Here and Now. Michelle Monkou

of Atlanta, dates of key political figures who had been students and the institution’s rankings in various athletic divisions.

      In other words, her feet rested on hallowed grounds. In her small way, she hoped to participate in making an athlete’s dream come through. She’d tried to do the same with Chase in much different circumstances and with negative results.

      Many evenings, after Chase had practiced, they’d talked about their future while sitting in the bleachers. Those were the days when they were giddy with their love for each other, turning up their noses to life’s realities. Back then, nothing seemed to be an obstacle. At least where Chase was concerned. She’d listened to his aspirations, bursting with confidence to be the world’s best sprinter. Then she hadn’t been in his life for his only Olympic experience. She could only imagine how his dreams and expectations skyrocketed.

      From the sidelines, she witnessed his popularity soar. Even though they had gone their separate ways, she couldn’t eliminate him completely. Endorsements paved the rapid path to his superstardom. He popped up in various advertisements featuring sports drinks, underwear, designer suits and even a mobile phone where he was calling his sweetheart to propose on camera. That ad she could do without seeing.

      “What brings you here?” Chase asked.

      “I might ask the same of you,” Laura replied.

      “Last I knew, you’d thought about following in your brother’s footsteps to be a doctor.”

      Laura shrugged. It was one of many career options that fizzled. Sounded good until she took a look at the curriculum.

      “Not to say that I’m not glad for the career switch. Gives us a chance to visit some unfinished business.”

      Laura shrugged again. His tentative offer taunted her, trying to lead her down a path that she didn’t want to go. Guess he wasn’t going to act as if they didn’t have a past. Good for him. Didn’t change much with her, though.

      “After I tore a tendon in the world games and couldn’t heal enough to make the last Olympic trials, I had to make a decision. The window was sliding shut on me,” he stated with a matter-of-factness.

      A slight change in his voice alerted her. She detected bitterness, maybe even remorse. His pain must hit him deeply for him to display those emotions with her.

      “Don’t count yourself out of the race,” she advised, fighting the natural urge to put her arm around him.

      “Always the optimist, right? May not have appreciated it, but it’s nice to hear. I didn’t count myself out. My body quit on me.” He sucked in his breath and exhaled with a heavy sigh. “A decision had to be made. I quit.”

      “You retired.”

      Chase shrugged off her correction. A class jogged around the field, his gaze followed their progress.

      “Are you in a lot of pain?” Silly question, but she didn’t want him to open the subject and now close the shutters around it.

      “Somewhat. Guess I’m turning into my grandfather who could tell when rain was coming because his knees ached. Actually, I was dead on with my prediction last Wednesday when we had that thunderstorm.” He grinned, adding a teasing wink.

      They had emerged on to the track field.

      “Wow!” Laura exclaimed.

      The stadium had groups of various athletes probably divided into their class sessions. For Laura, many hours waiting for Chase were spent seeing the good and bad with the male athletic egos, aggressive coaches and the many girlfriends. Unfortunately, many of those relationships didn’t survive. Multi-tasking wasn’t a priority.

      Chase had focused on what was important. She’d helped him, until he no longer wanted her help. She had to accept the sacrifice to walk away.

      A coed class noisily jogged past them. Some of the sweat suits had the lacrosse team logo printed down the leg. Two stragglers brought up the rear, earning them a very vocal reprimand from the coach. Yep, she had witnessed those heated discussions with Chase and his coach. She wondered if he’d felt pressure to retire, rather than lose his ranking.

      A flock of birds in arrow shaped formation noisily flew past them. Laura looked up at the sky, shielding her eyes in the process. She followed them until they disappeared from view.

      “What?” she asked, flustered to catch him staring at her.

      “Nothing.” He shoved his hands in his pocket and kicked at the gravel. “Getting used to seeing you.”

      Laura led the way to the bleachers. Chase sat beside her. Her pulse jogged a few beats faster. Thankfully, he left several inches of space between them. Otherwise she’d have to slide away from him for sanity’s sake. Regardless of what her mind logically concluded, her heart had a tendency to be weak. There was no need to test that with any casual contact of body parts. She touted her emotional strength, but she wasn’t that strong.

      “Don’t want you to feel uncomfortable around me,” Chase spoke, his gaze fastened straight ahead.

      “Shouldn’t be a problem. You’ve got your job and I’ve got mine.”

      “Mind sticking around after hours so the team can meet you?” Chase asked.

      Laura pretended to mull over the request. Let’s see. She had to go to the grocery store, head home and whip up her one-person meal, then catch the latest reality show. Boring. “Sure.”

      “Great. Let’s head back. I’ll take you over to your area.” He looked at his watch. “Folks should be heading out to lunch in a few minutes. Maybe we can catch a few of them. It’ll be a good bonding time for you.”

      They walked back to the building, down the long corridors where students milled. The various halls and offices had a honeycomb effect. She envisioned several instances where she’d be wandering the halls looking for the correct office.

      Chase stopped in front of an open door. “Since we’re now at my office, I want to give you something.”

      They walked in large area room where the receptionist desk stood as the gateway to various offices on either side. The block of offices and rooms housed the department of the entire coaching staff. One wall held the various bulletin boards all covered with colored papers announcing the meets, university information and other official news.

      Laura stopped near the receptionist desk. She could see into Chase’s office, which wasn’t more than a closet.

      “I’ll get it,” he said before entering his office.

      Chase wanted to re-think the birthday gift. His imagination had failed him, making him believe that giving a gift to an ex-girlfriend who happened to be working for him was normal. As he approached Laura and saw the suspicion cloud her face, he felt ridiculous. All he could do was act as if this was no big deal.

      “I know that I’m a day late, but I think it still counts. Happy Birthday.” He handed the box to her. Although shock registered, he noted the smile that tugged at her mouth.

      “I don’t know what to say.” She shook her head. Her eyes lifted from the box to his face. “Why?” She shook her head again before accepting the box. “Thank you.”

      Chase didn’t mind her bewilderment. He anticipated that his thoughtfulness would be unexpected. What he hoped against was her rejection of the gift. Not that it would deter him. He’d simply have to move to Plan B, whatever that happened to be.

      “Should I open it now?” She held the box on her outstretched palm.

      “Sure. It won’t blow up.” He attempted to lighten the moment. Thank goodness Sandy had left for lunch. He didn’t want to make a fool of himself in front of his secretary.

      He watched her pull off the ribbon around the box. Then she took a deep breath and removed the lid.

      “Lots of shredded stuff,” she remarked.