Chapter 29
Grace
The following Tuesday morning, I start the day by meeting Jasmine for our first duo run.
We texted last night to set a plan to do a ten miler on one of her personal favorite routes.
Instead of heading down to the track, we meet by the large gym and begin by stretching on the lawn, since that’s her preferred starting place.
“Hi, Grace,” I hear Jasmine’s voice say as soon as I pop out of my car.
“Hey!” I walk over to her. “I’m so ready for this! It’s been a while since I’ve had someone to do ten miles with.”
She smiles, and we go through some standard warm-ups separately on the grass.
“So tell me what pace you like to shoot for on this kind of distance?” I’m definitely going to let her drive that train, as long as it’s not too fast for me these days.
“Let’s run at a progression? I’ll start us at a little faster than six minute miles, and we can go from there?” AKA she’ll progressively increase our speed over the length of the run.
“Perfect.”
We get moving, and I let her guide us since we’re using her path. She starts us off on a slower first mile as our bodies fully warm up.
Then she pulls us up to a precise five-fifty mile pace effortlessly, which confirms in my mind much of what Shelley said about her. There’s a lot to work with already here.
We go between casual chatting and comfortable silence, and I also notice our steps are in sync, rhythmically aligned. It reminds me of running with some of my best friends at Princeton.
After our second mile, I decide to open the door to deeper conversation. I don’t want her to feel pressured to talk if she doesn’t want to, but also I know there’s a purpose to Shelley asking me to be here.
“So, what are your goals for the season?”
She takes in my question with a slight hiccup in her running. Oh shoot, this confidence gap may actually be a real thing.
Finally she answers.
“Well, I would love to qualify for the NCAA championships in my events, or at least set personal bests.” Her voice has a waver to it that I haven’t heard in our other conversations.
“Those are great goals. I know for me, my junior year in college is when things really started to advance.”
She relaxes at my affirmation of her answer, probably glad I’m not prying further. “Oh, really?”
“Yeah, I was nineteen for some of it and then turned twenty that February. You’re already twenty, right?” She nods. “It was like my body settled into itself by the time the championships came around, but especially my mind. I could control my nerves better.”
I, of course, don’t mention that my mind would fail me anyway only a year later.
“That’s interesting.” She gives a light chuckle that sounds half-hearted. “I hope that happens to me.”
“As far as I can tell, you have all the tools you need.” I smile at her. “And I’m here to help as much as you want during my last months of school.”
“That’s amazing, thank you.” Her tone is positive again, and she leaves the topic alone, so I drop it for now.
Eventually she loops us around, and I start recognizing landmarks we passed on the way here. We’ve stopped talking the last few miles as she keeps increasing our speed and we need to use more energy regulating ourselves.
“We have two miles left?” I ask.
“Yes.”
“How are you feeling?”
“Great.” She looks at me. “Why? You want to slow down?”
I grin. “No, I wanted to see if you’d like to push the last two miles?”
It’s so rare to be running with someone who is a challenge to match, my competitive fire is rearing up.
And so is hers, apparently.
“Heck, yes. Five thirties?”
I nod, and she begins clipping up the pace subtly.
Now I have to focus, keep my body in peak performance mode. I center myopically on my breathing, my step cadence, my arm motion. I’m still aware of our surroundings, and of Jasmine, but the awareness is muted—my body, the only corporeal object in color.
Soon I can see our cars in the distance as we approach the campus athletic complex. The area is a little fuller than when we started, but still fairly sparse.
500 meters left, 200 meters left, 100 meters, and then we’re done.
We bring down the speed and begin jogging. Neither of us need words to explain why, as we’re following the norm for cool downs.
After a couple of minutes, I’m fully present and able to have a real conversation again.
“Loved that, Jasmine. I needed to know I even had that in me.” There’s joy in my voice she probably didn’t expect. She flips her head to me with a little surprise in her eyes.
“Oh, yay! It’s so nice to have someone to run with,” she says.
“We’ll do it again if you want?” As much as I’m trying to satisfy Coach Shelley’s request, I’m also motivated by the prospect of a competitive running partner.
“Definitely.” She nods.
“So where are we going?” I ask Johnson when he picks me up at Tolliver later, after I finish all my school obligations. It’s only two-thirty, but he said it would be a bit of a drive, and he wanted to maximize the rest of the day.
