Chapter 22

She grinned, sitting at the other end. “I do this twice a day. I should be.”

“Even in winter?” I asked. “It’s coming up real fast. We’re lucky the weather’s still so mild.”

We continued chatting for a few minutes before she said she had to leave. I replied, “Maybe I’ll see you tomorrow,” as she walked away, waving over her shoulder at me.

I did see her, but not quite the way she thought I meant it. After three times of being at the park when she was, I’d figured out she always ran the same route, in the same direction. I picked a spot in the trees along a blind curve in the path. That way, she wouldn’t be aware of me until it was too late. Then I waited. Several runners went past me, all of them involved in what they were doing—listening to music while checking their distances or step count on some app, from the look of it. As a result, they had no clue I was there.