Page 6 of The Way the Heart Breaks: Jade’s Story

I shake my head back and forth. “It’s too bumpy.”

“You think we’d let you get hurt?” Jasper asks, moving closer. I arch a brow. “Seriously, it was a scratch.”

“We warned you to keep up.” Jason teases me

I elbow him in the side. “I was keeping up.”

“Better than the time before and the time before that,” Jasper agrees.

Jason doesn’t disagree because he knows we’re both right. Instead, he lifts his chin in the air. “You’re gonna have to fly to keep up with us.”

“Fine.” I laugh as I throw my arms in the air and squeal as the truck goes over a bump. For a brief moment, I feel exhilarated as gravity releases its grip, and I am weightless.

When my feet touch the metal beneath me, I smile so big my face hurts.

“So, what was it like?” Jason asks, smiling.

It’s the perfect moment to toss his words back at him. “You’re gonna have to keep up with me to find out.”

“We already know how it feels.” Jason nods toward the pond, where Alex stands on the platform, gripping the zipline handles. “And now that you do, maybe you won’t be such a chicken butt and finally take a turn.” I narrow my eyes at him, and he shakes his head. “You can’t tell me that after a split second of flying, you don’t want to feel that way again.”

“Not the same.” I huff. “I was flying. Dropping out of the sky is the opposite.”

“Oh, come on,” he yells in amused frustration.

I throw my hands in the air and yell out, “Never!”

We all laugh.

As we get closer, I gasp when I see our cousin Tessa climbing up the ladder to the platform because she’s never done the zip line either.

“I bet now you’ve changed your mind.” Jason chuckles.

“No, I haven’t.” I turn and sit down on the metal bed of the truck, not wanting to see her fall and get hurt.

A few seconds later, Jasper taps on my shoulder. “She’s swimming to shore now; she’s fine. Just like you will be.”

I huff, “When hell freezes over and little devils ice skate.”

My brothers laugh until Dad finally pulls up next to Aunt Josie's truck and parks.

Jason jumps out, and Jasper waits until I’ve climbed down to get out himself.

Dad opens the driver’s side door, holding his hand out for Mom. She takes it, slides across his seat, and gets out.

Smiling, I hear Jake—the youngest cousin in the Ross family—yell for Tessa, his sister, and I turn and run toward them.

“Oh, heck no,” Jason laughs and sprints toward them, asking, “What’s your song for the week, Tessa Ross?”

Smiling as she lifts Jake up and sets him on her hip, she replies, “Fast Car.”

“That’s it.” Jason grabs my hand and pulls me in the opposite direction of our cousin, my best friend. “You two are done spending time together for a while; you even think the same when you’re apart.”

I yank away and hurry toward her.

“You change your song too?” She laughs.

I nod, and when I get close enough so only she will hear me, I whisper, “I still choose 1-2-3 —”