The first weekend in March was glorious, with Carolina blue skies, a few puffy white clouds, and temperatures hovering in the mid-sixties, perfect weather for running. Warm enough that I didn’t have to dress in layers, cool enough that I didn’t think I was going to die from the heat.

I was warmed up, muscles were loosening, and I was starting to get into the zone. Because it was Saturday, there was a little more foot traffic than normal, but most people seemed to prefer the parks with playgrounds and other attractions for kids, leaving parks like CityWalk lightly populated. Too many kids and bicycles to dodge was the reason I didn’t visit one of the parks closer to home.

I was pounding along, my mind idling, thinking about nothing, when I noticed the woman walking ahead of me. Without my glasses, I had to get closer before I could get a good look, but even without them I could tell she had a nice ass in her skintight yoga pants. I rapidly closed the distance. As I passed, I intended to smile and nod, a friendly greeting in passing that allowed me to get a quick glance without appearing to be horn dog.

I quickly pulled up when I realized who it was. “Where’s your dog?”

“Hey!” Carolyn replied when she realized it was me. “His owner is back home.”

“So you came to the park without him?” I asked as I walked with her.

She grinned. “Yeah. It’s a nice day and you inspired me to get into shape.”

I gave her a long, exaggerated look up and down before I answered. “Your shape looks pretty good already.”

“Flirt!” she admonished, but her smile gave away she wasn’t upset by my teasing appraisal.

“Just calling ‘em as I see ‘em.”

“Yes, well, I’m not getting any younger, and I thought I should start doing something to watch my weight. You know, get into some sort of exercise routine, so I wouldn’t need to watch my weight.”

“So you decided to walk?”

“Or run.”

“Because of me?”

“Not directly, no. Let’s say I’ve been thinking I should do something for a while now, and since you seemed to enjoy running, I thought I’d give it a try.”

“How far have you run?”

“Today? None. I thought I’d walk a little first to loosen up. Kind of ease into it, you know?”

“Up for it now?”

“Go easy on me?” she asked.

I shrugged. “You set the pace.”

She huffed out a breath. “Okay. Slow and easy then. Don’t go too easy on me, though.”

I made a whip cracking sound as I flicked my wrist. “I’ll crack the whip on you if you start sandbagging.”

“Oh, God,” she groaned as she started running.

“You better slow down. This isn’t that slow or easy,” I suggested as I trotted along beside her at almost my normal running pace. She slowed by about a third. “Better.”

We only made it a half-mile before she ground to a stop. She was gasping for breath and I was having difficulty not staring as her chest heaved. She bent over, hands on knees, and I forced myself to look at the sky because it was impossible not to stare.

“I’m so out of shape!” she gasped.

“Stand up! How are you supposed to breathe all bent over like that?”

She did as I ordered. “Look at you! You’re not even breathing hard!” she puffed, hands on hips as she stared at the sky.

I took her arm and started her walking. “I’ve been doing this longer.”

We walked a moment as she caught her breath. “How far did we run? A mile?”

I forced myself to not smile. “A half-mile. Maybe.”

“That’s all?” she cried in dismay. “I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want to get into shape.”

I couldn’t help it and snickered. “Don’t feel bad. A lot of people couldn’t even make it that far the first time. Don’t give up. You know that old saying, ‘no pain…’”

“‘No gain,’” she completed for me. “Yeah. That sounds good until it actually starts to hurt.” Her breathing was almost back to normal.

“Ready to go again?” I asked.

She grunted in disgust. “Are you trying to kill me?” I made the whip crack sound again, along with the flick of the wrist, but said nothing else. “Yeah, okay, fine…slave driver,” she grumbled as she started running again.

We made it another quarter of a mile before she slowed to a walk. “I’m done. I can’t do it anymore,” she gasped.

I walked beside her as she panted. It was still damned hard not to stare, but I was doing better. As we walked, Bailey arrived.

“Oh. I was wondering where you were,” he said as he did slow loops around us.

“Hi, Bailey,” she gasped, waving weakly.

“Hi, uh, Ms…uh…”

“Carolyn,” I supplied. She didn’t have to know I couldn’t remember her last name myself.

“Ms. Carolyn,” Bailey added.

“Sorry to slow you down,” she wheezed.

“It’s okay. Dad can’t keep up either.”

“He can keep up better without me slowing him down.”

Bailey wasn’t always the most tactful, so I jerked my head down the path before he said something embarrassing. “Go ahead. We’ll be along. Ms. Carolyn is going to complete at least this loop.”

“Okay,” Bailey said before pedaling off.

She looked at me. “Are you really going to call me Ms. Carolyn?”

“In front of Bailey, yeah. It helps him remember his manners.”

“It makes me feel old.”

I chuckled. “It shouldn’t. It’s just a sign of respect for his elders.”

“Elders.” She groaned. “Having you say that makes me feel old too.”

“Not to worry. You don’t look your age…at all.”

She grinned at me. “Okay. For saying that, I’ll forget you called me an elder.” She studied me a moment. “How old is Bailey?”

“Ten.”

