Chapter 13

Dahlia returned and we dove into a day of sex and food and movies and just being with each other. It was bliss, I loved her suite, not just the luxury and everything you could want at the end of the phone, but it was the view that captured me the most. I loved it, I spent hours curled up in a chair watching the city pass by. It was better when Dahlia was curled up on me, running lines, reading contracts, practicing accents, but even without her… it was special and I cherished it.

It was the night before my race qualifications. I knew that Dahlia couldn't come and watch me run; it was too public and it would cause too much of a stir, but she had arranged for a car to take me there and promised something special for after, no matter what happened.

I was going through my mental checks and mapping through the course. I had run it a few times, a road course. It had its pros and cons. I prefer street running in terms of terrain and running surface, but I miss the atmosphere of a stadium. This was only the heats, though. I would run the 10k once, in a group I had been preselected for based on my average time last year.

It was an advantage I could exploit because I was racing much faster right now than my average last year, meaning I could sit comfortably in the front pack before using the final thousand with a burst to take a good qualification time.

The key would be to finish with the right time. I had to make sure I qualified without giving myself too much noise. I didn't want to be a target, spotted and stalked in the final.

So, for me, tomorrow would be a purely tactical race, which meant focus. Something that I had been lacking a lot lately. "Alexa, your phone is ringing."

I reach for it on the table but I already know who it is.

"Hey, Grandmama."

"Hello, you. How are you feeling?" I never tell her, but I know when she is nervous. She still has a landline and when she is fretting, she will start to wrap the cord around her palm, fidgeting and it gives the line a distinct rustle.

"I feel good. Andy is pretty happy; I just need focus but the speed and pace are there. I feel good."

"Okay sweetheart. Well, I won't be there tomorrow, but you know I will make it for the final. Call me after. I will be thinking of you, sending you some of my energy, what little of it I have left," she adds with a laugh and I smile.

"Thanks, Grandmama. I will call you straight after and let you know in way too much detail how it went."

"Oh, you know I love all the details. Get lots of sleep tonight. I love you."

"I love you too, sweet dreams."

I hear the line click and I feel Dahlia's gaze on me. "She loves you a lot."

I nod. "She does, I am very lucky. I don't take that for granted."

"You shouldn't, and she shouldn't either, although I can tell in her tone how much she adores you. She sounds like a very sweet woman."

"She is. The absolute sweetest. Even sweeter than your tea."

Dahlia drops her notepad to look up at me over her cute reading glasses. "Nothing… is sweeter… than Texan iced tea." And from her tone, I'm not going to doubt it.

Dahlia would make a perfect wife. To the right person, not her asshole ex. I wake the next morning to a buffet. I struggle to eat on race mornings, but I manage to force some down me because I know I'll need it. She has also laid out a beautiful new running outfit, tracksuit and shoes, I wear the outfit but I don't have the heart to tell her that new shoes would be a terrible idea.

There is a whole kit prepared, which I can only assume someone had been sent to the Nike store and bought everything and anything on the shelf that looked like it might be useful and packed it all into a very fancy sports bag and then a holdall because they didn't all fit in the bag.

"I didn't know what you might need, so I got you a couple of things," she says shyly with a blush that makes my heart melt.

"It is all perfect. I am sorry you can't be there, but it is incredibly boring for the first 9.5k anyway. All of it will be on a screen."

"I will be watching. I pulled some strings and I will have access here to the live stream. I thought maybe next time I can set that up for your grandmother too, if you want?"

"Oh, Dahlia! She would love that!"

"Well, maybe I can get it done today… leave it with me and I will see what we can have arranged."

"You are an angel. Thank you." She drapes herself slowly over my lap in her favorite position, curled around me with her hands locking around my neck so her nose can nuzzle in. She smells like honey and cinnamon. Her hair is soft against my skin as I take a long, deep inhale.

She will be watching. I suddenly feel like I have a whole new reason to focus.

I don't get nervous before a race, but I do shake. It is the adrenaline, the rush of endorphins. My mind knows what it needs to do and it makes my blood surge, my pulse race, my heart beats faster so I can push myself as hard as I physically can.

My group has Leticia Jones in it, and she is a firecracker of a starter. She will set a high pace, and I just have to keep on her heels and watch the others drift away. Not challenging, just letting her set the speed. It makes it easier for me in the long run, but it is always difficult to sit back when you have a lot more gas in the tank. Which is exactly what I am doing now. We are 7k in. Resting on her heels, the urge to push her, to come round her on the outside and drive this front pack forwards… but I focus, remembering the tactics. Knowing I need to only just win, not set records.

There is a scuffle. It is every runner's nightmare this kind of race. A clipped heel, a shoulder, then suddenly you feel the sting of gravel as you hit the floor. Precious seconds are lost and then you risk injury, your vitals plummet, you lose the pace. All your training has gone in a second.

I keep myself compact, my arms in tight, eyes scanning my surroundings, but I pass the scuffle unscathed. Our leading pack of nine is now down to six. Better or worse is yet to be seen, but I think it could be in my favor. Less to compete within the final stretch.

Leticia is a great starter and the big names will want her to make it to the final because she pushes them to set records. For the first 8K, she is unstoppable, but then she begins to tire. She can keep it up to some extent, she finishes well, often pushing for a medal; I am sure her cabinet is filled with bronzes but she doesn't have the speed at the finish to get the gold.

I have raced with Leticia many times and keeping her pace for the first 8K is tough. It has always been fifty-fifty as to whether I will keep up with her. But today, my attitude is different. I have no doubt, had no doubt coming here, and it shows in my running. I am not trying to keep up, I just am.

We break the 8k mark and I feel the slackened pace. I ride it for another 1000m just making sure that we are keeping good time so we are challenging the other heats. And then I make my break for it.

I don't want to storm ahead, but I feel my legs dip into the reserves, and there is a lot left in the tank. My stride is strong, powerful. My muscles are tight but not cripplingly so. I have full control of my breathing. My body is functioning at the highest possible level and it isn't breaking, it is soaring.

The meters count down. I don't know how far I have cleared, but with a quick glance back I can breathe a sigh of relief. Leticia is not far behind; she is keeping up and that is exactly where I want to be, in front but not by a long stretch. I trust in my sprint finish that I can beat Leticia.

I clear the last straight in what feels like slow motion in my head. It has been a long time since I crossed a finish line first and I revel in it. Enjoying every second of how it feels to win my heat. Andy is there, I can see him beaming from the sidelines. I don't have anyone else, but I know they are only a phone call away.

Whilst I catch my breath, dousing myself in water, I reach for my personal bag and take out my phone, which bursts into a life that very second.

"Hey, Grandmama," I pant.

"Oh, Alexa! I saw you! I can see you now on the TV! A lovely gentleman came round and set the whole thing up for me, said it was a special gift from you! Thank you so much, I can"t believe it. I can see you on my screen right now talking to me!" I hear a scuffle as she leans away from the landline to look at me talking to her on the TV and I laugh.

"I'm happy you were able to see! And now you are going to see me in the final in four days! Can you believe it!?"

"Yes," she replies seriously. "I had no doubt, you should know that. Now go and call your special friend and tell her the good news." I blush and laugh.

"Thanks, Grandmama. I love you."

"I love you too sweetheart. You have made me so proud."

I feel like my smile splits my face as I hang up and dial Dahlia. She answers in seconds, screaming, cheering—a ball of heated excitement. It feels so nice to have someone to share in my joy. She is talking at a hundred miles an hour, and all it does makes me want to get back to her as soon as possible and cover her in a million kisses.

And I can hear it in her voice that she wants exactly the same thing.