By the time she reached the highway headed downtown, she could think of only one person who could help.
Shay dialed her phone, praying Caleb would answer. Praying he wasn’t on a sunset jump. He answered on the third ring. “Hello, Shay,” he said.
His voice was warm, encouraging, and it opened a floodgate for Shay. “My patient…George—I think he might be about to try to commit suicide, but I’m afraid to call the police…in case that pushes him to actually do it. He wouldn’t have called me if he didn’t want to be stopped. I’m going to him now, but I—”
“Where is he?” Caleb said. “And where are you?”
“He says he’s on the roof of the downtown Hyatt, off Sixth Street. I’m halfway there.”
“I know where it’s at,” he said, “and I’m already walking to my truck.”
She let out a breath of relief. “Thank you, Caleb.”
“It’ll be okay, Shay,” he said. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.” He hung up, and Shay breathed just a little easier through the remaining ten-minute drive.
Shay pulled into the Hyatt parking lot and took the stairs to the lobby level. After a tortuously long elevator ride, another set of stairs sent her and her high heels into blister-and-gasp territory, but she heaved through it. She burst through the door of the roof, and stopped abruptly. George was there all right, standing with his back to her, his feet dangerously close to the edge of the building.
Terror gripped Shay. It would be so easy for George to go over that ledge. And so easy for her to say or do the wrong thing that it was almost paralyzing. The minute she began interacting, the reactions would begin. The chance for error would exist.
Behind her, the door creaked. A second later, Caleb stepped to her side. He glanced at George, and if he was rattled, he didn’t show it, didn’t so much as blink. He turned toward her, and lifted the blue-jean jacket he wore, to display a harness strap with rope attached, she assumed he planned to use it to link himself with George. The very fact that Caleb wasn’t unprepared to take action was comforting as long as she didn’t think about how Caleb might actually try to get that harness on George and how easily he might go over the wall with George in the process.
Caleb wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close, the unique scent of him invading her senses, a comforting scent she inhaled, as he whispered, “Get me to that ledge with him. Tell him I’m a friend you called for moral support. Make sure he knows I’m not with the authorities.”
Her hand pressed to his chest, the heat and sound of his heartbeat radiating comfort. She nodded, and he ran his hand down her hair. “Take a deep breath, sweetheart, and trust your instincts. You’ll be fine and so will he.”
Shay absorbed the words, and let her determination form. She was getting George off that ledge. She started walking, watching George closely as she approached. He wasn’t a large man—five foot nine and a hundred and fifty pounds dripping wet by her estimate. Often she’d thought of him as effeminate and a bit frail. But standing on that ledge, his spine stiff, he looked bigger, more confident than usual. Almost as if he were empowered, ready to jump.
She was only a few feet away from him when he turned, his gaze shooting to Caleb. “Who is he? Who’d you bring with you?”
“I’m a friend,” Caleb said, easing closer. “Shay called me when she was on her way over here, said she needed me. She was worried and didn’t want to call the police.”
“What kind of friend?” George asked suspiciously.
Caleb stopped beside Shay and shoved his hands in his pockets, giving her a quick look before answering. “I’ll just say this…about three days ago she had me ready to stand on that ledge by your side. Who put you up there?”
“Anabella,” he said. “She wanted me for the money I inherited from my Jessie. She knew Jessie. She knew about the money.”
Caleb said, “That’s when you tell her you only wanted her for the sex, and it wasn’t that damn good anyway. I mean it’s not like you knew her long, right? What else could it have been about?”
George actually laughed, the intensity in him dropping a good two notches. “I wish I had it in me to think of snappy comebacks like that.” He turned somber. “I thought I loved her.”
“So the sex was good?” Caleb asked. “Because good sex has a way of doing that.” Caleb turned to Shay. “And no, we aren’t about sex. At least it’s not about sex to me.” He eyed George. “You’re about to get me in trouble.”
George grinned at Shay. “Is it about sex to you?”
“No!” she said.
“But it’s good, right?” Caleb asked.
Shay could feel her face redden. “Okay, both of you. This isn’t the time or place to be talking about this. George. Come down right now. I can’t talk to you while you’re standing there.”
He shook his head. “No. No, I can’t.”
She softened. “Anabella might seem like a mistake to you,” she said, “but she woke you up, George. She made you live life again.”
“I don’t want to live again,” he said. “It hurts.”
“And it feels good,” Shay said. “That’s the joy. You appreciate the good because of the bad. You don’t want to jump, George. You want to live.”
“You know what I do when I want to jump,” Caleb said.
“What?” George asked eagerly.
“I jump,” he said. “Out of a plane. I skydive.”
George’s eyes went wide. “Skydive,” he said. “That’s crazy. What if the chute doesn’t open?”
“You don’t have a chute standing on that ledge,” Caleb said. “The way I look at skydiving is…if I’m supposed to survive—if I still have a purpose on this earth—the chute will open. If not, then it won’t.” George looked intrigued, and Caleb quickly offered, “I own a skydiving operation in San Marcus. If you want to test my chute theory, we can go now. You can watch some videos and do a little paperwork, and then jump in a few hours. And you’ll have your answer—to live or not to live.”
George looked at Shay. “Will you jump with me?”
Shay’s breath lodged in her throat. Both men stared at her, waiting for an answer to the same question Caleb had asked days before. Would she jump?
18
WILL YOU JUMP WITH ME?
George’s question hung in the air like a hammer about to drop. Caleb had done a lot of thinking about why he’d pressed Shay to jump with him three days before, because he wasn’t one to push people out of their comfort zone, certainly not Shay. At least, not outside the bedroom. And now, here, in this moment, he knew why. He’d wanted something to show him that, while she might not be willing to tell her family about their relationship, he was worth a risk, worth fighting for. But she hadn’t jumped, she hadn’t even stayed to talk to him after his jump.