Page 21 of Meet Me in a Mile

Twenty-One

Lydia

W aking up with the knowledge that she had to run twenty miles on a Sunday would’ve made old Lydia want to puke. But soon-to-be marathoner Lydia got out of bed and immediately started hydrating. Wouldn’t Luke just be so proud of her? Part of her couldn’t actually believe she’d made it this far. This was the longest run she would have to do until the marathon. Everything in terms of training was, metaphorically and practically, downhill from here.

She couldn’t stop smiling as she texted Ashley. Twenty miles today! Wish me luck.

That’s a massive number. Kind of amazing.

I know! Luke said we’ll taper off until the race, so this is my last big training milestone.

Sorta like the day you become a Jedi!

I should totally get a lightsaber out of this!

Lydia laughed to herself. It wasn’t like she’d run the marathon yet, but she was still a little proud of herself. Okay, very proud.

Her phone started to buzz in her hand. She looked down to see a call coming through. The number looked...familiar? Since when did work call her on the weekend? Had Kirsten gone into the office for some reason? She answered. “Hello?”

“Hey there, running buddy.”

“Jack? Hi,” she said. He’d never called her before.

“Sorry, I’m calling from the office. I grabbed your number from the personal directory. Got a minute?”

“That’s fine, yeah...” She glanced at the stove clock. She could spare a minute before she had to leave to meet Luke. “What’s up?”

“I just... I’m working on the write-up for our proposal. I thought having a second pair of eyes on it would be helpful.”

“I thought you were going to finish the write-up last week...” Lydia said. The deadline was tomorrow—the last Monday of October. If the proposal didn’t get finished by tonight, they weren’t going to make it at all. Jack had said he’d take care of the write-up. She hadn’t even thought to ask about it, just completely put it out of her mind, trusting that he would get it done and pass it off to leadership. She smoothed a hand over her hair, grabbing her ponytail and giving it a soft tug out of frustration.

“I was,” Jack said. “The days totally got away from me. I had to finish up the Carpelli sketches and the Madisyn portfolio came due. And Marco’s got the leadership team chasing new clients.”

“Oh, Jack.” The twenty miles she had to run suddenly felt like one hundred.

“I’m really sorry. I know I dropped the ball. That’s on me. And you’ve probably got other commitments. I totally get it. Don’t worry. I’ll get it done.”

“Wait,” she said, scrunching her nose up. She sort of wished she’d never answered the phone. She was supposed to be meeting Luke, but if she went on this run first, she’d be too exhausted to focus on the proposal. At this point in her training, her runs weren’t twenty-minute events. Running twenty miles would take her and Luke a few hours at least. That’s why they’d already had to swap the run from Saturday to Sunday, to accommodate his other clients. This run needed to happen today to keep her on target for her training plan. But the proposal was both of their responsibility now. That’s what it meant to be partners. If she and Jack worked quickly, maybe she could just push the run back an hour or two. Luke had been great about rearranging things before. Hopefully he wouldn’t mind doing it again. “I can make time,” she said. “I’ll meet you at the office.”

“Great,” Jack said, sounding relieved. “See you soon.”

Lydia grabbed her workbag with her laptop and headed out to catch the train. On the way, she texted Luke an apology. I am the absolute worst , she said, knowing he would already be at the gym, preparing. But a work thing came up and I’ve got to run into the office for a couple hours.

He answered almost immediately. Do you want to push our run to later this morning?

Yes! Thank you! That would be perfect. She sent a flurry of emojis. When Lydia arrived at Poletti’s, she hurried past her office and into the conference room, where Jack was already set up. She dumped everything on the table, pulling out her laptop.

“Hey, I really appreciate you coming in like this. You didn’t run here, did you?”

“I, oh...” She looked down at her outfit. She’d already been dressed for her run. “No, I was on my way to a training thing. Didn’t even think about changing.”

“Good. I thought we were saving the sprinting for the last leg of the marathon.”

She chuckled, but it was a hollow sound. “Okay, want to show me what we’re working with?” He sent her through his working copy of the proposal and she scanned it quickly, her heart sinking. It had been over a week since she’d looked at their file, and in that time, she realized Jack hadn’t finished any of the things he said he was going to. It wasn’t just the write-up, it was so much more.

“Okay,” Jack said. “To save us time, I think we should repurpose some of your original write-up and tweak it a bit to fit our new design.”

“I guess that would work,” Lydia said.

“While you track down the file, I’m gonna pop downstairs and grab us some coffee from Charmaine’s. I’ll be right back.” He disappeared before Lydia could protest. Her foot bounced against the floor as frustration flooded her veins. She tried to shake it off. There was no use in being annoyed. This was how partnerships went sometimes. And if she didn’t help Jack now, it might not get done at all.

It was almost ten minutes before he returned.

