by Stacy Borel
I wasn’t laughing, but Turner found it humorous. I glared at him. When he caught my expression, he wiped his smirk away. He mouthed the word “sorry.” I just shook my head at him. He winked like it was going to get him out of hot water with me.
“Okay, who’s going first?”
“I think Annabelle needs to go.”
“I think you’re on crack, Dr. Turner,” I snapped.
Joe was now laughing at my joke, except it wasn’t one. “Okay you two. Annabelle, step up to the plate.”
I did as he asked. He took hold of my carabiner and hooked me in. He yanked it twice and released me.
“So quick question,” I said with a slight quiver to my voice. “Can this thing actually hold me? I mean, I haven’t gone jogging in a while, and I haven’t exactly been watching my figure.”
Turner’s hand brushed mine. He was trying not to laugh.
“These clips and cables are capable of holding over one thousand pounds. I promise, even if you didn’t hit the treadmill this morning, you’re very much in the clear.”
“Well, looks like I’m going whether I want to do this or not.”
“Put your faith in the free fall, Annabelle. You’re going to be fine. Just watch for Serenity’s signals at the bottom. She will let you know when you need to slow yourself down. I’ll meet y’all on the third platform.”
I nodded. Sitting down, I let all of the equipment hold my weight. I oddly felt very secure. But that could be deceiving. Joe said he was going to count down from three, after that I was supposed to step off.
“Annabelle,” Turner called my name.
I twisted, giving him an expectant look. “Hmmm.”
“Before you go, tell me something about yourself. I don’t care what it is, just tell me something.”
Slightly taken aback, I thought about what I wanted to say. Something about myself. I never really talked about myself, so thinking of something to share wasn’t the easiest task. Couldn’t he ask me another question? Joe started his count down.
“Three . . .”
Seriously, what did he want to know? I felt like everything was too personal.
“Two . . .”
We just played the question and answer game in the car. Didn’t we share enough? The man eats cereal for a snack for heaven sakes.
“One . . .”
Pressured, I blurted the first thing that came to mind.
“When I was a kid, I always wore dresses so the boys could see my underwear when I hung upside down on the monkey bars.” And with that I jumped.
I didn’t wait for his response. I wanted to get away. The only option I had was down. I was fully expecting a free fall. The kind where your tummy drops and you feel like there’s no sense of gravity. That wasn’t the sensation at all. It was more like being on a roller coaster without the drop. The wind was in my hair and the tree line below me whizzed by. I briefly glanced back and saw Turner grinning ear to ear. And did he just fist bump the guide? I caught some serious speed and my mind told me it was time to slow down. I watched the bottom of the line where the next platform was in place. There was a woman there, waiting for me. She started giving me hand signals letting me know I needed to reach up and grip the wire. I did. Even though I wore a leather glove, I could still feel the heat through the material burning my hand. My momentum slowed and there was a wooden block that my harness hit making me slow faster than if I tried to do it on my own. Serenity hollered out to me to put my feet down when I got to the platform. It was all a matter of seconds that everything happened. I planted my feet, and stumbled forward, while Serenity grasped the top of my line and made me come to a complete stop.
Holy adrenaline.
“How was it?” she asked. Serenity was a tall brunette woman, I would guess to be in her early thirties.
“I haven’t decided just yet.” My hands were shaking and my heart was palpitating.
“Just wait ‘til you get to the third line. You’ll have some decisions to make.” She wagged her eye brows like what she said would impress me. All it did was freak me out.
Didn’t she know I was terrified of this stuff? Surely not or she wouldn’t have said what she just did. I didn’t acknowledge her. Instead, I looked at the top of the hill from where I’d just come and watched as Turner began his slide down. How did he make this look so graceful? He had his arms out wide and his head back like he was enjoying every second of the ride. I was slightly envious. What it must feel like to let go like that.
When he got to where I was, his smile looked like a permanent fixture on his handsome face.
“God, that felt good.” Serenity unclipped him. “What did you think?”
Did the man not realize his harness snuggly fit him and I saw everything he was packing? I did my best not to look, but, holy crap, I could see where he would be slightly confident in the man-whore department. Clearly he had a reason to strut his stuff. Focus, Annabelle.
“Uh, I uh . . .” Clearing my throat and closing my eyes for a brief moment to gather myself, I opened them and met his crystal blue eyes head on. “It was an interesting feeling.”
“Interesting good, or interesting bad?”
“Interesting, and I’ll leave it at that. There are how many more of these things? I’ll let you know when we are done.”
He chuckled. “Okay, fair enough.”
I nodded.
“So you wanted the little boys to see your underwear, huh?”
Oh God, I was so caught up in everything that I forgot I spit that little bit of knowledge out. My cheeks felt warm, and I bit my lip hard, trying to hold my composure. Why must he talk about embarrassing things when I have no place to escape to? Probably part of his plan, the asshole.
“I was under pressure. You asked and it was the first thing I could think of. Don’t judge,” I snapped, trying to hold back an embarrassed smirk.
He held his hands up in surrender. “Hey, I’m not judging. I am just shocked is all. Let me guess, you wore those cute little ‘days of the week’ underwear too.”
