Staying The Course (The Men of Endurance Book 3)

by Siera London

  Tonight, she planned to take him to dinner. Her intention had been to pick him up at his office, but whenever she saw him, he was either in the coffee shop, the library, or at Della’s Diner. So, she called him and asked about dinner plans. This evening, she craved the succulence of a juicy burger washed down with an ice-cold beer for her supper.

  “Pick me up at The Cupcakery,” he told her, trying to shield the excitement in his voice, “I should be ready by 6:30.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” she said, hanging up the phone while looking down at her notes. Thus far, the preliminary outline of her book was coming together and the structure of the story was sound, but she needed a few more characters to round out the novel. The No Limit Bar and Grille sounded like a great place to meet a few interesting people.

  INTERESTING WAS THE last thing that came to mind as they entered the eatery on the outskirts of downtown on Miller Road. It wasn’t far from Tommy’s Park and the Farmer’s Market, which she had yet to visit. That too was in her plans once she mastered riding the bicycle. To date, she was able to ride as far as the center of town square and back, which was a pretty good start for someone who considered physical fitness walking up three flights of stairs.

  The air remained cool for the month of March with runners taking advantage of what they labeled as ideal weather to get the endorphins going. Julie thought it was ideal weather to sport her sweater sets on dates with Abel. However tonight, she wanted to have a good conversation with him about kids, the future, and other topics if they planned to continue seeing each other.

  Abel too enjoyed the cool weather, looking better than the burger she wanted to devour in a well-fitted pair of dark jeans, a Polo, and a snazzy zip front deep blue cardigan.

  “You are going to like this place,” he told her as he slid into the passenger seat of her tiny rental, looking like the Hulk had carjacked the vehicle. “It’s more for locals, but others have found it and Saturday nights can be crowded.”

  The parking lot looked like the joint was giving away free hot wings. She located a spot in the rear of the grille, then she and her hot date walked around front to receive a number and a vibrating alerter to advise them when it was time to be seated. However, Abel spotted the owner, Owen Tate. He waved at him and the blonde-haired hunk waved back, summoning them to come inside. Slowly, they headed in, skirting around revelers at the bar towards a table that Owen held for them. In the far-left corner, Abel saw Rui Conners, the history professor, and his eight-year-old daughter, Simone, engaged in an animated discussion. “With her antics, that kid keeps her father on his toes,” her date whispered in Julie’s ear as he held her chair, before taking his own seat.

  A pretty young woman jaunted over, her eyes devouring Abel as she asked for their drink orders. To her surprise, when the young waitress bounced away like Tigger pumped up on bee pollen, Abel’s eyes didn’t follow her tight little bottom.

  “She was flirting with you,” Julie said to him.

  “Didn’t notice,” Abel replied, looking at the menu.

  Julie cleared her throat, “I don’t get it. You are a good-looking man in your prime, the women ogle you wherever you go, but you don’t seem to notice.”

  “I notice,” he admitted. “I just don’t care.”

  “All men care about that kind of thing,” Julie challenged him. She waited for Abel to look up. Their eyes met and held, “I’m interested to hear what makes you so different.”

  “Julie, I have nothing left to prove to anyone, not even myself. Young women are for young men. Older men with younger women are trying to recapture their youth. If I have to pop a pill to be with a woman, then she is the wrong woman.”

  She sighed loudly as the waitress returned with their drink orders, ready to jot down their dinner selections on her pocket pad. Julie ordered the burger with a side salad. To her surprise, Abel ordered fries and nothing more. With the food selections made, Julie needed to change the story. She wanted to get deeper and have a real conversation with Abel.

  “Listen,” she said. “I really don’t know what we are doing here, but I enjoy your company. However, before we can move forward, we need to talk.”

  “Fine, talk,” Abel said. He had a few things he wanted to say as well because he was tired of making out.

  “The curator at the museum, Amelie, she is not much younger than I am,” Julie said. “I’m 39, granted I don’t want any children, but my plans and the Almighty’s might differ. What if...by chance...it happens?”

  “It won’t from me,” Abel said, looking at her with intense blue eyes, “I can’t have any more.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  “Don’t be. It is intentional,” he said, watching her face. “After my wife divorced me and used Ralph as a meal ticket, I got snipped. Those were the worst years of my life, fighting with her to see my own son. I never wanted to go through that again, so I fixed it so I wouldn’t have to deal with such issues.”

  “Abel that is horrible, on so many levels,” she said to him. “Love isn’t a once in a lifetime thing. People fall in love several times over the course of their lives and have more children.”

  “I didn’t want more,” he told her. “Okay, now we have that out of the way. You don’t want any and I can’t have any, what else do you wish to discuss?”

  “Sex,” she said.

  Abel choked on his beer.

  “I want to have it with you, but I dunno. You seem to stop each time things start to heat up,” she said. “Is there a problem?”

  “No,” he said laughing. “Honestly, I was actually enjoying the old-fashioned courtship of a lady. Nowadays, these young people have an app, and they pick a sex partner like they are buying a pair of shoes. You like, swipe right—you don’t like, swipe left.”