“So that makes you…”

“Twenty-eight.”

“Wow! You started young!”

I nodded. “Yeah. Too young.”

“Seems like a good kid.”

“He’s the best.” We walked in silence for a time. “Feel up for another short sprint?”

She groaned. “No. Go ahead without me.”

I didn’t take her up on the offer and continued to walk beside her. “Keep at it. If you run a half-mile two or three times a week, you’ll be surprised how quickly your stamina improves. Pretty soon you’ll be able to do a mile.”

“Right,” she said, drawing the word out.

“It’s true. You think I could run ten miles when I started? At the beginning I couldn’t do any better than you.”

“How long have you been running?”

“About five years.”

She glanced at me and smiled, wiping her face. She was damned attractive anyway, but glowing with sweat and her color up from her run made her even more so.

“It’s working for you. Keep it up.”

I felt a tingle but clamped down on the smile that threatened. “Thanks,” I said, letting the comment pass. I didn’t want to push too hard and scare her off again.

We continued down the path, shooting the breeze, until the parking lot where she parked came into sight. I began to slowly trot. “Come on. Last sprint to your car.”

She groaned but started running to keep up with me. Unfortunately for her, there was a hill we had to climb on the way to the parking lot, and by the time we coasted to a stop beside her car she was gasping for breath. She stumbled to a stop and started walking around in a circle, hands on hips and face tipped up to the sky.

“Getting in shape is way overrated,” she panted.

“I think you did great for a first outing.” She looked at me in eye rolling comic disbelief. “No, really. You probably ran about a mile, total.”

“That’s something, I guess,” she said, her breathing starting to slow.

She’d turned me down for dinner last weekend, but the fact she showed up today, at the right time, gave me a glimmer of hope. Maybe dinner was too much, too soon, so I decided to try something else.

“Want to grab a coffee?”

She looked at me, a half-smile tugging at her lips. “When?”

“Now?”

“I’m a mess.”

I waved my hands over myself. I was dressed in my running gear of gray workout shorts and a loose, faded green t-shirt. Compared to me, dressed in her stretchy black pants and a bright blue clingy top, she was dressed to kill.

Her half-smile grew a little larger “And Bailey?”

“I know a place. He can have an ice cream.”

She considered a moment, and I liked the way she cocked her hip before she smiled. “Okay, sure. Thanks.” She looked around. “Where is Bailey?”

I didn’t see him either, but I knew he wasn’t far. “Don’t know.” I put the little fingers of each hand against my tongue and cut loose a loud, shrill whistle.

“Jesus!” she muttered, grimacing from the pitch and volume of my signal.

I smiled. “That’s my Bailey retrieval device. You want to ride with us or follow in your own car?”

“I think I’ll just follow, if that’s okay?”

I was disappointed, but that was more than offset by the thrill that she’d accepted my offer of coffee. I hadn’t expected her to. “That’s fine,” I said as Bailey came charging up the hill on his bike.

He knew the route I always took so he always had a pretty good idea of where to find me if I whistled for him. He skidded to a stop. “Yeah, Dad?”

“You up for an ice cream?”

“Really? Now?”

“Yeah.”

“Sure! Can I have two scoops?”

I grinned at him. “I’ll make you a deal. You go back the long way and I’ll go the short way. If you can beat me to the car, you get two scoops.”

“You’re on!”

“Wait!” I called as he started to leave. I turned my attention to Carolyn. “Wait here. We’ll be back in about five minutes, and you can follow us.”

She grinned. “Okay. One…two…three, go!” she counted us down.

I took off. Bailey had about three times the distance to go, but he had wheels. I didn’t care if he got two scoops, but it was fun playing the game with him. I put everything I had into the mad sprint for the car. We were currently at the top of the park, and it was downhill all the way to my car, which helped me, but I knew it was going to be a close race.

I’d just turned to the rec center parking lot when I saw Bailey appear on the other side. The car was closer to me, but I knew the moment I saw him, he’d won, and he did too. He was standing beside the car as I pounded to a stop.

“Two scoops!” he cheered. At least he had the decency to be breathing hard himself.

“Two scoops,” I panted. “But I don’t want to hear ‘I’m not hungry at dinner,’ got it?”

“Right.”

It took a couple of minutes to secure the bicycle to the bike rack and towel myself off. I flung the towel over the seat to protect it and collapsed into the car. I picked up my glasses from the dash so I wouldn’t be a road hazard, slipped them on, and started the car.

“Ms. Carolyn is going with us, so you be polite, okay?” I warned him as we crept through the park.

“I will.”

I wheeled the car into the parking and circled around, waiting while she backed out and pulled in behind us. I led her through town for about ten minutes before pulling into Coffee and Cream, Carolyn’s Mustang pulling in right behind us. I led her to the entrance and held the door for her.

“Smells good,” she said, taking a deep breath.

“Can I have a banana split?” Bailey asked.

“No. That’ll ruin your dinner for sure. Two scoops, that’s it.” He sighed in disappointment as he inspected the available flavors. I turned to Carolyn. “He’ll probably be a minute if you want to order.”

