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“Good morning, everyone. Thanks for coming out this fine Saturday morning for a heavy dose of fitness, community and hopefully some fun.” Rhett paused while people variously whooped or groaned. “But seriously.” Once everyone had quieted, he continued. “Today is a special day. Most of you know why you’re here. But in case you live under a rock and missed the boat, today we are here to support a very important fundraiser. Many of you have worked hard to raise money to help rebuild Pittie Place, a dog rescue near and dear to one of our members’ hearts. I think you all know Red.” Rhett gestured to Stanzi, who waved at the community she’d become such an integral part of. He paused again while everyone cheered, clapped or called out, “Hey, Red!”
“Turns out, Red’s got a sister,” Rhett continued. “And her name is Sunny.”
Sunny waved, and everyone whooped and clapped again.
“She works tirelessly and selflessly to rescue not just abused pit bulls, but any dog she comes across. Many of those dogs are taken in by Pete.” Rhett gestured to the unassuming army vet who stood quietly with his arm around Sunny’s waist. “He takes in many of the dogs Sunny rescues and rehabilitates them into service dogs for wounded veterans.”
The claps and cheers again took over the gym.
“Because the cause is so important—” Rhett rubbed his hands together “—we’ve got a workout to match.”
This is when the groans came, followed by comments, gagging sounds, good-humored threats to leave and heavy sighs.
“Today, in order to make your workout worthy of your donations, we will execute the following: a one-mile run, into the park and back, followed by fifty pull-ups, fifty push-ups, fifty sit-ups, fifty air squats, fifty wall balls, fifty lunges, fifty box jumps, fifty double unders and another one-mile run into the park and back.”
Once he was finished reading the intro, Rhett surveyed the packed gym. “Most of these are deceptively simple movements. But trust me, you’re going to feel it. Our one-mile route is out the bay door—” Rhett pointed “—across the street and into the park. The half-mile turnaround point is marked with white flags on either side of the path. The quarter-mile turnaround is also marked, for those of you scaling the runs to half miles. Last but not least, all of you know how I feel about whining. Multiply that times a thousand, and that’s how I feel about whining during today’s workout. Just do the work, remember why you’re doing it and be thankful you’re above ground and suffering with your friends.”
After that, they all warmed up, then started gathering what they needed for the workout. Days like this always brought a special sort of chaos—a lot of bodies filling up the gym, competing for space on the rig, with everyone working together to make sure the job got done with as much flow as possible.
Stanzi and Sunny met Rhett outside at the starting point, along the wall of the building by the open bay door. Stanzi’s ponytail was the longest it’d been since he’d met her and she looked confident, ready for the workout. She wore a pair of bike shorts and a tank top with a white pony on the front. The pony had a multicolored mane and tail and kicked its little hooves in the air.
“Everyone loves the new shirt.”
She planted her hand over it and gave him a shove in response to the big grin he got on his face. “I couldn’t resist when I saw it.”
“Yeah,” Sunny agreed. “The blue really brings out your eyes.”
“Shut up.”
Sunny giggled.
“I can’t wait for you to die during the one-mile runs.” Stanzi gave her a shove.
Sunny jumped up and down on her toes. “I can’t believe you talked me into this.”
“You’ll do anything for your dogs.”
“True.”
“Hey, man.” Pete stuck out his hand to Rhett. “Thanks again for the fundraising opportunity. Much respect.”
Rhett clasped Pete’s hand and squeezed. “The respect is all mine.”
Pete moved off to get ready for the workout and Rhett turned his attention to the sisters. He’d sensed a new closeness and calm between them ever since the night at the barn. They’d spent all day together at the emergency vet the next morning, and when the dog had pulled through, Stanzi had named him Buddy—her father’s nickname in Vietnam. Rhett had watched from the wings as Stanzi had helped the vet bathe him, her slender fingers going carefully over his filthy coat, one hand gently shading his eyes when she rinsed soap from his head.
Something funny had happened in his chest in that moment. He wasn’t sure what it was, but it had both scared the hell out of him and made him feel a safeness he hadn’t experienced in almost two decades.
“Hey.” Stanzi took his arm. “You go on ahead when we run. Don’t wait for me.”
“I won’t leave you,” Rhett said.
“I know you won’t.” She offered a soft smile.
She meant more than just the run. Rhett could see it, flooding those crystal clear eyes. He reached out and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Her eyes widened and she looked around at the crowd. “I don’t care who saw me do that,” Rhett said.
Hobbs, Duke, Sean, James and Zoe, all waiting to run together, stared in their direction. They’d most definitely seen that, and were now whispering to each other. Rhett ignored them.
“Are you sure?”
