My Remedy (Open Door Love Story Book 3) (18 page)

“Hey,” a woman says as I’m rushing past her into the building.

I stop and turn around. It’s Val. “Hey!”

“Oh, good, you’re glad to see me,” she says, smiling. “I didn’t know if Duncan had poisoned the well or not.”

I shake my head no. “I’m going to be late and it’s my first day ... will I see you around? Are you teaching here?”

“I’m actually teaching the class you’re about to be five minutes early to. I saw you on my roster and didn’t want to give you a heart attack.” She opens the door for me. “We can walk and talk.”

I stand there and stare after her for a moment. Tears start to come, but I don’t hold them back.

Val puts her arm around my shoulders and takes me into the building, guiding me down the hall. “Sorry to dredge up ... emotions in general? I don’t know where I was going with that,” she says, chuckling.

I chucklesnotgagcry, “I’m so lucky.”

“Cool,” she says, not prying at all.

~

R
yan sits up and tosses the ten pound wall ball at me. “I know zero about art,” he says. “Or that you’re an artist.”

I catch it and lay back, touching the wall ball to the floor above my head and then I sit up and toss it to him. “I draw and paint. This class is screen printing, so it’s something I’ve never done before, which is exciting.”

“What do you draw?” he asks on his way back down.

“Right now, I mostly draw dogs,” I answer as I catch the wall ball.

“Nice,” he huffs. “I do know something about them.”

“Oh, yeah?” I don’t think this partner warm-up is meant to be done while holding a conversation. Everyone else in the gym is grunting and that’s about it.

“Well, duh,” Ryan says, tossing me the wall ball for the last time. “I’m a vet-tech.”

“Really?” I complete my last sit up and cradle the ball in my lap. “I guess I don’t know anything about you either. I’m a dog trainer.”

Ryan crosses his eyes. “Super. Duh. We’re so dumb.” He laughs.

“Where do you work?” I ask. We stand up and chest pass the wall ball between us.

“I work part-time at Banfield and part-time at this nonprofit that pairs shelter dogs with veterans. I’m also a vet.” He cocks his head to the side. “I’m a vet-tech, vet.”

I hug the wall ball to my chest. “Do you know my ... a guy named Duncan Fieri?”

Ryan looks taken aback. “Yeah. Totally. He’s actually my partner for Takedown.” He flexes his biceps. “Team Top Dog.”

“Sweet.” I throw the wall ball at him as hard as I can and start walking toward the door.

“Izzy!” Ryan calls after me. I ignore him and keep going.

Ryan catches up and grabs my arm. “Stop. Just chill for a second.”

“He never mentioned me to you?” I ask, hands on hips. “This isn’t some weird competition between the two of you?”

Ryan counters with his hands on his hips, thinking for a second and then realizing what I’m asking. “Hell. No. Duncan has talked about a girl he blew it with, but he never told me her name. And I’ve never said anything about you to him. I don’t think I’ve even said anything about working out at more than one box. Guys just don’t talk that much.” He runs his hands through his hair.

“I want to believe you,” I say.

He nods. “Then do. Good guys exist, Izzy. Like me. Like Duncan. Nothing conniving is going on here. The world is small. CrossFitters know CrossFitters, and dog people know dog people, and I’m sure arty people know arty people.” He holds his fist out for me to bump. “You and I are friends. And we’re gonna stay that way, because me and Duncan are friends too.”

I bump his fist. “How far do you think it is from here to Griffith Park?”

Ryan chews his lip. “About six miles.”

“See you tomorrow,” I say, bending to tighten my shoelaces. “I gotta run.”

I take off down the street, in the direction of Lori’s office, praying she can see me early.

––––––––

“H
ow happy are you that tomorrow is a new day?” Lori asks.

I stand up and sit back down on the couch cross-legged. “Elated. But then Wednesday comes and I have to see
him
, which makes me think about Duncan, and then I have to see Val, which makes me soooo happy, but makes me think about Duncan, and then, can I ever go to the gym again, without seeing Ryan, who I have a crush on, but now more than ever makes me think of Duncan?” I blow my hair out of my eyes. “My life went from structured and boring to crazy in the span of a weekend. Why can’t I ever just have normal?”

Lori shrugs. “I don’t know. Why can’t you?”

“Because normal doesn’t exist.” I sigh.

