I slid out from underneath his arm and headed for the bathroom. I peed, washed my hands, then looked around for my clothes. He was still snoring softly when I was finished. I debated waking him up or leaving a note but decided against it. I was going to see him later anyway, and he’d no doubt figure out that I went back to my place.
I made the short walk back to my cabin, stopping dead when I saw April standing on the porch, her hand raised to knock. She was dressed in running clothes and I had a flash of fear that I’d spaced out on a running date. She turned as I walked up.
“Good morning, Mom.” She gave me a teasing smile as she noticed I was wearing the same clothes from last night. “Ah, doing the walk of shame, huh?”
I felt my face heat up.
“I’m sorry.” I wasn’t totally sure what I was apologizing for, but it seemed like a good start.
“Why are you apologizing?” she laughed. “You’re both single, and you already know that we were all hoping that you and Reed would get together. We were all talking about it before we came here, thinking about fixing you up. Then when we saw all the sparks between you two, we knew we were right.”
She paused. “You were with Reed, right?”
“Of course,” I said defensively. It wasn’t like I made a habit of sleeping around with a bunch of strange men. Not that my daughter would know that, I reminded myself.
“Are you up for a run?” she asked. “I know it’s early, but I woke up full of nervous energy, so I thought I’d pop over and see if you wanted to come with me.”
“That would be great,” I responded. “Let me change real quick.”
I pulled on my running clothes and followed April towards the woods. We made our way towards the same trail we’d run on yesterday. It was already warm out, despite the fact that it was just after seven in the morning, and the sun beat down on us even through the trees.
April was running a little faster than normal, making me think she had something on her mind. I had a flash of memory of April as a child. Sometimes when she would get upset she would run in circles in the backyard until she got over what was bothering her or was exhausted, whichever came first. Like me, she used exercise as a way to work through her emotions. Or at least that’s what I did now that I didn’t use drugs to numb my feelings.
“Are you okay?” I asked. “Anything you want to talk about?”
“Am I making a mistake?” My daughter’s voice was small and unsure. “Marrying Jonathon, I mean.”
Ah yes, I’d suspected this was what she was anxious about. Not that I blamed her; I had been a nervous wreck on my wedding day. My own mother hadn’t been the slightest bit interested in allaying my wedding day nerves, but then again she’d never liked Jack anyway.
“How long have you been dating Jonathon?”
“Three years.”
“And how long have you been living together?”
“Two years.”
“I’m guessing you’ve had the chance to see him at his best and his worse, right? You know all his annoying habits? How he acts when he’s sick or stressed out or drinks too much.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen all that for sure.”
“And he’s seen the same thing with you, right? He’s seen you at your worst? Like when you have cramps or you’re cranky from work? He’s heard you fart and knows that you poop?”
“Oh yeah,” she laughed. “Definitely.”
“I’m guessing that you’ve had some fights over the last three years? Some days when you were tempted to grab a lamp and smash it over his head?”
She nodded.
“Yes, we’ve had some big blow-ups, but we agreed early on never to go to bed angry with each other, and so far it’s worked for us. Not that we fight a lot anyway.”
“Knowing all of his faults and bad habits, do you still love him?”
“With all my heart.”
“Do you believe he loves you?”
“Without a doubt.”