JONES LISTENED INTENTLY to Lizzie’s instructions.
“You ready?”
He nodded solemnly.
“You can do this, Jones. I know you can. Just focus. Okay, here we go.”
She walked over to stand next to the instructor, who gave the control booth the thumbs-up sign, and the simulation was underway.
Twenty minutes later, when Jones had finally for the first time ever successfully passed the simulation, he whooped for joy - and caught Lizzie completely off guard when he abruptly lifted her off the ground and swung her in a circle.
“Put. Me. Down,” she commanded after a moment of shocked silence, and he turned stark white.
“Sorry,” he mumbled and set her down gently. “Got carried away.”
She grinned in spite of herself. “You did good. Just... no picking me up. All right? High-fives work just fine.”
“
