Hydraulic Level Five

by Sarah Latchaw

  My mother had rubbed the back of her neck, leathered by the sun, and stared me down beneath unplucked eyebrows. “Did you write on your ex-husband’s head?”

  “I told him how to clean it off.” I’d been a defensive ten-year-old again, conjuring ways to remain free from being grounded.

  “He better keep his hands to himself.”

  “Mom!” Red had poured into my cheeks.

  “I know, I know, you’re an adult, you make your own calls.” Her nose had twitched. “The forehead thing…is that why you smell like old sweaty socks now?”

  “Sour milk. And yeah.”

  “You can’t get rid of it?”

  “I tried soaking in vinegar. It did a little good. But Samuel smells worse than me.”

  “Mm-hmm. Just be careful, Aspen Kaye.”

  “I will, Mom.”

  The next week passed swiftly. My photog stalkers drifted away. I even missed them—or at least having someone to greet me every time I left my house and returned. If they wanted to take a picture of me looking hot in my pencil skirts and fitted blouses (better than the tattered sweater they’d caught me in at the café), who was I to argue?

  Molly was out most of the week, helping her sister with the new baby. I went over to Holly’s several times to let them both get out of the house and run errands. Babies made me uncomfortable, but once Molly showed me how to change a diaper and bounce the little girl while maddening nursery rhyme songs looped, I managed well enough. After the third visit, I knew the difference between her “I’ve got poo in my diaper and I want it out now” wail and her “you better feed me or so help me I’ll break your eardrums” wail.

  Though he’d returned from LA, I didn’t hear from Samuel at all, save for group emails making final plans for our skydiving and camping trip. Yet our pranks continued, becoming less sophisticated and more obnoxiously juvenile. He crammed a package of Life Savers into my showerhead, coating me in a sticky film. Of course, the only solution to this problem was to take a shower. I exacted revenge by covering the toilet seat in his bathroom with Icy-Hot. Danita said she heard the screams all the way from Jeff’s Welding and Machine. He retaliated by changing all of my computer prompts, desktop scheme, and fonts to black-on-black. I panicked, thinking my hard drive had crashed until our webmaster, doubled over in laughter, showed me how to fix it. At least I didn’t have a picture of us set as my wallpaper for Samuel to discover. I’d have to start securing my computer when I left for lunch.

  Pranks aside, I knew Samuel played it low key while I considered his “friend’s” proposal. I was pitching now and he waited for a signal.

  Friends. The picture on his laptop hadn’t been our wedding photo, or prom, or anything of a romantic vein. And honestly, if he’d asked for more, I wouldn’t have handled it well. But friendship…more than anything I missed simply being in Samuel’s presence without complications. Having him home for holidays, swapping emails or funny greeting cards, maybe even hitting Planet Bluegrass together. It was tempting, and if we could figure out how to do that again…But could we really?

  Being his friend would also mean playing witness to his romances and eventual marriage, whether the woman was Caroline or someone entirely different. It would mean being there for his wedding, the birth of his children, and any other happiness that came calling. Was I strong enough for that? Was I masochistic enough for that?

  But if I got my answers from him and moved past this…stuckness, I might have those things, too. Marriage. Children. Companionship. Love? And as my friend, he’d also play witness to my happiness.

  It came down to this: was sharing each other’s lives, and taking the joys that came with it, worth the heartache?

  Could I risk it with Samuel Cabral?

  I gave the opposite bench a once-over. Samuel yawned and stretched, then folded his arms across his chest and turned his back to Caroline. I wondered if he had even slept last night. I ignored him and dug into the pages of my book…

  Neelie was gone. Gone over the cliff, dead in the void after battling the Other. Her body had grown frail under the siren’s curse, but she’d fought fearlessly, driving back evil in the miserable night while her family struggled against the Others. Nora and Noel mourned for a time, and traveled on. But Nicodemus…Nicodemus snarled and tore into the Others. He would shred them, conquer them, demand vengeance with a fury for his lost love until they begged to be hurled over the same cliff that had taken Neelie. And once the Others were defeated, he knew what was left to him…he would fossilize, through and through…

  So Neelie was dead, then.