“Here you go,” he said, hurrying back into the room. He put the coffee down next to her, looking over her shoulder before pointing to the laptop screen. “We should probably tweak that part there.”

The frustration she thought she’d stifled flamed to life, so she took a sip of her coffee. Why hadn’t he done any of the things he said he would do? She was also busy juggling work and training and life, but if she’d promised to finish something on the proposal, it would have been done. She shoved those thoughts away again since they were not helping. They would finish this proposal today, Jack could submit it tomorrow, and she could stop stressing.

After an hour passed without much progress, she realized this wasn’t going to be a simple or quick finish. Meeting Luke for a morning run was looking like less and less of a possibility. Lydia rubbed the bridge of her nose. If she genuinely wanted to put the effort in, she needed at least a couple of hours to finish the design properly. She picked up her phone, already feeling wretched.

I’m so sorry , she texted Luke. I’m not gonna make it this morning. I’m in a bit of a mess here.

Are you okay?

Yeah. And I’m definitely not canceling. I know this is an important one for the race prep. Any chance you can do this afternoon? Do you have other clients?

I’ll move some things around.

Lydia bit her lip, feeling even worse. She hated to think that she was ruining Luke’s Sunday, or that she was forcing him to cancel on other clients. The fact that he would do that for her in the first place wasn’t even something she wanted to think about right now.

She put her phone away in her bag. She knew Luke wouldn’t hold it against her in the end, but she also hated the thought of bailing on her commitments, especially when she’d been prepared.

But this was her shot to impress Marco and the leadership team. They worked for the next couple of hours, and when Lydia realized that there wasn’t going to be time to do both her long run and finish the proposal, she sent Luke one more text before her phone could die. In her haste, she’d left her apartment without grabbing her charger, but maybe that was for the best. She wasn’t sure she wanted to see Luke’s answering text after canceling on him for the third time today.

“This really looks amazing,” Jack said, scrolling through their file. “Your work is incredible.”

His tone was so sincere and reassuring that some of her sharp edges started to soften. She could choose to be mad that she’d been dragged into work on a Sunday and missed her training time with Luke. Or she could chalk it up to getting to spend some extra time with Jack—something she’d only ever thought about in her wildest dreams—and finally getting recognized for the work she was capable of. “You think the rest of the leadership team will agree?” she asked.

“Oh, it’s going to make it to Marco, don’t you worry.”

Lydia smiled, and Jack’s words were enough to soothe the ache of annoyance in her chest and carry her through the rest of the day with the two of them tucked away in their own little world. Jack ordered them a late lunch, and they cleared out Kirsten’s desk of the best snacks. Kirsten would be furious with her for letting Jack in on the secret snack stash, but that was a Monday problem. Right now, she just wanted to finish the proposal with the knowledge that it was their best work, and shortly past five, she closed her laptop. Today might have started off rocky, but they’d done it. They’d built something together that was good enough to land on Marco’s desk. Maybe good enough to represent Poletti’s in the competition.

“Hey, you wanna grab a drink? Celebrate finishing?” Jack asked. “My treat as a thank-you for all your help. You definitely rescued us here.”

Lydia blinked at him in surprise. Aside from Kirsten, and the occasional lunch with Erik, she’d never been out with any of her colleagues after work hours before. But damn had she been imagining this moment for years. Her stomach twisted, doing a flip. Had Jack just asked her out?

Even if it was only to celebrate a job well done, she still couldn’t believe it. After all this time, her little fantasy was coming true. But the truth was, now that the adrenaline of the project and all the caffeine had worn off, she was tired and still a little frustrated with herself for bailing on Luke. The last thing she felt like doing was celebrating.

“C’mon,” Jack said. “Don’t make me drink alone.” He tilted his head, his hair falling across his eyes. He looked so eager and hopeful, and he obviously hadn’t meant for the proposal to get away from him. Lydia had worked her own fair share of tight deadlines before. She didn’t want Jack to think she wasn’t grateful for the opportunity he gave her to resubmit. Plus, she’d already missed her training. She was supposed to be celebrating completing twenty miles right about now. And if she couldn’t do that, she deserved to celebrate something.

“Sure,” she said, finally relenting. “A drink would be nice.”

Luke

“You staying to lock up?” Jules asked, leaning against the door to Luke’s office, backpack strung over her shoulder.

“Yeah, I’ll do it,” Luke said, hanging his certificate on the wall. He’d spent the better part of his day in the gym, waiting on Lydia. He’d made use of his time, of course, most notably putting his office back together. But even after she’d officially canceled on him, he’d hung around on the off chance she finished up with work early. Now though, he probably had to accept the fact that she’d bailed. It was too late to be starting a long run anyhow. At this rate they’d be running well past midnight.

“She didn’t make it?” Jules said, her eyes meeting his briefly before he turned away.

