“Is something wrong with the treadmill, boss?” Foster asks me. “You’re staring at it furiously.”
“Oh no, it’s okay. I was just… thinking about repositioning it.”
“You’re changing a lot these days. When is the art work coming in?”
Urgh, fucking hell, that makes my heart flutter and my stomach sink. The art work that was supposed to brighten this place up and remind me of the woman I now desperately want to forget.
“Oh, I don’t know… soon probably. If it isn’t done soon then I might have to find a new artist.”
“Are you okay, Noah? You seem a bit… flat.”
I feel flat. I’ve felt flat ever since Mia walked out of my life, but I can’t share that with anyone. Not without looking like a complete idiot. “I’m good, just a bit worn out.”
“The nanny is back to work, isn’t she?”
“She is, yeah, most of the time, but her mom is still sick.”
“Oh, well that must be stressful for you. I will always cover if you need time off.”
“Yeah. Thank you.”
I do need some space away from here, the gym is a stark reminder of everything and Mia is making it really hard for me to shut my feelings down. She isn’t here and she’s not going to come back again, so maybe I should leave… but the problem is I don’t really have anywhere else to do. Trent is out of the state again. I only have work.
“Right, back to work as always.” I put a giant smile on my face, however fake it is. “Thanks again, Foster.”
At least I have my gym to keep me distracted, at least I have something…
16
Mia
“Are you ready for this?” Kayleigh asks while stretching herself out like a gazelle. “It’s time.”
“I know.” I take another nervous sip of my water. “It’s all been leading down to this.”
I glance around at all the other anxious hopefuls preparing themselves to run the marathon, and I try to draw something from the crowds, but all I get is nerves. There are a lot of people gathered around to watch as well, to cheer people on, but it hasn’t escaped my notice that none of those people are Noah.
When I was training for this, I thought he would be watching me, it’s sad that he isn’t.
Yes, I’m still sad that things ended between us, even if it was on a lie. I’m still gutted that I opened up to him and he didn’t trust me enough to say anything back to me. There must be something wrong with me…
“I don’t know how some people are planning to run it in costume. It’s so hot anyway.”
“I know,” I agree with Kayleigh. “They must be mad. That gorilla suit looks so damn uncomfortable.”
“Fitness wear is bad enough. It feels all wrong on me now.”
“Oh, look, there’s someone dressed as an ice cream. And a washing machine…”
“I don’t think those people will finish it.”
I’m not totally convinced that I will to be honest. I’ve trained hard, even since I stopped going to the gym I have done a lot of running, but I have no idea how fit I really am. I mean, twenty six miles is really something else, isn’t it? it’s too much. I probably should back out now…
No, I tell myself sharply. Don’t give up on something else.
Even though it hasn’t worked out with Noah, the marathon has still been a turning point in my life. I’m still glad that I agreed to do it. It’s opened me up, made me see things differently, got me painting again… that hasn’t stopped even if the fling has. I’m just channeling my sadness into work. Not for anyone, not for his gym anymore, just for me. I need to be creative now, no matter what happens.
“Oh, look, they are sending off the professional runners now. It will be us soon.”