Chapter 10
ten
When Ava and I arrived at the Take the Leap offices for the campaign kickoff party the next week, Tripp greeted us with a smile. I’d broken my cookies-are-only-for-courting-clients rule and baked up a few batches of chocolate chip cookies for the party, mostly because baking distracted me from dreading this whole ordeal. I would’ve spent the entire night baking if Ava hadn’t hidden the flour and sugar after the third batch.
“The whole team is here and ready to kick this campaign off with a bang!” Tripp said, beaming. “Your brother is here, too. He’s back with the tech team, going over everything for the app. He said something about servers and traffic, and then I tuned him out.”
Laughing, I said, “Wise choice. He’ll talk about that stuff for hours upon hours.”
“You guys really went all out.” I followed Ava’s hands as she waved around the room. The entire space was decorated. Much to my surprise—and horror—they’d created movie posters for the video featuring one of the photos of me clinging to Tripp for dear life as we hovered over Percy Priest Lake, Thankfully, you couldn’t see my face. But Tripp’s scruffy, chiseled face was on full display. A vainer person might be sad the marketing materials focused on the supporting character, but I was grateful. No one would be focusing on me when they could stare at the pure joy on Tripp’s face … or at the rest of him.
Ava wandered off to chat with Liam and the content team, leaving me alone with Tripp for the first time since the jump. He’d sent a few texts and emails to check in, but I’d kept the communication professional. Much to my unexplainable disappointment, so had he. This was a new, confusing feeling for me, and I’d never had a client, or anyone, affect me quite like he had. The fact that he was a client made this even more confounding ... and frustrating.
“How have you been? Feel any different now that you’re a daredevil?”
I shook my head. “Nope, still the same old chicken I’ve always been. But now I know what it feels like to fall off a bridge.” In your arms , I thought, but didn’t dare speak out loud.
“Are you ready for the world to see it?” he asked. His voice carried a hint of concern.
“Ready for everyone to see me panic on a bridge? No, but I am excited to see how the campaign is received.”
“Were you okay with how it all turned out? I’m sure it wasn’t easy to rewatch. I know I hated watching the footage of me.” We’d all had to watch the final video several times, so at this point, I was almost numb to it.
“Which was basically all of it.”
“Right,” he said with a laugh. “But you’re still the star.”
“Unfortunately.”
“Don’t say that. You look fantastic and represent us well.”
“Which part do you think did I look fantastic in? The part where I was terrified of a trampoline or when I had an emotional breakdown on the bridge?” I cringed at the memory. Thankfully, those parts were edited artfully and didn’t show just how exposed and scared I’d felt.
“All of it,” Tripp said without hesitation.
The compliment sent a thrill of heat over me. I tried to ignore it. He was just talking about work. “I appreciate that, I really do.”
“So, I was thinking we could look at doing one of the tamer videos next. Give you some time to recover from the adrenaline rush.”
“I think I’d be up for something a little less, um, thrilling. Are there any extreme challenges we go do lying down? Uh, I mean, like napping.” Flames of embarrassment rushed over my skin. I wanted to crawl under the carpet and hide.
An unreadable expression passed over his face. He opened his mouth to speak but got tongue-tied. He coughed and cleared his throat and said, “I’m not sure that’s an activity we could do together.”
I decided to quickly change the subject. “The place looks great! I don’t usually love parties, but you did a fantastic job.”
“My team deserves all the credit. Liam and the marketing group go all out for parties.”
Before I could respond, Liam unleashed an air horn to get everyone’s attention. I covered my ears and cowered behind Tripp. The shrill, loud sound startled me. Tripp turned back and gave me an apologetic smile. I tried to return the smile but couldn’t force the curve into my lips, which were trembling from the sudden rush of fear. Loud, unexpected noises are yet another item on my long list of things that terrified me.
I felt Tripp brush his hand against mine. I glanced up and met his questioning stare. “Okay?” he asked.
I laughed it off and said, “Sure, that just startled me.” He gave my hand a quick squeeze and let go too quickly. I shook off the brief thought that I might have been okay if he’d held on a little longer. I wasn’t quite sure what to do with the empty ache I felt at the absence of his attention.
“All right! Leapers!” Liam yelled to the crowd once the buzz of conversation slowed. “Who’s ready to kick off Take the Leap 2.0?” A roar of cheers, screams, whistles, and clapping filled the air. He gestured to Tripp who gave me one last smile before joining Liam at the front of the room.
A staff of waiters clad in Take the Leap gear, complete with harnesses like the ones we’d worn last Friday, circled the room to hand out flutes of champagne, Tripp launched into a speech.
“Thank you all for your hard work these last few months, especially the past forty-eight hours. You’ve been working day and night to get the website and app ready for this moment. Months of trial and error and sleepless nights have brought us to this moment. I’m proud of the work each of you have done to bring Take the Leap into the company that it is, and I cannot wait to see where we go next.” He raised his glass and locked his gaze on me. “And a special thank you to Savie’s Ava Reed and Sadie Barnes for being the masterminds behind this new campaign, but most importantly, thank you to Sadie who is quite literally taking the leap right alongside me. To Take the Leap!” Everyone shouted it back to him and threw back their glasses.