  Tears trickled down my cheeks as I read. Odd, how I couldn’t connect with Neelie at all, but Nicodemus moved me. I thought her death would have been incredibly disturbing to read, but I didn’t see myself in her anymore. This Neelie had grown from the girl who couldn’t drink a ladybug under the table to a daring, vicious, self-sacrificing young woman who’d defied Nicodemus, faced down the Others, and saved the people she loved. Nicodemus could love a woman like Neelie. He could die for her, and most likely would if his destructive mindset carried through to the end of the book.

  “For the life of me, I can’t figure out what scene in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy would have you in tears.”

  My eyes snapped up from my book and found Samuel’s concerned face close to mine. I slammed it shut. Crap, if only I’d read Hitchhiker’s after Angel gave it to me for Christmas. “You know…that sad part. Where he’s in the galaxy…hitchhiking.” I adjusted the dust jacket, making certain he couldn’t see what was behind it.

  Samuel’s eyebrows arched in mock shock. “Are you reading something naughty, Kaye Trilby?”

  “Of course not! I’m just…the book is really good, that’s all.”

  His eyes softened. He pressed my knee and returned to his bench, leaving me alone. I was pretty sure he’d figured out what I was reading. I tucked the book away in my bag, too mortified to open it again.

  Angel’s buddy’s plane was a twin-engine, jet-propelled aircraft with the name “Surrealistic Pillow” painted across its body. Samuel and I grinned at each other, both catching the Jefferson Airplane reference. The plane accommodated our entire group. We were jumping at fourteen-thousand feet above ground, which would give us roughly one minute of free fall, then another five minutes of hang time.

  The wedding party huddled together in the tight metal space, taking turns peering out of the circular windows as the plane leisurely circled, knees bouncing, running through dive instructions again for the newbies. All except Caroline, who was tucked in a corner beside Samuel, awkwardly crossing her heeled ankles and avoiding dirt smudges on her D&G purse—so incongruous to the warm-ups the rest of us wore. Her face was pure fury.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to dive, Caroline?” I shouted over the roar of the engines. “You still could if you lose the heels.”

  Her lips pressed tightly. “Why would I risk my life so carelessly?” She shot a glare at Samuel.

  Samuel fiddled with an expensive-looking steel watch on his wrist, ignoring her. I scooted over, settling next to him.

  “That’s nice.” I tapped the watch face. “Better take it off before the dive, though.”

  “Oh, yeah. Birthday present from Caro.” She’d given him a frickin’ Rolex for his birthday. Ugh, I felt horrible. He unstrapped it and handed it to her with a smile. She snatched it from him, tucking it into her purse for safe-keeping.

  “I can’t believe I forgot your birthday.”

  He leaned in close, his voice all but muffled by the plane. “And here I thought the donation to the guinea pig charity was your gift to me.”

  “I’m so, so sorry.”

  Samuel laughed, the sound warm on my good ear. He settled against the metal wall. “Kaye, really, don’t worry. We’ve barely spoken for years. I don’t expect anything from you for my birthday.”

  I felt like such a cad, if women could be cads. Feeling guilty took the fun out of pranking.

&nbs
p; “Maybe I can buy you a belated birthday drink at Oskar Blues. I’m of-age, now.” I grinned. The last time Samuel and I had been to a bar, he had to buy my drink for me.

  Caroline stared down her prim nose. Samuel ruffled his hair, hesitating. “I’d take you up on it, but I don’t drink anymore.”

  “Really? Since when?”

  “Since…a while.”

  I remembered the public intox charge. Geez, I felt like even more of an idiot. “Oh.”

  “Yeah,” Angel piped up, “we tried to get ol’ Sammy plowed last night, but he was having none of it. Ended up cleaning the apartment when the rest of us passed out on the floor.”

  Danita planted a swift elbow in Angel’s ribs. “At least one of you had the sense not to show up for our camping trip hung over. If you like the boys’ company that much, then me and my girls are taking the Campervan tonight. You pendejos can crash outside.”

  A chorus of male groans and glares were directed at Angel for opening his big mouth, even though it was painfully obvious they hadn’t followed Dani’s “get some sleep” suggestion (which was really more of a threat, minus an “or else”).

