by Naomi Niles
I suppressed a sigh. It seemed Canada was filled with people who liked to talk. “A year,” I replied. “Close to a year and a half.”
“Wow, that’s it?”
“Yes.”
“That’s amazing.”
“Is it?” I asked, turning to him.
“I’ve been fighting for almost four years,” he replied. “And, it took that long to get a contract. You must be good.”
I shrugged.
“Where were you discovered?”
“Vegas.”
“Nice,” he nodded. “I had three fights in Vegas. Almost got signed, too…but then I got knocked out in the second round and the scouts disappeared. Where did you get your start?”
“In the pits,” I replied.
Ryan raised his eyebrows. “You mean, illegal MMA?”
“I had to buy my way in,” I replied. “That was the only way to get my foot in the door.”
“I wouldn’t say too much about that,” Ryan said with a smile.
“I don’t say much of anything,” I replied.
He looked at me carefully. “Hmm…I can see you’re the strong, silent type. Women dig that.”
“I’m not here for women,” I said, my tone changing discernibly. “I’m here to fight.”
Ryan looked at me for a moment and then smiled. “I feel you,” he said. “It’s the same reason I’m here. But we all need a little release every now and again, don’t we? And, nothing gives you a release quite like a woman.”
I turned away from him and climbed into the ring next to us. It felt amazing to be standing there in the center of it. Even the black matted floor called out to me. I heard Ryan come into the ring with me and suppressed a groan. He was much too talkative for my taste, but it looked like I was going to be stuck with him, so I vowed to be as patient as possible.
“There’s Steven,” Ryan pointed out unnecessarily.
Steven joined us in the ring. “Are you boys ready?”
“Definitely,” I said before Ryan could speak.
“Good,” Steven nodded. “Then let’s get started.”
I had never had professional training before. Everything I had learnt had been in the annals of the underground where fighters had clawed at each other like rabid dogs in the gutters. I had learnt from my own mistakes, from keen observation, and from the pain of a hundred different wounds and bruises. It was an altogether different experience to stand under the bright lights of the gym, amidst the glossy equipment that would catapult me into the foreground of the MMA.
Steven was an excellent trainer and within the first twenty minutes, he had earned my respect. Even Ryan impressed me. When his mouth was shut, he was actually quite a worthy opponent and by the end of the day, I was actually happy to be training alongside him. We went through cardio, weights, and a dozen different reps in varying degrees of difficulty.
When my limbs had turned to jelly and my stomach was resisting the urge to dry heave, Steven had Ryan and I step into the ring to face off against one another.
“I want to see your technique,” he said. “Some fighters have strength, some have speed, and others have stamina. I expect both of you to have all three.”
By the time the sun had gone down, I was dead on my feet. It was through sheer force of will that I kept myself standing. Ryan was lying flat on his back across the ring, panting so loud that it was almost comical.
“Fuck,” he breathed. “Fuck, that was brutal.”
“What did you expect?” Steven asked. “A massage and a bubble bath?”
“We’re going to do this every day?” Ryan asked with wide eyes as he forced himself into a sitting position.
“Every day,” Steven nodded.
“Fuck me!” he said, collapsing onto the ring’s floor once more.
I smiled and wiped my brow with a hand towel that was now soaked through. Steven stepped out of the ring, jumped down, and walked towards me.
“You did well today,” he said. “You certainly lasted longer than Ryan.”
I nodded.
“You have all three,” he continued. “Speed, strength, and stamina. You also have intelligence, which means you can easily be one of the greats – you just need more training.”
“I’m committed,” I said.
“I can see that,” he nodded. “It’s in your eyes. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I nodded, grabbed my bag, and headed out. I was in the locker when Ryan came through with his own bag. “You didn’t tell me you were leaving, asshole,” he said, plopping down on the bench next to me.
“Sorry,” I mumbled.
“Where are you staying?”
“The program set me up with an apartment a few blocks from here,” I said.
“On Jamison and Elm?”
“Yes.”
“Nice,” Ryan nodded. “Same with me. It’s awesome that we get a place of our own, huh? And, we don’t even have to pay for it.”
I nodded wordlessly.
“So, you want to grab some dinner before we turn in?”
“I’m just going to get take out and head home,” I said.
“Oh.” I could hear the disappointment in his voice.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said, grabbing my stuff and heading out.
I picked up some Chinese food on the way to the apartment and the smell alone was enough to sooth my aching bones. It would be the first time in a long time since I’d had a warm meal.
Chapter Six
Brittany
“So, you ready for today?” I asked.
Lacey pretended not to know what I was talking about. “What do you mean?” she asked innocently.
“Umm…I thought we decided to start training this evening after our shift,” I reminded her. “You know, for the winter marathon.”
“Fuck,” she sighed. “I was hoping you had forgotten.”
I laughed. “Me and Danny both?”
“A girl can dream,” she huffed.
“Oh, come on,” I chided. “It’s not going to be that bad. It might even be fun.”
