Huge thanks to WendyCR72, who was an invaluable sounding board for this chapter. It would not have come together nearly as well without her insight into the characters.


Chapter 5 – Passion

She ran, hard, for the first time in a long time.

The road that wound around the lake was often deserted, the vehicular traffic primarily limited to the residents of the shoreline properties. A person could walk for hours before encountering a car and Alex took full advantage of that, turning the weathered asphalt into her own personal racetrack. Errant pieces of gravel snapped, skittered and crunched beneath her feet as she pounded down the middle of the road, ponytail streaming behind her. The scenery on either side of her was a blur of motley green and blue, interrupted only occasionally by a mailbox or the narrow gap of a laneway. Birds darted across the road in front of her, alternating between banks of trees, disturbed by the clamor of her approach.

A few miles in, Alex wondered idly if lungs could actually explode.

She hadn't run much since the incident. Her injuries had taken some time to heal and she had hidden behind that excuse for as long as she could. Once she had received the green light to start exercising again, she had had the best intentions. She had brought her running gear out of the closet and placed it right by the front door, where it sat, collecting dust. What had once been her escape, her stress release, had become far too onerous a task. Running required energy and planning and ceased to appeal to her. At some point, unconsciously, she had given up on ever doing it again.

Until today.

Today, the fresh air, clear skies, and serene surroundings had re-ignited the itch. Her third day of teaching had gone well, and Alex was enjoying her role incrementally more each day. She was lecturing on a topic that she was more passionate about than she had ever realized, and that passion spread palpably to her students. With only a few exceptions, they appeared to soak up all her experience and knowledge like enthusiastic sponges. To offer value again, to be viewed as an expert and a resource, was intoxicating after so many months of feeling like dead weight. It energized her and the second she got back to the cabin, she had dug her running clothes out of the bottom of her suitcase and struck out.

She knew she was running far faster than was prudent given her lack of conditioning. She was hardly in the shape she used to be; too little structured exercise and too much time behind a desk, and it showed. Her lungs groped frantically for air and her shoulders burned as her arms pumped up and down beside her. If it hadn't been drowned out by the music blaring from her MP3 player, her breathing would have undoubtedly sounded heavy and ragged to her ears. Sweat stuck her clothing to her body like a second skin.

There were a few times that she was convinced she would have to stop, until an unexpected reserve of adrenaline was released into her veins. In those moments, her stride actually lengthened, and she covered more and more ground until she was flying. As her body neared exhaustion, her mind became blissfully blank and her soul felt light for the first time in ages. By the time she returned to her original departure point at the end of Bobby's laneway, her muscles were screaming, she thought she might vomit, and she felt better than she had in a very long time.

Finally acquiescing to the pleading cries of her physical body, Alex stopped for a moment to catch her breath before making the trek back up to the cabin at a walk, swatting at the mosquitoes that ravenously chased her damp skin. The late afternoon sun snuck through the branches above and a pair of frogs croaked at her from the safety of the sheltered forest floor.

When she reached the clearing, the sight of Faith's white Honda Civic parked between her rental car and Bobby's Jeep sucked some of the wind out of Alex's inflated sails.

Great, company. All I want to do is take a shower, sit on the deck with a glass of wine and read.

That had been their routine the last few days. She would arrive back from work and greet Bobby in his study, where he was often found frowning at his laptop, absorbed in his writing. They would make dinner together and then retire to the back deck that looked out, through a shield of trees, at the water. Sipping a glass of wine or a tumbler of whiskey, they made small talk about the day and then sat quietly or read until the sun set. It was oddly domestic for them. Before, there had always been a purpose to their time together, even outside of work. They didn't spend time just sitting in each other's company, reading or enjoying the peace of nature. Meals together were more often than not of the take-out variety at the precinct. The past few days, their time together was aimless and unscheduled.

And she liked it. It was comfortable, enjoyable even. And there wasn't a lot in her life that she could describe as enjoyable anymore.

Oh well. Not going to happen tonight I guess.

Acutely aware that she looked soggy and gross, Alex quickly calculated the likelihood of getting into the building without being noticed. The answer was slim to none – the front door and patio door both opened onto the great room. Short of climbing through her window, which would be ridiculous, she couldn't think of a single way to enter undetected.

