Page 19 of An Irish Summer

“Ah, lads, we shouldn’t be surprised,” Collin said eventually. “We all know Chelsea isn’t a chancer. She isn’t going to change

her ways now.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but he had backed me into a corner. If I said I was, in fact, a chancer, I’d have no excuse

not to jump. And if I agreed with him, he would be right. I could barely make out his features from so far down below, but

his expression was just cocky enough for me to know we were thinking the same thing.

“You’re such a pain in the ass, you know that?”

“Heard it a few times.” I could tell he was smiling. “Now, what’s it gonna be, Chelsea? Are you going to be brave for once,

or are you going to go for security, like you always do?”

“You have no idea what I always do.”

“Is that your answer?”

“I’m going to kill you,” I said.

“You’ll have to come up here for that.”

I wasn’t sure if the burning in my chest was my nerves, my frustration with Collin, or my frustration with myself, but it

was becoming less bearable the longer I stood down there looking up at him.

The breaking point came, however, when a beautiful, curvy woman in a tiny black bikini materialized beside Collin, announcing

in a posh English accent that she would show us how it was done.

She trailed her fingertips along Collin’s back as she passed him, stepping up to the edge of the platform and cracking her

neck for effect.

“Watch and learn,” she said to no one in particular, though her words spread icy fingers through my chest. She dove from the

platform with more grace than I’ve probably ever done anything and landed in the water with hardly a splash.

Collin stuck his fingers in his mouth and whistled through his teeth as she surfaced, and the ice in my chest turned to flames.

Who was this woman?

And why was she touching Collin like he was more than just her tour guide?

And why the hell did I feel like this about it?

She sauntered out of the water with her long hair clinging to her back, then took a bow when she got to the sand.

“Who is that?” I whispered to Flo.

“Rhiannon something, I think,” she said. “Checked in a few days ago.”

“Do they know each other?” I asked. I knew I shouldn’t have said anything, but I couldn’t resist.

“Who, Rhiannon and Collin? Not until she got here, I don’t think. But she’s been hanging around the bar a bit. Or that’s what Lars said, anyway.”

Why hadn’t I noticed her before? And what was she doing hanging around the bar when she came all the way here for vacation?

“She’s a little over the top, no?” I asked, once again unable to keep my mouth shut.

“If jealousy is your way of convincing me nothing is going on with Collin, you’re doing a hell of a job,” she said.

“I’m not jealous,” I said, perhaps a bit too quickly. “I’m just not sure we needed a whole performance just now.”

“I guess you’ll just have to give a better one,” Flo said, shrugging in a way that suggested I had no other choice.

And she was right.

With my eyes locked on Collin and my teeth clenched, I reached for the hem of my shirt. I hadn’t lifted it more than an inch

when my friends and the guests erupted in a chorus of cheers, which admittedly forced me to unclench my jaw to laugh a little.

It was too late to change my mind, so it was time to fully commit.

I pulled my shirt over my head and dropped my shorts to the ground, too focused on the stress of the jump to care I was in

my underwear in public. Most of the crowd on the platform seemed to be wearing the same, so that was at least one thing I

could have checked off the panic list.

“So she decides to be brave after all,” Collin called from the platform, clapping slowly as I climbed the stairs. “What changed

your mind?”

“Couldn’t let everyone else have all the fun,” I said, hoping I sounded more casual than I felt.

“You’re the jealous type, then?” He crossed his arms, sizing me up. “There’s enough fun to go around, you know.”

I ignored his comment, fearful that if I said anything at all I would have to address that we might not have been talking

about the jump, and that was the last thing I needed on my mind. The cheers might have gotten louder as I approached the edge,

but the increasing volume of my heartbeat in my ears made it impossible to tell for sure. It may have only been thirty feet,

but it felt like thirty thousand.

“I’ll go first,” Collin said softly enough that I might have been the only one who heard him.

“Why, so you can show off and make me look like an idiot?” I tried to laugh, but it got caught behind the lump in my throat.

“No,” he said, more of a whisper now. “So I can be there in the water when you land.”

“Like I’m a little kid,” I said. I was fighting embarrassment with everything I had. I wasn’t sure if he was helping or making

it worse.

“It’s a high jump, Chels. Sometimes it feels better with someone waiting for you down below, that’s all.”

I risked a glance at his eyes, the same blue green as the sea, though arguably more dangerous. There was a kindness in them

that wasn’t there before, and if my legs weren’t wobbly enough from the height of the platform, they were jelly after a few

seconds of eye contact.

“Yeah, but you don’t—”

“I’ve got you,” he said, flashing a crooked smile in the split second before he leapt from the platform and splashed into

the sea. I watched as his head bobbed above the water and he ruffled a hand through his hair, pushing it from his eyes and

gazing up at me.

“It’s now or never,” he yelled up at me. “You’ve got this. And I’ve got you.”

Hearing those words again, at that volume, gave me the last bit of courage I needed. He wasn’t lying. He had me, and I had

to trust him.

I took a deep breath and jumped, and for a second, I realized why everyone did this. For a second, I was flying.

Then I was crashing into the water, water was up my nose, it felt impossible to figure out which way was up, and it wasn’t

until my head broke the surface that I realized I was in Collin’s arms, which was likely how I’d gotten to the surface in

the first place.

“I did it!” I shouted entirely too loudly for how close I was to his face.

“Told you you could,” he said, pushing a wet lock of hair out of my eyes. Outside of this moment, that gesture might have

stolen the breath from my lungs, but in this case the breath was hardly there in the first place, so it was easy to cope.

“Only you would use my moment of glory to brag,” I said.

“Old habits die hard,” he said. “But you’re right. This was all you. Fair play to ya there, Chelsea.”

“Thank you,” I said. “For your help too, I mean.”

He flicked water into my face, and I was finally able to let out a laugh for real.

“We should probably—”

“Are you two done?” a voice called from the platform. “Or am I going to have to jump right onto your heads?”

“—get out of the way,” Collin was laughing as he finished his thought. We called apologies to the man on the platform, and

I wondered how long we’d been floating there and how many others noticed.

Just before the man plunged into the water, I felt Collin’s hands circle my waist once more, pulling me toward him and out of the way. Even under the cool water they were warm, and since they were just out of view of everyone on the sand, the gesture felt more intimate than it should have.

But that didn’t stop me from being disappointed when he let go.

And it didn’t stop me from wondering if those same hands had been on Rhiannon, either.

We swam to the shore, side by side, breathing heavily as we shook water from our hair and rejoined our friends at the bottom

of the platform.

“I’m going to give you one more chance,” Flo whispered as Collin caught up with Lars.

“Save it,” I said before she could finish. She tittered and tossed me my clothes, and together we watched the boys rejoin

the rest of the guests at the top. Rhiannon included.

“Clock’s ticking, cara ,” Flo said, following my gaze. “If you don’t make a move, someone else might.”

“Then it’s a good thing I don’t plan on making a move,” I said.

“Whatever you have to tell yourself,” she said. “Come on. Let’s get back and into the showers before the boys can beat us

to it.”

I let her drag me by the arm back to the Promenade, forcing my eyes from where Collin stood with Rhiannon overlooking the

sea.

If Flo was right, I worried I really didn’t have much time left. And if everyone else who jumped was right, maybe there was

something to be said for taking risks after all.