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“Being a parent doesn’t mean you fail to live your dreams.”
“You’re right. It also means I’m responsible for the health and happiness of a child, and I should make choices that aren’t going to negatively impact that.” She finishes her sentence by eating the last of the pretzel. I ball up the tissue napkin and stuff it in my pocket.
“You take risks every day. The chance of something bad happening is equal, if not much greater, from living everyday life than it is in skydiving.”
“Okay, Mr. Statistics. All I’m saying is that I’d feel horrible forcing you to explain to our kid why Mommy was selfish and got herself killed while trying to have a little fun in her life.”
“First of all, you’d be dead so you wouldn’t feel a thing,” I deadpan.
A little sneer emerges, so damn cute I want to kiss it off her face.
“People die, Kiersten, and the saddest part isn’t that they’re gone,” I declare honestly. “It’s that they’re gone before they’ve truly had a chance to live. We mourn those who are taken away too soon the most.”
At the crack in my voice, Kiersten does an about-face and stands toe-to-toe with me, reaching up to stroke my cheek. Her lips part on an exhale, and the white puffs of our breaths float between us.
“I’m sorry, Nathan. I didn’t mean to be so flippant.”
I cradle her hand over my cheek, pressing it in deeper and soak in the additional warmth.
“You’re misunderstanding.” My head shakes, and I blink away at the scratchiness behind my eyelids. “You have to live. I need you to live. In whatever way that looks like to you. If I have to chase you around the earth and watch you jump out of airplanes and dive beneath oceans and dirt bike around canyons, I will.”
She crinkles her nose. “You’d follow me?”
Releasing her hand, I leave it against my face and claim her around the back of her neck. Our foreheads touch, and I contemplate her bright red lips.
“Anywhere.” The word alone feels too heavy, too romantic for this box we’ve found ourselves in. “Someone has to make sure you’re safe and cheer you on.”
“Just admit you want to join me on these adventures.”
She leans back, forcing me to release her even though I want to hold her close to me forever.
“Nah. Our little guy will need one sane parent. Otherwise, we might accidentally raise a stuntman and have to move to Vegas.”
“Vegas doesn’t sound so bad.”
“It does if you aren’t a fan of one-hundred-degree weather.”
She makes a face and tosses her empty cup into a nearby trash can. “Yeah, that sounds like hell.”
We laugh and continue on our way. I realize we’re nearly three-fourths of the way through, and I still haven’t given her my final surprise. Sudden nausea overtakes me, and sweat starts beneath my heavy coat.
Kiersten keeps walking and talking, oblivious to my inner turmoil. I seize my chance. While she seems intensely passionate about hot air balloons, I drop to one knee and wait.
“I just, I don’t understand. It’s a fabric balloon being propelled by straight fire! I understand gases and sc
ience and whatnot are involved, but at least with skydiving, you have two parachutes, and with bungee jumping, something’s tied around your ankles. If that balloon stops working, it’s a straight trajectory back down …” She turns, eyes wide and mouth dropping open the second she spots me on the ground.
“What is this?” Her throat bobs visibly. “I mean, hell no. You can’t be seriously doing this to me right now. I said friends. Jesus, what the hell, Nathan. Please get up before someone sees you and starts recording. Crap, you’re not moving. Can we just talk about this first?”
A man can only hold a straight face for so long. I pull my hand out of my pocket and tie my bootlace. The battle with my smirk is lost when she shrieks.
“You son of a bitch.”
I lick my lower lip and sink my teeth into it, her gift wrapped tight in my palm as I stand. She backs up as I near, worrying me she might fall on her ass. Games are fun as long as nobody gets hurt. Lunging, I snag her around the waist and pull her against my chest. Her struggle rubs her body against mine, making it damn near impossible to fight an erection with her so close to me.
Friends can remain friends as long as they don’t turn each other on. And I can tell by the increase in her breath and added flush to her cheeks that she’s not unaffected. Only time will tell what exactly that means for us, but it does the ego good to know I’m not alone in feeling things.
My mouth nears her ear, and my voice drops to a huskier tone. All she does to me filters through the inflection.
