Page 54 of Love In Translation

“Why is he monitoring your exercise?” Rheo asked, intrigued.

“My expeditions are grueling, and I tend to push myself too hard.”

“Really?” Rheo asked dramatically.

“Haha, funny,” he retorted. “Anyway, Seb tells the insurance company I’m healthy and fit enough to take on expeditions, and he’s worried my body has taken a pounding lately, so he told me to cut back on pushing myself. Anyway, we’re getting offtrack. I mentioned the mud race because I think it could help you.”

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t make the connection.

He placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “I’m proud of you for calling Carrie, Rhee. You’ve taken the first step out of your comfort zone. It gets easier after this.”

She adjusted the rim of his cap, squinting at him. Okay, she had a hangover, but she was battling to keep up with him this morning.

“I’m as worried about telling my parents now as I was before, and I’m still terrified of telling my grandmother.”

“It’ll be fine, Rheo. The anticipation is always worse than the reality,” he said, running his hand over her shoulder. “Isn’t living beyond the comfort zone fun?”

She glared at him. “No.”

“If you wanted to do something different, something that would give you a massive confidence boost if you finished it, you could do the mud race.”

She stared at him, convinced the hot sun had fried his brains.Ich glaub mein Schwein pfeift?Was her pig, as the Germans said, whistling?

“Me, do a twelve-mile mud race? Are youbatshit crazy?”

“You couldneverdo twelve miles,” he said, dismissing the idea with a wave of his hand.

“I know! I wasn’t the one who suggested it!” Rheo replied, nettled.

She needed to go inside the house, drink a pint of cold water to rehydrate, and swallow a handful of painkillers. And she also needed sleep.

“But you could do the fun race!” He wasn’t budging off his shitty idea.

“I amnotrunning, walking, or climbing over anything, especially if there’s mud.”

“You should. There’s nothing quite like doing something outside your comfort zone and succeeding.” He placed another pole in the last hole, and they made it straight, with Rheo holding it in place. “But you might need to join a team.”

“I’m not a team player. Or a mud runner. Or arunner.”

Did he not know her at all? There was zero fun in getting sweaty and breathless and dirty.

“I’ll ask Mick and Sam to listen out for a team needing a fourth member,” Fletch said, shoveling concrete into the last hole.

He wasn’t listening, damn him. Hadn’t heard a word. Rheo made sure the pole wouldn’t topple before standing back. She turned to face Fletch, wound her fist in his shirt, whipped his cap off her head, and slapped it against his chest. “It’s not happening, Wright! Not now, not anytime in the future. And, should I decide to live beyond my comfort zone, I’ll choose what I want to do, not you.”

“You’ll change your mind,” Fletch replied.

His patronizing smile set Rheo’s teeth on edge. Because she was hungover, annoyed, edgy, and more than a little pissed off at his high-handed manner, Rheo placed her index finger on the pole and gently pushed. It didn’t take much for the pole to lean, and when gravity started to work, it popped out of the concrete with a littleplop.

Fletch cursed and Rheo walked off, thinking he could sort it out on his own. He believed he could manage her life, so he could manage this too.

She had a hangover to nurse and a midmorning nap to enjoy.

Eleven

Later that same day, her hangover gone, Rheo was now hungry, so she tossed chicken pieces in the air fryer. Her black bean, grilled chicken, and corn salad was one of the few meals she could prepare with any success. She took a bottle of water from the fridge, wondering where Fletch was. She hadn’t seen him since their argument earlier, but she’d spent a lot of time thinking about his comments and her lack of interest in living outside her comfort zone.

Was shesuchan outlier? Was her reaction to Fletch’s suggestion so out of the norm? Weren’t most people interested in living steady, stable lives? The majority of the world wasn’t like Fletch—someone who enjoyed living life on the edge of a hurricane.

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