Jackie silently repeated this ridiculous promise to a higher power as she stood paralyzed on the edge of a wooden plank, suspended nearly eighty feet in the air above a flowing river, only supported by a harness connected to a zipline. She peered down and looked at the stream.
Okay, God. I’ll throw in the Final Four too! Just get me down from here.
Sure, she loved flying. In an airplane. In first class. This was different—there was no captain, no air mask. She was out in the jungle, exposed to the elements. Not a flute of champagne or safety manual in sight.
This trust exercise, as Shane and Locust had explained, was supposed to bring couples closer together by conquering fears. One partner was supposed to “let themselves go” in order for their partner to catch them on the other side. The other couples in the group had completed the exercise with relative ease. But not Jackie. She was the last person to go across the zipline. After thirty minutes, she was still standing there, frozen.
“Jackie, I’m right here!” yelled Antonio at the other end. “It’s going to be fine. Breathe, babygirl! You have to trust me.”
Jackie stared across the ravine. She tugged at the connection to the wire again.I damn sure don’t trust this wire.
“Jackie,” Locust said softly as she stood next to her. “Just visualize landing in Antonio’s big, strong arms, where you feel safe and protected.”
Jackie gave Locust a death glare.You do it, she wanted to say,sinceyouwant to be all up in his big, strong arms! I’ve seen how you’ve been drooling over him!
Locust chuckled. “Jackie, you sweet spirit, you’re just afraid. But there is nothing to be afraid of. Antonio is asking you to let go. Join him on the other side where everything is alright. Do you understand?”
Jackie scratched her head nervously under the edge of the helmet. What if the wire snapped? Oh lord, she prayed Tanika would at least bury her in her favorite YSL heels, and that her Aunt Ida-Lou wouldn’t get emotional and sing “When the Gates Swing Open” at the funeral. She tugged at the line again.
“The line won’t snap,” Locust assured her. “The odds of that are low.”
But there are still odds!Jackie had known coming to Mexico with Antonio was going to be the death of her, but not like this.
She felt Locust rubbing soft circles on her back. “Breathe, Jackie. Practice the breathwork you learned the other day.”
Jackie thought she might as well try. “Hee…hee…hooo…ho….”
Locust paused the backrub. “Uhm, Jackie, that’s Lamaze breathing. We’re not having a baby here. We need deep belly breathing, my sister. Through your nose and out your mouth. And as you breathe, visualize Antonio, ready to receive you.”
Jackie looked down at Antonio, who stood on the edge of the tower with a face full of worry. Every time she moved, he moved. She’d been stalling for half an hour, and he wasn’t letting her out of his line of sight.
Jackie let out one last shaky breath, turned to Locust, and nodded.
“You ready?” Locust asked.
Jackie nodded yes. She closed her eyes, breathing through her nose and out of her mouth as Locust had instructed. Her hands were sweaty as she gripped the harness.
“One…” Locust moved closer to Jackie. “Two…”
Before Jackie could hear “three,” she was flying through the air.That bitch!She didn’t even have time to brace herself. The wind was hitting Jackie in the face, forcing her to squeeze her eyes tighter. Blood rushed to her ears, and she could hear her pulse beating fast. Was she having a heart attack? She missed her daddy, but she damn sure wasn’t trying to see him in heaven anytime soon. Her mind was racing a mile a minute, and snatches of her life were popping up like slides in an old-school View-Master toy. Who was going to take care of PeeWee? Would Uncle Roydell get drunk at her repast? Would Antonio cry?God, please don’t let Bronwyn burn sage around my coffin.
It seemed as if Jackie had been in the air forever, until suddenly, she felt herself collide with a semi-solid wall of muscle. Antonio’s arms wrapped around Jackie in the tightest hold she’d ever felt. “I got you, Lucky, baby, I got you,” he whispered. “You’re good.” The second she was in his arms, Jackie relaxed. She felt that same current of electricity that she’d felt before, as if their energies had merged. The hairs at the back of her neck stood up.
Couples around them began to clap. Jackie opened her eyes, staring at the middle of Antonio’s broad chest. Despite the heat and exertion, he still smelled impossibly good. She inhaled again, finding a strange comfort in the familiar scent of him. And there was that tingle again….
“Jackie, are you crying? Shit, are you okay?”
Blinking rapidly, she stepped back a little, embarrassed. She waved him off, shaking her head.
“You sure? Because I swear everyone in Playa del Carmen heard you screaming.”
Jackie looked at him, horrified.That’s low-key embarrassing.
“Uh-huh,” Antonio teased. “Screaming. You may not be able to speak, but you sure found your voice on that zipline. Like you were being chased in the woods by Freddy Krueger.”
Shane came over to unhook Jackie from the harness. “So proud of you for conquering your fears, Jackie. Way to go! You trusted yourself, and you trusted Antonio to be there to catch you like the comforting partner he is. You’re very lucky to have each other.”
Trust. There was that word again.
