Gracie laughed. “So, did you jump?”
“I did. I wasn’t going to, though. I’d actually started to walk back down to our canoe by myself.”
“What stopped you?”
“Scott.”
“He made you jump?”
Nate grinned. “The exact opposite, actually. He told me it was perfectly fine if I didn’t want to do it, and what those boys were saying didn’t mean jack shit.”
“I’m confused. If you didn’t want to jump, and Scott made you feel okay about not jumping, then why do it?”
“I don’t know.” Nate looked out onto the shimmering water below. “Maybe it was because I knew Scott was leaving for boot camp the week after we got back home, or the fact that I didn’t want those boys to keep teasing me the rest of the time we were here. All I do know is the minute Scott held out his hand and offered to either jump with me or walk me back to our cabin, it was like a switch was flipped. Suddenly, there was nothing that would have kept me from jumping with him.”
“What happened after?”
Nate’s smile grew wider. “We spent the rest of the day jumping into the lake.”
Gracie smiled. “That’s a really great memory, Nate.”
“It is,” he nodded. “So, what do you say?”
Not understanding, she asked, “What do I say about what?”
He tilted his chin toward the edge of the cliff. “You want to try it?”
“Me?” Her jaw dropped, and she put her hands palms-up. “Oh, I-I don’t know.”
“You can swim, right? You told me you could when we rented the canoe.”
“Yeah.” She nodded her head. “I’m an okay swimmer, I guess.” She looked back over the edge and swallowed hard. “But, that’s a really long way down.”
“I know it seems like it, but it’s actually not. You’ll only be in the air a few seconds before we’re in the water, and I promise I’ll be with you the whole time.”
If she didn’t want to jump, Nate wasn’t going to pressure her. Gracie seemed to be considering it, though.
Biting her lip, she studied the distance to the water closely. Through the mesh of her water shoes, he could see her big toe bouncing up and down and felt guilty for making her feel so nervous.
“You know what? Never mind. Forget I said anything. We’ll just go back down to the bank and swim around for a while.”
Nate took her hand in his and started back toward the trees. They’d made it three whole steps before he felt a strong tug on his arm.
“No.”
He turned to face her. “No?”
Gracie straightened her shoulders. “I want to do it. I want to jump.”
“You sure? It’s seriously fine if we don’t.”
“I’m sure.”
He could tell she was still nervous, but a new look of determination had begun to take over.
“Okay, then. Let’s do it.” Once they got to the edge of the cliff, Nate gave her a few tips. “You want to land feet first. Try to make yourself as straight and tall as possible before you hit the water. Think pencil.”
“Just not the bendy kind, right?”
