Eight years prior
“Come on! Do it!”
I looked down the shaky zip-line, wondering if I could make the jump. “No!” I scooted a few steps back, the halter still attached to my middle.
“You just watched me do it. It’s perfectly safe.” Dad was squinting up at me through the limbs of the trees. “You kept begging me to make this thing! Well, here we are! Jump!”
My knees were buckling under me as I stared my way to the floor of the forest. “How far down is it?”
“Oh, only about thirty feet.” His cocky grin spread across the side of his face. “You’ve done lines longer and higher than this at camp! Quit being a wimp.”
Sucking in a deep breath, I squeezed my eyes shut to the glare of the sun. Rocking back on my heels, I pressed my weight into the halter as I eased my way to the edge of the plat
