had spent more time talking in the last month, Angela had been all business. The crack in her emotions that Eva had glimpsed at the gala had been patched over—as if it had never existed at all. And during training they never spoke except to communicate regarding pacing.
But they were here now, and maybe all of that would change.
* * *
Angela had never seen such beauty, and she’d grown up along the gorgeous Southern California coast.
She stepped onto the porch of the house on Lake Wanaka that had come available at the last minute. They’d been able to sublet it for four months—a miracle at this time of year—and it fit their needs perfectly. The wood creaked beneath her bare feet as she walked to the banister and took in the scenery: the rippling rolls of the lake’s gentle waves, the pine trees towering above her, the mountains that jutted from the earth, big and strong and overwhelming in their beauty. How strange that back home people were preparing for the first major winter storm of the season, while here they jet-boated and cycled.
The little town of Wanaka was just a short walk down the lakeside path, but they hadn’t had a chance to explore it yet. Yesterday they’d crashed as soon as they’d arrived at the house. Jet lag had invited Angela to sleep for thirteen hours straight, and the kids were still tucked away in their second-story rooms despite the late morning hour.
“You ready?” Eva’s voice broke through the solitude.
“For what?” Angela racked her brain but couldn’t remember today’s schedule. Despite sleeping the night away, she’d woken mind-tired—Wes had haunted her dreams for the first time in months. Of course, her weariness was more than that. Between all the hours she’d spent training, packing, planning school curriculum, working, arranging for house sitters, and everything else that came with being away for four months, she was more than a little exhausted physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Eva approached, wearing her designer running gear. “For our first day of training here.”
Ugh.
They’d found a few times to train together in New York in November, and each time Eva barely seemed to break a sweat after miles of activity. It wasn’t a competition, true. But being the one who slowed the team down . . . that rankled. No matter how much Angela improved, she sensed it might not be enough for Eva, who still had her heart set on running the entire ultra-marathon.
“I need to change.”
“No problem. Once you do, there’s a path that goes past town and winds around the lake. I was thinking we could do about nine miles. That would take us past town, and then when we reach halfway we could just come back.”
At this point in her training, nine miles of walking was nothing. In fact, on Angela’s long training day each week, she’d worked up to about fourteen or fifteen miles.
Okay, well, not nothing. Whenever she increased her mileage and the incline on her treadmill, her body protested. At first it had taken the form of blisters on her feet, tiny irritants that made every step she took more annoying than the last. Lately her hips had started protesting after long or faster walks.
But despite the unpleasantries, she’d grown more used to the exercise. Not that she’d ever fully get rid of the “mom bod,” but she’d even lost some weight and gained muscle.
Still, the supposed positive effects of increased exercise, like better sleep and a boost in her mood, had all been canceled out by the anxiety that weighed heavily on her mind: Was she right in dragging her kids here and doing this?
Angela turned from the lake. “I’ll be right back.” She left Eva standing on the porch and headed to her room, then dug into the depths of her suitcase until she emerged with a worn pair of workout pants and a vacation Bible school volunteer T-shirt from five years ago. She got dressed and headed back downstairs.
In the kitchen Sherry flipped pancakes over the stove as Angela stopped to pull a water bottle from the fridge. “Headed for a walk?”
“Yes. Do you mind staying with the kids?”
When she’d told the children about her decision to come here early and have them complete the rest of their schooling for the semester online, Zach and Lilly had cheered. Kylee, however, acted offended at the thought of being forced to leave her friends for several months—apparently she hadn’t overheard that part of her and Eva’s conversation