Page 41 of Loathe at First Sight

I cut her off. “Of course, I can take her.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to put you out. And I know it’s weird because you aren’t her parent.”

“Jana, really, it’s okay. I don’t mind. When do I need to be there?”

She gives me the time and a couple of other details that I need to know before we hang up the phone.

When I get back to washing my dishes in the now-cool water, it occurs to me that this Tali thing is going to make me late for my typical morning jog. I could just skip it altogether, but it’s so much a part of my routine now that I know it’ll mess my whole day up if I skip it.

It has nothing to do with the fact that I’ve gotten used to my little races with Liz every morning.

Okay, maybe it has a little to do with that.

As much as we can’t stand each other, our time on the trails is half decent. Her need to always turn it into a race not only makes it more fun for our rivalry, but it gives me a better workout.

Based on the time that Jana gave me, I should be able to squeeze both in. I will just have to be late for the run. Maybe if I get there in enough time, we can do a quick couple of laps before I have to get ready for work.

I don’t quite know how I went from not wanting a single thing to do with this woman to looking forward to running with her in the mornings, but here we are. I think it’s just refreshing to find someone who enjoys a good morning run as much as I do. And the fact that we have a crazy desire to leave the other in our dust makes it more fun than running alone.

When I call her princess in the middle of it, it pisses her off, and she kicks it into overdrive. Then, I get to push myself to try to catch up.

And I get to stare at her ass as she pulls ahead.

It’s a win-win.

So, it’s settled. I’ll pick Tali up and head to school with her before my morning run, and then, I’ll attempt to make it there in time.

I’m sure Liz will be fine without me for a little while.

fourteen

Tabloids and Favors

Jack

My phone starts ringing from the countertop next to the sink where I’m washing dishes. I consider not answering, but I glance toward the screen and see that it’s my mom.

Quickly, I grab a dish towel and dry my hands, so I can answer.

“Hey, Mom,” I greet.

“Hey, sweetheart. How’s it going?”

“Oh, it’s alright, I guess. How are you?”

“Eh. Same old, same old. You know me. I’m not ever doing anything exciting.”

“You could move up here and hang out with your son whenever you want,” I offer. “You know I’d pay to bring you up here.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she grumbles.

Even though my mother and I lived in Michigan my whole childhood, when I moved to Miami for work, she came with me. She fell in love with it and decided never to leave.

When I moved up here to start over, I tried to convince her to come with me. I know she misses me but not enough to give up the warm weather and sunny skies of Florida.

I don’t blame her. She’s made a good life for herself there. She has a fun group of friends and a nice condo in an over-fifty community. As much as I would love to have her here, I honestly don’t expect her to uproot her life to follow me across the country…again.

She says, “If I moved up there to the rainy capital of the country, my joints would hurt so bad that I probably couldn’t even roll out of bed in the morning.”

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