I buried my face in my hands before heading to my room to get ready. Faye…I love you, but why must you make my life so much harder?
It was finally warm enough for me to wear capris so I grabbed a pair along with a short sleeved light blue tee and some sneakers. I appraised myself in the mirror. Flat, lifeless wet hair. Dark circles under my eyes. Boring clothes. Did I own anything that wasn't a solid color? What on earth did Jon see in me?
When I got to his house and saw the garish paint job I knew what my next experiment pushing my physical limits should be.
"I want to paint your house next weekend," I announced once he opened the door.
His brow creased with concern. "Are you sure you're ready for that?"
"I need to get used to moving again," I explained. "I already tested myself at the shelter today and it wasn't so bad. I need a bigger project to try."
"What if you're in so much pain that you fall off the ladder?" he fretted.
"I'll be fine! Please?" I drew out the word and clasped my hands together, the very picture of begging.
I needed to do this. If it worked, I could go to a regular gym. Then back to the free running gym. My desperation to get back to that part of me grew stronger with every passing day.
"Loriiiii," he complained. "How am I supposed to resist that face?"
Throwing all dignity out the window, I increased my begging. "Please please please please please please please plea—"
"Okay! Just stop with the puppy dog eyes, I can't handle it!"
To reward his acquiescence, I beamed at him. He seemed momentarily dazed before calling to the girls that it was time to go. They both threw themselves at me and told me about everything that had happened to them since I saw them three days ago as we loaded them into the car.
Of course a Kelly Clarkson song would come on as soon as he started the engine. I tried mumbling the words under my breath but he caught me.
"Are you singing?"
"No," I said as a reflex.
"You are," he said in awe.
My face was uncomfortably hot. "No I'm not!"
His expression turned devious. "Faye told me about this."
Oh no. He produced a Kelly Clarkson CD from the glove compartment. I was flabbergasted. "Why do you have that?!"
"It's Ariana's, she left it here a while ago," he said innocently. "Kaylee likes it, don't you Kaylee?"
"Yeah, let's listen to it!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "I wanna hear Lori sing!"
I facepalmed. "You're terrible, you know that?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Jon said with a smirk as he put the CD in.
I tried holding it in. I really did. But years of habit broke through my embarrassment and I found myself singing along with Kaylee. I sounded terrible and I kept laughing because I could just tell that Jon was trying so hard not to laugh. I couldn't remember the last time I'd laughed like that.
Cindy was bouncing in her seat repeating the word "giraffes" excitedly when we pulled up and jumped out of her booster seat and shot off through the parking lot before we could stop her. Jon yelled after her but I stopped him from chasing.
"I've got her!" I hollered back at him. I was faster and someone needed to stay with Kaylee.
I zigzagged through the cars, looking around frantically. Where was she? I spotted her looking around the parking lot, probably realizing she'd lost us, and was powerwalking to her when I saw the truck. It was raised so high off the ground there was no way the driver would see someone so small in the way.
"CINDY!" I screamed.
Without thinking of who could be watching, I sprinted towards her and dove, cradling her to my chest as I somersaulted us out of the way. A sharp stab to my abdomen showed that I definitely was not ready to parkour again. I wanted to curse but because of the tiny ears listening I moaned in pain instead.
Cindy looked up at me with wide eyes. "Lori, you're a superhero!"
"Nnnngh," was all I could manage. I was still dazed by pain and overcome with adrenaline.
Jon and Kaylee finally caught up to us. "Lori, what happened?!"
Cindy hopped up and tugged on her father's arm excitedly. "Daddy, daddy Lori's a superhero! The truck was coming and whoosh! She did a flip and pulled me out of the way!"
"Is this true?" Jon asked me with worried, inquisitive eyes.
I was still groaning on the ground. "It was more of a roll than a flip."
He shook his head in disbelief before realizing I was still on the gravel. "You're hurt! Here, let me help you."
He gingerly wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me to my feet. That hurt too. I moaned again and swayed on the spot. "You need to sit down, come on."
He led me to a bench and I sat there with my head in my hands trying to regain equilibrium. I could make out bits and pieces of Jon's lecture.
"…very dangerous, you can't go running off like that. You could have been hit by that car. I know you're excited but you need to wait for a grown up…"
"Lori?" a quavering little voice asked, making me look up. Cindy had tears in her eyes. "I'm really sorry you got hurt! Thank you for helping me." She sidled up next to me on the bench and buried her face in my shirt.
I wrapped an arm around her and rubbed her back. "It's okay, you didn't know. You'll stay with your dad or me next time, right?"
"Yeah," she hiccupped. "You aren't mad at me?"
"No, I'm not mad at you. Let's go look at the giraffes together, okay?"
She looked up at me with such adoration that I almost forgot about the pain. She really was a sweet kid. I hauled myself to my feet with only a slight wince and held out my hand to her. She grabbed it eagerly and pulled me towards the ticket stand. I looked back at Jon and he smiled indulgently before joining us.