  “Abel, you sound like you know a great deal about it,” she said, watching his expressions for subtle tells.

  “When my son started college, I found myself very alone, so I downloaded the app and started swiping,” he said. “I got swiped out after three of those dates.”

  He chuckled a bit at a memory.

  “That memory looks good, please share,” she said, as he blushed under her gaze, “Abel, we are friends first.”

  He shook his head in refusal, but she encouraged him.

  Giving in, he began. “Okay, I went out with a much younger woman, and at first, it seemed like a great deal of fun until we went back to her place,” he said frowning. “I don’t mean to brag, and I’m not, but she carried on so loud that I had to stop to make sure I wasn’t hurting her.”

  Julie pressed her lips together.

  “Please take into consideration, I can run ten miles and barely break a sweat. But, this young lady,” he paused to shake his head, “it was like she’d mixed her Adderall with her diet pills. She bounced all over the place and finally, I’d had enough. I gave her one of my sleep tabs and told her it was Ecstasy just to make her ass go to sleep,” he said frowning. “I know I am a horrible person for doing that, but I may be the only man who slipped a woman a Mickey to make her go to sleep, so he could get away.”

  Julie couldn’t help herself. She busted up laughing.

  “Did you ever call her again?”

  “Hell no!” Abel grumbled. “That was too much. Any man who wants to do that all night needs to see a shrink. At my age, I appreciate quality over quantity.”

  She didn’t respond to what he said, just watched the subtle expressive changes on his face. Abel’s words were spilling all the endorphins he could muster about his needs, yet she hadn’t voiced her own. Truthfully, she didn’t know what she needed. Therefore, she was unable to explain what she wanted. Short term was easy. It was the long-term planning that made it difficult to open the discussion.

  “Julie, are you an all-night partier?”

  “No Abel, I am a love maker,” she said to him, smiling as she blushed, “I am adventurous though.”

  “Be more specific,” he said. “One of my swipes sa
id she was adventurous and wanted to peg me.”

  She laughed again. “You are funny,” she said.

  “There is nothing funny about your date coming out the back room with a penis bigger than the one attached to my body. It was also hers...or his,” he said with his face contorted, his eyes squinted as if trying to understand the reason why the Devil likes Hell to be so warm. “I still have nightmares about that shit.”

  He laughed a bit as he said, “I ran out of her front door in my drawers with my shoes in my hand, praying that no one saw me. ‘Hey look, Abel Burney is in his skivvies running down the street.’ I would have never lived it down.”

  The waitress returned with their food orders and they ate in silence. Abel couldn’t take it anymore. He was beyond the making out portion. Yes, it was a refreshing change of pace, and he was an endurance runner, but he couldn’t see the finish line. The man in him craved a big win with the woman seated cross the table.

  “Where does this leave us, Julie?”

  “At your place for the night,” she replied without a moment of hesitation. “I brought my toothbrush.”

  DINNER TURNED TO DANCING as a live band kicked out a few country rock songs. Owen Tate came over to the table, and he spoke briefly for a few minutes before getting back to his customers. A different young lady kept her eyes on the tavern owner, watching every move he made.

  “What’s their story?” Julie asked Abel since he seemed to know everyone and almost everything about the locals.

  “Don’t know, truthfully,” Abel answered, looking at the young woman, “Ivy Summers is new in town.” With a quick glance in Owen’s direction, Julie noticed the stoic, yet handsome proprietor welcomed many of the patrons by name.

  “He isn’t new, though is he?”

  “No. Owen is a widower with a 4-year-old son. His wife died in an accident on Saratoga Springs Road a few years ago. That young lady,” he said gesturing to Ivy, “he recently hired to help with the seasonal crowds.”

  Abel continued, “She’s protective of him. But, I don’t know if it’s going to work out for her though. Owen isn’t ready.”

  Julie stared at Ivy Summers. From behind the bar counter, the sienna-colored beauty watched her boss with a fiery intensity. When a woman looked at a man “that” way, he didn’t stand a chance. Ivy was going to wear Owen Tate down until he changed course and speed, and gave her what she wanted.

  Abel reached for Julie’s hand, curling warm fingers around hers. She regarded their intertwined fingers like a long-lost puzzle piece. They fit together. Swallowing, she looked up, meeting his gaze. The heat in his eyes had sparks igniting every erogenous zone in her body.

  “Are you ready, Julie?”

  It was the way Abel asked the question that made her heart thud rapidly in her chest. Though she’d expected the question to come up at some point in their relationship, now that he asked it, she was as ready as she had ever been in her life. The realization that he wanted an answer as he stared at her face with longing in his eyes only heightened her desire for him. Without breaking eye contact, she leaned in.

  “I am,” she said biting her bottom lip. Now that she’d given him an answer, she pondered his next move. Seconds later, she knew the answer. Abel’s hold on her fingers tightened.

  “Check please,” he said, raising his hand high in the air and waving his credit card.

  “Put that away, I’m taking you to dinner,” she said.

  “Nope, because then you will expect me to put out,” he said, scrunching his nose.

  “You are going to put out anyway because I am giving you a skills assessment exam when we get to your house,” she said.

