As Sasha walked out of the stadium, Claire watched Eastman follow her.
“That’s super cool. Do you get to fly anywhere you want?” Claire wasn’t sure who asked the question.
“Only if she’s in the mood.”
Behind Eastman, Isaac slipped out of the stands and followed him.
At her backpack, she plopped on the ground and changed out of her spikes and into her running shoes. With Eastman out of the stands, it was time for Claire to check in with Jax.
Before she ran off, she cheered on the rest of the girls running the one hundred before making her excuses. “I’m going to say hi to some friends.”
Jax and Elsie met Claire at the bottom of the stands.
“You were wicked fast,” Elsie exclaimed.
“I think you came in second overall,” Jax told her.
“Are you guys having fun?”
“I’m gonna be honest,” Elsie said. “It’s a lot more exciting than I thought it would be.”
“Where’s Ally?” Claire asked.
“She was grounded.” Jax shrugged.
“That bites.”
“Do you want to see what they have at the snack bar?” Elsie suggested.
“Sure.”
They weaved through the crowd, and Elsie started telling Claire about her boy problems.
“. . . I was telling Jax that he stopped wanting to do what I want to do. I kinda wanna break up with him, but then what happens with prom?”
“He totally bailed on last week’s party,” Claire said.
“He was pissed that I went without him. What does he expect? That I just stay home when he doesn’t want to go out? He’s the one that’s going to be in a dorm in August, probably join a frat or something. I bet he goes to a ton of parties and won’t ask me to go.”
They turned toward the concession stand and took their place in line. “I left my money in my backpack,” Claire told Jax.
“I got ya. You can pay me back later.”
“Jax?”
They all turned to her name being called.
Claire recognized him right away. “It’s Brian, right?”
“Yeah.”
“What are you doing here?” Jax asked.
Brian looked around, checked out the kids standing in line behind them. “I had to pick something up. Milo told me you’d be here, asked if I’d help out.”
Jax acted surprised. “Oh, yeah.” She reached into a side pocket of her purse and pulled out an envelope.
Brian handed her a card. “Milo told me to give you his number, make it easier.”
“This is really cool. Thanks.” Jax put the paper in her back pocket. “I thought I’d see you guys last weekend.”
“We took off early. We like things smaller,” he told them.
“It was a lot of fun,” Elsie told him.
Brian smiled at Elsie, a flirty lift in his eyes. “You were there?”
“Yeah, it was great.”
“Maybe next time I’ll stick around longer.”
Claire kinda wanted to puke.
He started backing away.
“Thank Milo again for me,” Jax said.
“I will. He said he’s really looking forward to seeing you.”
Jax put on the appropriate excited female smile one manages when she’s just heard the cute boy wants her number. “Tell him I said hi,” Jax called out to Brian as he walked away.
The line inched up and someone bumped Claire from behind as they were trying to get past.
She glanced around and saw Lars following Brian.
Cooper watched with anticipation as Claire’s next race set up to run.
He knew she wanted nothing to do with screwing up the other girls’ chances at medals and titles. And no matter if she blew it on purpose, or helped them win, they couldn’t claim the prize once this case was over. She’d told him earlier that she’d rather watch them smile now and deal with the fallout later. Maybe they’d understand.
Cooper liked to think they would.
The gun went off and the race began. Everything looked textbook, until the second baton was passed. Fifty meters in and Leah managed to miss a step and went down.
Cooper started toward her, but the girl jumped back up and started to run, only now she was limping, in obvious pain.
Cooper heard the announcer over the PA mention an issue on the field. But Leah kept going until she crossed the line. Claire hesitated, but the team yelled at her to go, which was how they trained.
Claire took off to finish the race.
The team swarmed Leah in seconds.
“Let me in.” Cooper shoved through, crouched down to her level. “Where does it hurt?”
“My ankle.” Leah had tears in her eyes.
Cooper reached down, gave it a gentle poke.
She jumped.
“Do you think you can stand?”
She nodded yes, and he and one of the students helped her to her feet.
Claire came running up behind him, hand on his shoulder. “Is she okay?”
Leah tried to put weight on her ankle and buckled.
Cooper bent down, lifted the girl into his arms, and walked her off the field. He heard the crowd and the concern of the announcer.
“What happened to run fast and don’t get hurt?” Claire tried to tease her.
Leah laughed through her tears.
“Do you think it’s broken, Coach?”
“I left my X-ray vision and my Superman cape at home. But my guess is it’s a sprain.”
Leah laughed a little more.
Cooper found Claire’s eyes and caught her smile.
They settled in the first aid tent where Leah’s parents rushed to her side.
Bennett showed up and told her not to worry, she’d be running again before the season was over. Even Cooper knew that was a long shot.
He stayed with her while they iced and bandaged her ankle. Claire and her relay team did a good job of distracting her. Once they’d done all they could, Leah’s dad took over, picked her up, and left to find an urgent care.
Claire walked with Cooper back onto the field. “That sucks,” Claire muttered.
“Sure does. She’s good and this is her senior year.”
“You’re a softy,” she told him.
“Coach Mitchel?”
He turned to see the coach from Bremerton walking toward him.
They shook hands. “Sorry to see your runner go down.”
“I think she’s all right.”
“You seem to have a knack for this coaching thing.” The other man smiled and patted him on the back.
“It’s certainly growing on me.”
“And this one.” The coach looked at Claire. “You’re pretty fast, young lady.”
“Claire, this is the coach from Bremerton. Coach Dale . . . Sorry, I forgot your last name.”
Dale waved him off. “No worries. Coach Dale works.”
“Hi,” Claire said.
“Keep running like that and I’ll see you at state.” He said goodbye and walked back to his team.
Cooper’s phone buzzed with a text from Neil. How is the kid?
He turned the message for Claire to read.
“You guys are all softies.”
“Okay, let’s finish this up. Go out there and get those distance runners motivated.”