My eyes got wide. “What did I say about judging?”
Turner burst out laughing. “It was a wild shot in the dark. I had no clue you really did.”
I slapped at his arm. “All right, sir, turnabout is fair play. Tell me something about you.”
“Let me think about this one.”
I shook my head. “Oh no. You don’t get to think about it. You made me answer under pressure. Well, here’s your pressure, Mr. Tell Me Something. Three . . . two . . . one.”
“You drive a hard bargain, Annabelle. Okay, I almost joined the Navy before I headed off to college. I wanted to become a Navy SEAL.”
Whoa, I was slightly impressed. “Why didn’t you?”
“Another question, another line. Let’s go, pretty girl, ask me at the bottom.”
Serenity clipped Turner onto the next line of the course. “Ready to go!” she announced.
He took no time flinging himself off the edge. This section seemed a little shorter than the last one. He did this so carelessly and freely. I doubted that by the end of the course, I’d feel confident enough to step off without thinking of every possible way I could die. My brain just didn’t work that way, or allow me to relax. But, at least this time, I knew what I was expecting when I would let myself fall. I saw Turner reach the bottom and give a thumbs up. Guess it was my turn. Getting clipped in, I lowered myself to a seated position and allowed gravity to do its job. No running starts for me.
I heard Turner say a little “whoop” for me when I was near the platform. When I got to him, I was successfully stopped by Joe, and unclipped.
“You’re getting good at this,” Turner commended.
I rolled my eyes. “Did I really have a choice? Seems to be the only way down.”
“You have a point.”
“If I go on another date with you, I swear I’m going to need in writing and possibly a bloody fingerprint what you’re plans are. No more of this surprise, ‘f
reaking Annabelle out’ stuff.”
He laughed. “But you’re doing it aren’t you? Are you enjoying it?”
I thought for a moment. “I think I’ll find it enjoyable after I get home and realize I’m safe and sound from your crazy antics.”
“Oh, Annabelle, these aren’t crazy antics. Unless I take you skydiving or bungee jumping, this is quite tame.”
My eyes got round. “I will never throw myself out of a perfectly good airplane for shits and giggles, Turner Brooks. So count me out.”
“Noted.”
He was amused by me. Joe was standing back allowing us our moment and not interrupting our date. I kind of wished he would keep us moving so we could get this over with. Wait a second . . . this was the third platform. Didn’t Serenity say this was the one that would be interesting? Crap. I looked around for anything that was different about this one versus the last two. That’s when I saw it. There was a small wooden bridge that extended outwards about six feet. A cable went across it but it looked just like the ones we’d just traveled on. Maybe we were supposed to walk out and step off. Why in the world would we do that instead of doing it from right here? The bridge looked unsteady.
“Are we going?” I asked, ready to keep moving.
Joe came into my line of sight. “Yep, but here’s where you have two options. You can either go down this one like you have the others, or . . .” His “or” sounded ominous. “You can walk out on this little plank here like a pirate, and take a leap of faith.”
Turner wagged his eye brows at me. “Argh!” He tried to sound like a pirate.
“Not funny.” I glared at him. “What do you mean a leap of faith? As in, just step off? Do you slide down the line still?”
Joe shook his head. “Nope. This one is a little simpler than that. You jump off the edge and once you’re at the bottom, you walk to the next station.”
I gulped. Were they insane? I already thought the was the worst idea ever was throwing myself over the edge of a hillside attached to a wire down an incline, but now they are asking me if I want to plummet eighty feet to the bottom? No way, no how. I already knew my answer. I was barely comfortable with this whole zip lining thing, this was just insanity to me. And of course, I didn’t need to ask Mr. Daredevil if he planned on jumping. He was.
“You going to do it?”
“Hell no. I’m quite fond of my legs and arms being intact, thank you very much.”
Turner stepped into my little bubble again. Why does he do that? His woodsy aftershave washed over me and made me slightly dizzy. Men should not smell this good. He brushed his hand down from my shoulder to my elbow leaving a little trail of goose bumps in its path.
“It’s not really the kind of free fall you’re thinking it is. The line catches you and lowers you halfway down.”
I met his blue eyes head on. “That halfway is still too far for me. I’ll go the ‘traditional’ route.” I gave air quotes.
“You’re very stubborn, you know that?”
“Ha! So says the King of Stubborn Land.”
Then he did something I didn’t expect. He bent down and lightly kissed the tip of my nose. My poor heart went into over drive. Until now, Turner had yet to make any move to actually kiss me. Sure he’d kissed my hand at the end of our other date, but that didn’t count. Not like this. And, of course, he chose now to plant a sweet delicate one on me when my nerves were already a hot mess. I’ll give him credit though, it did shift my attention to other things. Like how tender he was. How in that split second I could tell his lips were silky soft. And how I wanted to grab him by his collar and pull him down to me and kiss him the way I’d been thinking about for the past two weeks. I felt flushed all over and I shifted on my feet. Needing a little air, I cleared my throat.
“Well, you better make the plunge to your death. Your mom’s number is in your phone right?”