  “Okay, skygods. We’ll be over the drop zone in ten minutes,” the pilot called back to us. “Certified divers, you’re good to go. Non-certs, buckle up with the certs for a tandem dive.”

  “I call Cassady,” Molly said quickly.

  “Angel, strap me up good,” Dani grinned. Angel began to cough, his eyes bugging out of his head. He jumped up from the floor in record time.

  Samuel searched the remaining certified divers, probably trying to decide with whom would be the least uncomfortable to get up-close-and-personal. His gaze fell to me, then down to his hands.

  Oh, what the heck. It’s just skydiving. I offered him a hand up. “Come on, Cabral. Let’s jump out of a plane together.” I slipped goggles over my eyes then tossed him a pair, showing him how to tighten them. He stared at me, dumbstruck, as I secured our parachute on my back.

  “Seriously?”

  “Yeah, unless you want to snuggle up with Hector.”

  Hector waggled his eyebrows at Samuel as he zipped up his windbreaker.

  Samuel chuckled. “I’ll take my chances with you, Trilby. Just show me what I need to do.” Leaning over Caroline, he whispered something in her ear. She scowled up at him, jerking her shoulder away from his hand. His face clouded, but he said nothing.

  Now I was in my element. I walked him through the dive steps, explaining that I would do the steering and deploy the canopy. The only thing he had to worry about was paying attention to me and kicking his feet up when we neared the ground so I could keep us from crash-landing. He listened intently, nodding along as I adjusted the tandem system, harnessing us together. All the while, I felt Caroline’s hydra glare on my back. She’d probably had me pegged as a spineless sea sponge.

  Samuel strapped on his helmet, then looked pointedly at my bare head.

  “Don’t worry, my helmet is right there. I’m not that big of a risk-taker.”

  “Ah.” But he barely relaxed, even as I tucked my thick curls under a helmet. I pushed on his shoulders.

  “Crouch down a little, you’re a foot taller than me. I don’t want to hang from your back like a rag doll.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” His lips twisted into a wry grin as he forgot Caroline’s fury.

  Hector opened the plane hatch, and one after the other, our friends tumbled into the roaring wind with wild cries.

  We made our way to the hatch. “I can’t believe you’re so nonchalant about free-falling at one-hundred-miles per hour from a plane!” Samuel’s face was inches from mine, our clothing whipping both of us mercilessly.

  My eyes met his in challenge. “You aren’t scared, are you? We don’t have to do this.”

  “Never.”

  “On three, then. One!”

  He braced his arms against the frame, trying not to peer down.

  “Two!”

  I waved goodbye to Caroline.

  “Three!”

  I wrapped my arms around his waist, tightly pulling him to me, praying I’d secured everything properly. He covered my arms with his. And then a wall of cold wind hit us, and blinding light. We spiraled out of the plane into nothing but sky. My stomach flew to my throat, and then settled back down as my body adjusted. I flung my arms out, squealing with exhilaration while we coasted across a canvas of endless blue. Sam whooped and hollered with me, our limbs tangling, cutting through air. I turned and steered us closer to the others.

  “Tuck into a ball!” He did, and we somersaulted once…twice…tumbling in circles as if gravity were nothing more than a silly myth someone invented to keep us close to the ground. Pure laughter poured from our mouths. Our clothes snapped as wind streamed over and around us, stinging our faces, enveloping our bodies.

  Danita and Angel joined us. She kicked up, and I grabbed her feet, laughing. Santiago swept below us and linked onto Sam’s feet, causing him to jolt in surprise.

  Farther down, I saw Hector’s parachute fly open in a balloon of red and white. Molly and Cassady’s chute opened, yanking them up from their free fall.

  Angel checked his digital altimeter and gave us the thumbs up—it was time. Waving goodbye to Dani and Angel, I steered us away and found the cord.

  “Ready?” I shouted into Samuel’s ear.

  He nodded.

  “Brace yourself!” I pulled the cord.

  Our parachute flew behind us in a cascade of blue and white and opened, halting our wild tumble with a jarring tug.

