Aldo shrugged. “Okay. So run to that tree over there and back.”
“That’s not very far. I want to run miles.”
“You’re not ready for miles yet, smart ass. I’m going to check out your form and tell you how to do it better. Besides, for someone who sits at a desk and eats pizza all day that tree is far enough.”
Harper snorted. “You’re missing part of a leg and you’re already working on slow jogs on the treadmill. I think I can handle running to the tree and back with two regular legs.”
Aldo flashed her a grin. “Quit stalling. Run. I’ll watch and judge mercilessly.”
Harper stuck her tongue out at him and started to run towards the tree on the bank of the lake. The park was one of her favorite places in Benevolence. She and Aldo had been hitting the trails almost every day as extra PT for him and some much needed not-sitting for her.
Watching his steady recovery had made her take stock of her own health. Especially after noticing she was more winded at the top of a hill than Aldo with his freaking bionic leg.
She could totally do this. Be healthy, be strong. There was time now to focus on what her future could be. More salads, some running, maybe even some weight lifting, and when Luke came home he would find a ripped woman with goals and plans.
The tree was marginally closer now even though she felt like she had been running forever. It must be an optical illusion.
Her breath was coming in shorter bursts now and her legs felt heavier. Oh my God. She was running downhill. She was going to have to run uphill on the way back.
Finally, the tree loomed in front of her. She stopped a few yards shy of its trunk and bent down pretending to tie her shoe while she desperately tried to catch her breath.
“Let’s go, Harp!” Aldo’s shout carried down the hill to her.
“Please don’t throw up. Please don’t throw up,” she chanted as she headed back up at a much slower pace.
She yelped when a stabbing pain shot through her side.
Clutching at her ribs, she finally stumbled back to the start and collapsed next to Aldo. “That wasn’t so bad,” she gasped.
He chuckled. “You sound like a pack-a-day smoker, Harp.”
“I think I have appendicitis. It hurts like a bitch.”
“Welcome to your first side stitch.”
“Side stitch?”
“Come on. Help me up and I’ll tell you all the things you did wrong.”
“Like saying I wanted to learn to run?”
They worked through Aldo’s exercises and ended with a leisurely walk to the lakefront.
“So how are you doing?”
“Good enough that I’m moving back to my place this weekend. The doc cleared it.”
“Aren’t you going to miss your mom?” Harper teased.
“Me moving out is the only way we’ll both live.”
“Are you sleeping better? Is the pain still keeping you up?”
He shrugged and the pause was so long Harper thought he wasn’t going to answer her.
“Sometimes it’s like my mind can’t tell the difference between what’s happening and what’s happened. It’s like this blur between history and present, and sometimes the only thing that clears it is pain,” Aldo said.
“Maybe that’s why you push your therapy so hard?”
“Maybe that’s why I push everything so hard.”
***
Summer was in full swing in Benevolence. Harper’s weekends were filled with cookouts and dog walks and running, which was getting marginally less painful. After she hit her first full mile, Aldo bought her a sleeve for her cellphone and downloaded a 5k training program on it for her.
She still wasn’t getting the blissful happy brain from running yet, but the relief she felt when each run was over was enough to keep her lacing up her running shoes almost every day.
Her latest project was sprucing up the outside of Luke’s house. She had repainted the banister and railing on the wraparound porch and was slowly adding flowers around the existing greenery.
Today she was going to tackle the overgrown groundcover on the side of the house that was starting to climb up the siding.
She dressed in gym shorts and one of Luke’s old paint-splattered t-shirts, grabbed a baseball hat, and went to work.
The groundcover proved a formidable opponent with deep roots and long runners, but Harper enjoyed the physical labor.
The summer sun teased a trickle of sweat down her back and Harper sat back on her heels to take a water break. She had cleared more than half of the long bed already. If she could keep on pace, tomorrow she could mulch.
She wondered if Luke would be proud of the care she was taking with his home. She wanted him to come home to a smoothly running office and household.