way that wouldn’t break Eva’s heart, her spirit?
“Eva, I can’t do this anymore.” Ugh. Couldn’t she have come up with a better way of saying it than that? And why did her voice always sound so void of emotion?
But that was the result of being so drop-dead tired that you fell asleep in the middle of a casino room. Her brain just plain didn’t work anymore.
“Can’t do what?” Eva’s pretty eyes narrowed in confusion, her bow-shaped lips pursing into a frown.
Even though she and Eva were nothing alike, Angela never wanted to see her in pain. Angela sighed. “I wanted to tell you earlier, but there wasn’t a chance. The last six weeks have been pure pandemonium for me. My house is in shambles, I feed my family complete junk, and I never see my kids anymore, all because of the extra time that training for this race is taking.”
This whole race was supposed to be for the kids, but how were things going to improve if they never had quality family time and Angela never had a chance to truly focus on healing? She’d been foolish to think that impulsively jumping on board with Eva’s plan would result in anything other than complete tumult.
She continued her explanation, hoping Eva would understand, even if she couldn’t relate. “And it’s not just that my life is falling apart around me. I’m exhausted. I forgot how taxing running so much could be.” Not that she always ran when she was training. But it made sense to try to get her mileage in faster, which meant upping her pace. “I actually fell asleep at work yesterday and missed a really important call we’d been waiting for. My boss was so upset that I’m shocked she didn’t fire me. That was the last straw for me.”
Eva withdrew her hand from Angela’s arm. “But I can’t do this without you. I told you that. And what about tonight, all the money we raised?”
“I know, I know. And I’m sorry. But I can’t lose my job, Eva. And my kids deserve more than I’m able to give them. Before this race came up, we were struggling, I’ll admit. But we’re worse off now. I just don’t have the time or energy to give to this anymore.”
Her sister-in-law stared at the ground for several moments. Then her head popped up and she looked at Angela directly, her face brightening. “What if we didn’t wait until March to go?”
“What?”
“Like, what if we went to New Zealand before the race? We could leave whenever you wanted. Rent a house there. We could really focus on training. Learn the lay of the land. Bask in the gorgeous New Zealand weather. It’s going to be summer there soon, you know.”
There she went again with her dreaming, floating around above reality. “Eva, what are you talking about? I have to work. The kids have school. And I would never leave them for that amount of time. Aren’t you listening?”
“Don’t you miss homeschooling?”
“Of course.”
“What if it was an option?”
Didn’t Eva understand how painful her questions were? “Again I ask, what are you talking about?”
Eva leaned forward. “Angela, you know Brent left me a lot of money, and the business is really profitable.” Her features hardened into determination. “We have to find a way to get through this. Maybe what we all need is to step out of this winter of our lives and into the bright light of summer.”
“Oh, Eva.” What a dreamer.
“I can tell you think I’m crazy, but we could do it. I’ll pay for everything. Quit your job—I’m sure you can find something similar when you return, but if not, come work for Marc at one of our gyms.”
“I don’t know . . .” Angela’s head spun with all that Eva’s suggestions entailed. The impossibility of it all.
And yet a tiny what-if burrowed into her heart.
“And Sherry could come and help with the kids when we’re out training. We can go whenever you want. Next week. Next month.”
Could she really take her children out of school and away from all they knew—the house where they’d lived with their father—for months on end? And could Angela really make herself beholden to Eva financially like that? Paying for her to do the race was one thing. But to allow her sister-in-law to fund an entire trip for the whole family for several months . . . that was different.
All of it—the race included—was just far too disruptive. Angela had to put her