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Christ! she thought. Get a grip. You're not sixteen anymore. |
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But in spite of her good intentions, Kyna felt a ball of fire ignite low in her belly and her heart started to beat faster. |
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Cyrus's head came up and his eyes bore into hers with an intensity that was frightening. She swallowed hard and almost choked on a piece of lettuce. |
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Good God! she thought in amazement. Did he read my mind? Or hear my heartbeat? |
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But that was crazywasn't it? |
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They finished eating in silence and then checked into a very elegant Best Western Inn on the outskirts of Kalispell. While Cyrus was unloading the bags, Kyna collapsed onto the bed, threw her arms out wide and faked a loud snore. |
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"How come you aren't dead?" she asked. "I feel like I could crawl into a cave with one of those bears we passed and sleep till next spring." |
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He considered the question seriously. Why wasn't he tired? He'd run five miles that morning, traveled over tortuous highways for eighteen hours, and yet he felt like a caged animal. All he wanted to do was get outdoors and run. |
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"I don't know," he shrugged. "I'm just not." |
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"Well," Kyna said on her way into the bathroom, "I'm going to take a bath and go to bed. We're going to be back on the road early and I need my beauty sleep." |
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"I guess I'll do another five miles," he said to the bathroom door. |
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Cyrus found a pair of only slightly smelly black sweatpants and a navy turtleneck in his duffel bag and then dug his high-tops out of the Lincoln's trunk. To avoid being turned into road pizza by some passing farmer, he stuck to the high grass at the side of the highway until he found a gravel road that trailed off into the forest. As he ran, he kept his gaze fixed on the distant mountains and put his mind in neutral. The night air was cold, his breath came out in great white puffs, yet it filled his lungs like nitrous oxide, and except for the monotonous pounding of his feet, it was blissfully quiet. His sneakers had become magic carpets that allowed him to glide over |
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