That was really sweet.
“Do you miss it?”
That came from Rue.
Zach sighed, placing his hands in his sweatpants pockets—and oh my God, when had he put on sweatpants?—before saying, “I don’t know. At times, yes. Other times, not so much. I’m still getting to do the medical part, which is what I was kind of transitioning to after the failed practice attempt.”
“Failed practice attempt?” I asked curiously. “What?”
Zach grimaced. “My ex-partner was arrested for indecency with a few patients. After that happened, I decided to fold the practice and sell it off before I had anything associated with him affect me. It was enlightening and made me realize that even the people that I thought I knew well could hide things from me.”
I shook my head. “As much as I want to talk to you more about this, I have to go run. That food is making my stomach growl, and I want to eat it.”
Zach tossed me something, and I caught it, frowning at it.
“What is this?” I asked.
He walked to me and opened up the slim box, revealing a brand new Garmin watch. The one that I’d been looking at for a week now but hadn’t actually pulled the trigger on buying.
“Oh my God!” I said excitedly. “I love the color!”
It was baby pink, and the cutest thing I’d ever seen in my life.
“You’ll love it,” Cleo said. “Though, I wouldn’t have gone with pink. Such a girl color. You want to go run?”
I put the watch on my wrist and got it ready to go, then looked at the older version of my man standing next to me. “Considering I’m a girl, I think it’s great.” I stuck out my tongue at him, causing him to grin. “How far are you going?”
He shook his head. “Likely nowhere near as far as you. I’ll turn around way before you do, I’m sure.”
I walked to the sink and picked up my glass of water from last night, then chugged it.
Once I was done, Cleo was already outside waiting for me.
After stopping by my man for a kiss, I grabbed my AirPods, shoved them into my ears, situated my phone into the little pocket on the side of my leggings, and then headed outside to Cleo.
We started off at an easy pace, and surprisingly, he was much faster than I gave him credit for.
By two and a half miles in, I had sweat pouring down my face, and I was laughing at how Cleo was able to hold a conversation and run at the same time.
We’d talked a lot, or he had anyway, and by the time that he was turning around a quarter of a mile later, I had a lot of new stories to get to know my man by.
Turns out, Zach was a sweetheart covered in a tough outer shell that protected him from the world.
And according to Cleo, I was in.
His boy loved me, or we would’ve never met him and Rue.
I was so lost in thought that by the time I turned around a mile later, I hadn’t even realized that I’d run that far—or intended to.
The run back seemed to crawl by, however, and didn’t seem anywhere near as easy as the first half.
Cleo had distracted me from the god-awful hills, and I definitely noticed them more as I made my way home.
Home.
To Cleo’s parents’ place.
Not my home… but I hoped that I’d be visiting a whole lot in the years to come.
I looked at my new watch and grinned, loving the color, and loving even more that the man that’d given it to me knew me so well.
I’d have never bought it on my own.
I just wouldn’t have.
Not when it was so expensive.
But Zach knew me well, and he’d gotten it for me knowing that I would use the hell out of it.
And I found out it kept a pretty good pace, meaning I knew when I slowed down on the hills even better than I would’ve known without it.
Not only could I feel the difference, I could see it, and it made me push through even though I’d rather walk and cry.
Pushing through meant getting better and getting better meant that Melody wouldn’t win this time.
Except, as I ran, thoughts about how last time had ended for me, the failure that I had felt, started to creep up on me.
Which meant, when my music suddenly died, I missed a step and nearly plummeted to the ground.
Luckily, I was able to right myself.
Unluckily, my AirPods died, and I inwardly cursed.
“You stupid son of a bitch,” I growled, pulling them out of my ears and nearly chunking them into the woods.
The only thing that stopped me from doing that was the knowledge that it would be considered littering.
I’d had nothing but trouble with the stupid things, and I half wondered why in the hell I’d bothered buying more when they kept breaking on me.
Sadly, they were the only ones that fit really well in my ears and didn’t feel like there was a suction cup to my ear canals when I was running.
Now, all I had to listen to was my breathing and the creak and crack of my ankle bone.
I was about a half mile away from Zach’s parents’ house when a small whimper caught my attention.
My heart pounding, I came to a stop and looked around.
That sounded like a pained whimper.
Or a scared one.
I wasn’t sure which because I’d been so focused on how awful I sounded when I ran.
Shouldn’t I sound better if I was an experienced runner?
Instead, I sounded like I was huffing and puffing and about to blow the house down.
Another whimper sounded, and I paused my watch, then accidentally stopped it, causing me to curse.
“Shit,” I grumbled as I started to go through the prompts on the screen.
I smiled then, happy with my pace, even if I wasn’t happy with the way I’d just turned the damn thing off.
Another whimper, this one sounding closer.
I looked up in time to see a brown furball dart back into the brush.
I frowned and moved toward it, then groaned when I saw the dead coyote in the tall grass just off the side of the road.
I groaned. “Awww, you poor thing.”
She must’ve gotten hit by a car and had died there.
Which also indicated that the little furball was likely its baby.
“You poor thing,” I said as I talked quietly to it. “Do you need some water?”
The cute little furball poked his head out from between two leaves, and my heart melted.
“You’re just so stinkin’ cute.”
Sadly, I was not going near it.
At least, I hadn’t intended to.
I was going to come back and bring it something to drink, though.
When I finished my run.
But, since I was already semi-cooled down, I decided to walk back to Zack’s parents’ house, and at first, didn’t pay attention that I was followed.
I was just turning into their driveway when a whimper caught my attention.
The little fluffball had followed me.
I looked at the fluffball that disappeared into Rue’s bushes, knocking several flowers off in the process, and winced. “Oops.”
“Oops what?”
I jumped at the sound of Zach’s voice coming from directly behind me.
I turned to look and found him with a weed whacker in his hands, and his father sitting on the same tractor that Zach and I had sex on last night.
My face flushed, but luckily you couldn’t tell seeing as I was already really sweaty and red from my run.