  Our bodies dangled like wind chimes as we drifted down…down…through the sky. Golden platte and basin spanned to the east, and jagged gray mountain to the west, vanishing in a panorama of bright haze. We hovered above frothy strands of clouds, the earth arching over the horizon in a crazy-quilt of nature and culture.

  Sam reached back and pulled my arms around him. He laced his fingers with mine. I rested my chin on his shoulder, reveling in the adrenaline coursing through my veins. My entire body trembled, head to toe. His hands shook, too.

  Diving tandem with Samuel…sharing a piece of my new life…there were no words. We would reach the ground all too soon. Even now, roads snaked below us, growing bigger and bigger, until we saw the color of the cars traveling up and down highways. Evergreen forests were no longer dark blobs, but thousands of trees. Rooftops grew details—chimneys, slats, eaves. But in the bit of time we still had left, I enjoyed him. Breathed him in. Felt his body expand, back rumble as he laughed against me, flush with every single gust of wind, ping of light, twinge of muscle we experienced together.

  Hector coasted to the landing strip.

  Then Molly and Cassady.

  Santiago.

  Danita and Angel.

  “Legs up.” I reluctantly untwined my hands from his and wrapped them around the parachute cords, steering us to earth. Then my toes brushed along grass, dragging us to a halt. Samuel swung his long legs down and grabbed me beneath my knees to keep us from toppling backward. Our parachute fluttered to the ground behind us and I unhooked the chute, yelping as he plowed toward the others with me on his back, replete with joy. I flung my arms around his neck.

  “Amazing! Kaye, that was just…”

  “Amazing?”

  “Smile!” Molly snapped a picture.

  My hands quaked so badly, I was barely able to unbuckle my diving harnesses and hop down from his back. We joined the rest of the group, high-fiving each other, chattering like a colony of flying squirrels and shedding our gear as we waited for the plane to land.

  Hector pushed past Samuel and threw a tattooed arm around my shoulders. Samuel hurled daggers at my friend.

  “Kaye, did you try the somersaulting this time?”

  “Yup!” I said proudly, nodding to Samuel. “Cabral here’s already an old pro after one dive. Didn’t bawl or scream at all!”

  An oh-so-familiar embarrassed grin spread across Samuel’s face and he ducked his head like a th
irteen-year-old kid.

  At last, the plane swooped in and crawled to a stop.

  The minute the hatch opened, my diving buzz fell flat. Caroline elegantly climbed out as if she stepped onto a red carpet rather than an oil-spattered tarmac. She strode purposefully toward us, her eyes fixed upon her prize.

  “Welcome back.” She gazed up at him through lashes so long, they had to tickle her eyebrows. Reaching into her purse, she pulled out his watch and returned it. He slipped it into his pocket. Then she stood on tip-toes and pressed her freshly-glossed lips to his.

  I hated her. Hated her with the fiery passion of a thousand molten Rolex watches. My stomach lurched back to my throat the minute his lips touched hers. The way she was with Samuel…it was as if she owned him, rather than loved him. I turned away, relinquishing him to her, planning to catch up with Hector and the others. Caroline’s throaty laugh followed on my heels. Somewhere behind me, they crossed paths with my pride as it tucked tail and flew in the opposite direction.

  Perhaps I was still riding the high from our dive after all. Maybe there was no way I could be Samuel’s friend again, watching from the side as that hound sank her teeth into him. Or maybe Jaime Guzman was rubbing off on me. I imagined her in my corner of the boxing ring, loosening my shoulders and mopping my forehead with a towel, screaming at me to “get back in the match and hook that bitch like you have balls, you pantywaist.” And dang it, I wasn’t down for the count, yet.

  I turned around and waited for them to catch up, then looped my arm through Samuel’s when they did. He started, too stunned to notice my miniscule glance in Caroline’s direction. Caro, however, didn’t miss it.

  Her lips thinned and her eyes blazed as if she tried to conjure lightning bolts to zap me down. I felt Samuel’s body go rigid, ready to hold either one of us at bay if we started swiping at each other. He picked up his pace, steering us toward the Campervan.

  Later, when Samuel and the guys returned our equipment and the gals ran for the restroom, she rounded on me.