Chapter 36

When the alarm went off the next morning, I awakened to find myself both refreshed and relaxed. Charles got up and turned off the alarm, then went to the closet. After coming back to the bed with running shorts and shoes in hand for both of us, he sat down on the bed, leaned over and gave me a brief kiss, and said, “Still feel like that run?” It was a rhetorical question. He was already pulling on his shorts.

“You bet. Let me go splash some water on my face.” I got up and went into the bathroom. When I came back into the bedroom, he had his running shoes already laced up and was sitting quietly in a chair in the corner, waiting. Lance was sitting beside him, leash in mouth. I quickly pulled on my shorts and running shoes and in a couple of minutes stood and walked over to him. “Lead on,” I said.