CHAPTER FOUR A Night to Remember

“CAN YOU WATCH THE KIDS?” I asked George, and without even thinking I pulled out my phone, turned on the flashlight, and peered over the cliff again. There was a walking path, almost but not quite wide enough to be a road, that zigzagged along the rock face to the bottom. Lighting my way with my phone, I started hightailing it down to the desert floor.

I wasn’t alone. Max was bolting ahead of me, and Deanna’s husband, Eduardo, ran behind. Deanna was screaming from the top of the ledge. “Is he all right? Ay…”

“I know CPR,” I puffed quickly to Max as I caught up with him.

He turned and glanced at me with surprise. “Good,” he said simply. “Me too.”

Meanwhile, Veronica had landed safely and was also running toward the tree where Xavier had crashed. “Babe? Are you okay? Babe!” Her voice was becoming increasingly desperate. Was Xavier conscious? I couldn’t tell.

Finally we reached the bottom of the cliff and ran toward the tree, a good two hundred yards away. Normally, I’d be winded by now, but adrenaline was keeping me going. I could feel the tension and dread in the air. Is this wedding going to turn into a tragedy?

But when I was about ten yards from the tree, I heard it: the sound that changed everything. A moan coming from the branches of the tree.

“Oh, man,” Xavier groaned, and the branches shifted as he seemed to move. “That… hurt.”

Veronica’s eyes widened with relief. “Babe, can you hear me? Are you conscious?”

He moaned again. “I think I’m okay,” he called. “Just… banged up.”

I drew up to Veronica’s side and heard her let out a sigh of relief. Max was behind me now, already on his phone. “Okay… yes… we’re in Frick Canyon Park. Yes, he seems to be conscious. Should we try to move him or…? Okay, okay, got it. Yeah, I don’t see a road down here….”

I glanced at Veronica a little awkwardly. She didn’t know me well, but I still grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze. She looked at me.

“He’ll be okay,” I said gently.

She nodded, but her eyes still looked troubled. “I know. I know. It’ll be okay,” she replied.

After that, things seemed to move really fast. It was only a few minutes before we heard a helicopter moving in from behind us. It got louder and louder until it touched down in a clearing several yards beyond the tree. From there we just tried to stay out of the paramedics’ way as they carefully dislodged Xavier from the tree and strapped him to a gurney.

Veronica hovered nearby as the EMTs did a quick exam and checked Xavier’s vital signs. “No major internal injuries,” one of them, a Black woman about Deanna’s age, told Veronica. “Looks like your boyfriend was very lucky.”

“Fiancé,” Xavier corrected with a groan. “We’re getting married tomorrow.”

The EMT frowned. “Are you?” she asked. “Let’s see what the doctors say. We need to get you to the hospital for a full exam.”

They wheeled the gurney into the helicopter, and Veronica darted in to sit next to Xavier.

“What hospital are you going to?” Max asked.

“Grace Memorial,” the EMT responded. “If you drive, he’ll already be there. Just ask for him at the front desk.”

She shut the door, and within seconds, the helicopter’s blades began whirring again. The copter lifted into the air and began slowly, then quickly, flying back in the direction of the city.

Max, Eduardo, and I were left in the dark. The sun had fully set now. I looked back at the cliff with dread. “Now I guess… we start the climb back up?” I asked, pulling out my phone again.

Max shook his head. “Not so fast,” he said, pulling his own flashlight out of his pocket. He walked a little ways back toward the cliff and then disappeared into some brush. I heard an engine start up, and then an ATV squealed out of the brush, Max in the driver’s seat.

“Hop in,” he said with a nod. “This is how Veronica and Xavier were going to get back up to the park.”

Eduardo and I looked at each other and shrugged.

“That looks a lot better than the climb,” Eduardo said.

We got in, me in the passenger seat and Eduardo in the back. The ATV bumped and growled up the path, and I held on hard. When we reached the top, George and Bess greeted me eagerly and I filled them in on what I’d heard.

“Everybody,” Max yelled, “I’m happy to tell you that Xavier is conscious and his vitals look good. He’s on his way to the hospital now. We can all head back to the hotel, and I’ll update you if there are any changes to the plans tomorrow. I know Veronica and Xavier will do everything they can to pull off the wedding if it’s possible!”

Murmurs ran through the crowd, and slowly, everyone started heading back toward the parking lot. George got on her phone and ordered us an Uber.

We were weirdly silent. “I don’t know what to say,” I said finally.

Bess and George exchanged glances, and Bess shrugged. “Me either,” she admitted. “Still processing, I guess.”

Within half an hour we were back at the Soar. The bright lights and cacophonous sounds of the casino felt overwhelming after the quiet of the desert. We headed to the elevators, but once we were inside a car, zooming toward our floor, George shook her head.

