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twenty-eight
By the time Constance arrived at the gym, she was both relieved and dismayed to see Rhett’s Jeep parked in his favorite far left corner of the lot. It’d taken her forever to get dressed and get herself here, and she was twenty minutes late.
Constance approached the Jeep and found Rhett sitting in the driver’s seat, eyes closed, window down, a classic rock station playing on the radio. He wore a blue T-shirt with the Semper Fit logo and had a clean-shaven face. She reached in to shake his shoulder and he caught her wrist just before she touched him. He squinted at her through the sunshine, sighed and let her go. “You’re late.”
“Sorry.”
Rhett got out of the Jeep and stretched. He put his hands on his hips. “You good to run?”
Constance spread her arms open. “I’m here.” That was the closest she’d come to agreeing. “How about you?”
“I’ve been here.”
“You look tired.”
He stopped short of saying something, probablyI’m always tired. Truth was, he’d learned to function quite well on too little sleep. Constance knew what that looked like, and Rhett was a master.
“You’re a little overdressed,” he said. “It’s already sixty-nine degrees. You know as well as I do that means it’s going to feel like eighty once we get moving.”
Constance looked down at her joggers and oversize T-shirt. She touched her hair when she saw Rhett eyeing her sloppy bun. She hadn’t wanted a ponytail and loose wasn’t an option, so she’d done her best to twirl it up into a knot. It kind of looked like a frayed pincushion. “I’ll be okay.”
Rhett looked skeptical but didn’t press the issue. “I figured we’d run the sidewalks up and down the main road there.” He pointed to the road behind the gym. “I’ve run it many times. You can go seven miles out before you run out of sidewalk. That’s fourteen if we go out and back. Obviously we won’t run that far today.”
Constance smiled. She hadn’t talked in runner’s speak in ages.
As they walked through the parking lot and alongside the building, Rhett sketched out his plan. “Since we’re running along a main road, there’s a lot of traffic. But it’s a good way to get your legs back without too many hills.”
“Hey,” she said as they climbed down to the sidewalk. “I was thinking about your nickname. Does anyone ever makeGone with the Windjokes?”
Rhett actually did a double take. He’d turned to scope out the traffic but looked back to her quickly. He was smiling with his eyes. “Are you stalling, Stanzi?”
“No,” she lied. She grabbed her ankle, pretending to stretch her quads as she bent her knee. “I’ve just been meaning to ask you. I never did find a way to shorten your name and it got me thinking. If anyone ever makes jokes.”
“I’ve had a few people over the years call me Butler,” Rhett admitted. “But the joke’s on them, because that’s my middle name. My mother’s maiden name is Butler.”
“Your name is Rhett Butler Santos?”
“Yeah. You got a problem with that, Morrigan?” He poked her in the chest. The smile in his eyes had melted down to the corners of his mouth. Clean-shaven? Five-o’clock shadow? Beard? Didn’t matter. He was striking, any which way. It was like getting different flavors of your favorite dessert.
Constance felt stupid just staring at him. But not stupid enough to run yet. “I don’t think I ever apologized.” Now was as good a time as any, and it was long overdue.
Rhett didn’t insult her intelligence by asking for what. He did look out at the traffic again, like he was either searching for or hiding an expression. When he faced her, he just shrugged. “I understand why you kept it to yourself.”
“I’m not sure I’m sorry I kept it to myself,” Constance clarified, “because I’m not sure I could have done anything different. But I am sorry I hurt you. I know what it’s like to lose trust. And I never meant that to happen. You were never part of a bargain.”
“Well—” Rhett tilted his head from side to side, like he was shaking her words around “—I appreciate that.”
Constance nodded. “So.” She squeezed her hands together, then stuck one out. “We’re good?”
Rhett glanced at her attempt at a handshake, then ignored it and took off at a warm-up clip. “Yeah,” he called over his shoulder, “we’re good. C’mon. Move your ass!”
“Hey!” Constance started running after him. “I wasn’t ready yet!”
Rhett turned around, so that he was running backward. He smiled, wide and unmistakable. “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”
They didn’t need to run a great distance today, or any day, really, to get ready for the running they did in the gym workouts. He didn’t think he’d ever programmed anything more than a 5k. All Rhett wanted to accomplish was getting Stanzi on her feet again. Any short distance would do, but despite her year off, her body was going to quickly remember all those miles she used to put in. It already showed when she did the high-intensity workouts at the gym. She might not be able to lift as much weight or do as many of the skills as the more experienced, but her engine was strong. Rhett was never worried about Stanzi being a quitter. He figured a relaxed 5k was all she needed today.
Rhett kept her on the inside of the sidewalk, away from the traffic. She had a quick pace, which didn’t surprise him. Her form was good and she knew how to breathe, how to negotiate traffic so she didn’t lose her stride nor get plowed over by a semi.
