Page 12 of Running
He dips his chin in acknowledgement, the amused look on his face still.
As we drive away, Rawley begins chattering, reliving his experiences of the day.
But I’m distracted by my uncertainty over one question.
Have I been too quick to judge Johnson?
CHAPTER 4
Johnson
Iwatch everyone drive away with an uneasy feeling hanging over me.
Oh, I’m nobody.
When Grace said that to the girls, a wave of awareness hit.
Grace Battle—brilliant, beautiful, star collegiate athlete, insanely accomplished Grace—doesn’t see herself the way that the rest of us do.
I don’t know herthatwell, but I know for certain she is all of those things and probably more. I wonder why she has a diminished view of herself?
We all have our secrets, I guess.
Before I can dive too deep into that thought, my phone rings.
It’s a call from the Waves head of PR.Huh.
“Hi, Lara,” I say as I pick up.
“Hi, Johnson, sorry to bother you on a Saturday.” Her voice comes through in a clipped tone.
Getting an unscheduled call from a PR executive usually means something bad is brewing. My shoulders tense up a little.
“This is a courtesy call,” she continues. “I know that you’re one of the co-chairs for this year’s Waves Foundation Gala, and I didn’t want to do this over email.”
“Okay…” I have no idea what this could be. Our big Waves charity event is coming up next month, but my co-chair role is more in name only, to drive donations.
“We need to pull Molly from her position as auction coordinator this year.” Molly is her number two in the Waves PR office. “She has to pick up some other projects that have been dropped on our office. So we’re going to hire a different person to organize the auction.”
“Oh, no problem.” I relax now that I know why she reached out. “I trust your judgment, of course.”
“Thank you. We didn’t want to spring a new person on the co-chairs without any explanation. We’ll be looking for her replacement starting this week.”
Not a big deal to me. My efforts will involve a round of phone calls to CEOs asking for donations and encouraging the players on the team to donate as well. Two hours of my time, max, and something I’m happy to do.
We say our goodbyes, and I jump into the shower. Once I dry off and dress, I head back into the kitchen and fix some dinner.
After the food is ready, I sit down in the TV room with my plate. Just me, alone again, in this big house.
15,853 square feet big.
So big that the space reverberates with the echoes of any sound I make across the empty, unused rooms, not to mention the squeaks of doors, hum of all the appliances, and the groaning of the walls.
Sometimes I like it for a night of silence, especially during a hectic phase of the season. But more often than not, the house feels too quiet and too empty.
Poor little rich quarterback. I know. Still, it’s lonely.
Tonight, I decide to keep myself busy by calling my family. As soon as I dial Mom, she picks up.