Tuesday. Johnson and Grace day. We’ve been texting and chatting daily since last week, but this is the first time we’ve seen each other since we made the Tuesday pact. The Waves win on Sunday came in an away game, so I didn’t even get glimpses of him then.
He flashes a smile at me. “Date number three is…drumroll please.” He goofily taps the dashboard.
I start to giggle. “Who knew you were a secret dork?”
“I have so many secrets.” He winks. “So we’re going to my friend’s beach house. It’s completely private, and he’s gone for a few months, since it’s hurricane season.”
“Oooooh, but I didn’t bring my suit.”
The corner of his mouth turns up. “Well, there’s that one thing on your list…”
I put two and two together. “Skinny dipping.”
“We don’t have to do anything you don’t feel comfortable doing, though. It’s been too many days since we’ve hung out. I’ve got food being delivered, and we can just chill.”
September in Florida means it’s still plenty hot, and the ocean is warm enough so…
“We should probably sneak in one more dip in the ocean before the fall weather really hits, don’t you think?” I say, smiling at him.
He chuckles back, and grabs my left hand, bringing it up to his mouth to kiss before he rests our hands on his right leg.
The drive does take a while because Tolliver is so far inland, but when we get to our destination, it’s more than worth it. The house has state of the art everything and a private beach leading out to the ocean. It’s got to be worth millions.
“A friend owns this, huh?” I ask him as we walk up to the front and he punches in a security code.
“Well, not a close friend. He’s a big football fan who has invited me here for a couple of parties over the years. He made his money in energy or something like that? I’m closer to his son, who is our age. That’s who I called to set this up.”
“Well, let’s not waste a minute.”
And it’s anything but a wasted afternoon.
Johnson has sushi delivered—a few steps up from my grocery store variety.
After we finish eating, we move onto the other item on the menu.
First, we strip off our clothes and run into the ocean, and then Johnson shows me what those magical quarterback fingers I once fantasized about can do.
The time flies by, and at eight, the sun is fully set, so we reluctantly leave. Johnson has to drive me to Tolliver and then back to his house, so it’s going to be a late night for him just based on the distance. He doesn’t complain, but I feel bad.
“Maybe we can figure out a way that you don’t have to drive so much every Tuesday,” I say as we pull into the Tolliver parking lot so I can switch to my car and go home.
“I don’t mind. It is kind of nice to grab a drive-thru coffee and cruise a bit.”
“I get that. I need that sometimes, only it’s a chai tea for me.”
He parks his car adjacent to mine and turns toward me. “Still, when you’re ready, maybe…maybe you can come to my house after school on Tuesdays and stay overnight?” His eyes search mine, like he’s unsure how I’ll respond.
“Spend the night?” I ask, even though it’s pretty clear what he means. I need to buy myself time to think.
“Uh huh.” He nods. “Not tonight, I know.”
Logistically, it’s possible because my Wednesday classes don’t start until late morning. I could bring my books, a change of clothes…
But is my heart ready? Because if I begin to stay over at Johnson’s house, I don’t think I’ll be able to contain myself from growing further feelings here.
Deeper feelings than the ones already are starting to develop.
Waking up next to him, sharing more domestic, every-day moments—I know what that’s going to mean to me.
I basically have zero time to chew on what I want to do if I’m going to give him an answer now. But I find my way to one pretty quickly.
Johnson is worth the risk. The care he shows me, the security I have in what he wants and how he feels—I believe in it, and we’re only going to grow into something if I take some leaps myself.
“Okay, yes, I’d like that too.”
He beams back at me, and his hands come up to cup the sides of my face. “Okay, Goldie.”
His mouth descends on mine for one last goodbye kiss before he walks me to my car, waiting for me to leave before he takes off.
“We’re three for three,” he texts me later once he’s home, referencing the number of our dates. “Thank you for today.”
GRACE: Thank you too, J.
I fall asleep in the best mood, feeling so at peace about how everything is evolving with Johnson.
But sometimes life throws interesting wrinkles at you.
In this case, the wrinkle is Landon.
At eight the next morning, a text comes through. To me and Johnson.
LANDON: Hey, Rori is going to be in town next week. Can we do dinner on Tuesday? Just the four of us.
Welp, I guess next Tuesday is Johnson and Grace and Landon and Rori’s day.
This should be interesting.