’s zooming across, legs held up so they don’t drag across the ground. Watching him go, pride blooms in my chest. It’s such a stupid thing—hell, we’re not even on the real course yet. But I know that, for him, this was already a huge step outside his comfort zone.

As soon as the instructor unhooks Percy from the line and announces that we’re good to start the actual course whenever we’re ready, Percy bounds over to me, grinning. “Did you see that?”