Page 99 of Sing Me Home
He smiled. “And I need to use the bathroom. I’ll meet you at the start line.”
“But I’ll have to crawl under…” He jogged away. “The barbed wire alone,” I muttered to myself. I glanced around, searching for a Dupree anywhere. But there were none to be found. They were probably already at the start line.
But if not…
I stepped into the line of racers waiting to belly-crawl beneath the wire. As I dragged myself forward, I tried not to dwell on what I’d do if Cash didn’t show. A barb snagged my tank top, but the woman beside me reached over and helped me untangle. I took it as a sign that Cash was waiting ahead and today wouldn’t suck.
That lasted exactly ten seconds. I popped up, scanned the crowd, and saw…Not. A. Single. Dupree. Did they not realize they were going to miss the race if they didn’t hurry?
“Thirty seconds!” The race official called.
What?! I pushed up on my tiptoes, my heart in my throat at the thought of running this without someone I knew.
I stepped over to a man a few feet away. “Can you tell me if this race is on time? I don’t see my family and I’m wondering if I’m too early or too late?”
“It’s on time. Are you 10:15?”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
“Ten!” The racers shouted in excited unison. “Nine! Eight!”
I darted in and out of people, still searching.
“Five! Four! Three!”
I threw my hands up.
“AROO!” Everyone shouted together instead of the number one. And we were off.
Well,theywere off.
I was still standing there like a dummy, looking for my family, a heavy longing for Cash filling my chest. Had something happened to him? It wasn’t like him to ignore my texts. And he never just didn’t show.
“Miss!” The race official called. “Go, go, go!” He motioned for me to hurry.
The second I ran over one of the black mats, the chip in my wristband would start and my time would begin. But who was I even racing against if my family was MIA? I didn’t know the rest of these yahoos.
“My group isn’t here,” I told the race official. “I’m worried something might’ve happened.”
He waved that away. “It happens. They probably lost track of time. What’s your name?” He pulled out his phone and looked at my headband. “I’ll write down your race number and I’ll have someone find you if we get some kind of news.”
“Charlie Dupree.”
“Got it!” He waved me on. “Good luck!”
I was at the rear of the group but I jogged at an easy pace, trying not to panic. There were cameras everywhere. Crews were filming and a couple of drones flew around overhead. But I couldn’t think about any of that right now.
Of course, they had to start the race with a hill so we could all be dead by the time we got to the top.
“I hate hills,” I grumbled, my throat thick. “We were supposed to do this together. That’s the whole point.” I fought back tears. “Stop being a baby. They’re probably all having a good laugh. Probably planned this whole thing just to watch you run a race they never intended to run and they’ll be sipping piña coladas when you get to the finish line.” Well, joke was on them. I was going to demandallthe prize money if that was the case.
“Hey there, race buddy.”
I jumped at the sound of Cash’s voice right next to me. When I laid eyes on him—so handsome even with his headband across his forehead like Rambo—my heart banged against my ribs. I flung myself into his arms, making him stumble.
He hugged me tight but then I smacked him in the chest. “Where have you been?”
He dodged my next smack and laughed. “The line to the bathroom was like rush hour traffic in DC. Sorry.” Then he flipped around and ran backward, showing off. He was wearing the compression socks we’d ordered, matching mine, with a guitar fretboard up the front.