She smiled at me sheepishly. “I’ve never had an espresso, so I don’t know what’s what.”

“Never?” She shook her head. “Want me to order for you?”

“Would you mind?”

“You like coffee?”

She bobbed her head side to side. “Enough.”

I nodded. “Two double shot chocolate cappuccinos and two scoops of ice cream for him,” I said with a nod at Bailey.

“Sounds fancy.”

“I don’t know about fancy, but they can be addicting,” I said as I swiped my credit card. We sat down as Bailey took his cone and joined us.

“What flavors?” I asked.

“Moose Tracks and Cookie Dough.”

I spent a long moment trying to convince Bailey to share his cone, with no success, while we waited on our espressos to arrive.

“Just a taste,” I begged.

It was a running joke with us that if he was eating something sweet, I would try to convince him to let me have a taste and he would refuse. Carolyn watched our teasing banter, her eyes flicking back and forth between us, a small smile on her lips.

“You wouldn’t like it,” Bailey said, holding the cone away from me.

“Come on, just one lick.”

“No. Get your own.”

“How about one for Ms. Carolyn then?” I suggested.

“I’d love a taste,” she added, getting in on the game.

Bailey hesitated. He knew I was kidding so he didn’t mind telling me no, but he wasn’t as sure with Carolyn. She grinned at his sudden hesitation.

“I’m kidding,” she said to let him off the hook.

“Two double shot chocolate cappuccinos,” the barista said as she placed the cups in front of us.

“Fine! I’ll just drink my coffee,” I said as I smiled up at the woman and nodded in thanks.

“There’s a heart in mine! And a leaf in yours!” she exclaimed, the surprise and delight in her voice clear.

“Little works of art,” I confirmed. I was charmingly amused by her reaction to the espresso art.

She brought the small cup to her lips for a tentative sip. “Oh wow, that’s good.”

I tasted my own. The coffee was thick and rich with just the right hint of chocolate. I’d been here for ice cream with Bailey, but this was the first time I’d tried their espresso, and I was impressed. This place knew what it was doing.

“Next time you can try a latte and see which you like better,” I suggested.

“What’s the difference?”

“The simple difference is with a cappuccino, you add milk to espresso, but with a latte, you add espresso to milk.”

She sipped again. “It would have to go some to beat this. I always thought of the ‘double, double, chocolate frappuccino latte grande cappuccino espresso’ as some hipster drink, but this is really good.”

I snickered. “Did you just put every word you knew dealing with an espresso into a drink name?”

She grinned back at me. “Yeah, pretty much.”

“It doesn’t have to be. Places like this,” I said with an obvious look around, “are kind of like craft breweries. They focus on the craft for the love of it.”

“Something else I’ve never tried. Are you into craft beers?”

“No, not really. An espresso is more my speed. If you like beer, you should try Carolina Ale House. The food is terrific, and they have a Citrus Blonde that everyone raves about. I tried it, and for a beer, it wasn’t bad,” I hinted.

“Maybe I will.” She smiled at me and my heart fluttered a little.

She’d turned me down for dinner once already, and I was wondering if I should invite her again when her phone rang. She glanced at her purse but made no move to retrieve the phone.

“If you need to take that,” I offered.

“Sorry,” she replied as she dug for her phone. She pulled it from her purse and frowned at the screen. “What do you want?” she asked, all the warmth gone from her voice.

That was a strange way to answer the phone, so I stared into my coffee to give her what privacy I could.

“I said no,” she hissed, looking first at me then Bailey, before rising, phone to her ear, and stepping outside.

I turned sideways in my chair so I could watch her as she spoke into the phone. I could tell by her body language it wasn’t a pleasant conversation. She spoke on the phone for about two minutes before she hung up, the hand holding the phone dropping to hang at her side for a moment before she turned to the door. I could tell immediately she was upset.

“I have to go,” she said as she approached the table.

“Anything I can do?”

“No. Thanks for the coffee,” she said as she violently stuffed her phone into the purse and snatched it off the chair.

I rose with her. “Wait! Can I call you?” She paused. “What’s your number?” I asked as I pulled out my phone.

“704,” she began as I typed. A moment later her phone rang. I hung up.

“There. Now you have my number.”

“Sorry. I had a good time, and thanks for the espresso, but I have to go.”

She turned on her toe and stomped toward the door. I followed, first opening the café door and then her car for her when she unlocked it.

“May I can call you in a few days? Maybe get together? You still haven’t tried a latte.”

She threw herself into her car, then all the tension seemed to run out of her. She looked up at me. She didn’t smile, but all the anger had been replaced with something else. Sadness or regret maybe?

“Yeah, I think I’d like that. Sorry about this…”

“It’s okay. Sometimes stuff happens. I’ll give you a call next week.”

A hint of a smile appeared. “Please do.”

I pushed the door closed and stepped back. She backed out of the parking spot, and when she turned out onto the road, she dropped the hammer on the car. Its tires howling in protest, she bellowed away down the road.

I watched until she disappeared. “Well, that was pleasant,” I muttered to no one.