Page 109 of Hitting the Gap

“Oh, good one,” he laughed. “High five.” He held up his hand for her to smack. She smacked his hand, then turned to her friend and gave her a quick hug. “Big girl panties, right?”

“Absolutely, you got this. I don’t know what made you have to do this today, but whatever it is, let the wind rip that shit off and leave it behind,” Kia said.

“That’s the plan.” Bailey gave her one more tight squeeze. She’d watched the video. She knew the stats on how safe tandem jumps were, yet that didn’t stop the buzz of nerves coursing through her veins.

Bailey and Sloane followed two other tandem groups onto the plane. At the metal bench, Sloane sat down, got herself situated, then patted her legs. “Have a seat and we’ll get you strapped to me.”

A wave of embarrassment crashed into her chest. She knew she’d have to sit on Sloane’s lap the entire flight, but now that it was here, she really didn’t want to. Damn it, how stupid she was more nervous about putting her full weight on someone’s lap than she was about jumping out of a plane. Clearly, she needed some flippin’ therapy or something. This was ridiculous. Bailey chastised herself, then sat on Sloane’s lap. With a couple of deft moves, they were strapped together.

Sloane tapped her shoulder and pointed at the guy who was going to be taking photos of the jump and flashed him a thumbs up. Bailey pasted a grin on her face. This was it.

As the plane rose into the sky, nervous excitement replaced the previous anxiety.

“How are you doing?” Sloane asked.

“I’m good. Excited.”

Sloane squeezed her arm. “You’re gonna have a blast.”

A couple of minutes later, the pilot let them know they had leveled off. The photographer stood up and opened the door. “We’re up,” Sloane told her.

“We’re going first?” Bailey squeaked. She’d kind of been hoping to watch someone else go first, but maybe this was better. They lined up at the edge of the door.

The photographer hung out of the plane facing them and yelled, “Smile!”

“Cheese,” Bailey yelled back. Holy shit, this was really happening. Her heart pounded in her chest. She sucked in a breath. “Oh, boy.” Her breath exhaled in a whoosh. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and nodded to Sloane to let her know she was ready.

They sat down on the edge with their feet dangling. “On three,” Sloane said and Bailey nodded to let her know she’d heard. “One.” The photographer dropped out of the doorway, leaving Bailey on the edge. “Two.” Bailey glanced down. Oh god, they were going to die. “Three.”

As they slid off the edge, a scream tore out of Bailey’s mouth, followed by a laugh from Sloane.

“Open your eyes,” Sloane told her.

She hadn’t even realized her eyes were closed. Bailey peeled her eyes open. Her first thought was fuck. Quickly followed by awe at the sight in front of her. “This is amazing,” she yelled.

“Told you.”

Bailey threw her arms out wide. She was flying. And she’d never felt more free in her entire life. She looked at the little video recorder strapped to Sloane’s wrist and grinned.

After what felt like no time at all, Sloane tapped her hand to let her know it was time to pull the cord for the parachute. The shoot deployed and suddenly they were floating instead of soaring. Sloane guided her to steer the parachute, so they stayed on course to hit the target when they landed.

Before the chute opened, she hadn’t even been aware of their surroundings. She’d just been basking in the powerful feeling of freedom unlike anything she’d ever felt.

The freedom she felt now was so different from what she’d felt before the chute opened. That had been spectacular, but this? This was so incredible in its own right. She truly understood the expression “being on top of the world.” She could see for miles in every direction.

They glided through the air for a couple of minutes. The only words spoken between them were directions from Sloane to keep them on track. After a couple minutes, Sloane took control of their shoot to guide them the rest of the way in.

Trusting that Sloane was fully in control, Bailey closed her eyes and just let the breeze hit her face as she enjoyed the feeling of being weightless in the sky. She’d expected to have a bit of nerves about her feet dangling at the height, but she didn’t, she felt completely safe. In this moment, she didn’t need to worry about a single thing, not her job, not her relationship, not her finances, nothing. Her eyes popped open as she felt Sloane change their angle. They’d be coming in for their landing any second.

“Legs out,” Sloane ordered.

Bailey put her legs in the landing position, and Sloane set them down safely on their butts. Her body took a second to register it was back on solid ground. She unclipped her harness and popped up and spun to face Sloane. “Oh my god, that was amazing.”

“Told you.” Sloane chuckled. “Was it everything you were hoping for?”

“Oh, it was so much more.” She couldn’t even begin to explain what she was feeling.

Sloane scooped up their parachute and pointed to the spectator area outside the landing zone. “Looks like you impressed your cheering team.”

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