Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
CALYSTA
Heaven-sent? What the hell was wrong with me? Dehydration, that was what! I pressed my lips together to stop from spewing anything else.
Frankie ran alongside me, flashing encouraging smiles. When the finish line neared, five minutes after he’d joined me, he pointed at it. “You’re right there, Calysta. Push it, and I’ll see you on the other side.” He sped up a little and shouted, “You’ve got this, now get it!”
His words bounced around my head for a second before I nodded. I did have this. Sucking in a cleansing breath, I acknowledged I was tired but not so tired I wouldn’t finish my first 5K strong.
The crowd cheered loudly for the runners ahead of me. When I got closer, my gaze fell on the plastic covering the wires to the finish line. Pushing myself harder than I ever had before, I moved faster as the crowd’s words hit my ears.
“You got this!”
“Go!”
“Get it, Doc!”
“Calysta! Get it, girl!”
I didn’t search for the faces of the disembodied voices. My lungs burned, and my thighs were screaming. But their excitement fueled me across the finish line.
“Don’t stop, keep going. Medals and water are ahead!” a volunteer shouted as a man stopped to put his hands on his knees.
Just after collecting my medal and bottle of water, or Frankie’s replacement, I found him bouncing on his toes. A grin broke across my face at the jubilant energy rolling off him.
“Did you not just run the 5K?” I asked, pulling my shirt up to wipe my face free of sweat.
Frankie laughed. The sound was deep and rolled over my skin in a caress, something I’d not felt in a very long time. “I did. This was your first though, right?”
“Yeah.”
He grinned as his arms lifted, his palms facing me. “And you killed it! The official times won’t be announced for a little bit, but you did that in under thirty-three minutes. That’s awesome for a first time.”
“You should just give in to his excitement, or he won’t shut up.”
I turned toward the new voice coming from my right and found Frankie’s daughter. “Is he always this way?”
The teen laughed. “Yup,” she said, popping the P.
“Can’t a guy just be happy for others’ success?” Frankie asked as he pulled the teen against his side.
The love between father and daughter made me grin even bigger. “It’s sweet,” I said.
“Noelani, I’d like you to meet—” His brows creased before he faced me, and for a moment, I wondered if he’d forgotten my name that quickly. “Calysta, how would you like Noelani to address you?”
“Calysta or Ms. Calysta, either is fine with me. Nice to meet you, Noelani! That’s a really pretty name. It’s the first time I’ve heard it.”
Noelani grinned at her dad, and I noticed they shared the same eyes. “Dad’s half Hawaiian. It means heavenly mist.”
“That’s really beautiful. Mine means most beautiful and is Greek,” I said.
Noelani’s eyes widened. “Oh cool, does that mean you’re Greek?”
I laughed. “No, lo siento. My Puerto Rican mother and Dominican father chose it.”
“Nice. Well, it’s been really great meeting you. Dad, are you cool if I go hang out with Willa?”
Frankie leaned in and kissed Noelani’s temple. “Go have fun. We’re going to go have coffee.” He looked at me with a question in his eye, seeming to expect me to change my mind.
I offered him a small nod before tipping up the water bottle and chugging.
The water did nothing to cool the heat his nearness was causing.
I wasn’t sure what it was about Frankie.
Typically, I disliked when Sergio came in from a workout or yardwork covered in sweat and kissed or touched me.
Maybe it was the fact that I, too, was sweaty and most likely smelled.
Grabbing coffee in our current state would have been a hard no in the past. But in the past, I wouldn’t have gone for a run, let alone done a 5K.
You are no longer who you were. You have grown and changed. I reminded myself of the words I’d used since hearing them in an online video.
“Did you want to swing by the snacks tent or head down to the coffee shop?” Frankie asked.
“Snacks? What kind of snacks are we talking about?” I asked as my stomach reminded me of its empty state.
Frankie chuckled. “Let’s go take a look.”
We walked side by side, passing groups of people and still hearing the crowd cheer for runners making their way to the finish line. The fact I’d not only completed the race but hadn’t been the last person made me smile.
“Is that a massage chair?” I asked, excitement filling my voice as I noticed the upright chair with a hole for one’s face.
“It is. You should go! Your muscles will thank you for it.” Frankie pressed a hand to my lower back and guided me toward the tent. His hand fell away when we were twenty feet from stepping inside. “Unless you don’t like massages.”
I stopped and gave him an incredulous look. “I love massages! It’s just been way too long since I’ve had one.”
He waved a hand forward. “No better time than now.”
Two massage therapists, per their collared shirts, chatted quietly with each other until the woman noticed our presence. “Good morning! Congratulations on finishing your run. Would you like a complimentary five-minute shoulder massage?”
“Oh my God, yes, please!” I blurted.
“And you, sir?” the man asked Frankie.
“I’d love it. Thanks, man.”
Frankie groaned as the male therapist massaged him, and I smiled at his unabashed pleasure. There was no way Sergio would have accepted a massage from another man. Biting my lip at the comparison, I vowed to quit bringing him up, even if only in my thoughts.
Five minutes later, I stood and grinned at the woman. “Thank you!” I spotted the large QR code to the side of her chair mentioning tips and pulled out my phone. As I sent her a generous tip, I reminded myself of the promise I’d made to do a better job of taking care of myself.
Once Frankie had scanned the man’s QR code, we headed to a tent filled with snacks, and I grabbed a yogurt.
“Sweet,” Frankie said, and I followed his line of sight.
“Is Jesse pouring beers at—” I paused and looked at the time on my phone. “Nine forty in the morning?”
Frankie chuckled. “Yup, it’s kind of a thing. There’s even a run club called ‘Will Race for Beer.’”
I chuckled around a mouthful of yogurt.
“I know we’re getting coffee after looking around, but would you like a beer?”
I shrugged and scraped the last spoonful of yogurt into my mouth.
“Frankie! How’s it going, man?” Jesse called as we approached the table.
“Good. Didn’t expect to see you here slinging beers.”
Jesse laughed. “All in the name of a good cause. How’s Noelani doing?”
“She broke her PR today. How’s Kayla? Is she liking UNO?” Frankie asked. I wasn’t sure who Kayla was, but she must have recently started at the University of New Orleans.
Jesse sighed and rolled his eyes. “We think she’s finally settled on a major.”
“It’s cute how you think she’s decided,” Jaime Lynn, Jesse’s wife and the owner of Whiskey’s, said after setting a box on the floor. “Here, we have koozies we’re giving out today.”
I grabbed a burgundy-colored koozie with the pub’s logo on one side and the Duplicity brewery’s logo on the other. “Thanks!”
“I didn’t know you were a runner, Calysta,” Jaime Lynn said.
I laughed as I accepted the beer Jesse offered. “I didn’t either.”