Max stands up, eyes shining.
“It was so funny! These ladies roller-skate around in a circle and try to knock each other over. I didn’t like it at first, but Daddy says it’s all pretend and they don’t really get hurt when they fall.”
I raise my eyebrow at Ron. He shrugs.
“The other team was called the Roller City Rats.”
“Yeah, Max loves that name.” Ron smirks.
“Well, I’m glad you had fun, but it’s way past your bedtime. Give me a hug and let Daddy put you to bed so I can rest my boo-boo.” I hold out my arms again.
Max snuggles into me. “But I hate when Daddy puts me to bed,” he whines. “He always falls asleep before I do.”
“Not tonight, buddy!” Ron assures him as he swings Max over his shoulder.
“Good night, baby.” I sigh and lie back down on my pillow. I’m asleep before Ron comes back to bed.
19
Four hours at Overland Park Regional Medical Center later, I learn I haven’t cracked or broken anything. I have a badly pulled groin muscle and a beauty of a bruise. As stupid as this sounds, I’m a bit disappointed. I mean, if I’m going to go through something this painful, I’d like to have bragging rights to a cracked pelvis, not a bruised front bum. Dr. Sintay, the man on duty this morning, tells me I’m lucky I didn’t have a more serious injury. “The bathroom is a very dangerous place, Mrs. Dixon.”
Especially after my husband has been in there, I think but do not say.
Ron brings me home with my filled prescription of painkillers; after I assure him I’ll be fine, he heads off to the store. He has left me propped up on the comfy couch with ice on my crotch and the remote in my hand. Who could ask for more? Peetsa is taking Max to her place after school, so I am a lady of leisure for a few hours. I pick up the phone and call Garth.
“What did the doctor say?” is how he greets me.
“No breaks or cracks, just a pulled ligament and a really bad bruise.”
“Oh, Lordy, thank goodness. Did he say when you could start training again?”
“Nothing for three weeks; then we’ll see. That will give us three until the race.”
Silence.
“What is it?”
“Jen, we may want to rethink the mud run for April.”
“Are you crazy? It’s just a bruise. I’m fine!” I’m practically yelling.
“Take it easy.” Garth’s voice is annoyingly calm. “Hear me out.”
I let out an audible sigh and give the phone the finger. “Okay, what?”
“You have done great work. I can’t believe how far we’ve come over the past six months.”
“Garth, don’t handle me, please. Just spit it out.” I’m speaking more harshly than I mean to, but my patience has already been taxed by twenty minutes of medical attention spread out over four hours at the hospital.
“Okay, here it is. If you’re benched for the next three weeks, you will not be ready for the mud run. You think you’ll be back where you left off, but you won’t—you’ll be out of shape. It won’t take you long to get back to peak performance, but I’d rather you not risk another injury. There is another run in Springfield in August. We can aim for that.”
He’s right. I know he’s right.
“But I feel so ready. That’s exactly what I was thinking in the bath last night. I was wishing the race was today.”
“Well, be thankful that it isn’t. We can reevaluate in a month, but right now I say we take it off the table.”
“I’ll agree to reevaluate in a month,” I concede, stubborn to the end. “What can I do right now, while I’m recovering?”
“Rest, Jen. That’s the best medicine. Don’t jump the gun, or you’ll be on your butt for another month. I’ll come and see you tomorrow.” I hear a voice screaming in the background. “And Nina says you’re a spaz.”
“Ha! Tell her to call me later. I’m going to take a nap.” I stifle a yawn.
“Good girl. See you tomorrow.”
I hang up with Garth and snuggle down into the comfy couch. Just as I’m nodding off, my cell phone buzzes. It’s a text from Asami.
Can you meet?
Oh, God, I’m so not in the mood for her brand of crazy right now. I decide to ignore it.
The phone buzzes twice more in quick succession.
Hello?
Can you meet?
I growl and type a quick reply.
Not feeling well. Let’s try next week.
Of course, Asami is back at me in seconds. She must have twenty fingers.
It’s important.
I know I can’t do anything today, but I might be able to see her tomorrow, so I text her as much.
Where?
My house at 1.
I don’t get another text, but I can imagine Asami firmly nodding to herself.
*
The next day at one sharp, Asami rings my doorbell. Nina and Garth had come earlier to bring me lunch (Taco Bell, my favorite binge) so I asked them to let her in on their way out. I hear an exchange of greetings and a little mumbling; then Asami joins me in the living room.
“I had no idea you had an accident.” I think I hear genuine concern in her voice, and I’m touched.
“Yup. I slipped getting out of the bathtub.” The more I say it, the more of an idiot I feel like.
“Did you yell, ‘I’ve fallen and I can’t get up’?” Asami asks. It takes me a moment to realize this is her idea of a joke. I smile.
“Good one. So what’s up?”
“Well…” She sits in the chair across from me and undoes her coat. No duck hat today, sadly. I would have loved for Nina to see it. “I hate to kick you when you’re down, so to speak, but your idea didn’t work.”
“My idea about…” I leave the question hanging. I know what she’s talking about, but I need to make her pay for her joke.
She frowns at me.
“Your idea of telling Sasha Lewicki that she had won something, so she would show up and claim it. It didn’t work. No one showed up.”
“You sent her an email?”
Asami nods.
“Using a fake address?”
She nods again.
“And told her she won…”
“Ten thousand dollars.”
“Really? Where did you tell her she could collect it?”
“The food court at the mall. In front of the Wok and Roll.”
No wonder it didn’t work.
“Why there?”
“I wanted a crowd around in case something unexpected happened.”
“Like what?”
Asami shrugs.
“I don’t know. I just wanted witnesses.”
I shift on the couch and wince in pain. I should really take another painkiller but I’ll hold off until Asami leaves, although this conversation might be more enjoyable if I were a bit high.
“How long did you wait?”
“Five hours.”
“And no one showed. Did you see anyone you know?”
“I saw a lot of people from school.”
“Did you talk to anyone?”
“Not really.” Asami looks a little embarrassed. “Some people waved, though.”
“Well, it’s very possible that she did show up and saw you and maybe some other people from the class, and she got spooked. Or she did show up, but you know her by another name. Who did you see?”
Asami closes her eyes and thinks for a moment.
“I saw Principal Jakowski, Peetsa, Kim Fancy and her daughter, um … and Zach Elder’s mother.”
“Trudy.”