He gave me another full bellied laugh. “Yes, it’s in my phone.” He started making his walk out on the very flimsy wooden boards. The further out he went the more it wobbled. “Annabelle?”
The sound of his voice calling my name felt like it was a shot straight to my soul. Why was I feeling this way?
“Yes?”
“There’s more where that came from.”
He leapt. My God, could the dude get any more brazen or cocky? Did it make my heart leap for joy? Yep. But that wasn’t the point here. Clearly he thought he could do whatever he wanted if he sweet talked enough, or put me under his little spell and got close enough. No wonder all those women fell for him. He was like a little devil in scrubs. Err . . . well, actually khaki shorts and a t-shirt that all fit him entirely too well. The bastard.
Looking over the edge, he landed on a black cushioned mat that was well worn from other jumpers.
“You proud of yourself?” I called down.
“Yes, ma’am. You really should try it. It’s more fun than you think.”
I gave him the “ok” hand sign. “I’m good.”
Joe hooked me up to the traditional line and told me Serenity was waiting for me at the other end. Only difference between the last two times I’d gone, and this time, I noticed my nerves weren’t in full effect like they had been. I zoomed down the line thinking of nothing but Turner and his adorable mouth. I questioned if I would allow him to kiss me again if he tried. And if he did, would it be on my nose again, or on the lips. I was getting wrapped up in the thought of him when my feet touched the bottom. Turner was climbing up a ladder on the side to meet up with me.
“Was it a good one?”
Okay, was he referring to the ride, or the kiss? Certainly not the kiss, it was just on my nose.
“It was enjoyable.”
He smiled. He knew I was questioning what he was really asking. I rolled my eyes.
We spent the rest of the morning bantering back and forth, with quite a bit of heavy flirting. We exchanged information about one another that was completely meaningless and yet I found it interesting and fun. There was a bit more to Turner Brooks than I’d previously given him credit for. He more than intrigued me. When we were making the long drive back to my house, I’d come to the conclusion that I may actually like him. Sure it made me uncomfortable, but that was merely because I hadn’t allowed myself to like or crush on anyone in years. Never saw the sense in it. But today, I opened myself up to the possibility of actually seeing where this could go. Granted, not if it meant putting my life at risk every time. But still, I liked him.
Once we made it to my door step, Turner looked down at me with wonder in his eyes.
“I want to go out with you again, Annabelle.”
I laughed. “Why do you look like it amazes you that you’re even asking me?”
His smile wowed me like it always did this close up. He was so beautiful it nearly knocked me off my feet.
“Because it does.”
“You’re an odd one, you know that?”
“Well, I could say the same about you. So what do you say? Another date?”
I tried to make him wait for an answer, I really did. But my answer came out faster than I planned.
“I’d love to. But wait . . .” I held up my finger. “I refuse to go anywhere that makes me jump off things, go faster than seventy miles per hour, or anything in general that I have to sign a paper stating I may die.”
He snickered. “It’ll be low key.”
I turned my head slightly to the side showing him I was skeptical. “Okay, sir. Well, be careful heading back home. And again, thank you for today.”
It got quiet. Like tense quiet. I was looking at him and he was looking at me. There was a moment in time where I knew he was going to kiss me, and I just had to be ready for it. I wasn’t ready, but I’d take it. Turner bent at the waist. I went up on my tippy toes. Just when I thought our mouths were going to meet, he went left, and I felt his warm lips on my cheek. My cheek? Squeezing my hand and releasing it, he stood at his full height and wished me a good day. When he was gone, I wen
t to sit on my back porch to ponder the whole date. I was really starting to get a complex. Turner had kissed me three different times now and not a single one of them was on the mouth. Not a single one of them was full of the passion or ferocity that I pictured him giving the other women he pushed into the supply closets at work. Was he even in to me? Maybe he was looking at me like a buddy, or someone cool to hang out with. I never got the friendship vibe from him, so was I reading him wrong? Maybe. That kind of stung a little. I guess the next date we had I would have to try and pick up on his cues a little more. I didn’t want to invest too much more of myself in him if I was only friend material.
I’d waited for him to call and tell me what we were doing next.
Chapter Seven
Annabelle
IT WAS BEFORE MY FIRST twelve hour shift of the week and I decided to do something unplanned. I decided to stop in the NICU to check on the baby boy I’d helped deliver a few weeks ago to see how he was doing. I hadn’t ever been in here other than to do the required hours for clinicals. A few monitors were beeping and I was looking around the room at all the incubators and infants fighting for their lives. I viewed this room like I did the Oncology floor. People fighting for their lives wasn’t my cup of tea. I was better off bringing lives into the world and sending them on their merry way. Not pushing them to take their next breath and watch the families cry or grieve over loss. I’d seen enough of that to last me a lifetime.
“Can I help you?” A tall blonde nurse approached me. She had gentle eyes and a soft voice.
“Um, yeah I was actually looking for a baby that I helped deliver that was brought down here.” Crap, I didn’t know his name. “He was unnamed when he left L&D, but the mother was an addict.” I wracked my brain for her name. “Adalyn March.” It occurred to me. “So it would be Baby March.”