“Exactly. And we could sit here and rehash every event that’s happened to you in the past three days – I will admit that it is a lot – however, I don’t think it’s necessary. You handled each situation by doing what was best for you, while remaining open and vulnerable. That’s about as healthy as anyone can hope for.”

I lean forward and rest my elbows on my knees. “So, you don’t think I’m going to have a major psychotic meltdown and hold up a convenience store and drink myself to death?”

“No. I don’t think any of those things are going to happen.” Lori shakes her head. “I think you may cry, which is an appropriate response. I also think it’s reasonable to drop this writing class and wait to take it another term with a different teacher.”

“Okay, yeah, that’s what I want to do about that,” I say, feeling like a weight has been removed from my chest.

“And I think once you get into the work in this class with your friend Val, you’ll think less about Duncan and more about art.” Lori smiles. “Which leaves you with man problems – not unlike every other straight woman in the world.”

I fall over dramatically. “There is so much more running in my future.”

~

I
’m too emotionally and physically exhausted to run the six miles back to the gym after my appointment with Lori, so I call Cera to see if she can come pick me up.

“Sure!” she says. “I can come get you in about, uh, ten minutes?”

“Sounds good,” I say and end the call.

I’m standing in the lobby of the office building and most people have left for the day. The combination of my sweaty workout clothes and the air conditioning force me outside to warm up. It begins to rain, and when I try to get back into the building the door is locked and there’s no one in the lobby.

At least it’s a cold rain.

I huddle underneath the lip of the door jamb, so that only the front of me is getting wet.

Duncan’s car pulls into the parking lot and parks in front of the building. He hops out and jogs over to me. “Hey, Cera told me you needed a ride? She was going to take longer than she expected.” He shrugs. “Or she’s trying to get us alone.”

I nod okay. I’m starting to shiver and today I don’t have the desire to contemplate the ramifications of being alone with Duncan. I don’t want to work at being confused by him anymore. I just want to get my pickup, go home, and take a hot shower.

Duncan holds the passenger side door open for me and I slide into the front seat. He jogs around to the driver’s side, gets in the car, turns on the ignition, and cranks the heat. The smooth jazz radio station is on a commercial.

“Here, I’ve got a hoodie in the back.” He reaches over the seat and drops a huge black hoodie in my lap.

“Thanks,” I say snuggling down into the soft jacket. It smells like Duncan’s fancy body wash and dog. I take in a deep sniff.

“No problem.” He turns the car around and drives in the direction of Rogue Raleigh Hills.

“You know where to take me?” I ask.

Duncan nods. “Ryan called. And Val. I’m glad you’re going to school, but you’ve had a day.”

“You don’t even know the worst part,” I say, looking out the window. It’s starting to fog up around the edges. I reach my hand out and draw a star in the condensation with my finger.

“Tell me the worst part,” Duncan says, switching the radio off and the heat down a little.

I turn my face to him. “Ricky,” his name tastes awful in my mouth, “that guy from Ringo’s who I had sex with is my Writing 121 teacher.”

Duncan’s grip around the steering wheel tightens and his knuckles go white. He sucks in a breath, holds it for a count of five and then slowly lets it out. “How did you handle that?”

I shrug. “Okay. I thought I was going to lose it for a second, but I didn’t. He was all cocky about sleeping with me, but he didn’t say anything about getting me pregnant. It doesn’t really matter now though because I’m going to drop the class and take it from another teacher.”

“That’s good.” Duncan reaches over and entwines his fingers with mine.

I don’t say anything more and neither does he the entire drive to the gym. The silence isn’t uncomfortable and I don’t feel the need to fill it.

By the time we get there, I’ve made a decision. I lean over the center console and give Duncan a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’m keeping the hoodie,” I say. “Girls like to wear their boyfriend’s clothes.”

He smiles wide. “You forgive me?”

“Yes.” I nod. “I forgive us for trying to sprint up the slippery slope. We’ll know how to navigate it better now, I think. We can meander.”

Duncan brings my hand up to his mouth and kisses the back of it. “I would love to meander with you, Iz. Anytime, anywhere.”

“Call me tomorrow?” I ask.

“Of course.”

I kiss him again, this time on the lips and for just a little bit longer than quick, and then I get out of the car and run inside the gym to get my keys and bag. Everyone from the 6:30 class says hey and then gets back to work on their Turkish get-ups.

