"Yeah. Stretch your muscles out? Walk a couple of blocks first?"
Nancy shook her head.
Brenna stopped running. "Let's walk for a while."
"Good idea," Nancy said with relief. "Warm up, huh?"
Brenna nodded. "Yes. You should be walking for a couple of blocks to get the blood flowing before you run. And you should be stretching your muscles out before you run at all."
"Okay, coach." Nancy grinned. "I always wondered what the secret of your great body was." She sank down on a park bench. "How I'd love it if somebody discovered that a dozen chocolate chip cookies a day was the key to perfect health."
Brenna smiled and used the bench for a series of stretches that would keep her muscles from kinking up later.
"So how are things going?" Nancy asked. "I haven't seen you much lately. What have you been doing?"
"Working," Brenna said, sitting down next to Nancy. "Until yesterday, anyway." She related the circumstances surrounding the closing of the bar.
"I bet Cole will be glad about that," Nancy said. "There's a guy who strikes me as the type who wants to spend more time with you."
Brenna had successfully avoided thinking about Cole for five whole minutes.
"C'mon, girl," Nancy encouraged. "You're still seeing him, aren't you?"
"Yes."
"Why do I get the feeling there's more to this than a simple 'yes'?"
"Cole's terrific," Brenna admitted. That was the core of the truth she couldn't deny. She didn't want him just sexually. She wanted all of him. She closed her eyes and sighed.
Nancy touched her arm. "Are you okay?"
Brenna opened her eyes and started to respond with an automatic, "Sure." Instead, she shook her head.
"What can I do for you?"
Brenna looked at Nancy, surprised at the concern in her voice.
"C'mon. 'Fess up, girl. What are friends for?"
Indeed, Brenna thought, feeling her composure crack a little beneath the weight of all her deceptions.
"Oh, Nancy, things are such a mess." The dam broke open, and the words poured out. "I've just lost my
job-a job I really needed. The roof over my head isn't even my own. And I'm falling in love with an attorney. An attorney, for God's sake. You'd think I'd know better."
"What's the matter with attorneys?"
"I can't read." The words just slipped out. Brenna met Nancy's shocked gaze and repeated, more softly this time, "I can't read."
"Of course you can. You do story hour every week." Brenna shook her head. "I tell stories I already know." "But-" "It's not that hard," Brenna said. "My grandfather told me great stories when I was little, and my mom read me bedtime stories. I really don't read to the kids. Honest." "Why?" "Because I don't know any other way." "That's not what I meant," Nancy said. "Oh. Why. The big why. As in,why didn't I ever learn to read?" Nancy nodded. Brenna stared at her feet. "At first..." Her voice trailed away. How did she explain, she wondered. "I don't know." "Books were my refuge," Nancy said. "You know what it's like being at a different school every single year. And I was lousy at making new friends." "I didn't do that so well, either." "I still don't understand, Brenna. You're the most determined person I know. When you told me about the nonsense with the lawsuit, I thought, Boy, I'm glad this wasn't me. I'd never survive it. But you did. You're bright, one of the brightest-"
"I'm not."
Nancy smiled. "You are." Her smile grew into a laugh. "You're so great with the kids-a natural teacher.
I was hoping to recruit you to be a tutor for the library's literacy program."
Brenna's eyebrows rose.
"Yeah. Instead, we need to get you matched with a tutor. And I know just the person, if you agree."
"Who?"
"Me."
Brenna stared at her friend as ideas began to bubble to the surface. "I'm ready to start. What do we do
first?"
"I'm not completely sure. This is a first for me, too. I do know that you need to be tested so we know-"
"Tests?" Brenna interrupted, initial elation giving way to wariness. She hated tests.
"Just to see what level you read at."
"But I already told you. I don't-can't-read."
"You probably read more than you know. I mean, how do you know which is the ladies' rest room and
which is the men's?"
"I'm careful."
Nancy grinned. "Me too. Listen, I'll talk to the director of the program this morning and find out what we
need to do. Then I'll call you, okay?"
Brenna gave Nancy a spontaneous hug. "Okay."
They alternately walked and jogged the rest of the way around the park. After they took their separate
routes home, Brenna felt as though she was running on air. She was going to learn to read.
She was going to learn to read!
She'd get her driver's license. And she'd learn how to type. She'd buy recipe books. She'd read stories to Teddy. She'd read a menu instead of asking for the daily special. She'd play Scrabble with Cole. She'd read the text in theNational Geographic , instead of simply looking at the pictures.
Michael and Teddy were playing catch in front of the apartment when she arrived.
"Auntie Brennie," Teddy called. "Catch!" he threw the large softball at her, which she deftly caught and tossed back to him. He made a perfect catch.
"I take it you're feeling better," Michael said.
"Much." She smiled. "Sorry I was such a grump earlier."
"Cole called while you were gone." Michael sat down on the step and Teddy came to sit beside him. "He sounded a lot like you felt this morning. Crabby."
"Thanks for the message," she said. She owed Cole an apology. A knot tightened in her stomach as she recalled that he had held out his hand to her just before she'd run away from him. Inside the apartment, she took a deep breath, then dialed his number with trembling fingers.
"Hi, Cole," she said when he answered.
"Are you okay this morning?" he asked.
"Better." She wrapped the cord around her finger. "I'm sorry about last night."
"It's okay. I-"
"I don't know what happens to me, Cole. I wasn't being fair. And-"
"Brenna, it's okay. I'm sorry, too. I didn't mean to bring up things that hurt you."
She swallowed. "I know."
"Someday..." A long silence filled the line before he added, "Someday, you're going to have to decide if you trust me enough to know I won't hurt you."
"I know," she whispered.
"There's a good play on at the Denver Center Theater. Would you like to go tomorrow night? What do you say? We both need a night out on the town."
"Sounds like..."
"A case of the flu," he teased, to fill in the silence. "But that's not right. I'm looking for a word that sounds like sew, flow, toe."
She chuckled. "Go? As in, I'd love to go with you."
"The lady has just won herself an evening of dinner and theater with a dashing-"
"Don't you think you're laying this on a little thick?"
"A lot thick," he agreed, a smile still in his voice. "I'll pick you up about five and we'll have dinner first."
"Okay."
Less than a half hour later, Brenna had just finished showering when Nancy called.
"Good news and good news," Nancy said. "I can be your tutor. And if you have time, you can come in for testing this afternoon. I'll come to the library-sacrificing my day off, I might add-to be with you. If you want me to."
"I want you to," Brenna said. "Is twelve-thirty okay?"
"Make it two and you've got a deal."
"Two it is," Brenna agreed and hung up the phone.