A Reason to Run (The Camdyn Series Book 1)

by Christina Coryell

  Best. Day. Ever!!!

  Hopping out of bed and looking in the mirror, I performed a little victory dance, pumping my fists in the air. I was completely energized and ready to tackle the day.

  I needed somewhere to run.

  I threw on the t-shirt and jogging pants I had on the night before, gathered my hair into a high ponytail, and searched through two suitcases until I found my running shoes. I opened the door to the bedroom tentatively to make sure I wouldn’t wake Rosalie, realizing I shouldn’t have worried because she was already banging around in the kitchen.

  “Good morning, Rosalie!” I practically sang.

  “Well, good morning,” she said, glancing over at me. “I thought you might forget about breakfast, since you were up so late.”

  “No, ma’am, I’m an early riser,” I told her. “Is there a track or a trail, someplace to run, near here?” She told me that she usually walked up to the gravel road that was about an eighth mile north. There wasn’t much traffic there, so I wouldn’t have to worry about meeting cars, although I could encounter some wildlife.

  “North?” I asked, pointing to my right. She shook her head, and I pointed the other way. “I’ll be back before breakfast!”

  I opened the front door and stepped out into the sunshine, jogging past my car, up the driveway, and finally onto the blacktop. The eighth mile flew by pretty quickly, but when I reached the gravel road and realized it was a muddy mess, I continued on. I never jogged on a country road before, so I made sure I looked behind me often whenever there was a curve ahead. Only a few cars passed, and a school bus, so there was probably no reason to worry. I ran to the low water crossing that Rosalie had mentioned the night before, which was nothing but a small creek under the road. Glancing at my watch and realizing it had been 20 minutes, I turned and headed back to the bed and breakfast.

  The glare of the sun’s reflection off the wet pavement made me wish I grabbed my sunglasses, but instead of being annoyed I just smiled and soaked up the rays. I passed a pond with three black cows standing nearby, and two of their heads swung in unison to look in my direction. I waved cheerily, listening to the birds chirp overhead. This really was a beautiful place, so quiet and peaceful. Trina was right - this was just what I needed.

  Upon reaching the eighth mile gravel road, I decided to sprint the rest of the way to the bed and breakfast. I had almost reached the driveway when I heard a horn blaring, and I saw Cole’s truck pulling in. For a split second I was excited, and then my brain went into full panic mode as I realized I was wearing the same clothes as the night before and was bound to be a sweaty mess. I slowed my pace and reached his truck door at the same time he swung it open.

  “Do you always run so fast, or was something chasing you?” he asked with a smirk. I pretended to stretch while I struggled to make my breathing sound normal.

  “I wish I had been a little faster,” I said, squeezing in a deep breath, “so you wouldn’t have seen me wearing these same clothes again.” He looked even better than he had last night, in his light blue t-shirt with a hardware company logo and dark wash jeans. I silently wished I had channeled my nervous energy into dancing in my bedroom rather than jogging for miles.

  “I’m surprised to see you at all. I figured you would still be sleeping,” he told me, closing the truck door. “The guys who I work with usually meet me here before we head out. I wish I hadn’t planned anything for today - I would show you around.”

  Ah, that smile. I could die right now, here in this driveway.

  “I’ll probably just go to the library, and I doubt even I could manage to get lost there.”

  “I wouldn’t think so,” he said quietly, grabbing my left hand and rubbing his thumb gently across my fingers one by one. “I’ve been pretty hard on myself this morning, for being such an idiot last night.”

  “How, exactly?” I tried again to slow my breathing and prayed that my appearance wasn’t half as bad as I imagined.

  “I should have kissed you,” he stated. “I really wanted to, but…” He let my fingers slide out of his hand as another truck containing two men pulled into the driveway. I watched as the driver threw the truck into park and flung his door open.

  “Duty calls,” I told Cole. “I better go in anyway, Rosalie was making breakfast.” I turned and walked toward the house, my fingers still tingling where he had touched me.

