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She’d done it.
She’d finished.
She was too exhausted to do anything but snap a sweaty postrace picture to prove she’d survived. Then she was ushered along by volunteers, congratulated, and escorted to an area where she received a medal and a recovery bag. She went straight for the bottle of Gatorade, doing her best not to guzzle it down and make herself sick.
She had to exit the park at 77th Street, so she headed in that direction, practically limping on her way out. She approached the American Museum of Natural History and that’s where she saw him. Luke. Holding what looked to be a hastily drawn sign on the back of some dingy cardboard. She laughed, wondering if he’d plucked the cardboard out of someone’s recycling. As she drew closer, she could read the sign: I KNEW YOU COULD DO IT. She thought about closing the distance by running and jumping into his arms, but she didn’t have one ounce of energy left for running.
Instead, he came to her, opening his arms wide.
“Congratulations,” he said as she collapsed against him. “You did it!”
She didn’t care if they both tumbled to the ground. She let all her weight sag against the strength of his hug.
“Just under four and a half hours. That’s an amazing time for your first marathon.”
“First and only,” Lydia laughed. “Let’s just get that straight.”
“Never say never,” Luke said, lifting his hand to wipe the sweaty hairs from her face. “How do you feel?”
“Terrible,” she said, grinning. “But also sort of amazing.” The intense adrenaline and the thrill of accomplishment had yet to fade. More than that, she’d found this sense of freedom during the race—instead of running away from something, it felt like she’d been running toward something new and exciting. “I got your voice note.”
“I was hoping to catch you before you finished the race.”
“You did. Perfect timing too. I needed a bit of cheering to get me across the finish line.”
“I promised I would get you there.” He tilted his head as he looked at her. “Why didn’t you tell me you were still going to run? I would have followed through with your training.”
Lydia squeezed his free hand, the one that wasn’t holding onto the sign. “I know you would have. And I couldn’t have done it without all your support and everything that you’d taught me, but I also realized that I needed to do that last part by myself. To prove to myself—”
“That you were capable of great things?” Luke nodded, like he understood. “I got your drawings,” he said, reaching into his bag to pull out the folder. “I just... I can’t believe you did all this. Spent all this time...”
She bit her lip. “I thought maybe they could help.”
“They’re amazing. You don’t know how much this means to me.”
“I wanted to do something,” she said. She caught his eye and couldn’t look away. “I wanted...”
“What?” He was almost as breathless as she still felt.
“I just wanted you to know that you were right about a lot of things during our fight. I was giving up on myself, pushing you away because I was chasing a future I thought I needed, not the one I actually wanted. And when I finally figured that out, I didn’t want there to be any more blurred lines between our training and our feelings for each other. I wanted you to know how much you mean to me. That this—” she gestured between them “—was something serious...something real.”
“Well, that’s good,” Luke said softly, quietly, shuffling to flip that crappy cardboard sign over. On the back he’d written: I LIKE YOU AS MORE THAN A TRAINER. MORE THAN A FRIEND. They were the same words she’d written in her note to him. Butterflies exploded in her chest.
“After everything?” she said just as softly. “You still want this?”
“Yes,” he said without hesitation.
She surged forward and he wrapped his arms around her, sweeping her up in a kiss. It was hot and desperate and a little bit out of control as she clung to him. Her arms locked around his neck, her lips like fire against his. A fire she wanted to stoke until they were both burning. But that would have to wait until they weren’t standing in the middle of the street. Until she felt like she could stand on her own two feet without crumbling into an exhausted puddle.
“It is good timing,” she said when they finally broke apart.
“Hmm?”
“Since you can officially sign off as my trainer.”
Luke frowned. “You’re not gonna miss Trainer Luke? Even a little?”
She laughed and kissed him again. “Don’t you think it’s time we replace him? Boyfriend Luke has a nice ring to it.”