“Spare me the pep talk,” Lacey said with a roll of her eyes. “I’ve heard it before.”
I shrugged and poured myself another cup of coffee. Free refills were a perk of the job, and Danny never begrudged us coffee. In fact, he argued that it boosted productivity. It was definitely cheaper than Xanax.
“I can’t believe you’re so enthusiastic about this,” Lacey observed. “You hate working out as much as I do.”
“I know,” I nodded. “But I think I’ve been in sort of a rut lately. I figured getting out there and doing something different would help me a little.”
“And of all the things you could have done, this is the one you chose?” Lacey asked, fixing me with a judgemental glare.
“It was Danny’s idea,” I reminded her. “I just agreed to it.”
“Which makes you just as responsible, in my opinion.”
I burst out laughing. “Quit complaining,” I said. “It’s time to get on board. Remember the hot guys.”
“That’s the only thing motivating me to do this stupid shit,” Lacey nodded. “But I’m warning you now, if there are no hot guys at this marathon, I’m coming after you and Danny both.”
“Noted,” I nodded.
Just then, the door to the diner squeaked open and Talen walked in. He was dressed in the same hoodie he had worn the previous day. And again, he had it hiked up around his face and head as though he were trying to hide from someone. I could barely see his face as he passed us silently and slipped into the same booth he had used the day before.
“He’s a strange one, isn’t he?” Lacey observed, glancing over at him.
“I think so,” I nodded.
“Did you get much out of him yesterday?”
“Not really,” I replied. “I don’t think he’s the talkative type – not that he’d have much to say to me in the first place.”
“Please, most men have a lot to say to both of us,” Lacey
said. “In case you haven’t noticed, we’re hot as hell.”
I smiled. “Maybe he’s gay?”
“Look at him,” Lacey said dismissively. “He’s definitely not gay.”
“He could be married.”
“There’s no ring on his finger.”
“That doesn’t mean he’s not married,” I pointed out. “He might have lost it, or he might not be used to wearing one.”
“Nah,” she said, shaking her head. “He doesn’t look like the marrying type.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Okay, since you’re such an expert…why don’t you flesh out a back story for him?” I challenged. “I’ll take him his coffee.”
I left Lacey behind the counter contemplating Talen’s life story and headed towards his table with his coffee. He glanced up as I approached, but there was no smile on his face. His hoodie stayed firmly in place so that I only saw one bright blue eye that reminded me of the sea before a storm.
“Good morning,” I said. “Here’s your coffee.”
“Thanks,” he replied shortly.
“What can I get you?”
“The same,” he said.
“Just toast?”
“Just toast,” he nodded.
“Coming right up,” I said, before walking away.
I slipped behind the breakfast counter and popped in a couple of slices of bread. “Well?” I said to Lacey. “Have you got him figured out yet?”
“He’s a big guy…”
“Astute observation,” I smiled. “You should have been a detective.”
“Shut it, smart mouth,” Lacey said. “I’m not done.”
“I should hope not,” I laughed.
Lacey shot me a glare, and I raised my hands in deference. “My apologies, please continue.”
“Despite that serious demeanor of his, I can tell he’s young. Young, but experienced. He’s seen a lot of life, and he’s been through some tough shit. But he’s quiet, reserved… Doesn’t like talking too much… Not because he doesn’t want to, but because he can’t…”
“What?” I said frowning.
“He’s an undercover agent,” Lacey said conspiratorially. “He’s working for the government, and he’s trying to nail down this mastermind group of criminals.”
“In Quebec?” I asked incredulously.
“Exactly.”
“I think you’re overestimating how exciting this town is.”
Lacey laughed. “It’s just one possibility,” she said.
“Is there another one?”
“He could be a drug dealer.”
I laughed. “Not as great a story,” I admitted. “But it’s a little more realistic.”
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“What do you think his back story is?”
“Oh,” I said, glancing in his direction. “Well, you’re right, he is young. But experience has aged him. He’s lost people he loved early on and that’s hardened him to an extent, made him scared to open up and let people in. That’s why he’s so brusque with strangers… It’s just a means of self-preservation, a way to keep from getting hurt. He moved because no one knows him here, and he likes the anonymity. He likes being a passing ship in the night.”
When my eyes focused again, I realized that Lacey was watching me with one raised eyebrow. “What?” I demanded.
“Nothing,” she smiled. “It’s just, you’ve got this look in your eye.”
“What look?”
“You kind of like him don’t you?”
“No,” I said defensively. “I just… I was playing the game.”
“Sure, sure,” Lacey said. It was obvious I hadn’t convinced her. “It’s just obvious you’ve spent a lot of time thinking about him.”
“I have not,” I said, trying to make the claim sound absurd. “I’m just good at building back stories, that’s all.”
She smiled. “If you say so.”
I groaned. “You are infuriating, you know that?” I said as the beep from the toaster went off.
