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Gabrielwaited until the pilot had finished before approaching him to say hello.Theydid one of those man handshakes where, instead of clasping them together like normal people, they looked like they were about to arm wrestle, followed by a double slap on the shoulder.
Afterwards,GabrielintroducedJess.Sheheld her hand out andJacquespulled her in for aFrenchbise—the traditional kiss on the cheek.Helaughed at her surprise and said something foreign.WhenJesslooked atGabrielfor a translation, he just said: ‘Anglaise.’
‘Ahhh,’ saidJacques, and he regarded her with the same look one might give to someone who announced she had a terminal disease.
Recoveringfrom his disappointment,Jacqueshanded her a form to sign, where she had to write down her next of kin details.Asshe filled in her dad’s mobile number, she thought howupset her parents would be if they knew what she was doing.Theriskiest thing they did was eating vegetables past their use-by date.Ifthey could see her now, they would wonder if she’d suffered a head injury.
Next, the pilot took them through a health and safety briefing withGabrieltranslating.Hereminded her not to bring any loose items, to stay in her seat, to avoid the rotors if walking around the aircraft—as if she needed to be told—and described how to exit safely in the event of a crash.
‘Crash?’ she repeated, her voice rising an octave in one word.
‘It’sokay,’ saidGabriel. ‘Theyhave to tell us that.Jacqueshas racked up over one thousand flights.Heused to fly for theFrenchAirForce.You’llbe fine.’Henudged her with his shoulder and she huffed a humourless laugh. ‘Jess.Lookat me.’Hetook off his sunglasses with one hand and lifted her chin with the other in a way she vaguely remembered from the night before.Hergaze dropped briefly to his lips, and she recalled the feeling of them on hers, however quick it had been.Herbreath caught. ‘You’ll.Be.Fine.’
Shecouldn’t tear her eyes away from his—dependable, solid, sober brown eyes.Hehad a maturity and gravitas that made her trust him.Krishis just a boy compared with him.Thethought came out of nowhere.
Jessexhaled shakily. ‘Okay.’
Droppinghis hand, he glanced left and right. ‘CanItell you a secret?’Shenodded and he leaned towards her: ‘I’mactually afraid of heights.’
Pullingback, she smiled. ‘Noway.’
‘Absolutelyterrified.EversinceIwas a kid.’Hepointed towards the sky. ‘ButIdon’t feel it whenI’mup there.There’sso much beauty…well, you’ll see.’
Herdad had a book about confronting fearon his shelf.Curious, she’d read through it, but disagreed with the basicidea of making people do things that scared them.Itseemed simplistic and irresponsible.Theywere scared for a reason, right?Butin this moment, the title phrase came back to her.Sherecalled one part that said if she took more risks, then it would exercise her resilience to baseless fear, making her open to new experiences.
Well, this was a new experience.Anopportunity that would never come up again.Andshe didn’t want to let her fear stop her.
‘Icandothis.’Shecurled her hands into determined fists.
Once, a student asked her if a person or animal could die from fear. ‘Nothingcan actually die from being scared,’she had told him with conviction.
Butthen she’d looked it up, and there was something calledTakotsuboCardiomyopathy, when emotional or physical distress could trigger a heart incident.Andit affected more women than men.
Theknowledge made her shiver.Jessswallowed and concentrated on her shoes.
I’llbe fine.
I’llbe fine.
I’llbe fine.
Gabrieltouched her arm.Shejumped.Fromhow he looked at her, she wondered if he had been calling her name for a while.Heasked if she needed anything before they got in.Shewanted to say yes, aValium, but she just shook her head.Hetook her bag and his camera backpack and disappeared into the hangar whileJacquesinvited her to climb into the cabin.Stillwary, she kept her feet on the ground and peered inside like a forensic engineer sniffing out weaknesses.Twostraight-backed leather seats took up half the cabin while the other half was a jigsaw of locked compartments, like in the galley on commercial flights where they stored the food.Onthis aircraft, she hoped those compartments hid lots and lots of parachutes.
Jacquescleared his throat and said, ‘Mademoiselle?’, which she translated to, ‘Getin the bloody helicopter, lady.’
Suckingin a deep breath, she counted to three and launched herself inside, startlingJacques, who had to take a step back.Shethrew herself onto the chair furthest from the door—or lack of door—andJacquesfixed a harness around her that secured her to the seat in multiple places.Shetugged on it roughly after he fastened it, just to make sure it wouldn’t come off.Jacqueswatched her with amusement.
‘C'estbon?’ he asked with a thumbs up.Shegulped and nodded yes.
Gabrielreturned, carrying only his camera.Hehanded it up to her, and she took it in her gently trembling hands, placing the heavy weight on her lap.Thesight of another helicopter landing a few hangars over distracted her.Shestared at the way it hovered and then touched down once, twice, three times before settling safely on the ground.Helicoptersseemed like such flimsy things upon further inspection.
Whenshe turned back,Gabrielwas already in his seat, withJacquessecuring the harness.Gabrielwas asking questions, and the pilot, replyingouia lot.HearingGabrielspeakFrenchdid unexpected, funny things to her nether regions.Focusingon his mouth, she noted that it moved differently when he spokeFrench.Hischeekbones somehow became more pronounced and his lips pushed forward and appeared more rounded.
Fora second, she wondered what it would be like to kiss hisFrenchmouth properly.Withtongues and everything.
Whoa.Shedrew back and averted her wide eyes.Wherehad that come from?Herbody was obviously mistaking fear for sexual arousal.Besides, the man seemed to barely tolerate her, and she had just been dumped.Shouldn’ther sex drive be wearing black and avoiding public engagements?
Jacquesfinished clippingGabrielin and climbed into the cockpit.Asan added safety measure, she tugged on her harness again.Itseemed secure.Shereached over and yanked onGabriel’sharness, too.Shedidn’t want him to fall out, either.