Duncan waits to make sure I’m in the pickup before he backs out with a wave and drives away.

I go home. I feed the dogs and get them settled in for the night. Aunt Nina is sitting in the office going over some invoices when I come into the house.

“Hey, Izzy,” she says, looking up from her work and smiling at me. “I can’t wait to hear all about school, but I have to finish up this work first, okay?”

I tuck my hands up into the sleeves of Duncan’s sweatshirt. “I’m dead tired. Can I tell you about it in the morning?”

She gives me a wink. “Sure thing.”

I shuffle down the hall, my legs stiff, and vow to take the hottest shower I can stand. I get the water going, pee, brush my teeth, and then start to get undressed. There’s a piece of paper in the right pocket of the hoodie and I take it out, realizing it’s actually a photo folded in half.

I open it up. It’s a picture of Duncan, his hair buzzed, wearing desert camo, kneeling down in the dirt, his arm draped around the neck of a beautiful, kind-eyed German Shepherd. Duncan is smiling, the sun on his face. He’s in his element.

Raising my head, I study my expression in the mirror. I’m grinning slightly. My hair is wet and tangled from exercising and being rained on. It’s sticking to my forehead. My face is full. My cheeks are rosy. I don’t have dark circles under my eyes.

I look down at the photo again and then back up at my face.

It’s been a long day, but I didn’t die. Not only did I make it through, but I’m almost happy.

And I have an idea.

~

“F
ive dollars, cash only,” the parking lot attendant says. She hangs out of her booth and takes Hayley’s five. “You all here for the Takedown or the Antiques Roadshow?”

Hayley looks down at herself – she’s got a matching gray and orange Nike tank and cropped tights on. “Antiques Roadshow.”

The attendant nods and hands her a ticket. “Put this on your dash.”

Hayley does as the lady says and we drive around looking for cars we recognize.

“Ryan and Duncan are catching a ride with Hector,” I say, in case she’s looking for Ryan’s car. “There’s Kelly’s Jetta.” I point to the end of the row. Hayley parks in the empty space next to Kelly’s car.

We grab our duffels, coolers, and camp chairs from the trunk and strap them to our bodies in such a way we can carry everything at once. It’s not graceful, but nobody likes to make two trips, and we’re strong enough to haul our gear from the car to the expo hall.

We bypass a long line of people holding paintings, vases, rugs, all kinds of old stuff – most of it looks like garage sale finds to me – and head to the far end of a long lobby where Takedown is located.

The expo hall is basically a large room with high ceilings and a concrete floor, which has been turned into a really big CrossFit gym. There are mats covering a quarter of the floor for the weightlifting events, a long row of pull-up stations, and another whole wall set up for hand stand push-ups. Loads of boxes and kettle bells are stacked off to the side of the mats.

In the area over by the restrooms, people have made camp. They’ve got their chairs and coolers arranged in circles and yoga mats to use for stretching on the outskirts of each group.

I spot Hector and Cera presiding over a wide circle of chairs. Between our two boxes, we’ve got twenty people competing in individual and team events. I was originally signed up to compete individually, but Hayley talked me into partnering with her about a month ago, and I figured what the hell. She makes up for all I lack.

“What’s goin’ on?” Hector asks, standing and taking our camp chairs from us. “Bunch of people just went to fill their water bottles.”

“Did you bring ’em?” Cera eyes my duffel.

“Uh-huh,” I say, dropping my cooler next to my chair. I stoop down and unzip my bag, pulling out a gray t-shirt. I check the size on the tag and toss it to Cera. “This should fit.”

Cera holds it up. “So. Awesome. Let me see the guys’.”

“Wait for Duncan,” I say. “I want it to be a surprise.”

“Did I hear you have a surprise for me?” Duncan says from behind me. He bends down and gives me a kiss hello.

Ryan gives me a smile. “Yo.”

I pull the shirts I made for Duncan and Ryan from the bag and stand up. “Here, my gift to you. If you hate it, I don’t want to know.” I hand them the shirts.

Duncan unfolds his and his eyes go wide. “You drew Gustaf!”

“Team Top Dog,” Ryan says, holding his shirt up to his chest. “Nice one, Stalker.”

“Check out the ones she made for us ladies,” Cera says, putting her shirt on over her tank top.