Page 33 of Another Girl Lost

“Who was she?”

“No one. I just got stupid.” I planted my hands on the mat and drew my feet toward my body. The legs protested, but they worked. A win. I tried to push upward, but core muscles refused to work.

“I can help you,” Jeff said.

I held up my hands. “I know. Thank you. But I can do this by myself.”

“You don’t have to do this all alone, Scarlett. Not all the time anyways.”

Drawing in a breath, I pushed through pulsing muscles, climbed to my knees, and then staggered to my feet. “I know. Thank you for trying.”

Jeff shook his head.

I watched the questions and concern swirl in his eyes. “I know I’ve got a few quirks.”

He ran calloused fingers through his hair. “Hey, it’s cool. We’ve all got them.”

I pressed my hand to my bruised hip. “Some of us more than others.”

He grinned. “There’s the gal we know.”

They didn’t know me. Not even close. Reading a few old articles on the internet didn’t cut it. But to point that out would only prolong this exchange. “Thanks again. I think I’m going to grab my bag and call it a day. No more walls for now.”

“Cold plunges for the first two days. Aspirin.”

“I know the drill. Not my first fall.”

I walked gingerly across the mats toward my bag. A few folks were staring. A couple asked how I was doing. I assured everyone I was just fine.

Glancing around the room again, I realized the Della look-alike was gone. I leaned toward the handles of my bag, winced when my left hip pulled, and then wrapped my fingers around the handles.

“Do me a favor and just hang out here for a while,” Jeff said. “I’ll get you a bottle of water.”

“I’m solid, Jeff.” I’d developed a high tolerance for pain a long time ago.

“You can still drink water.”

I bristled at the command behind the words, but I simply nodded and smiled. He was trying to help, not manage me.

He trotted across the gym, grabbed a bottle from a vending machine, and brought it to me. Condensation dripped down the bottle and I realized my mouth was dry. “Thank you.”

“You’re our star climber,” he said.

“And now I’m a cautionary tale to everyone,” I said, smiling.

“We all fall. The trick is to recover as quickly as possible.”

“No truer words.” I pressed the cool bottle to my temple. “Thanks for having my back.”

“Can I drive you home?”

“I walked.” I scanned the growing crowd again in the gym for the Della look-alike. No sign of the pink shoes and blond hair. I needed to stop searching for this woman. My imagination had almost been my ruin before. “And moving will do me good.”

“You do have your phone, right?”

“Yes. All good.”

“Okay.”

---