Watermelon Wishes

Chapter 6

Evey found Riley's Road fairly easily. Last night, she had memorized the map included in the brochure. The road started at a park about two and a half miles from the hotel and the morning sun was not fully out yet so Evey was able to take advantage of the supreme jogging conditions. She decided to nibble on her banana breakfast while walking before she took off in a jog. Peeling the yellow skin, she read the decoded message she had written earlier. Where you are is where you are meant to be. Smiling to herself, she found a trashcan and chucked it in. She had gotten that as a fortune in a fortune cookie years ago and especially liked the saying. It felt just right for her now.

Once on Riley's Road, a dirt path about ten feet wide that went on for ten miles looping through town and ending in Town Square, she made a mental note to keep a watchful eye out for snakes but stayed as far right to the path as she comfortably could, to allow cyclists, dog walkers and moms pushing jogging strollers to pass while she got into the zone, popping her ear buds in.

After three miles, the sun was starting to peek its head out through the clouds and she began to feel the heat. She paused her jog to sip from her water bottle and noticed two women coming towards her from the opposite direction. They were both wearing sweats and pushing near identical newborn strollers, one turquoise and the other orange. She looked up and waved but they didn't seem to notice her, they were so engrossed in their conversation.

"He looks even better," Evey heard the woman with the orange stroller say. "How's that possible?"

The woman with the turquoise stroller fanned herself dramatically. "Too hot," she said. "He's just too hot."

Evey smiled after they passed and started her jog again. She remembered talking like that with her co-workers about the stars of their favorite shows, which she now noted that she didn't miss one little bit. Perhaps it was starting this new adventure in her life. Whatever the reason, Evey felt a bit different, more self-secure, more certain of what she wanted to do with her life. TV shows were always an escape for her, an escape from her dreary job or from the fact that her relationship with Shawn had stalled so severely. Now, she didn't feel like she needed to escape from anything.

Jogging along to her favorite workout playlist, she moved closer to the edge of the path in order to allow for other possible jogging stroller pushing ladies while maintaining a wide perimeter with her eyes focused on the ground as there were several rocks, twigs and stones on the edge of the pathway. She also didn't want a run-in with a snake. Just because she wasn't afraid of them didn't mean that she wanted to see one up close.

Her favorite song came up and she amped up her pace, energized from the tempo of the upbeat song. Her eyes spotted a pair of sneakers in her perimeter, men's sneakers. Without really thinking, her eyes moved up slowly taking in the toned legs concealed in black track pants that hung off of lean, narrow hips. A blue t-shirt covered what promised to be a muscular set of abs and chest. Her heart caught in her ribcage for a moment as she realized that she knew those arms. She had been sneakily staring at them for the better part of her time in Dr. Tellerbee's last night and she had spent the entire night dancing, held by those same strong yet sleek arms in her dreams. By the time she realized it was Brady and looked at his face, she was too late to understand the look of concern in his eyes. Her foot caught on something and she went flying, landing on her side a few feet away on the path. When she tried to sit up, she noticed that something was very wrong.

Her right ankle exploded with pain when tried to move it.

"Ow, ow, ow," she whimpered.

Brady was kneeling right beside her in a flash.

"What's wrong?" he asked in a calm, steady voice. "Is it your leg? Ankle? Foot?"

"Ankle," she managed to say is a short shallow voice through the pain as she fought back tears. "It hurts so bad."