Jenna nodded.
“I’m sure then,” Daisy said with a confidence she didn’t quite feel. “You go ahead with the kids, and we’ll catch up with you in a bit.”
Half an hour later, Daisy could feel the perspiration dripping down her shirt. Not because she was hot.
No, the cool temperatures up in the trees was almost freezing.
Her sweat was because soon she would be taking both feet off the makeshift platform under her as she stepped out into the air. Flying through the trees on a contraption that everyone told her—including herself—was perfectly safe.
From below she saw Jack, Natalie, and Paul waving up at her and Jenna. Jenna was going first, and Daisy was behind her, offering encouragement even if all the while she wasn’t sure how she was going to take that final step out into the abyss.
“Okay, Jenna. You got this, baby. Think about the bridges we just crossed. How you didn’t let your fear stop you and you pushed right on. That feeling you had when you reached the end. This is no different. Lily’s already waiting at the other side for you. We’re all here for you.”
Jenna nodded and took in a deep breath. Daisy knew the moment her daughter made that decision to take the step, her face hardening in determination before she grabbed the bar and put her weight into the seat of her harness and let go.
Daisy couldn’t see Jenna’s face after that, only heard the loud sound of the zip line as she crossed it but the whoops and hollers from below as everyone cheered her on was almost enough. It wasn’t until her daughter reached the end that she heard it.
Jenna’s laughter, mingled with Lily’s.
Instantly, some of Daisy’s tension lessened.
“Okay, Mom. You’re up.” It was Jack who said this, though.
That’s right. Now it was her turn to do what she’d spent the better part of the last twenty minutes convincing her daughter to do. This whole trip was about experiencing new things, right?
So why wouldn’t her legs take the step forward they needed to?
She didn’t know how, but she was suddenly aware of Jack’s presence next to her. He must have climbed the ladder, but it hadn’t been long enough for him to get here…or had it?
“You don’t have to do this if you’re that scared.”
“Of course I do,” she snapped. “I just told my daughter how she shouldn’t let her fears control her life.”
He grinned. “I know. Now prove it to them and yourself that you’re not going to let your fears get the better of you. Take that step.”
He placed his hand on her shoulder, something that shouldn’t have felt as good as it did. Especially not right now when she was a million feet up in the air possibly about to step to her death.
“How do I know the system is equipped to hold my weight and size?”
He smiled at her indulgently. “Because I just did this same line not fifteen minute ago and I easily outweigh you by two.”
That earned her own slight smile. “How much do you weigh?”
“One eighty-two.”
Cute the way he thought she weighed only ninety pounds.
“Now,” he continued, “if it can hold me, it can hold you. I promise.”
She nodded, somehow finding the courage to take the tiniest step forward so her toes were past the ledge. Then stepped right back.
“Hey. Look at me,” he said. She glanced over her shoulder, meeting his steely blue gaze. “If it’s one thing I know about you, Daisy Sorensen, you will take that step one way or another. You’re not going to let your kids see you give up. Whether it’s now or in twenty minutes or in one hour. Because you don’t walk away from a challenge. You’re a fighter and no matter what obstacles have been put in your way, you’ve pushed past them to be the amazing mom and woman you are. This”—he nodded toward the empty air—“this is nothing compared to the last two years of hell your ex put you through. What your life put you through. Here’s a chance to embrace the unknown. You can—and will—do this.”
Something in his tone told her he meant every word he’d said. And despite her fear, she found his belief in her…empowering.
She looked down at her kids waving. Up ahead she could hear Jenna and Lily calling for her to go.