Page 31 of The Neighbor
Today is a different story, however.
My right leg makes it off the bed so my foot touches the floor relatively easily, but the left leg doesn’t fare so well. Halfway over, my hip cramps, and I collapse onto my back like a ton of bricks. Or an out of shape man.
After rubbing the cramped area for a minute or so, I try again to get out of bed and succeed. If only that’s all I had to do today, I’d be a champion, but I need to get up and over to Sara’s street to meet up with her.
So I hobble to the bathroom to get ready, and after slathering Ben Gay all over my legs, I get dressed in another pair of running shorts and a white T-shirt. With a quick look in the mirror as I brush my teeth, I silently remind myself that this is all for a purpose.
I need to find out all about Sara’s life so I can take it.
Ten minutes later as I walk down the street, I see Caroline walk out onto her porch dressed in shorts and a T-shirt and looking content like I wish I was. With a mug of coffee in her hand, she gives me a nod and a smile.
“Day two is hard, I hear.”
I nod, knowing all too well that’s true. She’s surprisingly quite attractive first thing in the morning. Her hair doesn’t look like a matted mess, and although I can’t tell if she’s wearing makeup or not, she looks as pretty right now as she always does.
“Just have to fight through. Have a good one,” I say with as much enthusiasm as I can muster this morning.
At least it’s not oppressively hot or humid today. I heard the weatherman say the heatwave might break this afternoon, but I’m not terribly hopeful. It’s got to be nearly eighty already this morning, and it’s not even seven o’clock yet.
Not that it will matter once I’m finished with this run. I plan to spend all day inside in the air-conditioned comfort of my house researching everything I can on Sara.
Hopefully today, she’ll give me more to go on.
As I turn the corner off Park Circle, I see her stretching a few yards away. She’s wearing what looks like a black skirt I’m sure has shorts underneath and a pink tank top. As I walk closer to her, I notice she’s wearing makeup this morning.
Interesting. Is Jared joining us, or is that for me?
“Hey, you came back!” she says with a broad smile.
“Yeah. Well, I told you I wouldn’t give up, so I figured I should try to live up to my word. One of my neighbors just told me the second day is hard, but I’m hoping I can muddle through.”
Sara looks around for who I’m talking about and then returns her focus to me. “Oh yeah? Are we being joined by a third?” she asks with a hint of hope in her voice.
I shake my head as I realize she’s probably wondering if it was Jared who warned me about day two. That tells me they haven’t spoken since I ran with her yesterday. I almost expected to see him here this morning joining the two of us.
Knowing I might be jumping the gun a bit, I join her in stretching as the church bell in the distance begins to toll and casually say, “I thought maybe your friend would be running with us today.”
She lifts her head from the neck stretch she’s doing and asks, “Who? Bob?”
Odd that she isn’t immediately thinking Jared, but then again, she might not consider him a friend. “No. Jared. I know you guys ran together every day until recently.”
Grimacing, she shakes her head as she bends her leg behind her to stretch her thigh muscles. “Jared and I are no longer speaking. We had a huge fight when I called him last night, sowe’re officially over. He can find someone else to run with every morning.”
I smile at what I think may be her unintended double entendre and give her my best sympathetic nod. So Jared is out of the picture. That makes what I want to do a little easier. With him out of the way, that leaves only her to deal with.
“Ready? I don’t have to be at the salon until eleven, so I’m happy to go a little slower since I bet you’re feeling the effects of yesterday right now.”
With a groan, I stretch my arms over my head. “You have no idea. I’m not giving up, though.”
Sara slaps me on the arm, throwing her head back in laughter. “That’s the spirit! Let’s get started because the only way to get to the goal is through it.”
I have no idea what the hell that means, but I start running when she does, instantly regretting my decision to try again. Just need to keep my eye on the prize.
Except that the prize might be far stronger than I thought.
We run for a few blocks while I watch Sara carefully and have to admit she may be hard to subdue. I’m physically bigger than her, but as I study her body, I can’t deny she’s got some strength to her.
“Do you know he came to my work yesterday?” she asks out of the blue, tearing me from my fixation on her body and how I’m going to handle her when the time comes.