They started when the sun wasn’t quite up, and now, they were back after seven thirty.
That was a good way to start her day. It wasn’t her favorite way, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.
Now could they be?
When the cabin door opened, out came Gene, and he was holding a cup of coffee in his hand. He had to have been tracking her on the tablet, or Muriel had clued him in that they were done with the run.
As she approached, he handed her a steaming mug.
“Here you go, Kitten,” he said, parking his ass on the porch on the one rocker. “You look like you could use this.”
Oh, she could.
She took it and toed off her running shoes to put her feet up on the rail.
“Thanks, handsome. I needed this,” she admitted.
This was her reward after ten miles and countless calories. He’d put the good cream in it, and she was going to enjoy it.
A two-hour run was no one’s idea of fun.
Around Elizabeth, the Marines looked like they’d been run through the wringer, and he was pretty sure she’d run them ragged. Someone was running from something.
HER.
“The coffee is inside, guys,” Gene said. “Take a break.”
Ivan didn’t move, but Uriel and Raphael did. One of them ran on coffee, and the other yoga, and you didn’t have to tell them twice to take a break.
Or a shower.
When they were gone, she sipped her coffee and enjoyed her day off.
They’d closed a case the day before yesterday, and today was her last day off. She was still going in, simply because moving here made her lose downtime since she had to do more work now, but that was life.
Again, Ethan’s sanity was worth it.
“Were you chasing or running?” Gene asked, knowing that she’d know what he’d meant by that.
She just laughed.
“A little of both, I guess.”
Well, that wasn’t exactly shocking.
Gene knew she’d been busy a lot lately, working after hours, and going into the office for quite a few classified meetings behind closed doors.
He’d offered to join her, but she’d turned him down more times than not.
Which was weird.
Gene just hoped she was going to be okay. You’d have to be blind not to see that she wasn’t the same person here as she had been in DC.
She felt isolated.
Stretched thin.
And there was no doubt in his mind as to why she was doing it too.
