Accepting her defeat, and unable to resist the idea of sharing her morning run with Tony, Libby nodded. “I like to get to the gym early.”
Tony breathed a sigh of relief that she had agreed.
“I’l be here early.”
And he was. With coffee. Tony knocked on the door and was surprised when Ms. McKay answered. This was dumb because, of course, Ms. McKay lived here. But she usualy worked strange hours since bakeries were open so early, and Tony hadn’t actualy hung out here that many times.
“Come in Tony. Libby’s changing she should be out in a moment. Have a seat.” Tony thanked her and perched himself on the couch sipping the stil scalding coffee to cover for his nerves. He remembered very clearly the night Ms. McKay had come home in the early morning and found him and Libby fast asleep wrapped up in each other on this very couch. When she had shaken Tony awake he had wanted to crawl under a rug. Although-- she had been very sweet about the whole thing. Thanking him for being such a good friend. For sacrificing his Haloween night and for tucking Libby back into her bed since the medicine had knocked her out cold. That had just made him feel worse; because of course Tony had had his own less than honorable reasons for being there that night.
“Libby tels me you’re living in New Jersey?” Oops, stop daydreaming man! Ms. McKay was talking.
Had he missed something?
“Umm yeah. I have been interning at a paper there the past few years. So it was an easy choice.” He didn’t mention that he had been researching papers in Talahassee a little over a year ago. That was before the luau party, and before Parker.
“A news paper man?” Ms. McKay smiled. He could see a little of Libby’s smile in her face. He wondered if this was Libby twenty years from now. Libby must have gotten her height from the late Mr. McKay, but the shining dark eyes, and flyaway dark curls were al there in her mother. “Would I have seen your writing?”
“Not unless you get the Columbia literary mag, or you unless read the obits in the Trenton Examiner.” Tony offered a sheepish shrug. “The Examiner is a smal paper, but I like that. I’m not sure I want to be Perry White; I am looking forward to being given more interesting subject material now that I have my degree.”
“Hmm.” She nodded politely. Maybe he should tel her he’d written a book, and that he had plans for more.
No—that was stil a bit of a pipe dream, not exactly promising of a secure future.
“The Examiner isn’t a big paper, but it is wel run.
I’ve learned a lot. I think I might like to start my own paper one day. Lindstown doesn’t even have its own daily.” Where did that come from? But it wasn’t a bad idea, and Tony didn’t want to live in New Jersey forever. He hadn’t given overly much thought to moving since he gave up on the idea of Florida, but he found he liked the idea of moving home.
“That’s nice dear.” Ms. McKay didn’t seem impressed one way or another with his future plans. Not that they should matter to her. Parker was going to be a lawyer. Parker had the kind of bank account that could withstand monthly airline tickets just to take her daughter on a date or two. Stupid Parker.
Libby and Tony ran two one-mile legs. She smoked him both times. Silently Tony promised himself to hit treadmil more often at his own gym. Tony was no couch potato though and when they settled into a light jog around the track he had less of a problem keeping up. Libby was beautiful when she ran. She was always beautiful, but there was calmness on her face when he was running. Relaxation vibes roled off of her like she didn’t have a care in the world. Not Tony-- Tony’s lungs were burning, and he could barely remember this morning’s blueberry muffin. But Libby looked incredible. Of course her amazing long legs in those tiny running shorts didn’t hurt either.
“That was fun. I think I missed having someone to train with.” Libby mopped her towel over her face and shoved it back into her bag. Tony would have answered if he had any breath to spare—which he did not.
After they had hit the showers Tony offered to help Libby load her things into the moving truck.
“I’m not picking up the U-Haul until tonight—it’s cheaper that way.”
“Oh, right.”
“My mom and Stuart wanted to have lunch together.”
“Oh, right. Wel I wil get you home then.” Tony drove Libby back to her apartment in silence.
“Thanks for hanging out with me this weekend.” Tony finaly spoke when he stopped in front of her building.
“Have a good drive tomorrow.”
“Yeah. I’ve had fun. It was nice to have a friend around since Mel abandoned me early.” Libby leaned over to hug him good bye. Her hair, stil wet from the shower at the gym, clung to his neck. Oh yeah, he thought, we are just friends.