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“Not at all. We don’t have to talk the entire time. We don’t have to talk at all. Just know that I’m here if you want to share what’s got you literally pounding the pavement.”
A rabbit caught Dottie’s eye and she veered across the sidewalk in front of them. The bunny disappeared into the bushes causing Dottie to stop short, her nose wiggling as she sniffed and looked for the creature.
“Dottie.”
The huskiness in Chet’s voice sent a shiver down Meg’s spine. The good kind.
The dog trotted back to his left side, obediently falling into step with her owner.
“Does that work on all females?” Making a joke of it helped her get past the fact that his voice made her almost as willing as Dottie to do whatever he said.
“Not usually, no.” He laughed, the low timbre of it doing all kinds of crazy things to her insides. Initially she’d been concerned about her stamina. Now she questioned whether how attracted she was to Chet was going to be a bigger problem.
They smiled at one another and turned a corner. Meg’s smile faded as she saw the fire station at the end of the block. Had they already gone a full mile? She looked at her smart watch to verify. Between all the thoughts roaming around her head, as well as the distraction of Chet running beside her, a mile had gone by in a blink.
She stopped short. Chet ran a few steps ahead before realizing she wasn’t beside him anymore.
He stopped and turned around. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Just need a sec. I think I have a rock in my shoe.” She knelt, her heart racing and not from the jogging. “You go ahead and drop off Dottie. I’ll wait here.”
He furrowed his brow and looked at her for a second. She prayed he would let it go, and he did. “Okay. I’ll be right back.” Turning again, he and Dottie made their way down the street. They disappeared into a side door once they reached the fire station.
Meg took a deep breath and let it out. She retied her shoe as if she had actually needed to check it for something. Her hands shook. She had to keep it together.
“Breathe, Malone. You got this.” She stood and stretched a bit, then began to run in place, not wanting to get cold while waiting for Chet to return.
She forced her mind back to the present moment. She could do this. It was just jogging with someone. After two weeks, they’d be done.
Chet came back out the door he’d gone into a few minutes before.
Right. She was spending time with a fireman. Things were far from fine.
*
Chet watched asMeg jogged in place down the street. Not unlike the other day at the bakery, something had spooked her. She was fine one minute and not the next. He racked his brain trying to think of a connection between both times. The first had been while he was talking to Tyler and Drew, but she didn’t seem afraid of men or uncomfortable with them in any way. Well, not as far as friendships or hanging out was concerned. Any discomfort she seemed to feel with him was more bristly than fearful. And he was pretty sure that was part of the armor she wore around everyone, not just men. More so with him for some reason. But he was in the midst of getting to the bottom of that mystery.
Besides the dog, there’d been no one around but the two of them so people didn’t seem to be the issue. As he jogged back toward her, he gave himself a mental pat on the back for having Rachel make them running buddies. For the short time they were jogging, Meg had relaxed some. Not at first when she stomped the ground, but he had a pretty good hunch she was mad at herself for the “Fireman Chet” comment.
He’d heard from Eva that some of the women in town called him that, which his sister found hilarious. He didn’t see why it mattered, but he got a kick out of not only Meg saying it, but also how much it had rattled her to let her control slip for a second.
As he approached, he could see she’d regained her composure. Her armor was back in place and she was ready to tackle what was ahead of her. Six miles to be exact.
“Did you get the rock out of your shoe?”
Her cheeks flushed and she looked away. “Yes. All good. Let’s go.”
They found a pace beside one another again. Chet noticed that even as competitive as Meg was, she didn’t try to run too hard. Instead, she found a rhythm that was perfect for the length of time and miles they needed to run.
He stayed quiet as they turned away from Seapoint Boulevard and headed toward the outskirts of town. When they’d met at the bakery, they’d mapped out a route to take each day that was familiar to both of them. A couple miles in, he realized how nice it was to run beside someone. On purpose, he hadn’t said anything, but rather let her find her groove and take the lead. So far, it was working. Her shoulders now relaxed, all the stress she carried in them fading as they ran. With each step, he sensed more calm from her.
“You’re quieter than I anticipated,” she said.
He smiled. “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. I thought you’d be a Chatty Cathy.”
That made him laugh. “I’ve been called a few things in my lifetime. A Chatty Cathy has never been one of them.”