  I apologized to Rosalie if I was late, and then told her I would be just a minute while I freshened up. I washed my face and hands in the bathroom sink, and then went to the bedroom to check my phone. By that time, I half expected to hear from Trina, but I had no messages. I supposed that wasn’t surprising, since there was no signal at all.

  When I heard the front door swing shut, I thought I heard Cole ask Rosalie if the guys could stay for breakfast. It would have been nice if I had more time to make myself presentable, but I knew there was nothing I could do at this point. I happened to spy his phone number on that slip of paper again, and I quickly tore a corner out of my planner, writing my own number down. Leaning against the wall, I took a deep breath and reminded myself to be calm before I headed out to the kitchen. I came around the corner to a table filled with bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, biscuits and gravy, and fruit.

  “Please tell me you didn’t make all this for me,” I remarked to Rosalie with wide eyes. She assured me that she always took leftovers to a couple of older gentlemen who lived just a couple miles away, so not to worry. Besides, it sounded like Cole and the boys were staying anyway. She asked me to pull three more plates down and pointed to a cabinet, so I busied myself setting the extra places at the table.

  “Ah, Rosalie, I love you,” the older of the two men said with a sigh as he walked through the door. “If I wasn’t already married, you would be in trouble.”

  “Oh, go on,” Rosalie scolded him, wiping her hands on a towel. Cole and the other man, who looked to be roughly the same age, walked in behind him. “That’s Artie, and Jake over there with Cole. Boys, this is Camdyn.”

  “’Hey guys, why don’t we have breakfast first,’ huh Cole? Now this is all making sense,” Artie stated as he stepped forward and shook my hand. He was thin and tan, slightly scruffy with laugh lines around his eyes. He was wearing a red plaid shirt, which made me think of a mountain man for some reason. “We don’t get the dining room table, Rosalie? Not good enough for ya?”

  “I was making breakfast for one, Artie,” Rosalie said, swatting at him as Jake walked up to me.

  “I hope you’re going to be here a while,” he told me as he shook my hand. He was slightly taller than Cole, with light brown hair and blue eyes. I might have thought him handsome, had I been able to get Cole’s smile out of my mind.

  “A little while,” I said. He poured himself a cup of coffee and then moved over to the table while Artie walked into the living room and flipped on the television.

  “Artie, you know I don’t like the TV on during meals,” Rosalie barked at him.

  “I just want to see the weather,” he defended himself, holding up both hands as if surrendering.

  “Just for the weather, and then it’s off,” she stated.

  I moved to the bar to pour some orange juice into one of the glasses Rosalie had set out, and Cole stepped up beside me. I slipped the little piece of my planner into his hand, and he glanced over at me.

  “In case you feel the need to rescue someone,” I whispered. He smiled without looking at me and stuffed the paper in his pocket. I walked over to the table and found a seat, helping myself to some bacon, eggs, and fruit. Jake started asking me questions right away, such as why I was here and how long I would be staying. He also informed me that he would be happy to show me around sometime, at which point I told him I appreciated the offer but would be fine on my own.

  Artie and Rosalie talked about the health of some of their neighbors, and then the boys got into a discussion about the electrical work they were doing that day. I tried to focus on my breakfast, aware t
hat Jake kept staring at me across the table. Cole must have realized he was watching me, too, because he started asking Jake about something he had done over the weekend.

  I was only halfway paying attention to their conversation when Artie poked me in the shoulder and said, “Hey, that girl on TV looks like you.” I looked over my shoulder into the living room where one of the morning news shows was playing, and I nearly choked on my eggs when I saw Peter. I dropped my fork and my heart started pounding as I watched in horror.

  “You might have seen this viral proposal video,” the blonde anchorwoman said, “but there is so much more to this story. If you thought the girl looked familiar, there might be a reason. Perhaps you remember another clip we featured here over a year ago, from the World Series. Completely different proposal…same girl.”

