JULES
Okay… so I might have gotten a little carried away by the whole taking a leap thing. After the party ends, I stay and hang out with Cassie and Evan and Lindsay and her fiancé, Pete. We get to talking about resolutions and ext thing I know, Evan is on the phone with his friend, Ben, and somehow I agree to go skydiving. Ben’s one of Evan’s childhood buddies who runs a skydiving company, and he assures everyone it’s a ton of fun and safer than it seems.
I laugh when he says that because… seriously? There is nothing that seems at all safe about skydiving. And yet, my promise to myself still hangs in the air just outside the window: Take a leap. Break away.
So I say yes and now it’s New Year’s Day I’m in the back seat of an SUV heading north. It’s just the five of us going, two couples, and me. The irony of being the third wheel, or fifth… is not lost on me. It seems like everyone I know has managed to pair off into couples and find love and I’m still alone in the world, tagging along with my friends. I smile to myself; I’m grateful to have good friends.
* * *
As we pull into Butler Airfield, I am convinced this is a mistake. From here, people are tiny specks parachuting in from the blue sky like commandos. They hit the ground and run on tiny legs or roll into a ball as the people behind them continue to fall in an endless cascade.
“It’s going to be fine, Jules. Relax.” Cassie’s hand rests on my knee and I look up at her face. She’s turned around from the front seat. “You’ve gone pale. Are you okay?”
I nod quickly and take a sip from my water bottle. “Yeah. Can’t believe I’m doing this.” And paying almost three hundred dollars for the trouble.
“It’s exhilarating, truly. There’s nothing like it,” she says, her sparkling smile giddy with expectation. “You won’t regret it. Promise.”
“Facing fear! The best way to start a new year!” Evan’s eyes smile at me through the rear-view mirror.
I look at Lindsay and Pete as they watch the falling people. They beam with happy faces and eagerness. I swallow and try to calm my jitters.
Evan parks and we pile out of the SUV and I’m having a serious case of internal panic. What am I doing here? I am a kindergarten teacher. Kindergarten teachers don’t jump out of airplanes. This is madness. Jules, you can wait in the car for everyone to be done and then just drive home and live your boring, safe, controlled, and lonely life.
It’s the word lonely that stops my thoughts cold. No. I promised myself I would try new things in order to meet new people. Evan’s friends are new and he’s bringing us to try skydiving. See? Earth to Jules… You’re already on your way.
“Evan! Hey man, good to see you!” A big guy walks over to us and grabs Evan’s hand and pulls him into a hug. They clap each other on the back and step apart, smiling.
Evan turns to us. “Everybody, this is Ben.”
Ben smiles at everyone, shaking hands with each of us as we tell him our names. He’s well over six feet tall, stocky, with brown hair and slate-gray eyes that crinkle at the corners when he smiles.
Okay, self. He looks normal and like someone who hasn’t been injured from failed parachutes. You can relax a little. I settle things with myself and close my eyes, taking in a deep breath. It’s going to be fine. Nobody is going to die. You’re going to have fun.
I open my eyes and blink. What is that? It takes a second for my brain to make sense of the huge black dog running across the parking lot straight for us… straight for me. It’s a Rottweiler, at least a hundred pounds, and he’s galloping with his tongue lolling and his eyes on me.
I take a step back, but there is nowhere to go and I don’t move fast enough to avoid the dog, who leaps up at me like we’re long-lost loves running toward each other in a romance movie and I’m supposed to catch him. The impact knocks the wind out of me and I’m on the ground. The dog stands on my chest, pinning me down as he covers me with slobbery licks all over my face.
* * *
BEN
Oh shit. One second I’m saying hello to Evan and his friends and the next I’m pulling Swooper off a girl he’s totally tackled to the ground. I tug Swoop by the collar and pull him back and kneel down next to the girl. She’s blinking her eyes, looking up at the sky trying to catch her breath.
“Swooper, stay!” I command my dog and he obeys, sitting at attention next me. I lean down to look at the girl. “I am so sorry. He’s never done anything like that before. Are you all right? Is she all right?”
“Jules? Jules, honey? Can you sit up?” Evan’s girlfriend Cassie is talking to the girl—Jules. Jules nods and Cassie grabs her hand and helps Jules into a sitting position.
She smiles shakily and nods a little, looking embarrassed. “I think I’m ok. Just got the wind knocked out of me.”
“I am really so sorry,” I say, feeling lame and useless.
She gets to her feet and is clearly unsteady but seems determined to carry on.
“You should keep your dog on a leash,” Lindsay says.
Jules waves her off. “Don’t. It’s all right. The dog got carried away by my charm that’s all.” She smiles weakly. When she touches a hand to the back of her head and winces, I realize we’re still standing out in the cold.
“Why don’t we all go inside and sit down? I’ll get you some ice for your head.”
I lead them to the office and direct them to the u-shaped ring of chairs facing the TV over the fireplace. It’s where I hold the orientation meetings and show a video of jump preparedness. Swoop moves over to his dog bed near the hearth and curls up. Everyone sits. Jules is helped to a chair by Cassie and Evan. I head to the fridge, grab an ice pack, and wrap it in a towel.
I sit on the edge of the chair next to Jules and place the pack on the back of her head. “Here you go. I can’t apologize enough. Swoop knows better than that. I don’t know what got into him.”
She slides her hand over the pack and winces a little at the pressure. I let go. “Thank you. It’s okay. Just a little bump. Really. I’m fine.”
Cassie gets up to inspect the back of Jules’ head. “There is no blood. Thank god. But you’ve got quite a bump rising.”
“Maybe we should do this another time?” Evan offers.
Jules shoots to her feet. “No! Don’t.” She wobbles a little and sits back down. “Seriously, I’ll never forgive myself if you don’t all go. It’s okay. I’ll watch from here.” She turns and looks out the window at all the jumpers landing in the field. Some are tandem and some are solo, but all of them are smiling ear-to-ear and high-fiving each other as they touch down.
“It’s no trouble to reschedule,” I say.
But Jules won’t have it. “Absolutely not.” She gets to her feet again and slams the ice pack onto her chair. “I insist that we see this through. I can jump with a bump on the head. Let’s go.”
“That’s the spirit!” Cassie claps her hands in applause.
* * *
I get everyone situated with the waiver forms and orientation video as the door opens and Shelly arrives with Chip and Matthew. Since Evan is an experienced skydiver, I need three more instructors so four of us can do a tandem jump with Cassie, Lindsay, Jules, and Pete.
Once the video is over and introductions are made, I collect the forms and Shelly takes over. “All right! If I can have everyone follow me, we’ll head to the hangar and go over all the gear!”
It’s our typical routine with first timers. One of us starts the orientation and paperwork, someone else goes over the gear, and each instructor pairs off with a client for suiting up so they have some time to build trust and bond a little before the jump.
Everyone files out the door behind Shelly. Jules is at the back of the line, and when she turns her head to hold the door open for me, her eyes swim and her knees buckle.
I don’t even think. I move in and catch her before she falls. She goes limp in my arms. Fainted out cold.
I carry her through the office to the staff part of the hangar and place her gently into the giant beanbag chair in the corner of the room. Then I run out and let the others know what happened.