Page 54 of See You at the Finish Line

Paige You-Fell-Into-My-Evil-Trap Harrison,

I see what your sister meant about a pertinacious cerebral defect. It seems your case is quite serious, causing delusions of grandeur.

I seem to recall you saying you don’t run anymore, so I already have a leg up on you. I ran this morning. 10k. And I did it in 10 minutes, so you have no chance at beating me. Maybe we should train together so I can show you the ropes. Sounds like you need all the help you can get.

Sincerely,

Adam Never-Exaggerates Ashford

To:

From:

Adam Overcompensating-And-It’s-Embarrassing Ashford,

I think I’ll keep my skills to myself so I can surprise you with them later.

Sincerely,

Paige You-Have-No-Idea-What-You’ve-Gotten-Into Harrison

“How good was it?”Shay whispers from her downward dog on the mat beside me.

The lady on her other side glares as we raise one leg into the air. Sweat drips down my face and into my eyes, and my arms are shaking. Hot yoga is kicking my ass today.

It’s probably because I stayed up way too late into the night rereading Adam’s emails. His last email of the night only included three little words.

Bring it on.

Oh, I fully plan to. I’m invested now, and he’s going to have to eat his words.

I’ve kept Shay updated on Nate and the dates we’ve been on. I had just reached the part where he took me back to his place: chrome, industrial, grey, no plants. Huge red flags.

But the instructor started the class and hot yoga—any yoga class, really—is not the place to have a conversation, hence the lady giving us dirty looks.

Now that I’ve been coming for the last month, Shay and I have become friends. We hang out after class now and even exchanged phone numbers. It’s very exciting. The relationship has a lot of promise and it feels good.

Making friends as an adult is hard. Since Maxim fired one of the recruits unexpectedly, I’m nervous that my probationary period is a little more precarious than I thought.

I may not be staying in Vancouver very long. That makes making friends a little tricky, especially when it comes to the permanent staff at the arena since I don’t officially have the job yet.

I think about the last two days, not knowing how I feel about them. Friday night was good, and it was fun getting to know Nate, but when I got to his apartment I couldn’t do it.

For starters, when I excused myself to use the bathroom, I came back out and there he was, naked on the couch, like some kind of sitcom skit. It was such a big shock I felt the rose-coloured glasses slip.

He felt icky.

And then there was the penis. For a big, giant-ass hockey player, I’d been expecting a little more ... Well, a littlemore, if you know what I mean. Nothing that couldn’t do the trick—I’ve worked with less—but seeing him there ... My libido driedright up.

I wait until the end of our class when we’re sitting in our favourite breakfast spot (I now have a favourite breakfast spot!) to continue telling Shay about it.

“So there wasn’t enough to get the job done?” She laughs at her joke before taking a long drink from her smoothie.

“You could say that. I mean, it’s fine if he knows how to use it, but I couldn’t get myself there. There was no ...” I make a gesture with my hands, trying to find the words for what I mean.

“Magic?” Shay offers.

The word tugs at my heartstrings, stirring the memory of my old running mantra. “Yes, magic. Spark.”

---