  “Same girl?!” exclaimed the dark haired anchorwoman.

  “One and the same,” the blonde went on. “Her name is Camdyn Taylor. When we went looking for her, we discovered that she was really hard to track down. She has had several different addresses, and when we located her most current residence, the neighbors said she had suddenly disappeared.”

  “Oh no!” a male anchor chuckled. “Mothers, lock up your sons!”

  “Yes, America, you have been warned,” the blonde said in mock sincerity. “There is a heartbreaker on the loose.”

  Can’t be happening. Can’t be happening. How could I ever show my face in public again? The actual proposals themselves were not as bad as this humiliation! Mothers, lock up your sons, as though I’m a murderer or something! And Cole! I can’t bear to look at him. How could he not think I’m a complete and utter mess after that!

  “Looks like your fifteen minutes of fame are going to be pretty embarrassing,” Jake teased from across the table.

  I slowly turned my head back, fully expecting Cole to be laughing right along with Jake. I met his gaze, but he wasn’t laughing. He looked angry, or hurt maybe, it was hard to tell. I could feel all the blood draining from my face, and it was as though his eyes were boring straight into my heart. I racked my brain trying to come up with something clever to say, but I was drawing a total blank. Finally, he dropped his gaze to his plate, gave a wry smile, pushed his chair back and tossed his napkin on the table.

  “I’ll meet you guys at the job site,” he said brusquely to Jake and Artie, and then he strode out the door. I heard his truck door slam over the low din of the television, and then the motor roared to life as he sped out of the driveway.

  “You and that television,” Rosalie scolded Artie. “The weather… I can tell you about the weather. It’s sunny enough that you ought to be out working.”

  “Alright, alright,” Artie stated, pushing his chair back and standing up. “My apologies, but I had no idea that your friend was famous. You can’t blame me for that!”

  “Never mind that now, you boys just go on,” Rosalie said, standing and motioning them away the way you would swat at a fly. Jake took a biscuit in his hand and then stood up.

  “Looks like I have to go,” he told me. “The offer still stands to show you around, anytime.”

  “Thanks,” I muttered, feeling thoroughly defeated. This felt like the middle of a terrible nightmare. I wanted to drop my head into my hands and cry, right there at the table.

  “Thanks for breakfast, Rosalie,” Jake called. “I’m sure I’ll see you soon, heartbreaker.” He pulled the door closed behind him, and I turned in time to see Rosalie shaking her head.

  “You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” she told me.

  “I feel like I have.”

  “Well, don’t worry. These things have a way of blowing over faster than we think.”

  “I’m not worried. I’m just… Wow, he seemed really mad.”

  “He’ll get over it,” she told me. “That was just really unfortunate, considering.”

  “Considering what?” I asked. She sighed and sat back down.

  “When Cole left college, he came back here and tried to take up the same life he had before, including the same girlfriend he had in high school,” Rosalie explained. “Not long after that, he proposed, and she turned him down. So, he took off to Nashville.”

  “Wow,” I breathed. “He didn’t tell me.”

  “I guess that’s not the kind of thing you go around telling people,” she said, “just like you probably don’t mention those gentlemen there on the TV. But like I said, it will blow over soon enough. And anyway, these things always seem to have a way of working themselves out.”

  “I suppose so,” I mumbled.

  “In the meantime, I was going to try to get some of those things out of your way in the bedroom today, if you’d like.”

  “I’ll help you,” I told her, and together we started cleaning the kitchen.

  -§-

  Rosalie left to take the breakfast remains to her friends, while I showered and threw on jeans and a t-shirt. I had nearly forgotten about my head wound, but when I took off the bandage, it looked more like a scratch now. When I thought of how kind Cole had been to me the night before, and how angry that morning… Well, it was funny how things could change in the blink of an eye.

