“Is that where we’re going?” I asked. “The Keys?”
“Well, not exactly.” Aiden glanced at me as his lip curled up. “I think you will be able to see the Keys from where we’ll be though.”
Aiden continued to evade my questions about our destination as we drove down the coast of Miami, through Miami Beach, west across Biscayne Bay, and then down South Dixie Highway. We went past many vegetable farms loaded with workers wearing their wide-brimmed hats out in the fields, and we passed through a collection of small towns. It took a little while, but eventually Aiden announced that we were almost there.
Aiden turned the jeep into a long gravel driveway and headed toward a large building that looked like a big metal barn. Next to the barn were a small prop plane and a van painted with vivid colors and the words “Skydive Miami.” I looked at Aiden sharply as realization hit me.
“You are not serious.”
“Who me?” He feigned innocence. “I’m totally serious.”
“Skydiving?” I cried. “Jumping out of a plane? On purpose? I’ve never skydived in my life!”
“Neither have I,” Aiden said. “All the more reason to do it.”
“No way!”
Aiden parked next to a couple of other cars and turned to me.
“It’s time to live a little, Chloe. Come on, let’s just go inside and see what there is to see.”
“You are out of your mind,” I said firmly. “I am not doing this.”
“Why not?”
“It’s dangerous!”
“So is driving on the highway,” Aiden replied. “You didn’t mind doing that.”
“I’m used to that,” I said with less conviction.
“So we’ll go skydiving a few times until you are used to it.” I glared at Aiden’s smirk.
He came around to the passenger side of the jeep and reached up to take my hand.
“Give it a chance,” he said as I pulled back, determined to remain in the vehicle.
The sunlight captured the green in his eyes, and in turn, his eyes captivated me. I gave in and followed him into the building.
Inside, a receptionist handed each of us a large stack of papers to sign and had us sit down to watch a video. To sum it up, both the video and the paperwork said we were going to die.
“I can’t do this,” I said as I shook my head. “Did you read any of this?”
“Yeah,” Aiden said. “It’s a lot of lawyer talk.”
“Right—because we’re going to die.”
“Nah,” he said. “They just want to make sure if we do, they don’t get sued.”
I looked down at the papers again, seven pages of all the various ways we could be maimed or dead by the time the trip was over, and the demand that we sign away any right to sue the skydiving company for damages because we recognized that what we were about to do was completely stupid.
“Aiden…”
He lifted his hand to my face and stroked my cheek as he looked into my eyes.
“I don’t know what will happen,” he said. “That’s the excitement of it. That’s what makes life worth living. You don’t know what will happen next. We’ll probably be fine, but there’s no guarantee.”
He placed his other hand on the other side of my face and stared at me intently.