Page 34 of Side Trip

Joy nodded. “All right,” she heard herself say.

“Daylight’s fading. What’s the verdict, Dylan?” Griff asked.

Dylan grasped Joy’s hand, tucking it into his side. “We’re ready.”

“Awesome.”

After a quick safety protocol overview, they signed waivers, and then they walked to the middle of the original Navajo Bridge that was now used as a pedestrian walkway. Griff and his crew carried the equipment, a contraption of metal poles, pulleys, and cords. He and Ben attached it to the side railing while Matt helped Dylan and Joy into their harnesses. Joy shook uncontrollably. It took three attempts to step into the straps.

“Joy.”

She looked up at Dylan.

He fit his hand to her cheek. “You got this.”

“I got this,” she repeated.

“You’re up, Dylan,” Griff announced. He attached the bungee to Dylan’s harness.

Dylan held up a fist for her. “Bump for luck.” She gave him that and a hug.

Ben and Matt assisted Dylan up onto the side rail. Standing upright, his feet balancing on the narrow rail, Dylan gripped their hands tightly for balance. There was nothing below him but a river five hundred feet down. It looked like a piece of gray-green thread.

Joy held her breath. Her heart pulsed in her throat. What if the cord snapped? What if he died? She clasped her hands in prayer.Please don’t die.She couldn’t witness someone lose their life, not again. And Dylan was kind of growing on her.

“Lean forward and drop,” Griff explained, repeating what they’d gone over in the parking lot. “Don’t fight the cord, let it do its work. We’ll reel you in. Give us the word and we’ll count you down.”

Dylan pushed out a breath. He forced out another. “Go!”

“Three ... two ... one!”

Dylan tipped forward and let go; then he was gone. Joy rushed to the rail and peered over. She heard a loud whoop echo off the sides of the ravine and saw Dylan give them a fist pump as he swung upside down. Joy sagged against the rail. Tears scalded her eyes. He was alive, thank God.

In less than a minute they were reeling Dylan up, and moments later helping him over the side. The entire jump took less than four minutes.

“That was amazing,” Dylan shouted. A large grin split his handsomely rugged face. As soon as the guys got him out of the harness, he grabbed up Joy and swung her around. “Best. Feeling. Ever!”

She squealed, releasing nerves and tension as much as sharing in his excitement.

“You’re up, Joy,” Griff announced.

She gasped. “Oh my God.”

Matt clipped on the bungee, a giant umbilical cord. Her lifeline to ... life.

“Oh my God. Oh my God. I’m really doing this?”

“You bet,” Dylan said. “You got this.”

“I got this,” she parroted. All logical thinking escaped through the back door of her brain.

He clapped her shoulder.

Matt tried to assist her up the side. Her foot slipped, and her palms were too wet. She couldn’t get a decent grasp on the rail. Memories flickered. Headlights flared. Tires squealed. Metal crumpled. “I can’t do this,” she said, backing away from the rail. She started breathing erratically, recalling the last time she’d felt a free-falling sensation in the pit of her stomach. She wanted to cry.

“Do you want to jump?” Griff asked.

“Yes,” she said, and then shook her head.

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