each other round the café – but then Johnny strolled in and put his arm round Kat.
‘I see you’ve met some of the team,’ he said easily, grinning at Ethan. ‘Natalya’s disappeared again, but she does that. And Luke’s around somewhere. Probably ironing the creases in his forehead.’
Kat laughed; Jake didn’t. But Johnny had drawn his attention away from Ethan and now he grabbed Kat again, dislodging Johnny’s arm.
Ethan smiled at Johnny. ‘I’m doing a tandem,’ he said, and just saying it felt completely amazing, like he’d taken a sudden and definite step into something that was completely different from the rest of his life. ‘Sam’s taking me. Perk of the job apparently.’
Jake shook his head, but Johnny buzzed at this. ‘That’s awesome!’ he said. ‘You’ll love it! When’s the jump?’
Ethan shrugged. ‘Need to get the forms signed first, then I guess it’s just down to Sam. Does he always take new staff up for free?’
Jake frowned. ‘Sam’s losing it,’ he said. ‘I mean, it makes sense to take people like us up, but he can’t go around giving just anyone a free jump, can he? What’s wrong with him? Age getting to him? Gulf War Syndrome finally kicking in?’
‘I’m not complaining,’ said Ethan. ‘I can’t wait, to be honest.’ Then he turned and looked at Jake. ‘It’s not like you have to be superhuman, is it? Even Nancy’s done it.’
Jake opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything Kat pulled him away, turning back to wink at Ethan. ‘Well, you certainly know how to make friends and influence people, don’t you?’ she said softly before following Jake out of the café.
Ethan looked over at Johnny, who laughed and slapped him on the shoulder. ‘Don’t worry about Jake,’ he said. ‘He can’t help being a total dick.’
Ethan laughed. ‘So what’s with him and Kat then?’ he asked, thinking that they just didn’t seem right together. ‘And what’s with the attitude and the need to mention the Porsche?’
‘Jake’s deluded,’ Johnny told him. ‘Bit of a tosser in most ways really. Thinks he owns everything he can see, including people. And he loves everyone to know just how rich he is.’
‘And he and Kat . . . ?’
Johnny shook his head. ‘They’ve a history, that’s all. Doesn’t make sense to anyone, least of all me.’
‘Why’s that?’
Johnny grinned, his eyes glinting. ‘What, with me around? How does he even get a look in?’
Ethan was about to reply when Nancy called over from the serving hatch. She was running low on chips – would he be a love and nip round the back to get some out of the freezer.
Ethan made his way outside. Johnny followed, jumped on his motorbike, pulled on his helmet and kicked the engine into life.
‘See you tomorrow?’ said Ethan.
Johnny nodded, then spun his bike round and floored it.
Ethan watched as Johnny wheelied out of the centre, one-handed. He shook his head and smiled. Something told him that if he had a bike, he’d probably do just the same – or at least try it and fall off.
Overhead, the clouds started to break and the sky cleared. Ethan breathed in deeply. He felt happy, but it was more than that. Now that he was doing a tandem skydive he felt like he belonged. He had a reason to be there at FreeFall; a purpose.
And Sam had given it to him.
6
‘Honestly, Mum, I’ll be fine. It’s totally safe.’
It was early the following morning and Ethan was doing his best to persuade his mum to sign the forms for Sam. He’d managed to get up in time to catch her before she headed out to work. Dad was nowhere to be seen. He’d probably dossed at one of his mates’ places after drinking himself into a stupor.
‘Totally safe?’ Ethan’s mum was looking at him dubiously.
Ethan nodded. ‘Absolutely,’ he said. ‘Totally.’
‘But if anything happened to you . . .’
‘It won’t, Mum, really it won’t,’ said Ethan. ‘Sam’s an amazing skydiver. Ex forces. He knows what he’s doing.’
He watched as his mum looked at the forms again. Nowadays the tiredness seemed etched into her face permanently, like it would never leave. He simply couldn’t understand why she didn’t just kick his dad out once and for all. Having him around was wearing her away little by little.
At last she reached for a pen and signed the forms. ‘Does your dad need to see these?’
‘No,’ said Ethan, and took them – scanning them quickly to make sure that his mum had signed