Every inch has been carefully designated for a different obstacle, and I’d be lying if I said the sight didn’t scare the crap out of me.
“This is so cool!” Max screams over the loud music pumping through the arena speakers. He and Zach B. are taking it all in with huge grins on their faces. I grab their hands and lead them up into the stands. We take our seats by a handful of people who, judging by the number of missing body parts, are veterans, and their families. It’s then that I finally get a good look at the course. Before I start to freak out, Garth is talking me through it step by step.
“So, it starts with a run up to the top of the arena and back down again. Then you climb a rope over a ten-foot wall, followed by a long crawl through the mud over there that has barbed wire stretched across the top.” He points to the other side of the building.
“After that, you have to carry a huge log about five hundred yards with a group of people, then run up that thing that looks like a half-pipe wall. You need to get a lot of speed for that. You’ll want to quit halfway up, but good momentum should take you to the top. Climb over it, then jump into the freezing-cold water.”
I wince. I don’t even like lukewarm showers.
“Get out of the water and go over to the wall with the pegs. Grab two rings and hook them onto the pegs to get yourself across the moat. That’s probably the toughest part. You need a lot of upper-body strength. After that, it’s pretty smooth sailing. Normally, you’d have to jump through fire just before the ice bath, but the fire department wouldn’t give them an indoor permit, so it’s just running up and down a few dirt mounds before you cross the finish line.”
My heart is thumping like a jackrabbit’s, my mouth is dry, and I’m relatively certain I have soiled myself. I can’t speak.
Garth starts to laugh.
“Hey, what’s up? You could do this. You could totally do this.”
“In what universe can I jump through fire?”
“Well, it’s not really something we can practice, but you will find that in the heat of the moment—no pun intended—your adrenaline will carry you anywhere you need to go.”
He puts his arm across my shoulders and gives me a hug.
“You will do this, I promise.”
I look at Max, who is watching the arena floor and chomping on a hot dog—courtesy of Jack, who has just joined us—and suddenly it is very clear to me.
I will do this.
*
On the way home, I let Garth take the wheel and I nap. I have a terrible dream that I’m competing in the mudder but I only have one arm. I wake with a sudden jerk as I let go of the ring I’m holding on to on the pegboard.
“Holy crap!”
Garth looks at me. “Did you have a mud-mare?”
“I think I did,” I say, rubbing my eyes. I check out the backseat; the boys are watching yet another movie. Max has hit his screen time for the month, that’s for sure. “Is that normal?”
“Oh, yeah, especially while you’re training. What was it about?”
“I was competing, but I only had one arm. When I got to the pegboard I had to let go, because I couldn’t move the ring to the next peg.” I shake my head. “That was brutal.”
“You should see the guys do it who actually only have one arm. Insane upper-body strength.” There is a lot of admiration in Garth’s voice. I’m thinking I’ve only scratched the surface of my trainer’s surprising emotional depth.
*
When we get home, after dropping an exhausted Zach B. off, my prince of a husband takes charge of Max, which gives me time to wash the day off my body. After my shower, I wrap a towel around my head, grab my robe, and head to my side of the bed. This is it. I’m calling Nina until she picks up.
I’ve settled in for a long session of redialing, but she picks up on the first ring.
“Hi.” She is whispering.
“Hi. Why are you whispering?” I’m whispering, too, for no reason.
“Chyna just fell asleep on the couch. She was at a gymnastics tournament today and she’s beat.” I can tell Nina is moving into another room so she can talk.
“How did she do?” I ask. This is so weird.
“Third place overall for her age group. First place on the beam.”
“Wow, that’s great. Tell her I said way to go.”
“I will.”
And … silence. I take a deep breath.
“Look, Neens…”
“Hang on. Before you say anything, let me tell you how bad I feel about the way I’ve been acting. I’m really sorry. After I found Sid, I basically took a nosedive into depressed oblivion and I’ve just resurfaced.”
“Oh, Neens, I’m sorry, too. I just didn’t know what to do for you. And then when you didn’t help with my class mom situation, I just got really pissed.”
“Your what?”
“It’s nothing. Just that thing with Asami and Jakowski, you know…”
“What are you talking about? What happened?”
“Holy shit, you really don’t know?”
I briefly tell her all the gory details of my class mom downfall and how Principal Jakowski had apparently called and consulted her, but she told him she wasn’t interested in handling it and he should.
There is silence at the other end of the call. I think we’ve been cut off.
“Hello?”
“I’m here,” Nina says, but she sounds like her mind is elsewhere. “I don’t remember him even calling. Shit, this is worse than being blackout drunk.”
I laugh, but it comes out as a half laugh, half sob. Sort of like a hiccup.
Nina laughs. “What the hell was that?”
“I’m just so happy to be talking to you.” I sniffle.
“Yeah, well, I’m out of the bell jar so tell me everything.”
I give her the rundown on my ouster as class mom and also update her on Vivs and Laura. Suddenly something occurs to me.
“So, what ever happened with Sid? You seem kind of over it.”
“Oh, I’m way over it. What an asshat.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. It took me a while, but believe me, I’m here now. He actually hit on me.”
“You saw him?”
“No, on Facebook. Hang on, I’ll send it to you.” I hear some shuffling and Nina’s voice at a distance saying, “Girl, you are not going to believe it.”
My phone buzzes as Nina says more clearly. “Okay, I just copied the IMs and sent them to you.”
“Hang on.” I look at my phone and push Messages. I see what Nina has sent.
“Holy shit, how long is this?”
“Long. Just scroll. The first part is just us catching up and him explaining why he left. Not apologizing, mind you, just explaining that he freaked out and realized he wasn’t ready for a kid. That he thought it would be better for me if he left because he knew he wasn’t going to be able to help me.”
“Wait.” I’m scrolling and trying to listen to her at the same time. “He’s talking about not wanting to meet Chyna…”
“Oh, yeah. He doesn’t want to upset her life or his new kids’ lives. They aren’t even his kids! He married a pregnant widow.”
“Eww,” I say involuntarily, wondering just how desperate a woman would have to be to allow Sid into her kids’ lives.