After all these years, and with their example, is it possible I'm strong enough to guide someone else?
And not just anyone; Laney.
I watch as her lips close around the tines of the fork and almost crush my coffee in my hand as I hear the satisfied moan from her throat.
My brain chemistry might be changing and I don’t feel at all prepared to handle it.
"What's our pace going to be on the way back?" She asks as she slides the other half of her cake to the middle of the table.
"Are you not going to eat all of it?" I ask.
"No, it's too rich." She wipes her hands on a napkin.
"We'll take it to go."
"How?"
"I'll hold it."
"Miguel, you can't hold it for ten miles."
"You don't trust me?" I tease.
"I do, but that's just unnecessary. I don’t need the rest of the cake."
"But do you want it?"
"I mean, yeah, it’s delicious." Laney looks longingly at the plate.
"Then I want to do it for you."
"Wow, alright." She laughs brightly, a blush colors her cheeks and her eyes blink quickly as she looks up at me. "But I'm not going home. I've got to go straight to work."
"Where's work?"
"I deliver for Curryosity."
"At night?" I don’t love this. And that rain might still be coming in.
But I agreed when she arrived to try and let her do things her own way.
Even if it kills me.
"Yes, that's when most people order dinner for delivery." She checks the cracked screen of her phone for the time. "And I need to be there by four."
That gives us a full hour to get home. "No problem." I tell her.
I keep the comment about her safety to myself. I hate the idea of her being out, alone, late at night. But I don't have a solution besides doing her work for her and passing on the paycheck so I keep my mouth shut.
For now.
Chapter eleven
Laney
Jumping into the Arms of Rejection
Miguelinsistedonmeetingat my place before our workout today. We're going to brick, a 30 mile ride and a 10 mile run. He's gone easy on the swimming ever since I did my best impression of a popsicle.