Crouching down, Alex assessed her reflection in the side mirror of Bobby's Jeep. It wasn't pretty – her skin was blotchy, her neck was beet red and her hair was plastered to her forehead and neck. After wiping her face fruitlessly with her already saturated shirt, she managed to peel the soaked strands of hair off her skin and corral it back into a fresh ponytail. Straightening her attire as best she could, she stood and took a deep breath.

It's not a fashion contest. You just came back from a run.

Slapping on a bravado that she did not feel in the least, Alex trotted up the front steps, muscles trembling from overuse. Biting the inside of her cheek to keep from grimacing, she pulled open the screen door and plastered a wide smile on her face.

There was no one there.

To her surprise and relief, the kitchen and great room were both empty, as was the back deck. Alex was about to head over to the patio doors to see if she could catch a glimpse of them down by the water when her eyes fell on the door to Bobby's room. It was closed, for the first time during the day since she had arrived.

And based on the sounds of pleasure coming from behind it, it was definitely occupied.

Even though there was no one there to see her, Alex's face flamed red with embarrassment. She felt like an intruder, a voyeur, a superfluous, insignificant third party who had absolutely no business being there in that moment. Slowly, careful to curtail the creaking of the screen door, Alex reversed out of the cabin, skipped down the steps and took off into the woods.

The heaviness that had lifted from her shoulders settled back like a bird on a perch.


Forty minutes later, the sound of voices floating on the breeze from the direction of the cabin signaled that it was safe to re-approach.

During her directionless stroll through the woods, Alex had rehearsed her plan. She would breeze into the cabin without an apparent care in the world, call a greeting to the couple, wherever they were, grab a bottle of water from the fridge and beeline directly for the shower. No passing "Go", no collecting two hundred dollars. Absolutely no indication she had crossed that threshold once already. No halting for a chat that would undoubtedly turn awkward, at least for her. She was already exceedingly embarrassed at her inability to manage the situation the first time. No need to compound that by letting something stupid slip over the course of a conversation.

It was a good plan, albeit completely predicated on the assumption that they would be somewhere inside the cabin.

Which of course they weren't.

Shoring up her fortitude, Alex emerged from the forest out of sight of the cabin, roughly halfway down the laneway, and broke into a jog. To maintain the charade, she had to be at least a little sweaty when she floated through the front door. Just as she rounded the last curve into the clearing, she was absurdly thankful she had, because Bobby and Faith weren't in the cabin at all. They were sitting outside on the front porch swing, side by side, swaying gently. Faith was nestled into Bobby's side, his arm running along the back of the swing behind her, his thumb stroking her arm. The unanticipated sight of them right there made Alex take a jagged stutter step and nearly stumble over her own feet. Fortunately they didn't seem to notice, engrossed as they were in looking at something in a book on Faith's lap. Her hearty, cheerful laughter echoed clear as a bell through the clearing.

Of course, pretty much the only place in the entire cabin they could be where you won't be able to just slip past them without looking rude. Figures.

Faith was the first to greet her when she reached the bottom of the steps. "Hi Alex! How was your run?"

It was a slightly less enthusiastic greeting than their original introduction, but not by much.

Eager to look cool and collected, Alex bounded up the front steps two at a time. She nearly tripped over the top one and had to grab the railing to stop from falling.

Stop overcompensating Eames. Just act normal, dammit.

Pretending to be far more out of breath than she was, she swallowed a few times and then nodded. "It was great, thanks. Beautiful day for it."

"You just getting back now?" Bobby asked, sitting up and sliding his arm off the back of the swing. She may have been imagining it, but she thought she could detect a slight anxiety in him over how she might answer that question.

How the hell does he always know?

"Yeah, yeah," Alex prattled, perching herself on the porch railing on the opposite side of the door from the couple. Her knuckles turned white as she placed the wood in a death grip. "Just now. It was such a nice day, I took my time. Plus I don't run as fast as I used to."

No, this time you ran faster. Unfortunately. If you had gone a more normal pace, maybe this whole uncomfortable scenario could have been avoided.

Faith frowned slightly, picking at a manicured nail. The motion made her elbow brush against Bobby's abdomen. "I'm envious you can still run at all. I used to be a runner too. Had to give it up a few years ago, too hard on the joints. It's yoga and Pilates for me from now on."

