9 Bianca
Thursday afternoon Bianca decided to go for a run.
There were a few reasons for this. For one, she kept saying how she needed to start some healthier habits, including getting
into a regular workout routine. Generally speaking, she considered herself a healthy-enough person and didn’t mind a good
workout. But who had the time or energy to work out every day when they were working full time? By the time she left her nine-to-five,
what she really wanted was to chill on the couch, eat dinner, and sleep—and not necessarily in that order.
Yes, she was aware there was a group of people who got in their workouts before work. They got up at four in the morning because
they didn’t want to wait until after work when they were too tired. Bianca, however, felt more inspired to sit through a root
canal than get out of bed at four to hit the treadmill.
Still, she knew she needed to get into the habit, because Zander was into having a healthy lifestyle. Not a day went by that
he didn’t make it to the gym—sometimes twice. She had no intention of working out the same way he did, but she would have
to stop fudging the details of how regularly she did it when she moved to Idaho. Since she had plenty of spare time at the
moment, now seemed as good a time as any to start.
Her second reason for choosing to go for a run was that she was bored.
It wasn’t that she didn’t like relaxing at the beach. She did. And of course there were all of Savannah’s Summer Bucket List activities. But after four days of lazy summer vacationing, she was starting to feel restless.
She crossed the small front yard that was covered with pea gravel and tropical plants and stopped on the street. With her
hands on her hips, she looked both ways. Honestly, it didn’t matter which way she chose to run. She had zero idea what was
in either direction.
Maybe it would’ve been smarter to look at a map and plan out a route. That’s what Cora would’ve done. Or she could’ve gone
to a pretty running trail in some idyllic place. That’s what Savannah would’ve done.
But Bianca didn’t want to waste time stressing over the details. She just wanted to go. There would be plenty of time to figure
out the plan while she was on the way. If she got lost, she always had direction apps on her phone to help her find her way
home. If she got really lost, she could call one of her sisters to pick her up.
She’d call Cora, of course, because while Cora always had something to say about everything, Savannah would give her the disappointed-mom
look. And she wasn’t in the mood to be a disappointment.
She turned to the left, mostly because that would put her facing oncoming traffic without having to cross the street, and
started running.
See, she put plenty of thought into where she was going.
She jogged through the little neighborhood, taking in the cute, cottagey houses that lined the street. Sunnyside was the kind
of small, charming beach town that looked like it walked right out of a picture book. Other than a few designer brands in
the shopping complex, she hadn’t seen one chain store or restaurant yet. Not even a Starbucks. It provided the perfect backdrop
to escape from the normal hustle and bustle of life. She could see why their family would choose to come back here year after
year. Sunnyside almost seemed too good to be true.
Kind of like her childhood.
The last time she was here was the summer she was ten, which seemed like a turning point in her life.
Before her eleventh birthday she was a kid.
Life was carefree, and she did things that normal kids did.
She went on family vacations where she ate saltwater taffy that was made right there in the magical taffy shop.
She built sandcastles on the beach and wondered exactly how high she’d have to go on the swings at Founders Park to be able to go all the way around.
Her biggest worry was who she should invite to her birthday party and what kind of cake they should have.
Then she turned eleven, and everything changed.
The day after her eleventh birthday party, which was one week after they’d arrived home from their last trip to Sunnyside,
her parents sat the three sisters down and informed them they were separating.
To Bianca, this development had come out of the blue. She’d had no idea there was a problem that would have led to something
like this. Her parents were unhappy? There was something wrong with her family? When had this happened? They’d just gotten
back from the beach where there had been fun and laughter and giant bags of taffy.
Her dad moved out the same day.
Less than three weeks later, the four now-independent ladies loaded up their mom’s SUV and drove Savannah to college. They’d
sweated all day, moving her into her freshman dorm; gone to dinner; and then left her oldest sister there.
The drive home had seemed odd. She had the entire back seat to herself, which had never happened on a road trip before. And
as soon as they got home, Cora moved out of the room they’d always shared and into Savannah’s now-vacant room. Their house—and
Bianca’s life—had never felt so empty.
The only constant after that summer was that nothing stayed the same. A year later, her parents were officially divorced.
A year after that, Cora left for college in Texas. A year after that, her mom got her first cancer diagnosis.
Before Bianca had even graduated from high school, she was standing at her mother’s funeral, and her entire world looked different.
Starting from the moment she blew out the candles on her eleventh birthday cake, life had been a series of major changes.
It was all Bianca could do to try to keep up.
The road she was running on had come to a dead end at a T-intersection, forcing her to choose between going right or left. She stopped and wiped the sweat from her forehead as she surveyed each direction.
Right. Right was always right.
Confident in her decision, she started jogging again.
But the truth was, the lazy vacation days weren’t the only reason she was feeling restless. She’d been restless for a while.
She felt like her life was in a holding pattern while she tried to figure out what came next. The only problem was that she’d
been in that holding pattern for as long as she could remember. Maybe even as far back as her eleventh birthday.
She had dropped out of college because after three years and four different majors, she was no closer to figuring out what
she wanted to do with her life than when she’d started. And since funds were running out, she decided to put college on hold
until she had a better idea.
That was almost four years ago, and she was no closer to having it figured out than the day she’d hit the Pause button. Sure,
she’d had plenty of jobs in that time, but there wasn’t a single one she wanted to do for the rest of her life. Most of them
she hadn’t even wanted to do for the rest of the year.
She was aware of what people thought of her, especially her sisters. They thought she lacked work ethic or was flighty. They
thought she was undisciplined or a screwup.
But what she really was... was lost.
Her road came to another dead end that forced her to choose a new direction. She started to turn right but changed her mind.
Right would put her heading back toward the house, and she wasn’t ready to head home quite yet. Maybe she didn’t know where
she wanted to be, but she knew where she didn’t want to be.
And this was the reason why meeting Zander was so amazing. Here was this great guy who was funny and attentive and romantic.
But even more than that, for the first time she could finally see what her future was supposed to look like.
He already had a job lined up for her as a receptionist at his law firm.
It was a starting position that would give her the training she needed to run the office side of a law practice.
Eventually, when she got familiar with the legal world and he had enough experience under his belt, they would open a practice of their own. They’d be the ultimate team.
They’d also talked about having a family, but not right away. They needed to buy the right house first. He’d even sent her
listings of places that were zoned for highly ranked elementary schools. They were already talking about elementary schools!
Finally, her future was figured out. All she had to do was get to Boise and get started.
Of course, she still had to convince her sisters this was all a good idea. That Zander was a good idea.
All she had to do was win the bet with Cora and Savannah. By the end of the summer, she’d be well on her way to getting her
life on track. She was sure of it.
Mostly sure of it, anyway. Yes, she had a slight hesitation, which was totally normal. Everyone felt a little apprehensive
when starting out on a new adventure. It would be weird if she wasn’t a little anxious.
She came to another intersection, but this time she didn’t guess which way to turn. A smile crept onto her lips as she saw
exactly where she wanted to go. The cutest little pink and white coffee truck, the one where she and Savannah had stopped
the day they’d arrived, was parked on the corner. One of their shaken berry green teas sounded like the perfect way to reward
herself for a long run.
See. Sometimes aimless wandering led to exactly the right place.
She slowed to a walk as she headed toward the coffee cart. There was already someone ordering at the window, and as she got
closer she noticed they happened to be the only other person she knew in town: Luke. This jogging trip had brought up all
kinds of great surprises.
“Look who it is!” she called as soon as he was within earshot.
He turned to her, and an authentic smile lit his face. “Hey! What are you up to today?”
“Just out for a little run and thought I’d get something delicious to reward myself. You?”