The Complete Eagle Cove

Chapter 4 -4

By the first hundred yards along the beach they were pushing the pace enough that no spare breath remained for conversation which was fine with Jessica.

When they reached the docks at the two-mile mark and moved up onto the streets, she picked up the pace another notch. Her long legs could run most guys into the ground, but Greg not only kept up, but began pushing her. Up Beach Way, she saw his shoes and socks still on the porch of The Puffin Diner, looking as if their owner had been teleported out without his footwear.

What the hell, Slater? Was that really what she’d said about such a fine meal?

No, that’s what she’d said about a man with a boyhood crush on her. Well, she’d only be here for one week, then she’d be safely gone. They couldn’t cause too much trouble in such a short time.

They ran out to where the town tapered down into the single road. At the final intersection before it headed up into the Coast Range she turned them onto Gull Way. It looped along the backside of Eagle Cove, making the longest possible running route.

In high school, it had been a straight 10K: Aunt Gina’s down the beach, through the heart of the town, up and down the short hard hills of Gull Way, cut back along Shearwater Lane and out LBB Lane. She’d usually started the loop at the high school on Shearwater, but had run it from Aunt Gina’s often enough that it was like coming home to run the loop.

Out on Shearwater, Greg slowed and waved at someone.

Jessica waved out of habit, but almost stumbled as she took in the image. It was a double-wide manufactured home, just where she’d pictured Greg, Dawn, and a passel of kids. But the home was clearly well tended with a cheery paint job and colorful hollyhocks. In front of a large add-on garage were parked a newer minivan and a beater pickup. But what made her stumble was that Vincent, Dawn, and the twins were all working together in the garage workshop on a beautiful-looking bookcase. Not at all the sort of place she’d pictured them ending up. It looked…cozy.

She started paying more attention to the town they ran through. Growing up here, it had all turned into the blur of “home.” Being gone, that memory had turned into rundown and sad. There were still those types; “w*********h” places piled with mossed-over trailers, salvaged materials that would never be used, and lopsided picnic tables. But there were also the crisp lawns that marked retired military and the toy-strewn yards of new toddlers.

She almost commented on it to Greg, but then they hit the top of LBB Lane and now he kicked it up a gear.

Two miles to go, he was clearly trying to run her into the ground. Well, that wasn’t going to happen. Not to Jessica Baxter. Especially not on her home turf.

“Elmer,” she gasped out, finding it easier than she’d like to sound completely winded.

Greg nodded. That was their finish line.

Elmer was the massive Douglas fir that ruled over Aunt Gina’s property. It had been there when the house was built and would probably still be there when the Victorian fell down from old age. Elmer was a two-hundred foot-tall old growth, easily seven feet through the trunk.

She let her stride open up and shifted her focus from the houses onto the end goal, calling up the techniques that had gotten her to the regionals if not all-state.

Pictured it in her mind’s eye. Not the stretch of road ahead of them or the stiff climb as the road ascended from beach to top of bluff. Not the point where tar shifted to gravel on the final stretch. Jessica firmly planted the image in her head of arriving at Elmer far enough ahead of Greg Slater that there would be no question that she hadn’t only beat him with some final sprint; she’d crushed him.

Chicago’s biggest hill was the freeway bridge over the river, but she’d balanced out that lack of elevation with longer miles along the lake’s edge which was totally paying off at the moment. Running was one of the few things she’d taken with her when she left Eagle Cove and the chance to run here was such a pleasure that it made her feel like she was flying.

Greg did his best, he really did, but she could see that he had nothing left to dredge up when she kicked into her final sprint as they passed the Slater’s. She felt a dozen feet tall as she crossed Gina’s lawn in first place.

She didn’t so much reach Elmer first, but rather ran square into his massive trunk braking with only the last step. Jessica tagged the tree and then splayed herself out against the rough bark so that she didn’t collapse to the ground. Maybe she wasn’t in quite as good practice as she thought. A moment later Greg did the same—he must have found reserves somewhere to finish just a single step behind her. Good thing she’d been trained to never look back. That simple action might have cost her the race.

Rich pine and dusty bark overwhelmed her own sweat. Salt dripped down to sting her eyes and flavored her lips when she licked them.

“Damn. Jessica,” Greg gasped out. “But you. Can. Really run. Damn!”

Laughter bubbled up and almost choked her as she still couldn’t get enough air.

As soon as they could stand without Elmer’s support, they began walking circles around the tree, shaking out legs, and walking it off.

“C’mon,” Jessica nodded toward the kitchen.

They staggered up the broad front steps together—knees loose, bumping shoulders and laughing as they went. It was a good moment, one Jessica realized that she’d treasure for a long time.