Chapter 6
Chapter
Six
Bright
She surprised me, though. Opening the door with a grin on her face, she spoke. “Hey, Bright.”
“What’s up?”
She grabbed her little waist pouch, her water bottle, and her house key. As she stepped out onto the porch, she glanced up at the sky. “At least it’s not one hundred degrees in the shade and we don’t have to worry about the sun beating down on us.”
“That’s one way to look at it. Hopefully the sky will clear up, and the rain will either pass over or hold out until after the run.”
At the starting line, Bailey and I set out at a comfortable pace.
We’d been practicing for a little more than a week, doing four miles and alternating between walking and running.
I felt pretty confident that we could do the entire thing running and finish in a respectable amount of time.
But without much warning there was a streak of lightning followed by a ferociously loud clap of thunder that broke the sky open.
Spring had the tendency to be rainy, but this downpour was unprecedented.
Bailey ripped off her headphones and turned to me with an expectant expression.
I said the only thing I could think of, even though we were already doing it. “Run.” I grabbed her hand, leading her to a covered picnic area in the park where the run was taking place.
Other runners huddled underneath the small shelter with us as the storm raged on.
“It is not slowing down,” Bailey mumbled barely loud enough for me to hear her after about ten minutes.
“You scared of water?” I questioned after I couldn’t stand the feeling of wet people rubbing up against me any longer.
“No.” She shook her head back and forth. “I used to love playing in the rain when I was little. Stumping in puddles? That was my jam.”
“Then let’s stump in some puddles.” I pulled her out from under the shelter and into the downpour. Before I could even state my intention, Bailey took off running.
I chuckled before taking off myself and easily catching up with her.
I could’ve passed her, but that wasn’t what I was on.
We ran in tandem through the park. We were soaked to the bone by the time we made it to the finish line at the fire station, but we were both laughing.
I couldn’t help but notice how joyous she looked.
Her eyes were bright, her facial expression was soft, and her giggles were light.
The event staff and volunteers coming out from under the protection of their little tent to present us with swag bags and snacks caused me to break my stare.
We made it to my work truck and climbed inside, still laughing.
“We’re getting your entire truck wet,” she commented as I turned the heat up to its maximum.
“It’s cool. This truck’s faced things way worse than water.”
“I wish I wasn’t soaking wet, I would ask you to stop somewhere. I’m starving.”
I took my eyes off the road for a quick second to see her shoveling the snacks from the 5k volunteers into her mouth.
She looked so damn adorable and feminine.
Like capable and independent, but simultaneously soft and needy at the same time.
I pulled my eyes away from her. “What do you have a taste for, Bailey?”
She rattled off the desires of her taste buds. At the next stop light, I texted in an order to STG Homestead. When I made a quick detour onto the lodge’s property, she was suspicious. “Brighton Eugene Strong, you ordered breakfast?”
I laughed aloud. “Eugene? Who is that? Ain’t nobody’s middle name Eugene.”
She laughed with me. “I can’t believe you ordered breakfast.”
I pulled a face. “What do you mean you can’t believe it? You sat in my truck basically shoveling that little granola bar down your throat. Then you inhaled that banana.”
“Shut up.” She waved me off, still sniggering.
“What are you used to, Bailey baby? Niggas who hear your stomach growling—who listen to you talk about being hungry and just go on about their business? Your ex wasn’t concerned about your hunger?”
“I wouldn’t say he wasn’t concerned, he just—”
“Don’t defend him, ma. You being surprised that I would get you food after you stated that you were hungry tells me everything I need to know.
My grandfather would say something like, your ex wasn’t minding the store.
I’mma say that dude had butter-fingers and he fumbled the hell out of his prize.
” I pulled to a stop in front of Perkins’s house. “I’ll see you later at the festival.”
She climbed out of my truck, leaving the bag with my food on the passenger’s seat. “See you later, Bright.”