“Tomorrow, your support team will be at miles six, twelve, eighteen, and twenty-four. Miguel has the schedule. I am assigned to the medical station between twenty-one and twenty-three.”
Near Dani. Near me too.
“Understood.”
“Amy.”
“What?”
“If you see her, you are not responsible for her race.”
“I understand.”
“Really?”
I studied the convention-center carpet.
“I know intellectually.”
“Tomorrow requires more.”
“I will try honestly.”
Rose accepted that.
“That is enough.”
She returned to the booth. Tessa came back.
“What did she say?”
“Medical logistics.”
“Nothing else?”
“No.”
“Do you wish she had?”
Dani’s name remained on the list.
“No.”
Truth. Mostly.
We found Dani near the exit. Not because I searched. Because Lola shouted my name across the hall.
“Amy!”
The sound cut through hundreds of conversations. I turned. Lola ran toward us wearing a Run Forward shirt and carrying a foam dinosaur on a stick. Gloria followed. Dani stood behind them with a race packet beneath one arm. She wore jeans, a black T-shirt, and a blue charity wristband. For a moment, the entire expo narrowed to her. She looked thinner. Not physically. More contained. As though she had stopped using motion to occupy every available space.
Her eyes met mine. Love remained. So did hurt. Neither disappeared. Lola reached me and hugged my waist.
“You’re both running.”
“Yes.”
“Are you racing each other?”
