Page 47 of In the Long Run

KNOX

Eugene’s a wily one. The gleam in his eye proves that he knows exactly what he’s doing to my emotions right now, standing behind the counter at Alizée’s in his chef’s jacket, the stitched wisteria under his name mimicking the flowers that bloom outside the patisserie.

All tall and proud, his face alight with joy.

That man wants me to embarrass myself in front of everyone.

Gen curls into my side, the comforting weight of her against me also threatening to push me over the edge.

The last few days have been … I don’t know how to describe them.

There isn’t a word that encapsulates everything properly.

They’ve been hard but filled with pockets of joy.

I’ve been blown away by the strength shown by so many people.

Gen’s officially pressing charges against Brand, and the police have managed to prove he’s also responsible for the break-in at the patisserie.

Eugene’s had the contract of sale for Alizée’s drawn up, and Celeste and Caleb are buying the business from him.

Everything’s changing, but I’ve revelled in the little snippets of the future I’m determined to keep building towards.

‘Hey! Knox is here!’ Annaliese shoots an accusatory glance at Annabeth, who shrieks back, ‘Anneke said he left! Some work thing or whatever.’

‘Told you it was a good idea.’ Gen presses her smile into my neck. She’d been adamant that we should keep my presence a surprise, and let’s just say that I’ve been very happy to hang out at home with her. Have some time that was just ours.

‘You made it back! Are you staying until after the run?’ Violet asks from the corner of the room, where she’s helping her daughter colour in a picture of a running shoe.

Gen squeezes my side and a low chuckle works its way out of my chest. I’ve got no problem with admitting I was wrong. I’d just rather acknowledge it when we’re both naked so I can really make it up to her. ‘I’ll be here next week too.’

People actually cheer. It’s ridiculous, and embarrassing, and my face might split in half from the smile I can’t stop.

‘How’d you manage to get leave again so soon?’ Celeste asks from her spot behind the counter. She’s a little minx. Like she doesn’t know exactly where I’ve been.

I rub a hand across the back of my neck. ‘I never actually left.’

Gen slaps a hand across her face when she giggles.

‘What?’ Violet asks.

‘Is this because of that TikTok?’ one of the Army guys who’s running the half next week asks.

I don’t need to ask which one he means. Gen’s and my phones have been buzzing for the last few days because of it.

Someone – one guess who – uploaded an exposé accusing Gen and I of faking our relationship.

Claiming that I had a financial interest in Alizée’s, which, fair play, is true on paper.

But real life is so much more complex that.

Our situation is proof that two different things can be true at the same time.

I shrug and find the words that are so easy to say because they’ve always been true. ‘Nothing about this was ever fake for me.’

‘Awwww.’ Violet claps her hands together and wiggles them happily.

‘Obviously. Did you see the Strava segment?’ Anneke mimes swooning. At least, that’s what I think she’s doing when she presses her hand to her forehead and pretends to fall backwards.

Gen looks up at me. ‘What is she talking about?’

My mouth hitches up on one side. I’ve been waiting to see how long it takes her to notice.

‘I mean, I’m assuming that was you?’ Anneke taps away at her phone, opening the app and pulling up a recent run. ‘Here!’ She passes the phone to Gen.

The next five seconds pass excruciatingly slowly.

Time might even go backwards. In hindsight, maybe this isn’t the romantic move I thought it was.

I’d wanted to reply to all the comments on that TikTok.

Defend Gen and myself. But then I remembered something important: the opinion of strangers on the internet doesn’t matter.

So I did something else, a statement to the people who I’ve grown to care about.

Who have supported us since the very beginning and become as much a part of Croissants and Kilometres as we have.

Gen uses her fingers to zoom in on the screen, making the text larger.

‘Does that say, “This is where Knox fell in love”?’

‘Take notes, men!’ Celeste yells, slapping at the counter. ‘This is how it’s done!’

‘Knox.’ Gen spins around so she’s in front of me.

Her cheeks are flushed and her eyes search mine.

This shouldn’t be a surprise. After all those years when I was scared to let myself open up to the possibility of something like this, now I can’t stop telling her how much she means to me. I hope it never changes.

‘A much better name than “Pier to Park”, don’t you think?’ My hands land on her hips and I pull her towards me.

Her laugh skates across my chest.

‘It is.’

‘I told you, Halliday. When I’m all in, I’m all in.’

‘Jesus. I might get pregnant watching this.’ Annabeth fans herself.

‘Okay, okay. That’s enough,’ Yeti interjects. ‘Let’s party before the race!’

Race day conditions are perfect. The chill to the air has already turned the tip of Gen’s nose red and I’m so here for it.

Once the sun is properly awake, it’ll be nice – warm enough to beat the chill without having us curse the heat.

Although I’m sure we’ll be cursing plenty of other things once we hit the hills around the thirty-kilometre mark.