  Abel opened his wallet and began to pull out membership cards to unions, special interest groups, and the Engineering Society of America.

  “What is that supposed to mean?” she asked him.

  “It means that I am certified to handle any issue that you need handling my dear,” he said, getting to his feet. The waitress was taking too long, and he had love to make. He handed Owen the bill on his way out the door. “Put it on my tab, run my card, get it to me tomorrow.”

  “Have a great night,” Owen called after them.

  The man practically dragged her down the stairs, and shoved her into the passenger seat of her own car, as he sped down the road like a bat out of hell. He wasn’t going to give her a chance to change her mind. Tonight, there was love to be made.

  Chapter 5 – Going the Distance

  THE AROMA OF COFFEE wafted through the air making Julie sit up in the bed like she’d been given a life-changing diagnosis of renewed life. She needed to get up right away and follow the wonderful scent into the kitchen, where she would also find the wonderful man who prepared the life awakening brew. Abel Burney didn’t lie to her – the man was indeed a skilled craftsman.

  Meandering down the small hallway to the kitchen, she stumbled into the walls like a new credit card holder’s arrival at a major retailer having a discounted sale. Upon her arrival at the designated fueling station of liquid eye opener, she absently filled her cup, sipping, sighing and allowing the relief to wash over her. Savoring the delights of the cup of freshly ground coffee, she opened her eyes and noticed Abel sitting at the table, watching her over the morning paper.

  “You may need to seriously consider switching to decaf to lessen your dependency on morning coffee,” he said, giving her a once over.

  “That would imply my dear Abel, that you believe my relationship with coffee is symbiotic,” she mumbled, “You speak as if I am unable to function without it.”

  “Julie, it would be a reasonable deduction indeed, unless you always enjoy your first cup in the nude,” he said with a wry smile. “Granted, I am loving the morning view.”

  She looked down at herself, unashamed of her nudity in his presence. Especially considering the night before. He combed over her flesh as if he were remembering every lump, bump, and hump on her female form. A familiar tingle embraced her when she thought of their coupling. Heavy lidded eyes gazed upon him, saying more with no words than her foggy brain could manufacture. She extended his view as she brushed past him with her bare hip, giving him a nicer object to stare at when she walked away. If Abel chose to follow her back to the bedroom, it would be too early in the morning to tell such a handsome man no, let alone send him away without at least something to ponder over for the rest of the day.

  “I will take that as an invitation,” he said, leaving the paper on the table and following her to the bedroom.

  If the freshly ground coffee were any indication, today was getting off to a wonderful start.

  THE KNICKERBOCKER CANYON Trail Run encompassed a 35 km trot allotting the participants eight and a half hours to complete the course. Julie, having practiced riding the bike most of February and March, rode out to watch the racers complete the 1/2 Marathon and partial 5K and 10K races. She snapped photos of the runners’ hard-hitting feet along with the long historic Western States Trail out to the No Hands Bridge. The shorter distance races coursed along the banks and trails of the American River. Julie rode as far as the base of the incline of K2 , stopping at the edge of Dam Hill. She couldn’t foresee how many of the runners fared in staying the course with the constant variances in surfaces, terrains, and altitudes.

  Elsie Devonshire loved the articles and especially the close-up photos of the looks on the athletes’ faces as they struggled through the physical endurance required to complete the races.

  “What else is on the agenda for the remainder of the year?” Elsie asked.

  “Let’s see, in April, there are a bunch of crazy people doing a 30-mile bike race nearly 2,000 miles above sea level,” she said looking at the calendar, “followed by other crazy people riding a horse for 50 miles.”

  “That should be interesting,” Elsie replied.

  “Not nearly as fascinating as the 110-mile bike race in June, or the nutty 100-mile race for the Tervis Cup, which is also on horseback,” Julie added
.

  “If you do this the right way, you could be up for a Pulitzer,” Elsie told her.

  “Yeah, and later today, I am working on restoring my hymen,” she said with sarcasm, “which too will never happen.”

  “Julie, it is important for you to focus on staying the course on this assignment. Getting distracted is easy,” Elsie added. “You’re on to something here. I can’t wait to see the end results.

  “You and me both. The last event ends in September, but I was thinking of staying to cover some of the other special activities they hold here in the fall,” she said.

  “The house is paid for through the end of the year,” Elsie said.

  “Thanks, Elsie, I won’t let you down,” Julie said before ending the call. In her heart, she knew she wouldn’t let the magazine down, but she also wasn’t so sure about how she felt about Abel and saying farewell to him at the end of the year. She scolded herself for letting him get so close so fast. It was only March. There were still nine months to go. She wasn’t sure she was going to make it without coming out scarred, marred, or her heart being charred.

  THE MONTH OF MAY BREEZED in and Julie only had a rough sketch of an outline for three possible book tropes: a Cyrano, a friend to lover’s plot, and a potential fake engagement. Frustration covered her as she rode her bike over to UC Endurance to look for a class or a workshop to help her get her act together. She walked into the registrar’s office overwhelmed by all the technological steps required to sign up for a class as a non-degree seeking student.