AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Ready?” he asked. “I’m going to count down from three, and we’ll run and jump.”
I nodded, lying. I would never be truly ready for this.
“Three.”
The falling water encouraged me, egging me on.
“Two.”
My heart pounded in my ears. My grasp on Parker’s hand tightened.
“One.”
I regretted every decision I made today that brought me here.
“Go!”
Parker gave me a slight pull before we ran and jumped.
For the few seconds I flew through the air, I felt invincible. The wind caught my ponytail and lifted it from my back, sending a tickle down my spine. The people below cheered us on. My body crashed into the water, the heat of the day disappearing and the cool water washing over me.
I swam to the surface to see Parker's wide smile waiting for me. The water pressed down his hair as he pulled me toward him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist as we floated in the water.
“I did it! I’m never doing something like that again, but I did it!”
“You did! I’m so proud of you!”
He peppered kisses along my jawline, ending at my lips.
“How did you know I wouldn’t chicken out and just stomp my way back down the rock?”
“I hoped,” he laughed. I pulled him into a kiss, and he pressed me closer, his hand on the back of my neck.
Although it felt like my heart was about to stop and I would die by falling, I was glad he convinced me to jump. These were the kinds of experiences I had been missing out on by trapping myself in the conference room. A month ago, I never could have envisioned jumping off a rock and plunging into water below with anyone.
We swam around for a little bit, talking about fears.
Parker insisted that he wasn’t afraid of much. His only fear was missing out on all the things life had to offer. I had gotten a glimpse of his work ethic over the last couple of weeks, and he was, on some level, even worse than me. Because of his relationship with Amelia, he felt personally bound and obligated to be perfect at his job. He was still fairly new to their team, so it resulted in long hours as he tried to learn everything about his new industry.
“Before I left, my sister sat me down and told me that she was worried I would miss out on life, so she made me promise to have some fun while I was gone,” he laughed. “So here I am, having fun with you. I had some time to think about it on the plane and while I was getting settled in. As much as I hate to admit it, she’s right. I don’t want to be on my deathbed wondering why I didn’t see more of the world or just shared more laughs with the people I cared about. What about you? What are you scared of besides heights?”
“Unlike you, I am scared of everything.”
Apparently, my new habit was to spill everything in my brain to Parker. I had many fears. Some mundane, some not.
I was scared of heights, spiders, elevators, needles, tigers, and airplanes. For some reason, elephants terrified me, and I avoided motorcycles like the plague. But I shared his fear. Sometimes, I worried that I would look back on life with regret. I was scared to make all the wrong decisions and look back wondering why I hadn’t been happier.
“Seems like this is a great start to both of us making sure that our fears don’t come true,” he said.
We laid on a pair of towels and dried off under the sun briefly before hiking back to the car. The hike back gave us ample time to dry off some more. I was mostly dry when we got to the car, but Parker came well-prepared with towels to set down on both front seats just in case.
In the last month, Parker and I had explored more of New Windsor than in the three years I had lived here.
We perused the multiple exhibits of the entire museum district and learned more about DaVinci’s inventions than I ever cared to know. Parker impressed me with the random facts and figures he knew; his brain contained more information than I thought was possible.
There were more restaurants near us than I had realized. The city had a wider variety of gastronomic choices than expected. Most new restaurants had been a hit, except for the Italian place that gave us food poisoning. That night and subsequent morning had brought a lot of bonding over a trashcan and a bucket.
I had lived more in the last few weeks than in three years. I had Parker and Gabby to thank for that. After this was over and I came down from the high, I wasn’t sure how I would feel. But I knew that I would never regret these twelve weeks. That much, I was sure of.