I popped the toast onto a plate and headed back to Talen’s table. I set it down in front of him, but he didn’t even look up. He just nodded in thanks and started eating. I turned and walked away, resisting the urge to look back over my shoulder. When he left the diner fifteen minutes later, a part of me breathed a sigh of relief. I wasn’t sure why I should feel relieved. I just did.
That evening after our shift, Danny, Lacey, and I headed down to a local high school track to begin training for the marathon. We were all tired out and Lacey complained persistently, but Danny and I were insistent.
I recognized that we were all feeling different versions of the same thing: we wanted to change the monotony of our lives. We wanted to find something purposeful to occupy our time. I wasn’t sure if this was it, but at least it was a start.
“Okay,” Lacey said, looking between Danny and myself. “What the hell do we do now?”
We were standing on the running track that circled the lush grounds. “Umm… I suppose…we start running?” Danny suggested.
“Uh, okay,” Lacey nodded.
“Wait,” I said. “Shouldn’t we stretch first…or something like that?”
“That’s a great idea,” Danny nodded. “Warming up. That’s what we need to do.”
“Oh yeah, this is going to go down well,” Lacey said sarcastically, as Danny and I proceeded to stretch out our arms and legs in an imitation of what we saw on television.
“We can stretch for ten minutes and then start running,” Danny said happily.
Inevitably, our ten minutes of stretching time turned into conversation. “So... Carrie called me,” Danny confessed, just as I was reaching down to touch my toes.
I straightened immediately.
“What?” Lacey demanded.
“Yeah,” he nodded, and I wondered momentarily if this was the catalyst for Danny’s desire to run this marathon. Maybe we were all just trying to expel our demons in any way we could.
“Why did she call?” I asked. “It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?”
“Three years,” Danny nodded. “Three years since we spoke last.”
“Geez,” Lacey breathed. “She contacted you?”
“She’s in town for a few days.”
“She wants to meet you?” I asked.
“She wants to meet me,” Danny nodded.
“And?” Lacey demanded. “Are you really considering it?”
“I would have if the diner had been doing better,” he admitted.
“What are you talking about?” I asked. “The diner’s doing great.”
“It’s managing,” he said evenly. “It’s getting by. We manage to break even and that’s a far cry better than what we were doing at the beginning. It’s the regulars that keep us afloat. Without them, I don’t think I’d be able to sustain the diner.”
“Danny…”
“I need to hire more people,” he continued, cutting Lacey off. “I should have renovated the diner two years ago, and I should have given the two of you a raise two years before that. But I just can’t afford to do any of it. It’s the reason we’re stagnant; it’s the reason we’re stuck in the same place.”
I could sense the frustration in Danny’s voice, spurred on by the reappearance of his ex-wife. I couldn’t help but sympathize. I knew what it felt like to be trapped.
“Do you know why she wants to meet?”
“Probably to see if I’m doing better or worse now without her,” Danny admitted. “It’s the only reason I can think of to contact an ex. It’s not like we left things badly…but things weren’t exactly good, either.”
Danny paused for a moment. “She’s engaged apparently,” he said.
Lacey and I exchanged a glance.
“His name is Curt.”
“Urgh,” Lacey said immediately. “Always hated that name – and I’m not just saying that.”
We both knew she was just saying that, and Danny smiled in app
reciation of the sentiment. “Is it wrong to want to beat her at life?” he asked in a small voice. “Is it just…too pathetic?”
“Of course not,” I said. “I know exactly what you mean. When anyone thinks you can’t or won’t amount to anything, it just makes you want to be as successful as possible just so you can rub it in their face.”
Lacey looked at me pointedly. “Are you talking about...”
“Yes,” I said, before she could mention his name.
“Living well is the best revenge,” she said. “Who said that?”
“Someone smart,” I sighed.
“Yeah…”
Danny let out a low breath. “I just… Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if I had something to look forward to, you know?”
Lacey put her hand on his shoulder. “What are you talking about?” she said. “We have this marathon to look forward to.”
The very absurdity of that sentence, especially coming from Lacey, made us crack up. And then we were all laughing and suddenly things didn’t seem quite so bad.
“Shall we start running?” Danny suggested. “I think we’ve stretched enough.”
“Sure thing,” we nodded and took off down the running path.
Twenty minutes later, all three of us collapsed onto the soft, downy grass of the main field. All I could hear for the first five minutes was the sound of our intermingled panting, creating a pathetic melody of sound.
“I think we did quite well for the first day,” Danny said.
I snorted with laughter. “Half an hour?” I reminded him. “And, that’s including the stretching.”
“It’s ten minutes more than I thought we’d last,” he said. “Especially with Lacey.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go home.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. They were the sweetest words I’d heard all day.
Chapter Seven
Talen
I had been waiting for the weekend. After one week of intensive training, it was nice to have a shorter schedule. Training on weekends started later than usual and ended earlier. It was the small respite my body needed.
I rolled out of bed and walked outside to the kitchen. This was the first apartment I’d lived in where the bed was actually placed in a completely separate room. It felt almost extravagant as I passed the living room on my way to the kitchen.