“I know you can.” I smile. “But I also know you are the best gym training buddy I’ve ever had.”
“But I don’t have my gear,” Marcello says.
“I have extra clean clothes in my locker.” I look down at his feet. “And your Converse will be fine.”
“I really can’t convince you to have a workout with me at home?”
The hairs on the back of my neck elongate at hearing him call my flat home. One day. He said, one day.
“You can do that afterwards,” I say. “Or we can do a movie. Oh, and that puzzle I ordered arrived yesterday.”
“Best weekend ever!”
“After tomorrow’s run,” I say and he groans, loudly enough that it vibrates his chest against mine. “Hey, it’s your triathlon we’re training for.”
“I still don’t know why I signed up for it.”
“Well, I’m glad you did.” I hold him a little tighter.
“Me too.” He kisses my forehead. “Best mid-life crisis ever.”
I laugh heartily. So heartily I’m surprised such joy is possible after I spent the last hour feeling such crushing sadness. Or maybe that’s exactly why I am feeling so much joy. Because I’m finally letting myselffeel. When you actively decide to let yourself feel more pain, maybe you also let yourself feel more pleasure too.
“I’m so proud of you,” he says.
“I’m so proud of you too,” I say back.
He frowns. “What did I do? Other than mess up your calendar settings so it sends me reminders.”
“You helped me get to this point. And you’re doing so well with your training.
Out of nowhere a golden yellow leaf tumbles from the sky and hits me on the head. I catch it before it gets to the ground.
“The seasons are changing,” Marcello says, looking at the curled edges of the leaf.
“That means it’s almost time for your triathlon. Are you feeling ready?”
“Cazzu dialulu, no,” he laughs at himself, “I doubt I’ll ever feel ready. For that. But for everything else. For me and you.”
“You and me,” I interrupt to say.
“I’m ready for that.”
“Me too,” I agree. “I feel like I’ve been training for that my whole life.”
Epilogue
Giles
“He should be coming up any minute now,” I say as I glance at my watch for the hundredth time in the last twenty minutes.
“You said that ten minutes ago.” Radia tuts just loud enough for me to hear.
“He’ll get here when he gets here,” Chloe says and out of the corner of my eye I see her give Radia a look. They know about me now. They know how I worry.
And yes, I am worrying a little but I wouldn't say I'm catastrophising. Not yet. We saw him at each transition and he looked good. And this ten-kilometre run should be very doable for him. It's why I had him running longer distances so this one would feel almost easy.
“I hope he’s okay,” Rosina, Marcello’s mother, says next to me. She’s holding the other end of the banner she and I made while Marcello was taking a nap after his last long training run.
