Page 34 of It’s All in How You Fall
“Thatisnice,” Sunny says, and she shields her eyes for a second to really look at Alex. “And so now you run back?”
“Um, yep, it’s an out-and-back route. Two miles, water, two miles.” He shakes his water bottle. “We’re here for the fountains.”
“Oh, why didn’t you say so? They’re this way,” Sunny directs helpfully, turning on a dime. She glances back at Alex, working her way down from his face to his exposed biceps to the water bottle in his grip. “But don’t you have water in that thing? I swear I hear it sloshing.”
Oh no, we can’t have her thinking Alex is rude. “Let it be known Alex gallantly offered me water, like the gentleman he is, but I declined.”
Peregrine’s mouth twitches. “And you didn’t bring your own because you just wanted to make your morning run experience more terrible without water?”
I scoff. “It wasn’t terrible. It’smeditativeand stuff,” I insist, using Alex’s promotional materials. “Or it will be, once I’m used to it. I’m justnew. I needed a goal. The water fountains are my goal.” I pointedly jog the last few steps there like I’m Rocky chugging up the stairs in Philly or whatever.
As I’m gulping down several sips of water, Alex gamely attempts small talk. “So what’s in the bag?” he asks Sunny.
“Baby watermelon!” Sunny scoops it out and presents it in all its rare early-summer glory. “Snagged the last one from the guy over by the breakfast burritos.”
“Score,” Alex says politely, though we both totally saw other melons as we made our way through the market. “Worth coming early for something like that.”
“It was Peregrine’s idea. I totally wanted to invite you, Caro, but Peregrine said you had plans. I had no idearunningwas said plan.” There’s a hint of sorrow in Sunny’s voice. “Since when are you running?”
I wipe water from my mouth. “This is my third time.”
“Were you here last Saturday? Wait, will you be here next Saturday?” Sunny’s voice goes high with possibility. “We could actuallypurposelymeet up next time. I’d wait on my coffee if you wanted to meet us and get some after, Caro.” She turns to Alex. “And you’re invited too, of course, Alex. For melons and coffee and general girl stuff. We won’t exclude you. We’re not like that.”
I try not to sear an answer onto Alex’s cheekbone becauseyeswe’re doing this next weekend.
“Or,” Peregrine offers, tipping her iced-coffee-hold-the-ice straw at him, “if you want to run away screaming, at least you already have the shoes for it.”
Peregrine, WTF?We don’t want to give him wiggle room to run away from time with Sunny.
Alex laughs. “I would love to do all of that, but Saturdays are practice days for me. Nine to two.” He gestures to his watch. “I’ve got to run home and grab my gear.”
Because I can’t resist a good pun, I school my face and tap my temple. “Run home. I see what you did there.”
Alex finger-guns me. We all laugh but I’m suddenly feeling guilty about Alex shoehorning in a run with me beforehoursof practice. Gah, why couldn’t I have figured out another way to do this—
Sunny cuts off my spiraling train of thought with a cuff to the wrist and squeeze. “Hey, wait, how about the lake house tomorrow instead of our usual movie?” I can tell that she’s trying to atone for not inviting me to the farmers’ market, even though it wasn’t a problem at all. She and I could probably just run overcompensating guilt circles around each other forever. “Fun before fireworks. Paddle boarding and this little watermelon?” As she taps her bottomed-out shoulder bag, Sunny’s eyes flick to Alex. “I mean, unless you have plans?”
I nearly leap at her. “I’d love to!”
Peregrine breaks into a genuine smile that points to the fact that she did not plant this field trip in Sunny’s brain. “Yeah, awesome idea.”
Sunny smooths a nonexistent flyaway off her face. “Alex, you could come too, if you want. The same nonexclusionary terms apply. We’re all friends here.”
I glance pointedly at Alex and this amazing second chance that’s even better than the first Sunny suggestion. Like my family, his usually watches the city fireworks from the lawn in the park, but maybe he doesn’t have plans beforehand. I know I don’t—Dad has a scheduled shift treating people making unsafe decisions with their fireworks stashes before dark.
But then he glances down and putzes with the lip of his water bottle before meeting her face-to-face. “That’s super nice of you, Sunny, but I’ve got a family thing.”
Gahhhh. I don’t think he’s lying.
Sunny repositions the bag on her shoulder. “Of course.” Her attention flicks to me and Peregrine. “But you two are sure you’re good?”
I nod and Peregrine follows suit. I’m about to make a joke about how Nat will probably invite himself—a last-ditch effort to get Alex to change his mind—when Alex playfully slugs my shoulder. “You know, I’ve got to go so Coach Bev doesn’t roast me alive, but Caro, stay with your friends. Don’t let my schedule keep you from hanging out.”
Sunny waves him off, the melon bag slapping her hip. “Nonsense, we can share Caro. We’ll see her tomorrow.” She glances between us. Before I can protest or engage Peregrine somehow to keep this going, Sunny has hooked her arm in Peregrine’s and is dragging her in the direction of the dude who makes goat’s milk soap. “She’s all yours, Alex.”
It takes about a mile for Alex to say something. We make the curve onto the street that leads to our neighborhood. The same one where he stopped me on the sidewalk and pitched the idea of coaching.
“You totally planned that, didn’t you?”
