The Wedding Contract

Chapter 21





I don’t know what to do. If I admit I put myself here…oh God. So I swallow any pride I have left and say it. “Help!”

The guy below sounds freaked out. “Don’t worry. Hold on, someone will get you. What room are you in? I’ll come and pull you in.”

“The door is broken.” I call it down to him as I feel my fingers begin to slip.

The guy yells and suddenly everyone and their mother is outside. My mother comes, too. “Get down this instant! You’re making a spectacle of yourself!” Good old mom, always thinking of my wellbeing.

“I would if I could, Ma!” I yelp as my fingers slip. My palms are sweating and sliding. I’m losing my grip. The people below gasp and I hear a siren approaching. Someone is banging on my door, but it doesn’t open. They must see the knob is broken, because they suddenly stop. “How far is the ledge?”

“Don’t be stupid, Skylar. You’ll break your neck. Just wait for a professional to get you down. I can see the truck now.” Mom replies quickly.

I can’t see anything. The hotel staff has a ladder, but it’s too short. It only goes up to the second floor. There’s a guy on the ladder, a few feet from me. “We should have stayed in the cove.”

“Deegan?”

“Don’t jump, Sky. It’s too far. The ladder truck is almost here. Hold on.”

“I can’t!” My hands have slipped so that only my fingers are holding me up.

“I can’t reach you from here, Sky. Don’t you dare let go. They’re almost here. Hang on.”

I feel so stupid. The crowd below has grown larger and everyone is watching me. My hands continue to slide over the window sill. I can’t stop them.

The ladder truck below is calling to me and I’m trying to dig my nails into the plaster. “I’m going to fall!” One hand slips completely free and swings through the air. I scream and the other hand follows. My ass hits the roof hard and gravity pulls me down faster than I thought possible, directly toward Deegan. I’m yelling and I cannot stop.

“Sky!” Deegan looks down, but before he has a chance to move, I slam into him. The ladder that was carefully perched against the white shingles suddenly has two people on top. The thing sways in slow motion and we start to fall backward.

Someone below yells, “Jump! Let go!” Deegan releases the ladder and disappears, which makes me scream more.

As the ladder comes crashing down, it collides with a big blue sheet and then the ground. The wind is knocked out of me and I can’t breathe. Panic makes me close my eyes and then I feel a hand on my shoulder. I want to scream but I can’t. A moment later, my breath returns and fills my lungs. And then I scream—loud and clear—and very late.

When I calm down enough to figure out what happened, I hear someone saying, “She seems a little unstable. I mean, first she was wearing a shower curtain in the hotel lobby and now this.” Concern rings her voice, but it hits me like a gong over the head.

I’m still lying on my back as the fireman asks my name, then checks to make sure I didn’t break any bones. My camera, on the other hand, is cracked and unusable. It went flying when I fell with Deegan. It’s not insured because I haven’t paid them this month. I lay there for a moment, staring at the stars wondering why I can’t pull it together. I mean, I did this to Nick and he didn’t crush the Shelter Island Fire Department.

Deegan is never going to talk to me again. Humiliated, I sit up and cringe. The crowd of people surrounding me drops their voices to whispers, but continue to stare at me. Well, everyone except my mother who has already gone. She probably hoped I would die on impact or spontaneously combust. She handed me a book when I was in fourth grade about spontaneous human combustion. Apparently, it happens at random and the only thing left is a pair of smoking feet. I took it as a hint.

A fireman is talking to me. His face is haggard, like he’s done this too many times today. I shake his hand and tell him I’m fine. He tries to get more information from me, but I walk away, too embarrassed to stay there.