THE SECOND HALF of February was proving to be miserably cold. We’d had a dusting of snow last week, but now it was nothing but below-normal temps and wind gusts.
That hadn’t stopped me from taking my daily five-mile runs. As I locked my front door, I thought again about stopping by the hardware store this week for paint. The door was chipped and faded, no longer the bright red it had been when I bought the house. Come to think of it, the hunter-green shutters could also use a fresh coat of paint, and shriveled leaves still littered the lawn from fall’s purge months ago. Unfortunately, my two-bedroom was in need of more love and care than I’d had time for lately, having again taken on more shifts than usual, since we were down a paramedic. I could’ve used several more hours in a day…or a clone.
It’s fine. I’ll fix it up when spring hits, I thought, heading down the front porch steps, and as I did, one of the bricks came loose, wobbling beneath my foot.
Great.Another thing to add to the list. Not that I had any reason to complain. All in all, it was a cozy home, a nicer one than I should’ve expected on my meager budget.
After shoving the house key inside my sweatshirt pocket, I began a slow jog across the street toward the lake that served as the central point of the neighborhood. A wide sidewalk lined the entire circumference of the lake, and since it measured almost exactly half a mile around, it made it easy to keep track of my laps.
I started out with an easy pace, letting my muscles warm up to the cold. Running was a way to clear my mind from everything work-related that threatened to drive me crazy. Pushing myself was the only way I’d found to let go of what I couldn’t control and put it behind me, so I guess it was a therapy of sorts.
The past week had been unusually rough, the icy conditions in the mornings causing a slew of car accidents, and with every call we responded to, my mind went back to Reid.
I hadn’t seen him since the day he woke up, but… I thought of him often. My guess was that he was still recovering and hadn’t yet gone back to work, but I didn’t know for sure. We didn’t have any mutual friends in common, that I knew of, to ask how he was doing, and I wouldn’t even dream of tracking down his address to find out for myself. Okay, that was a lie. Maybe I’d thought about it, but I’d never actually do it.
At the halfway mark directly across from my house, I upped my pace, enjoying the burn in my muscles as they stretched. My breath came out in white clouds as I took in the clear, crisp day, and it hadn’t escaped my notice that I’d only passed a small handful of joggers and walkers out this morning. Usually, it wasn’t surprising to see families feeding the ducks that hung around the lake, or nearly bump into kids on their bikes, but freezing weather in North Georgia didn’t entice people to leave their comfy beds.
Bunch of slackers, I thought with a chuckle.
“Ollie?”
I was so thrown off guard by the voice that had come from behind me that I nearly ate pavement when my knees threatened to go out. I slowed to a stop and then turned around, lifting a hand up as I squinted in the bright sun. When I got a good look at who it was, my jaw dropped.
“Reid?” I said, completely dumbstruck that he could be standing a few feet away, in my neighborhood of all places. It was like thinking about him just then made him materialize.
In a pair of black athletic pants and matching jacket, and wearing a beanie cap, Reid crossed the patch of grass that separated the walking path from the houses that backed up to the lake. His smile was friendly as he walked toward me. “I thought that was you.”
“Wow. You look…”Unbelievably handsome? Surreal? Alive?
“Better?” He chuckled and shoved his hands in his jacket pockets. “Yeah, not hard to be.”
“Definitely better than the last time I saw you.” I tried not to give him a once-over, but it was proving impossible. I’d almost forgotten how gorgeous the man was. “Are, you, uh…doing okay?”
“I am, yeah.” He looked down at himself and then smiled back up at me. “My body’s all healed—just waiting for my mind to catch up.”
Oh no…“What do you mean?” Even though I knew exactly what he meant.
“The doctors told me I might have some short-term memory loss due to the amount of drugs they used to keep me in a coma for a few days. Seems to be a bit more permanent, though.”
Jesus.“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It’s okay. Frustrating, but…” He shrugged and kicked a small rock on the path into the lake. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to stop your run, it’s just…well, I don’t recognize many people nowadays, so I guess I got excited to see a familiar face.”
Familiar…me?Iwas familiar? Definitely surreal.
“I also wanted to say thank you,” he went on. “It’s strange that I can’t remember much from before my accident, but I remember what you did for me.” His voice dropped low. “I don’t think I could ever forget.”
Despite the cold, heat crept up my neck. My first instinct was always to downplay my role, but with Reid, I found myself saying, “I’m just glad to see you’re doing better.”
We stood there awkwardly, neither of us really seeming to know what to say, but then again, we didn’t actually know each other, did we?
“Did you… Were you going for a walk?” I asked finally.
“Oh, yeah, I’ve been trying to get some fresh air. Slowly get myself back up to speed, you know?”
Screw my run.I wasn’t about to pass up the chance smacking me in the face. “Would you like to join me? I don’t really feel much like running this morning anyway.”
Reid’s face lit up. “Sure.”