“There’s no way I’m going to be able to sleep,” she said. “I’m too keyed up.”

“Me too,” Bess agreed.

“Me too,” I said with a nod. “Want to get a soda or something and talk about it?”

We decided to check out the Sky Bar, a bar/café that was just below the roof-deck where Veronica and Xavier were scheduled to be married the next day. It had a gorgeous view of the Strip and a little outdoor observation deck, but we walked right by it and settled inside at a high table near a window. George ordered a large fries—“I’m comfort eating, you guys”—and we all got Cokes.

After the order was placed, we still sat in silence for a while. It wasn’t until the drinks came and we’d snacked on a few fries that Bess broke it.

“Guys,” she said finally, running her hands over her hair, “if Veronica’s parachute had jammed instead of Xavier’s, George and I could have lost our cousin.”

George grunted. “Yeah, and Veronica almost lost her fiancé—the night before their wedding.”

“It’s awful,” I agreed.

We all shook our heads.

Bess sighed. “I’ve had a lot of fun trying out extreme sports with Veronica and Xavier, but now I wonder if the risk is worth the reward. I feel terrible that this happened. Were the conditions too dangerous tonight? Should we have tried harder to stop it?”

George snorted. “Yeah, cuz, because if there’s anyone a big group of adults listen to, it’s teenagers.”

Bess shook her head and frowned. “I just feel like… everyone knew it was a bad idea,” she said. “Everyone except Veronica and Xavier. We just sat there and watched!”

“It seemed like they really wanted to do it,” I said gently.

George pursed her lips. “Xavier did, anyway.”

I shrugged. “I mean, Veronica seemed excited too. Although, when we were at the bottom of the canyon, when Xavier was in the tree…”

“Yes?” Bess asked, raising an eyebrow.

I paused, then shook my head. “I don’t know. She seemed upset, but of course she did. She wasn’t sure Xavier would be okay.”

Bess sighed through her nose. We were all quiet for another minute or so.

“Do you think he’s pressuring her?” Bess asked, looking at George. “We’ve known Veronica since we were babies. She never even wanted to jump off the high dive at her community pool. But now she’s all about BASE jumping and bungee jumping and”—she waved her arms—“all kinds of whackadoo things.”

George tilted her head to the side. “It kind of seems like Priya thinks so,” she remarked. “Remember that toast?”

Bess nodded. “Don’t change for anyone? Something like that? The ‘anyone’ was obviously Xavier.”

I lifted my Coke to my lips for a long sip, then took a deep breath. “Guys, Veronica seems like a smart woman. Is it even fair to think Xavier could pressure her? She seems totally capable of deciding what she wants to do. And people do change.”

I was thinking about my own time on the flyboard—not something Nancy Drew would have done normally. But I’d made my own decision, and I didn’t regret it. Why should we believe that Veronica wasn’t making her own decisions in the same way?

George looked thoughtful. “You’re right, Nancy,” she said after a few seconds. “I trust Veronica. So if she trusts Xavier, I do too.”

Bess looked out the window. “I hope she’s okay,” she said. “I really hope this all works out, and we get to go to the happy wedding we came for tomorrow.” She pulled out her phone. “No text yet about Xavier,” she said.

George shrugged. “I guess there’s no news yet.”

Bess nodded, mindlessly clicking through her phone. I watched her pull up Instagram and quickly swipe through her feed. “Oh,” she said suddenly, sitting back in her chair as she stared at the screen.

George glanced at me with a quizzical look. “What is it, cuz?”

Bess took in a slow breath. “Uh… I guess there is word on Xavier.”

She turned on the sound and put the phone down on the table, facing us.

“Hey, hey, hey!”

I stared at the screen. The speaker was Xavier—in a video taken just minutes before, according to the post. He was sitting on a hospital bed in a gown, gesturing with his left hand. His right arm hung lifeless at his side.

“I want to say what’s up and a huge thank you to the ER staff here at Grace Memorial in Sin City! Your boy Xavier had a craaaaaazy accident tonight, guys! But I’m not just going to tell you about it—I’ll show you.” The video quickly cut to footage taken from the rehearsal dinner of Xavier and Veronica kissing before making the BASE jump off the top of the cliff. It followed Xavier through the jump, as he was gliding down, and finally as he seemed to struggle with the parachute. Watching the video, I realized he’d been screaming as he crashed into the tree, and then his screams were abruptly silenced.

I could feel my heart beating wildly, even though I knew he was okay. He’d survived.

