Page 114 of Christmas Every Day
‘I hadn’t thought of it like that.’ I let that thought wash over me, like a warm sea.
‘Precisely.’
* * *
We were the last to arrive. Or so we thought. While we were examining the course map with Sarah, Kiko, Ashley and Ellen in the car park, hoping to find a good spot to cheer Lucille on, a filthy, dented black Jeep pulled up beside Frances’ truck.
The Jamie who clambered out looked, if possible, worse than his car. He looked as if he’d already done the Tough Muck. Twice. He had a ripped T-shirt, combat trousers coated with crusting black slime, a bloody bandage over one ear and so many bruises and scrapes we couldn’t tell where the tattoos ended and the dirt began.
‘Been on holiday, Jamie?’ Sarah asked, but the joke couldn’t hide her concern.
‘Something like that.’ He nodded, throwing her a look so intense I’m surprised she didn’t burst into flames. ‘I hoped to be back in time to clean up, but, well, these bad guys have no consideration for my schedule. Is that a changing room?’
He grabbed a bag from the boot of his car, returning seconds later clean, the bandage replaced with a neat plaster, and wearing running shorts and a fresh T-shirt.
Jamie looked exactly as anyone would have predicted underneath his shirts and jeans. I nudged Sarah, who glanced at me, a smile tweaking at the corner of her mouth to match mine. ‘Shut up.’
‘Right, Frances. Shall we get going?’ Jamie asked.
‘We’re going here.’ Kiko searched the map again. ‘The Assassinator.’
‘Well, we’ll see you there, then, won’t we?’ Frances crowed, taking off her long coat to reveal a pair of tracksuit bottoms and a fleece. ‘We’ll give you a wave.’
‘What?’ Ellen frowned as Frances handed her the coat. ‘Aren’t you waiting with us?’
‘Sitting around watching other people have the time of their life? I don’t think so!’ she exclaimed, tugging on her hat. ‘Come on, if we hurry we can get a good spot near the front of the pack.’
‘What on earth are you doing?’ Kiko shrieked.
I had a glorious feeling we already knew the answer to that.
‘We’re conquering the Tough Muck,’ Jamie said. ‘Hopefully raising some money while we’re at it.’
As they reached the mass of runners, Jamie bent down and sort of flipped and lifted Frances onto his back. She let go of his shoulders long enough to send us a queenly wave over the other competitors’ heads.
‘That woman,’ Ellen huffed, wiping her eyes. ‘Incorrigible.’
‘I hope I’m brave enough to be where she is at her age,’ Kiko said.
‘I wouldn’t mind being there at any age,’ Sarah breathed, before turning a shocking shade of red and clasping one hand to her mouth. ‘I meant, in the race. Nottherethere. Being bold and not caring what anybody thinks. I did! Honestly! Oh, shut up.’
We laughed all the way to the Assassinator viewing point.
An hour, a flask of tea and a giant flapjack later, we watched the first competitors plop out of a huge pipe and land in a pit of mud. Squelching across to the other side, they then scaled a ten-foot wall using a rope, before carrying on to the next obstacle.
Jamie was one of the first out of the pipe, immediately followed by Frances, who scrabbled onto his back again. He waded to the rope, and pulled himself up and over the wall. With a grown woman on his back.
‘Is he ninth at the moment?’ Sarah asked, evidently finding it difficult to speak with her mouth hanging so far open.
‘Yes.’ I nodded.
‘If he ran by himself, he’d be first.’ Ashley absent-mindedly took another bite of her coconut cookie.
Sarah wrinkled her forehead. ‘What kind of man sacrifices the glory of first place to make a crazy woman’s dream happen? After rushing here already half beaten-up and looking like he’s not slept in days.’
‘A man unbothered by his ego,’ I answered.
‘Arealman,’ Ellen said, looking hard at Sarah. ‘With no trace of dud in him.’
