“Yes, please,” she said.
The whole rest of the crew had already gone, one of the guides having already demonstrated the way that they were supposed to go off the platform, with another remaining to handle the timing, and the clips on the different cables.
He got up onto one of the boxes, and stood there while their guide adjusted the clips. And then, just like he’d been told, he lifted his feet up, and gravity did the rest of the work. He went sailing off the platform, picking up speed as he went, watching as Rue and her round eyes got farther and farther away while he went hurtling easily through the trees.
It was like being weightless.
He hadn’t expected to feel much of anything doing this. It wasn’t about him; it was about her.
And yet.
And yet he felt his own heart lift somewhere it had never been before.
Just for one moment, the only thing left inside ofhim was all the lightness. Was Rue. Kissing her, holding her. Making love to her. Her lips on his chest in the hotel room, and then again on his mouth. Sweet and casual, like they were a couple. Like they had all the time in the world.
But the shadows existed. Even if this moment of weightless wonder suggested that there could be only this.
He was too many years into living like he did.
To living like a man who didn’t know where the right hook might come from.
He had been burned out on high stakes when he was seven years old. Where things had felt like life and death and he couldn’t trust anybody.
Then she had come into his life and she had changed everything. Given him something to hold on to. Given him hope.
Much like now, Rue had given him wings. A way to fly away from the reality of being a king. A way to transcend.
Just like now.
Too quickly, his feet connected with the next platform. His legs were less steady than he had realized, and when he got unclipped and moved back to the platform his heart was thundering like he’d just finished running a marathon.
He turned just in time to watch Rue lift off the platform back where he’d begun and start screaming.
Then he watched as her expression of terror transformed into one of joy. He wished he could experience it with her. He wished he could be weightless with her.
He had never felt quite so desolate in his life ashe did standing on that platform watching Rue. She spread her arms wide, and let her head fall back, her hair flying out behind her.
Then she lay out flat on her back, a technique they had been shown earlier. It was like watching her surrender. Like watching her truly fly.
But she wasn’t near him. She was getting farther and farther away.
When she landed on the platform, the instructor caught her, and she opened her eyes. An expression of wonder on her face. She unclipped, and then got reclipped to the line he was on, and he couldn’t help himself. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Her face turned pink, her eyes shining bright. “It’s like flying.”
“Yes, it is,” he agreed.
The whole rest of the day was like that. As they sailed through the snowy woods, lighter and freer versions of themselves.
When they got back to the hotel they couldn’t keep their hands off of each other. Their dinner out had to be deferred again, because once they were in bed, they didn’t get back out.
And that was how the next few days went.
It was the closest thing to zip lining, the closest thing to flying. Like they had both surrendered and let go, just for these moments. They left heavy conversations behind, and they forgot that there was any other world beyond the one they made in bed.
But on Friday night, he knew that he needed to take her out. She dressed up in the prettiest red dress that came just above her knees, showing off those legs thathad been driving him crazy. Then he noticed that she put on the blue necklace.
“Something borrowed,” he said.
“And blue,” she said. “I thought it went with the dress.”
