Enjoy!

Running is Such a Me Thing

Honestly, between you and me, running was something I thrived at doing. I was as they say a runner, a track star… whatever. I looked down at my phone and it was the same person it had been for thirty-three days.

Penny Owens-Evans.

She actually hyphenated her name.

I would have answered but I didn't know what to say or why she called so incessantly. She was like a bloodhound on the hunt and she locked in on my scent. She would leave the same voicemail- that she needed to talk to me and that it couldn't be via text. That was all I needed to know, Sam had told her s out the kiss and she wanted to verbally tell me to stay away from her husband.

I hadn't talked to Sam since that night either. He didn't reach out either but I just assumed there was an unspoken agreement that we wouldn't talk anymore since I almost ruined his wedding.

I watched the phone go to voicemail but this time she didn't leave a voicemail. She called again and I sent it to voicemail before texting her.

MJ: in a meeting

PO: it's important, you need to answer my call.

MJ: can you call around 5?

PO: honestly, no. I've been calling for a month straight

PO: answer

PO: please

She started calling again and begrudgingly I answered.

"Hi!" I answered, trying to sound happy.

There was some rustling before Penny cleared her throat. "Can you hear me?"

"Yes, what's up?"

"How are you? You kinda disappeared on us."

"I…well, I ended up getting a promotion that required relocation. Anyways, what's so urgent?"

"Well… how soon can you get back to Nashville?"

"Penny, what's going on?"

There was a long pause. "It's Sam… something's wrong. I think he wants to tell you himself but can you meet us at his parent's tomorrow?"

I blinked, wondering what would prompt him to have Penny call me before the worst scenarios started to play in my mind. Various different situations where Sam was either dead or worse… she was pregnant.

I shook my head, forcing myself to remove the notion that her being pregnant is a bad thing. They were, after all, married.

"You there?" Penny asked, forcing back to reality.

"Ah, yeah… I can be there around noon-ish." I reply and I can hear her muttering something.

"Perfect! I'll have brunch prepared. See you then!" She said before swiftly ending the call.

I look at the phone before narrowing my eyes and frowning wondering if I'd just gotten played. I look at my watch, seeing if I left now I would actually make it around ten giving me just enough time to mentally prepare myself for whatever that's waiting for me there.

So it was, I found myself back in the seat of my old Ford, chugging along the interstate toward Nashville, with the heavy weight of uncertainty pressing in on me. The road stretched out endlessly before me and the monotony of the drive provided ample time to get lost in my thoughts. The kiss with Sam was supposed to be a close book, a drunken mistake swept under the rug. Yet, here I was, heading back toward him like a moth drawn to an unwelcome flame.

The lights of Nashville sparkled in the distance as I pulled off the freeway and onto the familiar backroads leading to Sam's parent's house. The whole way, my fingers twitched with the urge to call him, to try and figure out what on earth was going on. But I squashed that anxiety down, reminding myself that he'd had every opportunity to reach out if he wanted to.

Pulling up outside the sprawling farmhouse where countless childhood memories resided felt like stepping into an old photograph.

The house hadn't changed much. A lick of modern paint, a revamped porch… but it was essentially the same place I grew to love as a child. It was here we built pillow forts, held impromptu summer barbecues, and where Sam and I shared many secrets under the old oak tree. As I stepped out of the car, a bitter nostalgia washed over me—bitter because while the house was still warm with memories, it no longer felt like home.

"Hey!" Penny's voice rang out as she swung open the front door, clad in an apron dusted with flour and hands stained with what looked like blueberry juice. "You made it!"

I squinted against the mid-morning light as I made my way up the cobblestone walkway. "Yeah," I nodded, trying to keep any hints of unease from my voice. "Traffic was lighter than expected."

Penny disappeared back inside for a moment before reemerging with a tray filled with glasses of lemonade. The sight was so quintessentially Penny that I couldn't help but smile, my mind momentarily diverted from the mystery of Sam.

"Come in, come in!" she beckoned, turning to lead me inside. As I stepped over the threshold, the familiar scent of home-cooked meals and aged wood greeted me.

