Chapter 10
It had been almost a week since the last time I talked to Shanet.
When I saw her face scrunch up at me in the hallway the way it did, I knew she was pissed, but I wasn’t thinking in the moment.
She had to see things from my point of view.
I was a brand-new parent being called to the school for my brand-new son, who was suspended.
Shanet was used to dealing with kids and their behavioral problems. It was her job, but I was trying to figure all this out as I went.
It should have been easy for me to take her advice.
I had no doubt she had the right answers, but I needed to do things on my own and in my own way. That was how my brain worked best.
In the days after our run-in at the school, I sent flowers, called her phone a million times, and did everything but send smoke signals to get her attention. She wasn’t having it. All my text messages went unanswered, and when I called this morning, I was blocked.
Shanet was standing on big business, but I wasn’t giving up. If I had been blocked from her phone, the only option I had was to pull up. I had already found out where she did her morning run and was on my way.
Shanet’s favorite park to run at was Jones Park, and since I wouldn’t be able to focus in the gym after finding out I was blocked, I was on my way out there. It was cold as hell, and I put on the first jogger set I saw.
Running was not my thing. I loved being in the gym. I could pump iron for two hours straight, but putting on running shoes this morning didn’t sit right with me. I knew I would only have ten minutes before I’d be out of breath, but if I had to chase Shanet’s ass, that was exactly what I would do.
I got out of the car, laced up my shoes, and headed toward the beachfront side of the park where I knew she’d be stretching for her run. I saw her as soon as I walked up. She was at the stretch bar with one leg thrown over it.
“Good morning.”
I walked up beside Shanet coolly and started to stretch. I needed my legs to be loose if I wanted them to carry me through more than ten minutes of running. I was not built for this, so I knew I couldn’t jump out there without stretching.
“How did you find me?” Shanet asked.
“It wasn’t hard.”
“So you a stalker now?”
“If that’s what you want to call it,” I agreed.
“Stone, please leave me alone. This is the only peace I get in the morning before I start my busy day of meddling in people’s lives.”
I could tell she’d been waiting to throw that shot just as long as I’d been waiting to see her pretty ass face.
As mad as Shanet was right now, I still smiled and tucked my bottom lip between my teeth to keep it from getting too big.
I didn’t want her to think I wasn’t taking her seriously, because I was. She was just fine as fuck.
“I’m sorry I spoke to you the way I did at the school. I was tripping, and it won’t happen again.”
“I know it won’t, and just so you know, I’m not a girl who can be bought with flowers.”
“I never said you was.”
“Then why are you sending flowers to my office every single day?”
“I just wanted you to have something as pretty as you are to brighten your day. That’s all, sweetheart.”
She bit back a smile, but I could still see it at the corners of her mouth. Taking her leg from the stretch bar, she stood up straight, and I did the same. Shanet put her hands on her hips and looked around the park before letting her eyes land back on me.
“What are you doing here, Stone?”
“I run here, just like you.”
“You don’t run.”
“How do you know? Runners think they can look at folks and tell if they run or not. Looks can be deceiving, ma’am.”
Shanet took her earbuds out of the case one by one and put them in her ears. Then she searched her phone for what I assumed was her running playlist. Once she was satisfied, she took off running, and I ran right after her.
“Look, let me run with you so you can at least hear my apology. You haven’t even heard me out yet.”
“Oh, I got your card every single day. Two words. I’m sorry. Nothing else.”
“Well, I thought I would eventually see you face-to-face.”
“So, of course, you pop up on me at the one place I have peace.”
“You make it sound so bad.”
We hadn’t even been running a good two minutes, and I was already out of breath. I didn’t know Shanet’s pace, but it was fast as hell. We needed to slow down if I was going to keep up.
“It is so bad.”
Shanet saw me falling behind, and her mean ass sped up. I refused to let her get too far, so I picked up my speed so we were side by side again. I didn’t know how long she planned on running, but I was going to try to keep up.
“How long are you going?”
“Five miles. I hope you can keep up.”
“Five miles? Are you insane?”
“I mean, you could stay here,” she said before she sped up again, and I did the same. There was no way I was about to let her get away from me. I had to pray my way through the rest of the run, so I didn’t have much to say until the end.
“Unblock me,” was the only thing I could force out before heavy breaths. I was going to need a good shower and a nap to recover from the torture this girl had just put me through. If she did as she was told and unblocked me, it would all be worth it.