Blue Violet

chapter 8



Ellie woke bright and early the next morning. Hopping out of bed, she dressed in her warmest running clothes and headed out the door. She got in her car and drove down to Lake Estes. After locking up, she walked over to a path partially covered in snow and broke into a steady jog. Ellie kept her run fairly short this morning, circling the lake only once, and then jogging over to the downtown, stopping briefly at her car to grab her book.

Once downtown, she headed into a small coffee and pastry shop. Although she hadn’t been living here long, this was already one of her favorite places. The food was good, and the shop opened early. Ellie settled down to enjoy her breakfast and read more of her book for her English class.

“Ellie, right?” a deep voice resonated just above her.

Glancing up from the book, Ellie’s mouth dropped open. Alex Jenner was standing beside her, coffee in hand, also decked out in running clothes. Just as frickin’ gorgeous as he had been the day before. And all Ellie could think was I just finished running, and I look and smell like nothing very pleasant. Why, oh, why did he have to bump into me now?

Just barely resisting the urge to fix her hair or sniff herself, Ellie closed her mouth with a decided snap. With a concerted effort, she pulled it together, proud of her oh-so-casual, “Alex, right? Adelaide and Lila’s brother?”

“Good memory,” he toasted her with his coffee cup. “Mind if I join you?” he asked, nodding at the empty chair beside her.

“Sure.”

After seating himself, Alex looked over and caught Ellie watching him. With a blush, Ellie lowered her eyes to her book.

“Good book?” he asked, bringing her gaze back to him.

Ellie shrugged, showing him the cover.

“To Kill a Mockingbird. I’ve always liked that one,” he said.

“Me too,” she agreed, and kicked herself. Ellie usually wasn’t tongue-tied, but somehow the connection from her brain to her mouth seemed to have jammed up.

“You just finish working out?” Alex asked.

“Yeah…I run most mornings.”

He raised his eyebrows, impressed. “Even when it’s snowing outside?”

Ellie shrugged, tucking her feet under her. “The only time I won’t is when it’s pouring. I like to run. It’s when I do my best thinking.” Ellie frowned for half a second. She didn’t usually provide additional commentary when she answered people’s questions.

“Where do you run?”

“Around the lake, usually.”

“Do you drive down and park there?”

“On weekdays I do. But on weekends, I run from our house.”

Alex looked slightly surprised. “How far a run is that?”

“It’s about eight miles to run to the lake and all the way around it.”

“Does insanity run in your family? No pun intended.”

Ellie laughed at that bit of nonsense. She was a closet sucker for bad puns.

“Don’t your parents worry about you?” He tilted his head.

“Not anymore,” Ellie hedged.

“What do you mean by that?” His eyes twinkled with curiosity.

“My family trusts me, and knows where I am,” she said. “What about you?”

“What about me?” he asked around his coffee cup as he took a sip.

“Did you just finish working out?”

Alex gave her his adorable lopsided grin, and her heartbeat picked up in response. “I also just finished a run.”

“In this weather?” Ellie teased. She was rewarded with a deep chuckle that danced up and down her spine.

“Hey, maybe we could run together some time,” he suggested. Ellie gave silent thanks that he hadn’t noticed her reaction to him.

“Maybe…” Ellie nodded and smiled to take the sting out of what could’ve been perceived as a rejection.

“You do that a lot, you know,” he said.

It was Ellie’s turn to raise her eyebrows in surprise. “Do what?”

“Answer with something vague.”

“Do I?” Ellie feigned surprise. Huh. Impressive. Most people don’t even notice when I’m giving vague answers, she thought.

“There you go again!”

“Huh.” Ellie grimaced and tried a different approach. “I don’t even notice I’m doing it. I guess I don’t talk about myself much in general.” Especially to hot guys, she mentally tacked on.

“Fair enough.” Alex let her off the hook with good-natured grace. “So back to that run?”

Ellie laughed. Clearly she wasn’t going to get away with keeping her distance. Not that she wanted to. She was just trying to avoid further complication. And Alex Jenner had the potential to be a rather major complication.

“Sure. Meet me at the lake parking lot tomorrow at five-thirty for a quick five miles?”

Alex froze with his cup half-way up to his mouth. “A.M.?” was his incredulous response.

“That’s my offer, take it or leave it.”

Alex regarded her for a moment, his eyes intensely focused. “I must be a glutton for punishment,” he muttered, almost to himself. “Five-thirty a.m. it is. What’s your cell phone number, just in case?” After they’d exchanged numbers, he said, “Well… See you tomorrow, Ellie.” And with another salute of his coffee cup he got up and started to leave, pausing to ask, “You want a ride to the lot instead of having to run back to your car?”

Ellie chortled, but waved him away. “No, thanks. I like to run.”

“Suit yourself, crazy girl.” And with a final sexy grin he turned and left.

“Ellie,” Griffin called her name the second she got home. Disapproval was running rampant through his voice, mimicked by his posture as she discovered when she found him in the living room where he’d been sitting watching TV.

“I know. I know. One more complication that we don’t need,” she answered, as she made her way over to the couch.

Griffin sighed in resignation.

“Okay. It’s done now. Besides, I don’t like you running by yourself anyway. Especially when it’s so dark outside.”

Ellie gave a mental eye roll. This was an old, well-hashed argument between brother and sister. “You could join me,” she suggested.

“I only run when someone is chasing me.” Turning his eyes back to the TV he grumbled, “At least use the time tomorrow to try to get more information.”

“You got it.” Ellie hugged him and then flew upstairs to shower and dress for school. She hugged the idea of seeing Alex again to herself, secretly thrilled... whatever the cost might be.