  As soon as Rosalie returned, we set about the task of cleaning out some space in Laura’s closet. After that, she started taking all those pictures off the wall, one by one. She talked about Laura, and about her son, Billy, who was in the Army. She told me that her husband had been in the Army, too, but he hadn’t made it back from Desert Storm. That was when she came back to her hometown to live with her mother in this house, eventually turning it into a bed and breakfast when her mother passed away.

  I listened as she talked about her life, stacking the pictures she handed me into a neat pile. For most of the ones from magazines she just rolled her eyes, but the personal photos sparked comments and sometimes stories that left me laughing so hard I was in tears.

  When we finished, she took a couple boxes of clothes into her own bedroom and asked me to put the photos on her desk. She pointed me in the right direction, and I slowly walked down the hallway into her office. I would have to go to the library soon, I reasoned, if for no other reason than to find some civilization and a phone signal. Trina would have been wondering about me by now.

  I set the photos on the edge of the desk and started to walk back out of the room when something on the corner of the bulletin board caught my eye. It was a picture of a man wearing the pants of a firefighter’s uniform with a navy t-shirt, with hat in one hand. I moved closer and realized it was Cole. It was a candid shot – he probably hadn’t even known someone was taking his photo.

  Maybe I should call him.

  No, that wasn’t a good idea. I was pretty sure he hated me right about now. Even if he didn’t, I had no idea what to say, especially after what I learned from Rosalie. I barely knew the guy, anyway, so why should I even care what he thought about me?

  I did care, though. I cared a lot.

  “Find it okay?” Rosalie called from another room.

  “Yeah, I’m coming!” I called. I was almost out the doorway when a wild notion overwhelmed me, and I circled back to pluck the thumbtack from the bulletin board, sliding the picture underneath my t-shirt. Rosalie met me in the hallway, making some small talk about how she needed to do some updates on the house. I listened to her, nodding politely for as long as I could manage before rushing into my bedroom. I sat on the bed, staring at the photo of Cole and thinking about missed chances, until I was afraid Rosalie might come around the corner. I pulled out my planner, stashed the photo in back, and then met Rosalie in the hallway to request directions to town.

  -§-

  It took about twenty minutes to drive from the bed and breakfast to the library. Rosalie was worried that I would need some lunch, but I told her I would pick something up while I was there. Instead, I snuck an apple on my way out of the house. I wasn’t really hungry after breakfast, and I had no idea if Cole and I were still on for tonight.

  I knew I
should be focusing on Willa – that was why I was here, after all – but my phone had six missed calls from Trina, so I knew she would be worried. Plus, I finally had a signal in the library parking lot, so I was afraid to move. I closed my planner to shove it into my laptop bag, and the picture fell out onto the passenger seat. I felt a sharp pang of guilt as I picked it up and stared at Cole’s image.

  You are a criminal.

  Only in a petty way, but still…

  Ugh.

  I hid the photo inside one of the pockets of my bag and punched in Trina’s number on my phone. It rang three times before she answered.

  “You are in big trouble,” she answered, not even bothering to say hello. “Why didn’t you return my calls? I’ve been worried about you.”

  “Hello to you too, Trina. I didn’t have a phone signal until now, or I would have called. Trust me, I wished I could have called you last night, or anybody for that matter.”

  “You are okay, though?”

  “It depends on what you call okay,” I said with a sigh. “If that means getting desperately lost and being rescued by the perfect man, and then spending hours with said man only to have it be screwed up by Peter, and then stealing stuff from a really nice lady like a common thief, then yeah, I guess I’m okay.”

  “You stole something?” Trina hissed. “Calm down and start making sense. Did you say you’re lost?”

  “I was last night, horribly lost. The power was out and I was on this gravel road, until Cole showed up.”

  “Of course you would get lost, even with an atlas. Who is Cole?”

  “Cole is…absolute perfection. He is funny and handsome and incredibly nice.”

  “Okay, this story is looking up.”

  “Oh, it was great, for a while. We talked for hours, and he asked me out, and then he showed up this morning for breakfast, and everything would have been fine if Artie hadn’t turned on the TV.”