Luke shook his head. Would Jules think him ridiculous for waiting on Lydia this long? For rearranging his whole day? “A work thing came up. And then she had to cancel and I haven’t heard from her for hours.”

“Is that normal?”

“Not really,” Luke admitted. During the day, they usually replied to each other almost instantly.

She’d said work was a mess, and he’d spent the better part of the afternoon running through increasingly ridiculous scenarios. She’d been so enthusiastic about this run, and she hadn’t said anything to him during the training sessions leading up to it about a developing work situation. Even her last text, where she’d canceled, had been sort of vague and unlike her, and the follow-up texts he’d sent over the course of the afternoon had gone unanswered. The sudden radio silence had struck him as odd, and now that Jules had brought it up too, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.

“I’m sure you guys will reschedule,” Jules said, hiking her bag up her shoulder. “See you tomorrow.”

Luke waved and the moment Jules left, he tried calling Lydia, but it went straight to voicemail. “Hey, it’s me,” he said. “Do me a favor and call me when you get this. I just want to make sure you’re okay. Thanks, ‘bye.”

Luke hung up and pocketed his phone. He cleared up his office and gathered his things slowly, giving Lydia time to return his call. Five hours between texts might be normal for some people, but it wasn’t for them, and when Luke locked up, he didn’t bother heading for the train, instead walking in the direction of Lydia’s apartment. He didn’t even know if Lydia would be home when he got there, but she lived close enough that it wasn’t really an inconvenience to swing by. All he wanted to know was that she was okay.

Was that weird of him? It’s not like he was her boyfriend. Maybe she’d fallen asleep. Or her phone had died. He stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. This was ridiculous. He should just go home and go to bed. He’d probably wake up to a text from her.

Luke turned around, toward the subway. But what if he didn’t hear from her, and he found out something had happened? That she’d needed help or support and he’d opted to just go to sleep. Wouldn’t she ask for help if she needed it? he argued with himself. Unless she didn’t think he’d want to help her after she’d bailed on him today. Maybe she thought she’d burned that bridge. Luke turned around again, heading toward Gramercy Park.

If he was weird, so be it. Despite whatever feelings he was harboring, he was also her friend, and he was concerned. Even if he made an utter fool of himself by turning up on the doorstep of her building, at least he’d be able to stop the uncomfortable gnawing feeling in his stomach.

Luke hurried down the sidewalk, his hands in his pockets. The entire city was bathed in sunset colors, and he couldn’t help but think that Lydia would enjoy the way the light clung to the buildings as he made his way down her street.

As her building came into view, he picked up his pace, eager to put all his fears to bed. He skidded to a hard stop on the sidewalk, his stomach plummeting to his feet. Lydia stood at the top of the stairs with Jack, and Luke had the uneasy sensation that he was intruding. A flare of jealousy shot through him, but it was quickly replaced by something else, something sharper, more brittle.

“I really do appreciate you spending the day with me,” he could hear Jack saying. “You really came through for us.”

“Well, it’s not like I was going to leave you high and dry.”

“No, you’re reliable that way. I think I made a great decision when I asked you to be my partner.”

Luke couldn’t be sure because it was getting dark, but in the soft glow of the porch light, he thought maybe Lydia flushed at Jack’s compliment.

“You know,” Jack was saying, “I’ve got more project proposals coming up. If you’re interested, I’d love to have you take a look at them, get your opinion.”

“For a sustainability review? Those usually go through Erik.”

“I was thinking more in general,” he whispered, reaching out to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear. “You’re full of good ideas.”

Jack leaned forward slowly, his head tilted slightly, his fingers still tangled in that lock of hair he’d smoothed behind Lydia’s ear. And then, like some sort of nightmare come true, Lydia pressed up on her toes, meeting him halfway, and kissed him. She pulled away after a moment, but that was all Luke needed to see to make his stomach feel like it was free-falling through the sky. More than he needed to see, actually. He’d intruded on a moment that would surely haunt his dreams for the foreseeable future.

Lydia hadn’t had some sort of desperate emergency. She wasn’t in trouble. She’d just blown him off to spend the day with Jack—the guy she really had feelings for.

“Luke?”

His head snapped up, meeting Lydia’s eyes through those sunset shadows. He turned on his heel. This wasn’t any of his business. He’d stupidly thought that there was more between them, but this was obviously why she’d always said it was a mistake. The sex was just sex. He was never anything more than a good time. God , he was an idiot, catching feelings when she’d never been anything but honest about their hookups being one-offs, holding a space for another guy to sweep her off her feet. He’d seen the way she and Jack had looked at each other. He knew about all the time she’d spent working on her proposal with him. Of course, this was inevitable. Luke had just been standing in the way, reading emotions into something that never really existed.

“Luke!” Lydia called, but he was walking a mile a minute, practically jogging to the subway. Racing away from her. She wouldn’t catch him unless she ran, and she’d already bailed on that today.