Page 66 of Finally Mine
“I know you can. And so can I.” He pulled the cycle into his mother’s driveway.
Harper used the pause to bend at the waist and suck in air like a vacuum cleaner. “Aldo—”
He carefully stood, reaching down to adjust his blade. “Before you even start, I cleared it with Steers. A half mile at a slow jog. Are you up for that? We’re not stopping until the finish line.”
Her face lit up, and he knew there would be no stopping Harper Wilde on the final leg of their journey together. “Let’s do it!”
They left the driveway at an easy jog and rejoined the race. Aldo’s gait felt smooth on the fiber carbon running blade. It was his new toy. One that took him one step closer to the man he used to be.
He wanted to push. To sprint. To find his limits. But he owed the woman next to him a buddy finish. Harper had helped drag him from the darkest of the depression. Now that he could stand—hell, jog—on his own two feet, he could start making some changes.
“You make this look so easy,” Harper puffed beside him.
“Believe me, it’s anything but easy. But it’s necessary.”
They rounded the next corner together, and the noise level exploded. The finish line was only two blocks away, a straight shot down Main Street Benevolence. And the crowd was pulsing with good-natured pandemonium.
“They must think you’re some kind of hero around here,” Harper teased.
Aldo shot her a cocky grin. He was home. He wasback.
He saw her, and his stride faltered for a second. Gloria in her little white shorts and that cute blue tank. Her dark hair pulled back under a red bandana headband. She looked like everything he believed in, everything he’d signed up to fight for, to protect.
She was on her feet cheering. Sure, it was probably for Harper or any other runner in this race, but he wanted to think it was for him. He wanted her in his corner. And if he could do this, if, he could finish this half mile strong, then he could make it a mile and then five. And then he could walk up to Gloria Parker and sweep her off her tiny feet.
The finish line banner loomed before them, and Aldo grabbed Harper’s wrist, raising their joined hands high as they crossed the sidewalk chalk checkerboard line.
They’d done it. And it felt damn good.
Harper whooped in celebration. Two older veterans in their dress uniforms stepped in front of them with race medals in hand.
The two men, well into their seventies, snapped to attention and saluted Aldo.
“Thank you for your service, lieutenant,” one of them said.
Aldo saluted them back and accepted the medal. His throat felt tight with emotion.
“And here’s one for you, young lady,” the shorter of the two men said placing a medal around Harper’s neck.
Tickled, she leaned over and pressed an enthusiastic kiss to his cheek. “Thank you!”
“Luke is going to kick my ass if he sees I let you cast him aside for another soldier,” Aldo teased, dragging her toward the water station.
They were intercepted by his mother and the entire Garrison clan.
Congratulations were doled out along with bottles of water and bananas. Aldo was searching the crowd for Gloria when Josh, Sophie and Ty’s toddler, threw himself into his arms. Aldo swept him up.
“You sweaty, too!” Josh crowed, patting Aldo’s damp face.
“When are you gonna run a race, buddy?” Aldo asked him.
“I wanna be fast like you!” Josh pumped his arms back and forth. “Fast fast fast!”
Aldo chuckled. It was at that moment he spotted Gloria through the crowd. He set Josh on his feet. “Go find your mom and make sure you get a good spot for the parade, okay?”
“Okay!” Josh took off in the direction of Sophie yelling, “Caaaaaaaandy!”
Man up, Moretta,he told himself.
