by Cat Mann
****
As the days passed, I recovered from the emotions the death of No. 4 had brought on and I felt good enough to go to the Virgin Marathon, the rather prestigious marathon Nora had been training for. August and I met Adler at the race so the three of us could cheer Nora on together. The area around the starting line was filled with friends and families of the runners and several news stations were represented.
Nora had asked me to find sponsors and run with her, but I knew my body wouldn’t be able to handle the race. Besides, the thought of running a marathon without my mother with me made me sad. So we cheered for Nora all day long at various spots throughout the race, and when we met her at the finish line, she ran straight into Adler’s arms.
Adler promptly went down on one knee and pulled from his pocket a little black box that he opened to reveal a beautiful diamond ring. Looking very serious and a little overwhelmed, he asked Nora to marry him. With tears in her eyes, she happily agreed and we all cried and hugged. She even hugged complete strangers – she was so excited.
The four of us met a while later for a celebratory drink and were delighted, as we sat at our table, to see that a local news station covering the marathon had caught the proposal on tape. Since the Virgin London Marathon was a pretty big deal, the proposal was played on the news all throughout the evening.
August kept me busy the whole month of May with schoolwork. I worked on lessons and reading assignments from the time I woke up until late into the evening. My schedule seemed to have finally readjusted itself so that I was again sleeping at night, rather than not at all. I missed Ari. A lot. And I had another near breakdown one night when August gave in to temptation and agreed to a date with Claude. I sent Ari a tiny “x” text and he quickly shot me back a tiny “o.” I wanted desperately to call him and tell him I loved him. I yearned for his voice, his smile, and his touch, but I knew one phone call would break me and I would be on the next flight to L.A.
I got out of bed, took my phone, and hid it from myself in the other room. As I was walking back to my room, I heard the front door open and close. It was August and he was in tears. He threw himself on the couch and I sat on the floor next to him. He told me how things had gone with Claude and how he just knew there would be no revival of their former relationship. He was hurting and so was I. We both sat and cried until the sun came through my oval window, reminding us that real life was waiting and there were more pressing issues on the table than heartache.