The office went dark as several screens around the space queued up with their social media pages. “Take the Leap 2.0 goes live in 3 … 2 … 1 …” As soon as Tripp said one, confetti and balloons floated down from the ceiling and the video began to play.
I hadn’t seen the social media edits of the videos, but knew they started similar to the long one I’d watched earlier. I didn’t need to witness them again, so I snuck out of the lobby and ducked into the first open office I could find. Pulling the door closed behind me, I stepped into the dark office and relished in the silence and calm. The door muted chatter from the employees and the music overlay from the video. I breathed a sigh of relief. One challenge done, four more, and a skydive to go.
Looking around the dark office, I realized I’d managed to sneak into Tripp’s office. I recognized the plush chairs from the few meetings we’d had in here. Sinking into one, I closed my eyes and thought back through everything that had to be done now that the campaign was live. There was so much work to do, but I could handle that. Ava and I were used to late nights and deadlines. It was the rest that scared the daylights out of me. I needed to get the challenges over with.
No matter how attractive or kind Tripp was, or how safe he made me feel, there could never be anything more than a passing crush between us. Not that he would want that. But on the off chance he did, it just wasn’t in the cards for me. I may be willing to try these terrifying adventures one time, but I wasn’t about to even consider the one thing that scared me the most.
“Oh, sorry. I wasn’t expecting anyone to be in here,” Tripp said, startling me out of my reverie. I turned and offered a weak smile.
“I hope it’s okay that I’m hiding out in your office. I wasn’t up for another viewing of the video.”
“Why do you think I’m here?”
I was pretty sure the question was rhetorical, but I said, “To avoid me?”
Tripp dropped into the seat beside me with a sigh. “No, actually, I was looking for you.”
He was? The tiny trill of satisfaction that sent through me tickled out a smile. “Making sure I didn’t already make a run for it?”
He laughed softly. “No, you don’t strike me as the type of woman to bail on people.”
“Really?” His observation was surprising but also made me feel seen and understood.
“I mean, you fought through your fear and jumped off a bridge with me, and you sat through a four-hour editing session with Liam and Kyle.”
That had been almost as painful as the crippling fear I’d experienced on the bridge. At least Liam had been forced to witness just what an ass he’d been to me during the trampoline park practice session. He hadn’t actually apologized, but at least he seemed somewhat apologetic.
“I know what it’s like to be on the other end of leaving, and I don’t want to ever be the reason someone experiences that,” I said, offering more honesty than I’d intended to. “But that’s enough Debbie downer talk for a party. How’s the team’s response to the video been so far?”
“Everyone seems to be proud of the work. The social media team is monitoring views and comments, and Seth and the developers are celebrating a successful launch of the app. Downloads are a little slower than we’d hoped, but at least it’s gone smoothly.”
“That’s great,” I said, mulling over his comment on the soft download numbers. We’d set our goals high for the app, but we also knew the rollout would be slow.
Tripp’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He slipped it out and glanced down at the screen. A crooked smile danced on his lips. A quick stab of jealousy pricked my heart. A smile like that was reserved for someone special.
“We should probably get back out there,” I said, and stood abruptly. “I’ll let you have a few minutes alone.”
“My mom’s a fan of the video,” he said and held up his phone, showing me the screen.
Wow, Tripp! Video looks great. You and Sadie did a great job. I raised a true gentleman. Love that you’re finally sharing this side of yourself with the world! Noah would be proud.
The crooked smile straightened into a wide, bright smile that reached his eyes. His happiness was contagious.
I knew exactly what she meant, though. Every video or image of Tripp on Take the Leap’s social media lacked the charisma he exuded in person. Normally, he embodied the tough, extreme sport persona, but in the new videos, he seemed more relaxed and natural. And, of course, his gentleness and patience with me showed a completely different side of him. In the short time I’d known him, he’d been nothing like the bruh character he played so well online. Based on what his mom’s text had said, this version of Tripp was the real version of him.
“She’s right, you know, we made the right call in keeping in the banter and the less extreme scenes.”
“I hope so. It’s definitely a risk, and Liam hasn’t been shy about telling me he thinks it’s a mistake.”
“Do you think it’s a mistake?”
His eyebrows furrowed as he considered his answer. “No, I don’t. You’re bringing out a side of myself that I haven’t seen in a while.”
It was my turn to get lost in thought as I overanalyzed this. “How?”
Smiling, he answered without hesitation, “I feel like I’m getting to re-experience the adventures with you, and it’s giving me a whole new perspective on how I’m seeing our business and mission. I’ve never met anyone like you, Sadie, and it’s refreshing to have someone that challenges me to think outside my own experience.”
I hadn’t considered this before. I was the one trying new things and being pushed out of my comfort zone. It hadn’t occurred to me that Tripp might be going through some of the same feelings. Sure, none of these adventures would be new to him, but allowing himself to be seen as something other than the guy who jumps out of planes for fun was a new experience for him.