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Before she knew it, Nash had stopped the car. “We’re here.”
She looked around her, not recognizing where they were.
“Look up, Mom,” Kevin said.
Oh my. They were in the parking lot of a zip-line course. Her breath caught in her throat. “Are we going to ride zip lines?”
Nash smiled. “It’s as close as we can get to jumping out of a plane today.”
Though the thought of zip-lining was more than a little terrifying, she was amazed that he’d listened so carefully when she’d talked about dreaming of jumping out of a plane. Even better, Nash and Kevin had decided to do something about it and try to give her one of her dreams that she had given up on.
She wanted to throw her arms around both of them. As soon as they got out of the car, that’s exactly what she did.
First, she hugged her son. “This is super exciting. Thank you, honey.”
And then she hugged Nash, even though touching him was extremely risky given that she never, ever wanted to let go.
“I’m super nervous,” she admitted as she forced herself to step out of his arms rather than burrow in closer. “What if I can’t do it? What if I’m not brave enough?”
But Nash didn’t look at all worried. “You’re the bravest person I’ve ever known, Ash. There’s nothing you can’t do.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Matt, the manager of the zip-line course, measured and fitted them for the harnesses, then walked them through the safety protocols. Thankfully, both Matt and his assistant were low-key about meeting Nash. Though it was obvious they knew who he was, they didn’t ask for autographs or gush all over him. Thus far, nearly everyone in town had given Nash space to be a normal guy, rather than treating him like a celebrity. After their experience with the huge crowd of Nash’s fans on the streets of Vienna, Ashley had a feeling there weren’t many other places in the world where this would have been the case.
Ashley’s heart was pounding like crazy as they walked over to the ladder that would take them up to the first zip line. Kevin was bouncing up and down with excitement, but she couldn’t quite read Nash’s expression. It wasn’t until they were standing on the landing, about to take their first ride on what Matt had called an “easy line for beginners,” that she realized Nash looked green around the gills.
Had he brought her here despite his own fears?
As Kevin got ready to jump off, she said quietly to Nash, “Are you okay? Do you want to do this?”
He nodded, though it looked like he was clenching his teeth.
“You’re brave too,” she reminded him. “And I’ll be waiting for you on the other side.”
He leaned forward as though he was going to kiss her, but pulled back when he obviously remembered that they weren’t alone. She deeply regretted missing out on his kiss. But, as she reminded herself for the thousandth time, it was for the best.
No more blurred lines between her and Nash meant no blurred lines for Kevin. There was no way Ashley and her son were going to uproot their lives to follow a musician around the world in the hopes that it would all magically work out. She knew far too well how harsh reality could be. Staying safe in Bar Harbor would be smarter than risking everything on a man who had made it perfectly clear, more than once, that he wasn’t the staying kind. Nash was simply a friend of the family.
“Mom, make sure to get a video of me, okay?”
Her hands shook a little as she held up her phone to take the video. She couldn’t quite shake her instinctive fear for his well-being.
“All right, whenever you’re ready,” the instructor said.
With a whoop, Kevin launched himself off the platform. Though Ashley’s heart was in her throat as she watched her son fly through the air, her worries were mitigated by the joy and exhilaration on her son’s face.
She wished she had done this sooner. Although honestly, she couldn’t imagine being here without Nash.
Watching Kevin spin around in the air to give her a thumbs-up and a massive smile, she wanted her son to always be this happy. She never wanted him to have regrets or experience sadness. But she realized with a jolt, as he made it to the landing on the other side and high-fived the second instructor, who was waiting for him, that wasn’t always going to be up to her, was it?
The truth was—and this was something she was only just starting to accept—as Kevin grew older, he’d come more and more into his own. Regardless of how hard she might work to keep him safe, there would come a time when his life decisions would be entirely up to him, and he would fly the nest just as he’d flown from the tall platform today.
