run up to it, and the view is insane. I’ve spent my whole life around Atlanta. In all my years on the farm or on the streets downtown or tending bar, I never thought I’d ever be here. Six months ago, I was jealous of Jimmy for jet-setting all over the place, and now look at me. I take in the entire vista, breathing the mountain air, and feel like that loser on the Titanic, screaming “I’m the king of the world!”
Then I look back at Penny. She’s frozen, green in the face.
This ain’t good.
I nudge her closer to the guide. The guide says, “Welcome, travelers. You have an important choice to make. You can either mount your horses and take Switchback Trail to your destination, which on average will take you three hours, or take the Heart Attack, which will get you there in three minutes. The choice is yours.”
She gets a sheepish look in her eyes, and I know what she’s gonna say before she opens her mouth. Her voice is soft. “I’m afraid of heights.”
“Yeah. But think of all the time we’ll save. We were sixth at the last outpost. We can’t afford to come in much later.”
“I know. But I can’t.”
“You can. All you need to do is hold on.” I look at the guide. “We do it in tandem, right? Together?”
He nods.
“Yeah, see? It ain’t nothing. You hold on to me like you did in the corn maze and we’ll be down before you know it.”
“But . . .”
“You can be behind me this time, okay?”
She inhales a sharp breath. “I can close my eyes?”
“Yeah. Remember, Penny? I told you to trust me. I ain’t gonna let nothing happen to you.”
She’s trembling. “That’s a double negative. That means you’re going to let me die!” she whines, covering her face in her hands.
“Look,” I tell her, getting down to her level and peering in her eyes. “This is all you. All your choice. You know what I wanna do, but I want you to decide. I’ll do what you want.”
She gives me a look, and I swear I see a trace of gratefulness. She walks to the edge and peers carefully over the side, and then her eyes follow the path of the zip line to the point where it disappears among the pine trees.
She sets her jaw, rips the glasses from her face, and tucks them into her pack. Then she nods at the guide. “Set us up for this thing.”
I don’t want to say anything to make her change her mind, but I’m so pumped I could kiss her. I was never one to follow Jimmy on his stunts because the stuff he does risks serious injury, but I’ve dreamed of doing shit like this all my life. The guide gets us into helmets and harnesses and sets us up on the platform. He attaches us to the tandem zip and shows us where to hold on. “I’m just going to give you a little push, and you’ll be off. Easy ride,” the guide says.
I can’t see her behind me, but I can almost hear her heart beating. “You okay?” I call to her.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this! I must be insane!” she cries. “Tell me when it’s over.”
She must have her eyes closed. She’s going to miss one hell of a view. The guide calls, “One, two, three . . .”
And before he gives us the push, she’s already screaming in fear. Loud.
We careen toward the trees below, and it’s steep. At first it almost feels like we’re falling. Everything’s rushing by in a blur. But somewhere along the way something changes.
She stops screaming in fear and starts squealing in delight.
“Oh my god! This is awesome!” she shouts, laughing. I see the tops of her feet as she kicks out wildly, and I start laughing too.
We break through the trees, and the landing platform comes up fast and furious. I put my feet out for the landing, and a guide is there to slow us down. He unclips the carabiners and I jump out, feeling like I already have that million dollars in my hands. I rip off the helmet, and when Penny gets loose, she bounds over to me, wrapping her arms around me.
And I kiss her. Tongue and teeth, hands and hair. Crush her lips with mine and devour her mouth like she’s my last meal.
The weirdest thing? She lets me. She groans and kisses me back, tangling her hands