His mouth drops open in outrage. “I did not cheat at any version of Uno. I was clumsy when I was young and accidentally knocked the cards from both our hands onto the floor.”
“Then why did I have different cards after we picked everything up? You weren’t even smooth about it. You totally snuck some of my cards.”
“I would never.”
We glance at each other and laugh, and my nerves fade away. Max holds my gaze for a moment, then turns and gestures in front of him.
“We’re here.”
“We’re where?” My eyes get big, and I take a step back. “Because I’m not stepping foot onthat.”
The path through the treetops has led to a wide expanse of netting that’s been stretched over the forest floor below. The netting is the same material as the woven rope hammocksyou might find in someone’s backyard…except it’s square and pulled taut along all four sides where it attaches to the walkway that encircles it. It’s also absolutely enormous. The rope netting must be as wide as my living room. It almost reminds me a bit of a trampoline, if the trampoline was made of rope, wasn’t bouncy…and was two stories off the ground.
In other words, the whole thing is absolutely terrifying.
The gray in his eyes sparkles mischievously. “You’re definitely getting on there with me. That’s the whole reason I brought you here.”
“There’s no way. We’re too far aboveground. And those areropes—my feet could fall through the gaps! I’m not dying in this forest.”
He points to a sign nailed onto the railing. “Look, it’s literally weighted to hold two tons. Fifteen grown men can lie on there at once and still be perfectly safe. It’s only you and me.”
My head starts shaking back and forth of its own volition. “I’m not a fan of heights.”
“I guess I should have figured that out from your earsplitting shrieks on the rides this afternoon.” He looks down at the rope netting and back at me, his eyebrows knotting in worry. “Huh…this isn’t exactly the relaxing outing I had planned.”
“Maybe because you planned an outing with the sole goal of making me hyperventilate.”
He puts both hands out like he’s trying to calm me before I bolt in the opposite direction. Little does he know I’m frozen with fear and going nowhere.
“I’m not going to force you to come out there with me. Or, like, pick you up and toss you into the center.”
My eyes flare wide with horror.
“Oh, believe me, it’s happened. I saw a guy do that to his girlfriend once.But,I will ask you to trust me. We’d go very slowly, one step at a time, and we’d stop as soon as you said.” His expression grows serious, and he turns his palm up to me. “What do you say? Will you trust me, Hazel?”
I take a breath, my eyes flicking to the woven rope and back to him. The ropes are thick and tightly laced. And everything looks well maintained.
And, most importantly, I do trust Max.
“Yeah,” I breathe. “Okay.”
“Good.” He wraps his hand in mine and walks me over to the edge of the netting. I take a step onto the rope, which gives under my weight, and I jump right back off.
“What if we sit down and scoot on our butts?” he asks.
“Maybe.” My heart is still beating out of my chest at the fact that I can see through the ropes straight down to the forest floor far below, but I force myself to keep my eyes up. I sit down next to Max and start scooting, creeping toward the center until finally he stops.
“You okay?” he asks.
His expression is so gentle that I feel calmer from looking at him. “I’m shaky, but I’m not dead yet. And as an added bonus, I’m sure I look really cool right now.”
He chuckles. “We’re close enough to the center now. Try lying back and looking up at the sky.”
I do it very gingerly. The ropes dig into my back a bit,but the breeze is cool, and the netting is stable underneath me. A moment later, I open my eyes and take in the swaying treetops dappled in sunlight, and the touches of blue sky visible through the leaves. Begrudgingly, I realize he was right. It’s kind of…amazing.
Max cautiously lies back next to me and puts his hands behind his head. We stay there, breathing and listening to the birds until my heart has slowed to a normal rhythm. Finally, Max shifts to look at me.
“What do you think? Are you still pissed that I made you come out here?”