A second later, that slight frown melted away, replaced by a broad smile. "Hey, you should come to one of my classes while you're here. That would be fun! As my guest of course. Maybe you could even convince Bobby to join." She tossed a mock glare at her boyfriend, who merely raised his eyebrows and grinned in response. "I've never had any luck."

The mental image of Bobby doing yoga was so amusing that Alex smiled and agreed despite herself. "Sure, that would be great."

With a sigh, Faith pushed herself off the swing, using Bobby's leg for leverage. She looked effortlessly beautiful, clad in a flowing summer dress that accentuated her small waist and long legs. Her makeup was minimal, understated, the mark of a natural beauty. Feeling hideous in comparison, coated as she was in a crust of dried sweat, Alex subconsciously sucked in her stomach and sat up a little straighter.

"I should get going." Bending down, Faith reached under the swing to grab her purse and shove the book inside. "I'm already going to be late."

Alex tried to ignore the frisson of relief that tickled her. "Oh, you aren't staying for dinner?"

Maybe a drink and the deck are in my future after all.

"No, I wish." Faith slung her purse over her shoulder, lightly curled hair bouncing against her back. "I've got a work event tonight. Completely last minute."

Bobby rose, the chains of the swing groaning as they were freed from his weight. Faith leaned into him for a kiss and Alex averted her gaze, suddenly completely fascinated with the yellow caterpillar that was inching its way up the pillar beside her.

When they drew apart, Faith looked up at Bobby and cupped his face with her hand. The tender gesture made Alex's gut constrict as painfully as if she had been sucker punched.

"I'm so sorry I can't be there with you tonight, sweetie."

Bobby took her hand from his cheek and kissed her palm gently. "That's, uh, okay. I understand."

"What's tonight?" Alex blurted out, feeling the desperate need to remind them she was there.

Releasing Faith's hand, Bobby shrugged. "It's . . . uh, nothing important. It's just my editor is in town. She's got a boat docked at Portland Harbor. She's taking some friends out on the, uh, water and invited me to join. Thought maybe I could give her an update on how the book is coming along."

"I was just going for moral support." Faith nudged him with her elbow gently. "You know, Bobby. Not the biggest fan of social events." Leaning forward, Faith winked conspiratorially at Alex and mock whispered, "I've made it up to him, but I still feel bad."

Alex forced the bile back down her throat with a long gulp, gripping the railing so hard she was surprised it didn't splinter in her hand. Until then she had been quite successful at blocking any intimate images of Bobby and Faith from her conscious mind, but with that comment some broke through unbidden and made her feel nauseous and vaguely despairing. At least Bobby also had the good grace to blush and look uncomfortable.

A realization seemed to dawn on Faith suddenly. "Hon, why don't you take Alex instead?"

Bobby appeared as startled as Alex felt at the suggestion. Furrowing his brow, he glanced only quickly at Alex before returning his eyes to Faith.

"No, no. That's, uh, okay. I'm fine, you know. I'm sure that's the last thing Alex would want to do tonight. She worked all day."

What am I, eighty? I can't work all day, and then go out at night?

Bristling slightly at the weak excuse on her behalf, Alex folded her arms across her chest. "I'll go. Sounds like fun."

It didn't particularly, as the back deck and a glass of whiskey were still calling to her, but she wasn't about to admit that.

Bobby cleared his throat and seemed about to protest when Faith shot him a hard look. It was a look that Alex herself had directed at him a million times before. He had known that look well, and the majority of the time he had trusted her enough to back down when he caught it. She couldn't confidently say she had that power anymore, but Faith certainly did. Dropping his eyes, Bobby pressed his lips into a thin line and said nothing.

"Great! It's settled!" Faith stepped forward and wrapped her in a tight hug. Alex was proud of herself for not stiffening perceptibly, as the knowledge of what had transpired between her former partner and Faith not long before made that close contact highly uncomfortable. "I feel so much better, knowing he will have some company. Thank you."

When Faith disengaged, Alex pushed the icky feeling that had raced up her spine back down to her tailbone. "No problem. I've been wanting to get out on the harbor anyway, see Portland from a different angle. Everyone at work tells me that's a must-see before I leave."

That much was true at least.

"You'll love it!" Reaching up, Faith gave Bobby a final kiss before stepping back and drawing her keys out of her purse. "I'd better dash. Have a great time, both of you."

As she passed on her way down the stairs, Faith gave Alex's shoulder a warm squeeze. "Take care of him for me. And don't keep my man out too late."