Page 29 of The Neighbor
I nod, struggling to breathe normally. “Yep.”
She jogs in place as I make my way over to her, a polite thing to do for a nearly perfect stranger. When I reach her, I smile and bite out, “Thanks for waiting.”
“You seem new to this. I’m happy to take it slow for today. I’m pretty beat myself, so it’s like serendipity you’re my running partner for the morning,” she says without a hint of difficulty.
Damn. She really is in good shape. It doesn’t show so much in her body, which actually appears a little soft in her running outfit, but if she isn’t struggling in the least to speak while she runs, she must be in better shape than me.
I force a smile at her mention of us meeting up being serendipity. If she only knew.
As we set off down the road toward the next cul-de-sac, Stream Circle, she turns to look at me and says, “I tend to talk a lot while I run. Don’t mind me and don’t feel like you have to keep the conversation going. It’s just my way of passing the time. I hope you’re okay with that.”
That gets her another nod as my lungs begin to feel like my thighs did a few minutes ago. All that sitting around staring at my computer for hours on end really has made me completely out of shape.
Not that I want to talk to Sara as much as listen to what she has to say. Hopefully, she’s chatty about her life and not just benign nonsense like the weather.
“As long as you’re not bothered by me huffing and puffing over here,” I manage to say, sounding only slightly like someone about to collapse.
Giggling, she turns to face me and smiles. “It’s okay. We’ll take it slow. What made you want to start running?”
Before I can attempt to answer, she says, “Sorry. You’re already having a hard time, and here I am asking you questionsyou have to answer. I think I’ll just stick to my usual observations.”
I want to say I figured Jared would be in good shape and could answer her questions, but I stay quiet, listening to the sound of my blood pumping in my ears and hoping I can make it long enough today to learn something about her. This won’t be an entirely futile effort if I don’t, but I’d like her to start telling me things about herself.
We run in silence for a minute or so to the next cul-de-sac, Birch Circle, before she starts talking again. As I listen to her chatter on about the heatwave, I notice the homes in this area are older than those on my street, and it’s obvious in how weathered they look. I’m surprised no one around here seems to take as much pride in their houses as those of us on Park Circle do. I bet they don’t have monthly block parties either.
“You’re probably wondering why my usual running partner isn’t here this morning,” she says, and I glance over at her to see sadness in her eyes. “Jared and Suzanne broke up and she threw him out of the house, so he had to go stay at his brother’s in Norristown.”
Unsure what to say to that, I simply nod. Not that I could have an entire conversation right now. Even running at the slow speed we are, I’m nearly out of breath. I’d planned on doing this for a couple weeks to gain her trust, but at this rate, that plan might have to change. I might be dead from exhaustion if I have to keep this up for that long.
“You probably think I broke them up, but I’m not the only woman he’s been seeing, you know. Jared and Suzanne have been unhappy for a long time. I don’t know if you know that, but they have. She works a lot, so she’s never home. That makes a man’s eye begin to wander.”
While Sara excuses her behavior with a man cheating on his wife, I see another runner coming toward us. God, don’t let it besomeone she knows who’ll want to run with us, or I’ll be stuck running without finding out a damn thing for my efforts.
As the person gets closer to us, I notice it’s a man I’m guessing is in his early fifties. A hint of gray at his temples makes me think he might be a little older, but he’s definitely not our age. His knees remind me of old-fashioned doorknobs they’re so bony, and with every step he takes, I worry one is going to pop they look so frail.
Sara does that freaky wave thing when he’s right in front of us. “Hey, Bob! Have a great run today!”
The man nods and replies, “You too, Sara. Get it in before the heat of the day sets in.”
It’s a meaningless exchange, but it does tell me people other than Jared seem to like her. Maybe I was too harsh in my initial judgment of her. Not that she’s a saint since she was sleeping with a married man, but maybe she’s not the trashy thing I thought she was.
I’m still going to kill her. That won’t change.
“That’s Bob. He works for Chase in the city. I think he’s some loan officer or something. He told me once, but we were running and that day I had the worst sprained ankle I ever had in my life,” she explains.
Slightly less out of breath, I say, “You ran on a sprained ankle. Wow.”
That makes her laugh, and she nudges my left arm with her elbow. “I run every day. Rain or shine. Sprained ankle or not. I might not run if my leg was broken, but until that happens, I’m out here at seven in the morning every day. It’s the only way I can get going before work.”
Now’s my chance to get her talking about herself.
“Do you work in the city like Bob?” I ask before taking a huge breath of humid air into my lungs.
She laughs at that too. “No. I cut hair at a salon a few miles down the road. That’s how I met Jared. He came in to get his hair cut, and the rest is history.”
Interesting way to describe their affair. I want to ask how long it went on for, but I don’t want to stop her from talking more.
We round the corner onto Sunset Lane, a street that leads to an area of the housing development where there aren’t any more culs-de-sac but just straight streets laid out in a grid pattern. I haven’t spent much time up here, but Sara seems well-acquainted with the area.