The dining table was laid out with an impressive spread of brunch dishes: stacks of pancakes, a bowl full of fresh fruit, crispy bacon strips and clouds of scrambled eggs. Penny had truly outdone herself.

I took a seat at the head of the table, my usual spot when we were kids. It used to be Sam's spot before he gave it up for me as some kind of childhood truce. I glanced around the room, half-expecting him to pop out from the kitchen or saunter down the stairs at any moment. "Where's Sam?" I asked, feeling my heart jump into my throat.

Penny's smile faltered slightly, her fingers tightening around the edge of the tray. "He's…he's just running a bit late. But he'll be here. He told me to tell you to start without him."

I frowned, my fingers playing with the hem of my shirt. It was unlike Sam to be tardy, especially for something as important as this — whatever this was supposed to be. But I swallowed my unease and took a sip from the glass, letting the sweetness of the lemonade wash over my tongue.

We ate in silence, Penny making small talk about the weather and her recent attempts at gardening while I nodded along. My mind was elsewhere though, replaying our last interaction that night at their wedding — that stolen kiss in an empty hallway. The memory was vivid, almost painful in its clarity and it did nothing to quell my rising nerves about this meeting.

"So…" Penny said. "You never did tell me why you got so drunk at our wedding. very unlike you from what Sam explained."

My fork stilled mid-air as I turned to look at her, the unexpected question catching me off-guard. Penny, with her soft doe-eyes and seemingly innocent demeanor, had just touched upon a subject I'd deftly sidestepped for so long. "Yeah... well," I began, putting my fork down and eyeing the half-eaten pancake on my plate. "I guess it was just one of those nights."

Penny's gaze intensified, but she nodded slowly, accepting my vague explanation. Her eyes flickered to the empty chair where Sam should have been sitting, a strange mix of concern and determination etching itself onto her face. "It's just that Sam seemed so... off that night too," she added softly.

I felt my heart lurch in my chest - had she figured it out? Had Sam told her about the kiss? The tension hung thick in the air as I nodded, struggling to find a nonchalant response. "Weddings could be stressful," I said, offering a weak shrug. A moment of silence settled between us, interrupted only by the soft ticking of the kitchen clock.

Suddenly, the creaking of the stairs echoed through the house, breaking the unbearable quiet. My heart pounded in my chest. Panic shot through me, but I kept my face as neutral as possible.

"Hey," came a familiar voice from behind me. I didn't need to turn around to know who it was.

"Sam," Penny acknowledged, her eyes moving past me towards her husband. "You're late."

"Yeah, sorry about that," he said, his voice slightly hoarse. He moved into my line of sight, looking slightly disheveled and unusually pale.

"Are you alright?" I asked before I could stop myself.

"I'm fine," he responded quickly, almost too quickly. He averted his gaze before adding, "Just didn't sleep well."

As we sat in silence, Penny seemed to study her husband with a mixture of worry and curiosity, her brows furrowing delicately. "Well, now that you're here, we can all eat together."

Watching Sam from across the table was like watching a ghost of his former self. The lightness in his demeanor was missing and replaced by something heavier, something burdened. His eyes held a distant look as he pushed the food on his plate aimlessly.

Penny tried to engage him in conversation but he was mostly giving vague responses, his mind visibly elsewhere. It made me uncomfortable, this unfamiliarity in someone so familiar.

Dessert was served - Penny's famous blueberry pie, warm and steaming, the sweet scent wafting through the room. It used to be Sam's favorite but he merely picked at it with his fork. By this time, even Penny had started looking at him with concern.

"Sam," she said gently, laying down her fork and reaching across the table to take his hand. "We shouldn't keep her waiting…"

I felt my breathing become shallow before I could think to stop the words started flowing out of my mouth. "Look Penny, I am so, so freaking sorry about what I did and I don't want you to be mad at Sam. In truth it was all my fault- I was so damn drunk and I don't usually drink… well not that much and it just-"

"Mercedes!" Sam said, stopping me from my rambling. "I'm sick."

well I'm glad he stopped her rambling lol

Y'all give me some song suggestions! I'll try to add a few!