“Nervous?”
“I’m afraid my legs won’t move when it’s time to run off the platform.”
He smiled and put his hand on my thigh. “They’ll work. You got this.”
I really liked his hand there, so I smiled back. Together, we sat on a patch of grass about ten yards away from two people who were about to take off. When they raced the seven steps and literally ran off the side of a mountain, they disappeared from view immediately. I shot up to look at what had gone wrong. Carter chuckled. “They’ll pop up in a minute. Relax. That’s how it happens.”
Thirty seconds later, the two were flying high above our head in the distance. My instructor called over, waving for us to come. “Vêm aqui mulher bonita. Come.”
“You ready?” Carter asked with an unexpectedly serious tone.
I took a deep breath in and out. “Now or never.”
He smiled. “That’s my girl.” And took my hand to walk over to the prep area. In that moment, I realized, with Carter holding my hand and calling me his girl, there wasn’t much I wouldn’t try. The thought was comforting, yet scared the shit out of me at the same time.
Instead of my instructor helping me suit up, Carter did. He helped me step into my harness and checked the connections on my suit by pulling at them a few times. He then suited himself up. “Which one of us is going first?”
Carter’s brow furrowed. “Going first?” We go at the same time?”
“You’re my glide pilot.” I had assumed the instructor that did my training was taking me up in tandem. Couples would be in the air at the same time, but were always with an instructor.
He saluted with two fingers to his forehead. “Captain Carter Clynes, at your service.”
“But…but…are you experienced enough?”
“I’m very experienced.” He wiggled his eyebrows.
“Seriously. This is my life we’re talking about.”
“And you’re about to put it in my hands. You’re a lucky lady.”
I was near panic. “Carter. Be serious for a minute. You’re trained to fly that thing? You’ve flown it by yourself before?”
He put both his hands on my shoulders and spoke into my eyes. “I would never let anything happen to you.” Then he surprised me by pulling me against his chest for a long hug. After my breathing calmed from being in his arms, he spoke. “You good?”
“I think so.”
He kissed my forehead. “Let’s fly, baby.”
MY LEGS WERE STILL RUNNING, even though there was no longer ground beneath my feet. When we immediately dipped and started to lose altitude, I dug my nails into Carter so deeply, I might have punctured his skin. “Carter!”
“I got you. Hold tight. Here we go.” And just like that, just like the instructor had explained, we picked up a gust of wind and began climbing back up. My heart was beating out of control, and I was holding my breath. My harness was fastened slightly higher than Carter’s, so I was leaning partly on his back and clinging to him while he held the long metal steering bar.
After a few seconds, I took a sharp, very needed breath, and Carter began to circle us around, flying higher and higher above the mountain we had just launched from. My grip around him loosened slightly as we began to soar. Catching small gusts of wind, we glided smoothly through the air.
“Oh my God, Carter. We’re flying! I feel like a bird.”
His entire face smiled at me. “Feels incredible, right?”
“Yes!” It was an indescribable feeling. Looking down at the sparkling turquoise Atlantic, miles of sandy beach shoreline, and the lush green mountains around us was completely breathtaking. I was glad Carter had talked me into it. And I was even more ecstatic that I was experiencing it with Carter.
As we flew around, Carter was whistling. Even though we were right next to each other, it was sometimes difficult to hear because the wind was filling our ears. But after a while, I caught on to the song he was whistling. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.
“You sang that song on the flight, over the PA system after you turned down the lights. I almost forgot. Is it your flying song or something?”
“Something like that.”
For more than two hours, we glided around the sky of Rio de Janeiro. I don’t think the huge smile left my face once. We saw everything I wanted to see—Sugar Loaf Mountain, the Christ the Redeemer statue, Tijuca Forest, giant waterfalls, the favelas, beaches, extraordinary landscapes. We didn’t see Rio, we experienced it. I felt like if there was a canvas in front of me, I would be able to bleed the beauty from my veins. It was the most incredible, invigorating experience of my life.