AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Don't be mad. I'm not even here. You just run your race.”
“How am I supposed to ignore you? How long have you been running with me?”
“I started behind you. I'm just here in case you need me.”
The hell? I picked up my pace on purpose. ”I do not need you. I needed you once, and you abandoned me, so no. I don't need you.”
He said nothing, just kept silently running with me. At mile nine, the burn settled in. The pain of it. I knew I still had to get through Primrose Hill, and I wasn't sure I was going to make it.
There was a thing about wanting to give up. Once you planted the seed, it grew. You could make up all the excuses in the world to just stop and walk. To stop and hop the Tube and go home on the train. But I forced myself to take every single step.
At mile ten, I really contemplated giving up. Honestly, it seemed like the best course of action. But somewhere to my left, someone said, “You've got this. You're not a quitter.”
I had never felt so encouraged and pissed off all at once.
Sadly, he was right. I wasn’t a quitter. I slogged through the last mile, and when we rounded the corner and I could see the finish line, I tried to pick up my pace, even though my legs felt like Jell-O. I pushed though I was sure my pace was barely beyond a walk. But damn it, I crossed the finish line.
After the race, I didn't see him again. Willow and Travis were there to give me flowers and cheer me on at the end, but no Drake.
I didn't see him again for a week. It was after work on Thursday. I’d just closed an account for Baines. I had a new manager, thankfully, who believed in promoting from within. She'd let me pitch a new client, and I’d landed them.
I was almost disappointed I didn't see Drake lurking about so I could tell him that I was fine without him. That I was thriving. That I was great.
Sure you are.
Well, great besides the fact that it had been five days since the half marathon and I could still barely move my legs. The point was I wanted him to know I was happy damn it.
On the way home, I stopped at Pappalecco for a gelato. When I went to pay, the girl behind the counter grinned and said a very good-looking man had already come in and paid for everyone's gelato for the next three hours.
When I asked her to describe him, I knew for a fact that Drake had been there.
I arrived home to find him on the steps right in front of the Pret-A-Manger next to my flat.
“Don't. What you're doing is stalking, and I won't allow it. Go home, Drake.”
“I will. I just noticed you were walking today. You normally take the Tube. I just wanted to make sure you got home safe.”
Tears welled in my eyes, and I shook my head. “The time for trying to nurture me is over. The time to take care of me is gone. You threw that away. You did that, so it's too late for you to come back.”
He nodded solemnly, but he didn't move, forcing me to walk by him up the stairs to my flat. I locked my door behind me as soon as I was inside.
The tears fell freely and easily now.
Another week went by before I saw him again. I’d booked a kitesurfing adventure in Cornwall. I was terrified. I wasn't a strong swimmer under the best of circumstances, so kitesurfing in cold and choppy waters was not my idea of fun. But it was one of the things on my list.
After Massimo Igno tried to kill me, I had made my ultimate list of all the things I wanted to do to live a little. Some things were small, like stopping at Pappalecco once a month for gelato regardless of the weather. Then there were bigger things… like kitesurfing.
As it turned out, I liked to try new things. I enjoyed new experiences. And every now and again, I would see Drake lurking. Once in a while he would be exactly where I needed him to be if I was walking home from work. Never pushing, just hovering on the periphery. Always there.
It wasn't until the night I came home from a late client meeting when the company car had dropped me off that I almost wished I would see him on the stairs waiting for me. I didn't even know where that feeling came from, because we were over. Still, I would have given anything just to see his face instead of the face I did see.
There was a woman on the stairs this time. An all too familiar one.
“Mum. How did you find out where I lived?”
“For fuck’s sake, Daphne, you're always so dramatic. You didn't even see me on the bus. You went to the museum this weekend. I followed you here.”
I shook my head and walked past her. “What is it with me and stalkers? I don't want to see you. If you don't leave, I’m calling the police.”
