Blake practiced by letting go. Trust.

A tai chi mentor had run with him a few times and had said, “Your pace is choppy. Stop running on the trail. Be the trail. Your chi will decide the pace. Trust.”

He had no option but to trust. Really, he shouldn’t be alive today much less a winning triathlete. He learned to run to survive. He ran to live. He was a small kid in a terrible neighborhood filled with pimps and dealers and gang members, and if he couldn’t run, he’d be at least beaten to a pulp.

He still ran to live.

It was nearly five by the time they’d changed clothes and assembled Gretchen’s bikes. It was not a workout but a casual ride, a rejuvenation and a chance to get Gretchen acquainted with the landscape and moisture in the air. When they took the bikes out through the gym door and down the beach stairs, Blake noticed that Winnie was on her deck with company—the ladies of a certain age: Ray Anne, Lou and Carrie. Lin Su was also there, of course.

Charlie would be home from school by now and either doing his homework or secretly searching for his roots, but he was not in sight.

Blake waved and the women waved back, yelling hello.

“Who are they?” Gretchen asked.

“A neighbor lady and her friends. They get together sometimes. They call it a hen party.”

“Attractive,” she pointed out. “Particularly the blonde.”

“That would be Ray Anne, who is probably in her sixties, fighting back age. Winnie is the lady next door. She suffers from ALS so her friends often come to her after work. A little happy hour.”

They set up their bikes on the beach road, pointing toward the town. Gretchen put a hand on the back of Blake’s shoulder as he got astride and slowly moved that hand down his back to cup one firm butt cheek. “Ready?” she asked.

He put a foot on the pedal and shot out, riding down the beach road ahead of her. When he got to the marina, before continuing to the road through town, he stopped. He put a foot down and waited for her. She caught up to him and stopped. “Don’t ever do that again,” he said. “Especially in front of my neighbors.”

“Wow. Little touchy, aren’t you?”

“We’re not together, remember? You’re my trainer. My coach. You don’t pat my ass to imply we’re lovers. You hear me, Gretchen?”

“Jeez. You bet,” she said.

She put her foot to the pedal and rode out ahead of him.

* * *

Wherever Winnie was, Lin Su was not far away. While Charlie worked on his homework at the dining room table inside, Lin Su was with Winnie and her friends. Then Blake came outside with a woman, an incredibly beautiful woman, and waved at them.

They all waved back. And stared.

There was the little ass-pat, then off they went. They looked like a Nike ad, riding across the beach road in the late-afternoon sun.

“God bless those biker shorts,” Lou said.

“Seriously,” Ray Anne agreed. “Do you suppose it’s too late to make a play for a younger man?”

“It was too late fifteen years ago,” Carrie said.

“I know what you mean, though,” Winnie said. “That is one fine-looking man. But given what we just saw there, he’s not going to give any of us the time of day. I do believe Mr. Smiley is spoken for.”

“Hmm,” Lou said. “Then do you think we can get him to jump out of a cake for us?”

While the women laughed hysterically at themselves, Lin Su just looked at her hands for a moment. And she wondered if she would ever learn. She felt so foolish.

Ten

It was only a couple of days until Blake brought his trainer to Winnie’s to introduce her to the entire family, including Lin Su. Charlie had already met her because he went to Blake’s gym every day and had pronounced her awesome.

Lin Su found that Gretchen was not only beautiful, she was charming. Delightful. Lin Su almost felt relieved in a way. It was a little bit like meeting Peyton—Lin Su’s brief crush on Scott was forever cured in deference to her admiration for the wonderful physician’s assistant. Thus it was with Gretchen. She instantly felt she couldn’t hold a candle to the beautiful, athletic blonde. Not only could Gretchen keep up with Blake, she advised him on how to improve his skills. His already staggeringly successful skills.

The visit of the gorgeous coach took Lin Su’s mind off her idle fantasies and she was reminded of a couple of things she wanted to do. She asked to run an errand while Winnie napped and Mikhail watched television. She drove to North Bend to pick up the walker she had ordered for Winnie, and while she was out, she dropped into a craft store and department store. She had finally thought of a proper gift for a bachelor—towels that she would embroider with his initials.

Winnie was ambivalent about the walker. “Thank you,” she said dourly. “I know I need it. I hate the look of the bloody things, however.”

“But while you can walk, it’s important to keep walking. The wheelchair is a cop-out and we both know it. Fortunately, it’s too soon for that.”

“Not so much a cop-out as giving up,” Winnie said. “And by damn, I know there’s no going back but I’m not quitting yet.”

“Good for you!” she praised. “But for the first days especially, please let one of us know when you’re taking a stroll. It’s helpful, not foolproof.”

They practiced for a while and in no time at all Lin Su was begging Winnie to slow down, make every step a careful step.

Lin Su often heard Blake and Gretchen laughing if they were on the deck or the beach or even if the windows were open. She tried not to imagine what was happening at his house after the training was done. Unfortunately, she couldn’t stop the images. She knew in her heart that Blake was with the woman of his choice, a woman he’d been coupled with for a long time. He had explained they’d worked together for five years.

Finally the day came that the house next door to Winnie fell silent and this was a great relief to Lin Su. Of course, Charlie still used Blake’s gym with Troy monitoring his progress and taking all his readings for his notebook, but they didn’t hang out over there. They went over for their hour. Troy took advantage and indulged some of his own workout while keeping an eye on Charlie.

Charlie was so proud of his progress. He was gaining momentum in no time. He was only into his third week and he was running. He wasn’t running too far but there had been no serious shortness of breath and not a hint of an asthma attack. He was going to try some training without the nebulizer when Blake got back from his race.

At the words back from his race Lin Su tried to forget the way he’d touched her, kissed her brow. They would have to start over. He was Charlie’s friend and supporter, her neighbor in a sense. Nothing more.

* * *

Once in Tahoe, Blake drove the event track. He insisted on doing this alone. There was one section of the run that was incredibly grueling with a steep climb of two thousand feet around a mountain curve. Then the next four miles were at over five thousand feet, a challenge for anyone who had not trained at that altitude. Then, even harder for some, a decline of three thousand feet. Down was hard.

Go to the track in the morning when you’re fresh and well rested, his mentor had suggested. Walk that part of the route at a slow and leisurely pace. Take it all in, inhale it deeply, listen to all sounds, remember how it felt when you were not depleted. Recall these details in the race and put your mind there. Be the trail.