That was, until today.
They had begun the morning as they usually did with a morning run, and then she’d gone to the rink. She was progressing well, her routine together, including her complex jumps and sequences. They had the music, a recording of a choreographed performance she already knew. When she passed by Micah at the sidelines, he gave her signals on how to correct herself if she was off the beat of the music, running behind or ahead of the audio. Mentally, she had to adjust the music in her head, but so far it had worked out well.
Micah had promised to be by her side in New York, and Tessa was getting less and less nervous. She wasn’t competing anymore, so now she could skate just for enjoyment, for the joy of being back on the ice.
Now Micah gave her a thumbs-up, his hands in front of her, signaling that he was ready.
“I can’t believe I’m really doing this,” she whispered to herself, looking down at the approximately fourteen-thousand-foot drop right outside that open door of a perfectly sound airplane. What was she thinking? Did she really want to jump out of a plane that was perfectly safe and solid beneath her feet?
They left the skating rink earlier now, basically only needing to go through the routine and make sure it all went off well. Then, Micah would take her somewhere to do something crazy. It had gone on like that for two days. This was day number three.
She’d loved parasailing with him. There was a small company in town that had offered it for a while now, but she’d never actually done it. But then, she was comfortable at safe heights, and had grown up on the water.
Then there had been the rock climbing yesterday, and learning from one of the best free solo climbers in the world—a title that belonged to Micah—was extraordinary. Not that he’d let her go without safety equipment, and she highly doubted that experience had been much of a rush for him. The climb had been pretty tame. After all, they hadn’t gone far. Nevertheless, Tessa had been pretty damn proud when she’d gotten to the top of the small rock formation.
However, she was terrified today. Yeah, she was enjoying doing things outside her comfort zone, but this was a little much.
She could feel the reassurance of Micah’s big body behind her, her smaller form attached to him by a harness, straps at her chest, shoulders, and legs.
He’ll do all the work. I just have to not fight him and remember his instructions. I need to relax.
“I’m not sure if I’m ready,” she finally answered loudly, knowing the plane was noisy. Micah had already told her that she needed to yell to be heard over the noise of the aircraft. Cautiously, she peeked out the door once again. “What if I forget something?”
He handed her a note, one that he’d obviously written before they had left the ground.
Trust me. We’ll be connected, and I won’t let you fall.
The hastily written words on a small scrap of paper nearly brought tears to her eyes. How had he known she’d be scared once she was strapped to him, unable to see his face?
She was tandem skydiving with Micah. He’d ordered the plane and they had a safe drop zone. Still, she felt like a million or more butterflies were trying to escape her stomach.
After some intense and quick instruction, they’d been on their way up in a plane piloted by someone Micah knew well. He was a master skydiver and had the special credentials for tandem jumps. He’d also made sure to mention that they were using Xtreme Dive equipment, the best skydiving gear available, in his opinion, which had made Tessa laugh at his arrogance.
It didn’t surprise her that he’d done thousands of jumps safely: solo, tandem, and group jumping and formation. Micah was the leader of one of the most elite jumping teams in the world.
This jump was probably nothing more than routine for him. But Tessa was more nervous than she’d been skating in the Olympics. Most figure skaters didn’t look death in the face performing their sport.
It’s safe. He told me about the safety record of skydiving. It’s rare to have a death among regular jumpers.
It all came down to the few words he’d written; it came down to trust. Did she trust him?
She tucked the note into a small zippered pocket of the protective jumpsuit she was wearing.
Then, she gave him a confident thumbs-up. The truth was, she did trust him, and the thoughtful note he’d scribbled before they’d gotten into the air just reinforced her bond with him. She’d take this leap with him, just like she’d taken several leaps in the past weeks with him. There was no one she’d rather be with, even if she was jumping out of a very nice plane.
Micah didn’t waste any time letting her know they were going as he once again gave her the “go” sign himself, and they both tumbled out the door of the plane.
Her heart lodged in her throat as they exited, her body attached to the front of him, both of them falling at what seemed like an alarming rate. She automatically put her arms out in the correct position once they cleared the plane, a silent scream in her head as she felt the air rushing by them. Their bodies continued to drop at a rate of speed she never could have imagined.
The free fall only lasted for a minute or so, but she finally embraced the rapid plummet toward Earth a few seconds after they’d started to descend. If she was going to die, there was nothing she could do about it, and she wanted to enjoy her last moments.
Right now, Micah was as deaf as she was, or so she’d been told. Not only were they wearing protective helmets, but when one was falling to the ground at over a hundred miles an hour, it was hard to hear anything but the wind rushing past the body. Micah had told her that a skydiver was unable to hear anything but the air during free fall.