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Willa hadn’t followed along with her new habit of getting up before me that morning, so I did my customary peek in at her and went to the kitchen. A pot of coffee brewing, I put together a quick breakfast for my little girl so Pam had one less thing to do. I knew she didn’t mind doing anything Willa needed, but I appreciated her so much if I could make her day a bit easier, I wanted to.
I’d just finished breakfast and gathered up my freshly awakened daughter when Pam let herself in. I gave Willa a few extra cuddles and savored her throwing her little arm around my neck to give me a sleepy hug. Kissing her, I handed her off to Pam, told her about breakfast, and headed out to my car. I plugged my phone into my Bluetooth and called Kira.
My sister wasn’t awake yet, making her voice come through the speaker groggy and confused.
“What in the hell are you doing calling me before the holy spirit has had his first cup of coffee?” she asked when she got herself together.
“It’s not that early,” I said. “But I needed to talk to you.”
“Okay, you go ahead, but I’m just going to murmur occasionally, if that’s all right with you,” she said, already slipping well into her murmur.
“No, it’s not all right,” I told her. “I need you fully conscious for this. Kira!”
“Fine,” my twin sister huffed. I could almost see her flailing in her bed, sitting up and pounding her pillows into an acceptable position even though no one was there to appreciate her drama. “I’m up. Are you happy now?”
“That was actually a really good segue,” I said.
“Oh. Well, that’s not good,” Kira said, the sass gone from her voice.
“Can you come down here, please? I need you.”
It all spilled out in one stream of sound without any introduction, and my sister immediately picked up the anxiety.
“What’s going on? Is something wrong?” she asked.
“Yes and no. I’m not really sure how to answer that, which is why I need you here. I can’t wait anymore. I have to tell him, and I can’t do it without you here.”
Kira didn’t hesitate to agree, and I had never been gladder for my sister.
Just the thought of what loomed ahead of me kept me subdued all day at work. The only thing that brought a real smile to my face was when Greg’s mother helped him hobble his way into the garage on crutches. He said he was just there to say hi, but he ended up giving us all a boost of energy and motivation for the next race. We all knew we were doing it for him.
23
Darren
The next day, it turned out to be Colby who had to skip out on our workout together. He said he woke up with a cold, but I chose to believe he’d put himself through the same workout he put me through and ended up straining something. Not something vital or that would take a long time to heal, just something that would aggravate him for a couple of days. It wasn’t the most humanitarian I’d ever been toward someone, especially not my best friend, but that didn’t stop me from also making a mental note to myself to not let him live it down for a good while.
I could have taken it as a gift and spent the day being completely lazy. I considered it briefly and eventually came to the conclusion I couldn’t in good conscience not do anything. Parts of me were still aching after the brutal cycle Colby made me do the other day, but that convinced me even more to at least do something. That’s what led me to call up Vince while we were still at work and ask if he wanted to do a jog after work. Of all the brothers, he lived closest the complex, which made it convenient to head over to his place right after work and borrow some of his clothes to jog in. We had done a few loops through his neighborhood and were headed back to his house when I felt my phone buzz against my thigh. A few strides later, it vibrated again.
“What’s wrong?” Vince asked when I reached down and pressed my hand against my pocket.
“Somebody messaging me,” I said.
“Do you want to check it?” he asked.
He continued to bounce around when I moved off to the side of the road and pulled out my phone. The sight of him jogging in place right on the edge of my periphery was distracting, and I swatted at him.
“Could you stop? You look like you have to pee,” I said.
“Have to stay limber,” Vince responded.
“For what? This is the first time I’ve seen you exercise in months.”
I looked down at my phone and was shocked to see it was Kelly texting me. My face must have shown what I was feeling, because Vince stopped his bobbing up and down and took a few steps toward me.