The wave zones are already filling up, and the elite and preferred start runners are finding their places up the front.

Gen passes me a bottle of sunscreen and lifts her ponytail away from her neck.

‘Can you help me, please?’

‘It’d be my pleasure.’ I add an eyebrow waggle because I’ll never get enough of the sound of her laughter.

And after the last week – our first official week as a couple – I know with every fibre of my being that I’ll do whatever it takes to keep hearing it.

It doesn’t matter if we did things backwards and fell in love before our first real date.

Forwards is the only direction I care about now.

She laughs and swats at my hand when I dig my thumbs into the notch where her shoulder meets her neck. It’s one of her irresistible spots. The kind that makes her speech go breathy and her gaze darken. ‘Stop it.’

‘Hmm. I seem to remember you having a different opinion this morning when I was helping you put anti-chafe balm under your bra.’

Gen rolls her eyes and her lips twitch and she’s so fucking beautiful. She can try as hard as she wants, but that smile she’s hiding is mine. ‘You were very thorough.’

‘I do have excellent attention to detail.’

‘Isn’t that why you got your fancy new job?’

‘Fancy’ is being generous. More like I got lucky that no one else wanted it, but I don’t care. Consider me Melbourne’s newest official resident reporting for duty.

‘What are we talking about?’ Violet and Anneke saunter over from the bag drop area. Some of the Army runners trail after them, along with a bunch of other Croissants and Kilometres members.

‘Knox’s new job,’ Gen says.

‘I’m so excited that you’re staying.’ The warmth in Violet’s tone makes me smile.

‘Me too. Now you can do the Bay to Bridge run with us in February,’ Anneke adds.

Violet’s nod is enthusiastic. ‘Skyscrapers to Sandbanks looks good too.’

‘I want to try some trails. And then we should go international. Queenstown has a great-looking marathon. Go for a run, enjoy the wine … It’s the whole package,’ Anneke says.

‘Maybe we should get through the first one and then decide if we want to do any more?’ Gen suggests.

There’s my girl. The perfect voice of reason.

‘Please.’ Anneke slings an arm around Gen’s shoulders and the other around mine, wedging herself between us. She smells like sunscreen. ‘We’re going to love this. I’m not giving up Croissants and Kilometres Sundays.’

‘I’m not even a little bit worried about the run.’ Violet adjusts her compression arm sleeves.

I raise my eyebrows.

‘Okay. Not true. I’m quite worried. It’s a really long way, and I like my toenails. Also, what if I can’t do this? Do you think we should’ve done longer than the thirty-five in training?’

Gen nudges me in the side. ‘Say something inspirational,’ she stage-whispers.

I choose what’s on my mind, something that gets easier every day. ‘I’m not worried.’

They all stare back at me.

‘What?’ I ask.

‘Inspirational speeches are usually more than three words, babe,’ Gen says, laughing. ‘I mean, it was a great mission statement, but where’s your supporting points? Is this how you’d motivate your soldiers?’

She’s been calling me ‘babe’ all week. I love how comfortable this new life already is.

I try again. ‘Hey, so, remember that time we spent a million hours running along the Esplanade? As a club and as individuals? All those early mornings when we left our warm and cosy beds to freeze our asses off in the cold and the wind and the rain? And when we lugged our tired asses up and down hills? We showed up. We put one foot in front of the other. We’ve done the work. Today’s our victory lap.’

Violet nods. ‘I like that.’

‘Me too,’ Anneke says, as music blasts out of the big speakers that stand in towers on either side of the start line.

‘Come on,’ I say when I spy Yeti waving at us from near the back of Wave 3, where he’s standing with the rest of the marathon runners from our club.

He looks tired but I bet he blitzes the course.

‘Let’s make sure we all start together.’ We won’t stay together on the course, but we made a pact to kick it off as a club.

The air fills with anticipation and electricity as everyone follows the warm-up led by some guy who used to be a football star but now owns a bunch of gyms. The energy is addictive and so are the easy jokes all the members of Croissants and Kilometres share as we shuffle forward, shoulders bumping and high fives aplenty.

You’d think we were finishing the run by the way we’re already celebrating, but this moment is the culmination of so many things.

New friendships, new relationships and a new belief in ourselves.

By learning to be strong together, we’ve discovered new strengths within ourselves.

And how fucking lucky am I that I found the love of my life?

There’s a bang as the starting gun is fired and the start runners take off.

‘Ready, Halliday?’ I ask as we pick up our pace, easing into a jog that will soon become a run.

‘With you?’ She stops in the middle of the chute, probably annoying everyone around us to push up onto her toes and press her lips against mine.

Just long enough to make me want more. ‘I’m ready for anything.

’ She grabs my hand and we cross the line together, ready to face whatever this course has to throw at us.