will take each week, but I don’t want this thing to take over my life.”
“But—”
“Eva, I’m sorry. Weren’t you the one who told me we could walk the whole thing?”
Yeah, but she’d been trying to get Angela to agree, sure that once she considered it, she’d want to do more than that. Still, it wasn’t fair of Eva to suggest it as a possibility and then quibble about it later. “You’re right. If we need to walk the whole thing, that’s fine. Or maybe we can try running some of it?”
“Whatever we do, we have to stick together, ladies. And I mean that literally. Since we’re a team, we can’t be separated by more than fifty feet the entire race. So how about we just see how training goes? Does that seem fair?” Poor Marc was playing referee. That shouldn’t have to be his role.
“Of course.” Eva forced brightness into her voice. Fake it till you make it, right? She needed to stay positive—otherwise they’d never survive the next six months. She didn’t want to give Angela any excuse to quit before then.
Marc spoke up again. “I can be in charge of gathering our equipment if you’d like. I took a quick look at what’s required, and the first priority is getting the backpacks. Walking without one is obviously a lot easier than with, especially once it’s loaded down, so we’ll want to train with them on as much as we can.”
At their nods of agreement, he glanced at his notes once more. “Before we talk details regarding our training schedule, we should discuss gaining pledges. We technically don’t have to do this—it’s not required—but I do think it would be awesome if we could wrangle at least a few thousand in pledges to donate to the Manhattan Heart Center.”
“Brent wanted to raise a million.” Eva leaned forward, nearly knocking over her latte in her eagerness. “I say we do the same.”
Angela took a bite of the muffin in front of her and chased it with a swallow of her coffee. “How do you propose we do that?”
Aha! The one detail Eva had managed to work out before arriving this morning. “After I called Tina Landry and paid the balance, I chatted with Kimberly about doing a fund-raising gala. Between Brent’s contacts in the heart community and Kim’s contacts in the event-planning world, she thinks we can pull it off in about six weeks.”
“Really?” Angela’s tone showcased her doubt.
“Yeah, apparently there’s a great venue in Brooklyn that just became available on October 24—one of her brides caught her fiancé cheating on her—and Kim thinks she can convince the owner and all or most of the vendors to donate their services that night to the event.”
“Why would they do that?”
Marc cut in. “It’s good PR. Plus, I’m guessing Kim has some sway in that community.”
“Oh yeah. She’s one of the most sought-after wedding planners in the city right now. So if vendors can get on her good side by doing her a favor and come out smelling like a rose for helping charity, well, it’s a no-brainer.” Eva glanced at Marc, who looked at her with something like admiration in his eyes.
A flash of heat hit her middle.
What in the world?
“Sounds like that’s settled then.” Angela’s pen jiggled against the notebook in front of her. “Was there anything else, or can we move on to training? What are you envisioning? That’s my biggest concern due to the time constraints and my own abilities. I haven’t exactly had the time or opportunity to stay in the best of shape the last several years.” She tugged at her blouse as if it didn’t fit right.
Obviously Angela was a very capable person, and she struck Eva as fairly confident in most things. She was tall and strong, with striking brown eyes and hair that sparkled golden in the summertime—definitely no need for self-consciousness. Why then did she hide her body under clothes at least one size too big for her?
Marc jotted something in his notebook, then looked up at Angela. “You walk regularly on your treadmill, right?”
“Yes, but just as stress relief. I watch TV and use it as a way to unwind since I’m sitting all day at work.”
“How many miles would you say you currently do?”
Angela shrugged. “I usually just walk for an hour and a half—long enough for two episodes. Maybe five miles a day?”
“If you’re doing it every day, that means you’re hitting thirty to thirty-five miles a week, which