The video on Instagram abruptly cut back to Xavier in the hospital. “Do I have regrets?” he asked, and laughed. “Maybe I should, dude—but the truth is, I feel amazing! They think I broke my arm, so I may have to bag on the BASE jump tomorrow, but I’m psyched to marry that girl! Mostly because I know we feel the same way about life—that you have to push the limits! Live life to the extreme! And when I get back to Chicago, we’re going to take Redd Zone to the next level!”

He punched his fist at the camera, and the video ended.

Bess pressed a button to put her phone to sleep as the three of us stared at one another in disbelief.

“He posted on Instagram already?” George asked finally.

“He made it sound like a good thing, almost,” Bess said, looking incredulous. “Like, oh, I almost died—but that’s what happens when you live life to the fullest! Let’s do it some more!”

“It’s like he’s using his accident to advertise his business,” I said slowly, not wanting to believe it. “But is that responsible? He did take unnecessary risks tonight. And he got lucky, but he could have died.”

Bess frowned. “I don’t like it,” she said. “I want to like Xavier, but… this weirds me out.”

“Me too,” George agreed, taking the last fry. She looked uncomfortable. “You don’t think he, like… planned it, do you?”

“George!” Bess looked at her in alarm.

George held up her hands. “I just… he’s using it to market his business. You’re right, it’s crazy. But he clearly thinks it’s going to play with his customers.”

“He almost died,” I pointed out. “Even a daredevil like Xavier wouldn’t risk that much to sell more bungee jumps. Would he?”

Bess and George were quiet for a few seconds before George admitted, “Probably not. And the owner having this huge accident might make potential Redd Zone customers nervous, anyway. You’re right. Ignore me.”

Still, we all seemed to feel unsettled. I said I was getting tired, and Bess asked for the bill.

“It’s been a long night,” Bess said as we walked back to the elevators a few minutes later. “I’m really glad I’m here with you two.”

“Me too,” I echoed.

We looked at George, but she didn’t seem to be paying attention to us. She was leaning back to stare out the window at the outdoor observation deck, a look of confusion on her face.

“Is that… Veronica?”

We all turned toward the window. Sure enough, a lone figure who looked an awful lot like Veronica was standing against the railing, looking down at the Strip.

Bess scrunched up her brows. “She’s not with Xavier?”

“Maybe he’s back too,” I suggested. “Maybe they set his arm really fast, or it turned out not to be broken.”

George shook her head. “I doubt it. Those things take a while.” She paused, squinting. “But I’m pretty sure that’s the dress Veronica was wearing at the party.”

She looked back at us, and the three of us had a silent conversation: Do we go out there? We kind of have to check on her, don’t we?

Bess was the first to push open the door to the observation deck and head out.

It was chilly outside, a cool wind blowing in off the desert. I pulled my wrap closer around me. The observation deck stretched along this whole side of the casino, but it was only ten or so feet deep. We all followed Bess as she walked up to the Veronica figure and put a hand on her shoulder. “Cuz?”

Veronica startled and turned around. “Oh… hi,” she said. But her eyes looked red and hollow, and she couldn’t seem to match her voice to the fake-looking smile she’d pasted on.

“Are you okay?” George asked. “I mean, I’m guessing that wasn’t the rehearsal dinner of your dreams. That had to be scary.”

Veronica turned her gaze to George, but she barely seemed to absorb what she’d said. “I’m fine. And Xavier is going to be fine. You don’t have to worry about me, cuz.”

But I wasn’t even related to Veronica, and I was feeling a little worried about her. Despite what she said, she didn’t look fine at all. She looked shaken and sad.

“It had to be tough,” I said quietly, “seeing Xavier get hurt like that.”

Veronica turned to look at me. It was weird, though—I couldn’t read anything in her large, dark eyes. It was like she wasn’t even fully there. Like we’d interrupted a conversation she was having with herself, and she hadn’t fully joined this one.

“He’ll be fine,” she said simply. “They’re setting his arm at the hospital. And his daredevil streak is part of what I love about him.”

For a moment, the four of us just stood there awkwardly. Veronica sounded like she was reading this off a card. What was going on with her? I could tell from George’s and Bess’s concerned looks that they were finding this as strange as I was.

“Well,” Bess said finally. “What a relief. I guess we’ll see you at the wedding tomorrow, then. We’ll let you get some rest.”

We said our good nights, but Veronica didn’t leave with us. She moved back to the railing and kept staring down at the lights of the Strip.

Bess, George, and I were silent until the elevator doors closed behind us.

“That was weird,” Bess said. “I really hope she’s okay.”

“Me too,” I agreed.

George sighed. “I’ll be relieved when this wedding is over,” she said. “I love Veronica, and I hope she and Xavier are really happy together. But this is all getting a little too extreme for me.”