Page 110 of Ugly Duckling
I shook my head. “I have my own nuts, baby.”
There was a soft snort from beside me, and I looked over to see a man dressed a whole lot like me in the seat across the aisle.
“Man, I remember when mine was still that small,” he said as he eyed Lottie. “Now I’m going to fuckin’ California to watch her kick ass for a spot on the US Women’s Gymnastics team.”
“Don’t say ‘fuckin’’ on the airplane, Tommy,” the woman at his side hissed.
He winked at me. “She’s nervous. We both are.”
“My mommy is runnin’!” Lottie gasped. “What’s your daughter’s name?”
Tommy looked at her adoringly. “Tallullah.”
“I like that name. It’s pretty.” Lottie nodded. “My mama’s name is Sutton. She’s gonna run a sub-four-minute 1500.”
The man, Tommy’s, eyebrows shot up. “That’s impressive.”
I scrunched up my nose. “As much as I’d love for that to happen, it’ll be hard for her. She’s on the older end of the participants for the 1500-meter run. Not sure she has it in her, but we’d both be so dang happy.”
Our flight landed a couple hours later, and Lottie and I were practically bouncing in our seats as we took an Uber from the airport to the track complex.
Our visitor tickets got us inside, and we made it to the stands just in time for the first heat to line up.
Sutton was in the third heat, and she was lookin’ cool as a cucumber.
At last, that was what I thought until she turned to look toward the stands, her face falling when she didn’t see a familiar face.
I knew her parents were here somewhere, but like us, we weren’t sure that they’d get to come because their flight back from Canada had been delayed.
They’d, of course, landed right on time, and hightailed it to the stadium around the same time as us.
Between the four of us, Sutton likely thought we’d failed to be here for her.
She wouldn’t ever admit it, but she was super excited anytime she saw us cheering her on.
The first heat went.
Then the second.
And finally, the third started to set up.
“Go, Mama!” Lottie screeched.
And like a mother bear attuned to her own cub, she whipped her head around and locked eyes on our girl.
Her entire face lit up as Lottie jumped up and waved her little behind off.
Sutton gave her a small wave back and set up.
The race gun sounded, and our girl was off.
“She’s going to do it.”
I didn’t dare take my eyes off of the track as we all watched the fittest in America face off for the 1500-meter run.
“She’s going to do it,” Lottie agreed, clapping her hands in excitement.
“She’s going to fuckin’ do it!” I bellowed as she rounded the last corner.
