Chapter 9 Hallucinations #2
Mornings only offered a brief window in which the heat and humidity of the Atlanta summer would not kill you while exercising outside, and as such, Olivia’s feet kicked up dirt right after seven a.m. when she started her run at Freedom Park.
She followed the trail, keeping a good pace while her exercise playlist rang through her headphones, the bass, the drums, the speed, all perfectly measured to aid in ignoring her body’s shouts to end this torture.
The still cool (or not yet hot and stale) air felt nice on her slick skin, and while the music drowned out the nature sounds of her surroundings (her only regret about listening to music while running), she still soaked in the sights, how the sun streamed through the tree crowns, littering the pine needle covered trail with specks of light, the birds taking flight and soaring from one tree to the other.
At this hour on a Sunday morning, the park stood mostly deserted, people preferring to sleep in or go to church—another reason Olivia loved running so early.
When she ran, she forgot everything—no matter what plagued her, what hurt or annoyed her, what stole her sleep—on the track or on the trail, nothing but her pounding feet and throbbing heart mattered.
Olivia’s legs always burned at the beginning, protesting the strain, but after a while, they adjusted, and the tension eased. In its stead came a sort of mindlessness, an almost meditative stillness.
Halfway through her run, she noted something bright in her periphery and turned her head, her brain unable to compute the sight greeting her—Jaime Lachlan sitting on a park bench, dressed in beige linen pants and a red short-sleeved top, standing out like a sore thumb.
First, she considered her a hallucination, but the Jaime in her mind’s eye was sultry, tempting, sly, and this incarnation looked tense and rigid as she sat there, motionless as the cardboard cup holder with two cups beside her.
Olivia came to a quick stop, panting. She pulled off her headphones, swaying a little, her body not expecting a halt so soon, or so abruptly. God, it would be a pain to pick up her pace again, yet nothing could have made her just nod at Jaime and pass by.
At first, they just stared at each other in silence. Then Jaime shifted, clearing her throat. “Hey.”
“What are you doing here?” Olivia asked, her tone sharper than intended. But the nerve of Jaime to… What? Sit on a bench in a public park? She kicked at a small stone, her gaze finding her feet.
“I needed a…moment in nature.”
“At eight in the morning in Freedom Park?” Olivia scowled.
“You’re here, aren’t you?” Jaime shrugged, now leaning against the backrest, once more looking calm and collected, while Olivia wanted to stomp and shout.
The adrenaline careening through her balked at the development—the interruption, and the leaden pause kept her heart thrumming too fast.
“Well, I’m here on a run,” she said dumbly.
Jaime canted her head. “And that’s acceptable at eight on a Sunday morning, yet sitting here and enjoying nature isn’t?”
Olivia crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Who are you waiting for? It’s an odd date, isn’t it, coffee in a park on a Sunday morning?”
“Huh?”
Olivia nodded toward the cupholder. Two cups.
Jaime turned her head, looking at the cups with a frown, as if seeing them for the first time or remembering their presence. “Right.” Her face seemed to flush.
It wasn’t that hot yet, so why would she—
“Here.” Jaime rose, grasped a cup and held it out for Olivia. “Black with one spoon of sugar.”
Olivia blinked furiously. “What?”
Jaime’s arm faltered a little. “That’s how you like your coffee, no?”
“Yes, but…” What is going on here? Jaime could hardly be here for her, especially considering how she’d left things. To now show up at the park with a cup of coffee to do… What exactly?
“You don’t want it.” Jaime lowered her hand.
“No!” Olivia took a quick step forward, grasping the cup before pulling it back. “Thank you. I was…not expecting it.” You, really.
“You’re welcome.”
Olivia shifted on her feet. She couldn’t drink coffee now, not when she planned to continue her run, but did she? With Jaime here and…
“Did you enjoy your run?”
“Uh, I wasn’t quite done yet.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt you. Do you…want to continue?” Jaime, usually unflappable, seemed so awkward here, completely out of her element.
That was the question. Olivia sighed. Given all her weekly plans had gone awry, why not continue the trend? “No, it’s fine.”
Jaime smiled—the sight so destabilizing, Olivia had to duck her head.
A moment of stillness settled between them, the only sound coming from buzzing insects and fluttering birds overhead.
“I’ve never been to Freedom Park before. It’s nice.”
Olivia almost choked on her coffee. So Jaime had indeed come here for her. But why? To apologize or offer some kind of truce? It couldn’t be something more. “Yeah.” She cleared her throat. “Not one for walks in the park?”
“I don’t hate nature, but I don’t make a point of being in it.”
Olivia snorted. “Aren’t you always in nature as soon as you step outside? Even most buildings are made up of natural resources.”
“True. You can’t escape nature on this planet.” A pause. “Tragic.”
“So what do you do? Stalk from one building to the next and minimize your time outside?”
“Like a vampire avoids sunlight.” Jaime hummed, taking a sip of her own cup. “I spend quite some time at a local bookstore that also has a little café in it. It’s called neverending pages.”
Olivia shook her head. “Never heard of it.”
“Might be a bit far off your beaten track,” Jaime said with a casual shrug. “It’s tucked away near a quieter part of town, not too far from my home, actually. I’m a regular, spend most Thursday evenings there.” Jaime held Olivia’s gaze.
Olivia drank more coffee, enjoying the hot, perfectly sweetened drink, while her brain still tried to figure out what was going on, and if Jaime’s significant look meant what she thought it did.
She supposed there was one way of finding out.