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We sit in silence as he turns and wanders off among the labyrinth of tables.
“Talk about being an ass,” Carlos mutters.
“An ass? Try a whole donkey,” Medjine says with a shake of her head. She touches my arm. “Are you alright? You seem out of it.”
I breathe out and push back my shoulders to recenter myself. “I’m good.”
Though it couldn’t be more of a lie.
* * *
“I’m not cut out for this!” Stitches yells between desperate puffs of air. He’s jogging alongside me down one of the trails in Northam Park.
He’s tried to talk me out of my daily runs, but much to his disappointment, his efforts have failed. They’re happening regardless if he wants to tag along. As my main body guard, he has no other choice but to stick by my side.
Running has always been a way to relieve stress. I’ve enjoyed it for years, even before I reconnected with Salvatore. I find it therapeutic to jog a few miles, listen to music, get my blood pumping as I breathe in fresh air, and enjoy the sights of the city.
A necessity after my most recent encounter with Polk.
“Keep up!” I shout, picking up my pace. My gaze drops to my smart watch for a check of the time we’re making. “We need to stay at this pace the rest of the run.”
“But why?!” he croaks.
“Because I want to beat my last time!”
“But why?!” he repeats in a second croak.
I’d laugh if I wasn’t so focused on our run. Meanwhile, Stitches bemoans every step of the way, asking how I go so fast on legs so short. We finish strong despite his complaints. As we slow up, reaching the end of the trail, I turn to him with a triumphant, breathless smile.
“Aren’t you glad we pushed through?”
He bends over with his hands on his knees and his skin looking green. “Yeah, real glad. Excuse me while I puke a second.”
This time I do laugh as I stand off to the side and Stitches stumbles over to the grass. I’m about to go check on him until someone calls out my name. I turn around to a look of surprise on Sasha’s face. She’s walking toward us pushing a stroller.
“Delphine, didn’t expect to run into you,” she says.
I wipe the sweat off my brow with the long sleeve of my shirt. “I come running in the park almost every day.”
“What a coincidence. I take Bryce for a walk out here. Say hi Bryce.”
The tiny baby gurgles at me with bright eyes, his hands and feet moving in opposite, uncoordinated directions. Sasha chuckles.
“He’s fussy because he just woke from his nap.”
“He’s beautiful,” I say in earnest. “You weren’t at the last group meeting.”
She shrugs. “I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable.”
“Sasha… I didn’t mean for it to seem like you couldn’t attend the group anymore. Please do. In fact, if one of us should leave, it should be me—”
“No, it’s cool. It interfered with picking up Bryce from daycare. I’ll find another therapist and another group.”
A beat of silence passes between us where I search for how to express my desire to help while she seems to distract herself with checking on Bryce.
“How are things with Carlos?”
“We haven’t made much progress yet. I’m meeting with him next week. Sometimes… sometimes I just want to say damn all this legal stuff and do things my way.”
