If I’m still standing at the door gawking when he gets in his car, I’ll look like a loser.
On that thought, I quickly closed the door, rested my forehead against the wood, and closed my eyes. I needed sleep stat so that my rational mind could return to me.
The two-bedroom apartment was small and homey. Grandpa’s room was to the left and mine to the right.
Without even flipping on the bedroom light, I kicked off my shoes and crawled into bed, still fully dressed. A dreamless sleep claimed me before long.
Sydney
The early morning sun shone through the windows, filling the room with bright light. I hadn’t closed the blinds when I’d gone to bed. Glancing at the clock, I saw that it was after nine.
Oh man, I slept in late.
Normally, I hit the running trails around six.
The plan was to meet my childhood friend Wesley Youngsten for lunch. Every summer when I came to visit Grandpa, Vickie, Wesley, and I had been thick as thieves. Now he was a successful lawyer in Salem and had handled the probate for Grandpa’s will.
While I’d been on the road, Wesley had called to tell me there were a few papers that still needed to be signed. My appointment with him had been for the following morning. However, on my way back, I’d asked him to move it up a day to get everything settled.
I stretched my limbs and tried to prepare myself for how empty the apartment would feel without Grandpa. Life would never be the same again. His death was still hard for me to comprehend at times. The fact that I had no family left stung and was a little scary. I had to remind myself I had friends who were like family. I wasn’t alone.
Tossing back the blankets, I decided I most definitely needed a run.
The trails behind the clinic were peaceful and my favorite place to escape. I found my running gear in my duffel bag. There were more clothes in the dresser to tide me over until the moving truck came along later in the week. At that moment, my life felt like it had been turned upside down and inside out.
Up until the day he died, I’d thought I had plenty of time before I moved to Salem and joined the practice with Grandpa.
I shook my head. No regrets. Live each day with no regrets. All the decisions I’d made had led me down the path I was meant to follow.
The pavement of the trail called to me, so I donned my running shoes, hoping to leave all the thoughts of what would have been behind me.
I felt more rested than I had been on my trip to Maine, though I still had dark circles under my eyes. Running would help. I tightened my blond hair in its ponytail before I headed out the door.
The fresh air invigorated me as I stepped onto the wet grass. It must have rained overnight. At nine fifteen, the sun was halfway up the sky, and I stepped beneath the tree canopy that shaded the trail, where it cooled down five degrees from what felt like the upper sixties.
After stretching, I took off at a steady jog to build my pace. This was exactly what I needed. The constant pounding on the pavement in rhythm with my breathing centered me. Like anything else in life, I would tackle one thing at a time.
Meet with Wesley.
Go see the property Grandpa bought.
Get ready to open the clinic tomorrow.
Figure out what I’m going to do next.
The last task daunted me the most, and I wasn’t sure why. I had so many plans for the clinic and my life.
One step at a time.