Chapter 1

Our garage is located separately from the rest of the house, approximately fifty feet from the back porch.

For years, it had been an area where we stored stuff we would never use again, along with a few garden supplies.

I had taken up running a few years earlier, but I found I needed a good place to cross-train and work out in the winter.

The garage became mine since we had too few rooms in the house to make an exercise room.

It took a while to clean the place, four or five months. I worked on it after work, on days off, and vacation days. A lot of old, unused items were thrown away from that garage.

Once all was said and done, I had a treadmill, exercise bike, yoga mat, hand weights, and an elliptical machine in the garage.

A heater, a couple of extra lights, and a tablet to watch shows I might be streaming at the time completed my setup.

My husband had his hobbies, and I had mine.

Naturally, I continued to run outside, using the garage for days, and I would cross-train or do some light yoga before or after a good run. I rarely used the treadmill, even on frigid days. Quite simply, I didn’t like running on it.

Eventually, the garage became a second home to me. By this time, Hubby and I had reached a point where we were coexisting. Meanwhile, our daughter had reached the independent teen years, where we rarely saw her, as she spent most of her time between school and staying at a friend’s house.

Still, I worried about her. I knew that hubby and I were nearing the end, and that even though she had grown distant from him, I knew things like that could take a toll. She was a very bright, laughter-filled, beautiful girl who was growing up to be a wonderful young lady – while I did not want to do anything that would stunt her growth, I also did not want to keep a failing family together.

There were a few times when she and hubby got into shouting matches, something hubby and I ourselves had long lost interest in. It was during moments like those that I felt even stronger that perhaps separating from hubby would be for the best before it was too late for her. Before it was too late for me.

I felt good spending time alone in the garage before or after a good workout. I even rearranged the garden tools to my liking and used them as a workspace for yard work.

One day, some friends of his gave us a new bed. Instead of sending the old one to the curb, I “temporarily” set it up in another garage corner. There were quite a few days when Hubby would be out working late, so I would spend the day in the garage working out or gardening, then sleep in the bed in the garage. It had become the ultimate she-shed!

Whenever I was training for a marathon, I would work out every day. Running days were done five to six days a week, seven during the plateau. The other days consisted of cross-training.

Most of my cross-training was done on the exercise bike, though once I set up the garage, yoga and hand weights became more consistent exercise tools.

I work mid-shift, so my workouts are usually done in the morning. Sometimes, they are done early in the morning.

I had my system set up for about two years and had gotten into a fairly comfortable routine. I start my run in daylight, do some cross-training afterward, and then head off to work.

It was not a perfect life, but it was very livable.

It was late spring. I finished my latest marathon a few weeks ago, with my sights set on two fall marathons. However, it was still too early to train for those, so I used this month to stay in running shape or do local, shorter distances like 5Ks or 10Ks.

This morning, I planned on running 4.5 miles. It was one of those rare mornings when Shelly was home, getting ready for school, as I prepared for my run. Hubby had already left for work.

At 14, Shelly had become relatively comfortable being around me in all forms. As a little girl, she liked walking around naked until that age when she became more “aware” and more reluctant to do so around Hubby.

But, when it was just the two of us, she showed none of those signs of shyness. On a lot of mornings, I could find her naked, walking to or from her morning shower.

This was one of those mornings, as she half skipped towards the shower, while I was filling up my water bottle already in my running clothes.

I glanced at her. Although only a freshman in high school, she was already developing into a stunning woman. Those who did not know her many times mistook her for an older girl, and I could certainly see why this morning. She held her head up confidently as she strode towards the bathroom, her unblemished body there for the taking of my eyes. I tried not to be too obvious but still caught a good sight of her.

She was, indeed, a beauty with her long, curly, dark hair that she was always carelessly tossing out of her eyes. She smiled at me and cocked her head a little bit. “Are you going out for a run, Mom?”

I nodded, putting the cap on my water bottle. “Planning on 4.5 today.”

She knotted her brow. “OK ... well ... be careful out there.”

I nodded and smiled, exiting the bathroom as she entered it and closed the door behind her.

I did not think much of what she had said until I got out there and realized that I had done a poor job checking the weather report and was caught by a “surprise” morning storm.

I managed to race into my garage a few moments before the storm hit.

The neighborhood lit up, and a crack of thunder sounded almost immediately. I heard a small scream outside the garage and peeked out to find a girl attempting to shelter herself under the awning, with little success.

“Come into the garage where it is dry, if you want,” I said as the rain drenched her further. She looked up at the sky, then at the road, which now contained sizable puddles, and nodded before going to me.

“Thanks,” she said as she dripped on the dirt garage floor. “That caught me by surprise.”

I grinned. “Me too.”

She looked over at me, then took a quick look around the garage. “You’re that lady who runs about every morning, right? I’ve seen you pass me a lot of times when I’m on my way to school.”

I told her I was.

“You’re Shelly’s mom, too, aren’t you?”

I told her I was.

She took another look around the garage. “Looks like you have a lot of other workout stuff here, too.”

I nodded. “I like to try to keep in shape.”

She smiled. “It works! I think you’re adorable, and many of my friends say so, too.”

I blushed slightly.

I had noticed her, too, on her way to school. She was a doll, with straight, dark hair that fell past her shoulders, smoldering, squinting eyes, a cute little overbite that gave her a perpetual pout, and a complete pair of lips that always contained a wry smile. She also had a pretty little body, which she never seemed afraid to show off in either little shorts or a skirt, both of which always seemed to show off a delicious rear. And always, she wore a shirt that showed off her tummy. There were times when I marveled that she was allowed in the school with that dress, but I certainly was not one to complain.

“Thank you,” I stumbled out.

She smiled. “Do you think we could run together sometime? I’m not that fast and mainly do it for fun, but I love running.”

“I would love to!” I spoke. “I’m not that fast, either.”

She grinned. “I’m May,” she said, sticking her hand out.

“I am June,” I said with a giggle, shaking her hand. “You are also drenched.”

May looked down at herself. Her shirt and skirt were dripping with water. “Yeah. I didn’t think it was supposed to rain today.”

“I have a heater and some extra shirts in here if you want me to dry your clothes and have a shirt to wear.”

She smiled and nodded. “Thank you!” she said, pulling her shirt off. May certainly was not a way one.

I had only seconds to marvel at her body before she put on one of my old running shirts. As I had said, she had a cute little body. I had no idea how old she was, but she was either a first- or second-year student in high school. Her budding little breasts had a nice tan line around them, her bush looked well-kempt, and she had a beautiful little behind.

Alas, it was hidden very quickly under that large shirt.

I kicked myself internally. I wondered what the hell was wrong with me. Here I was, checking out some teenage girl, for Pete’s sake. People got in serious trouble for that shit!

After donning the dry shirt, I put on a large t-shirt, peeling off my running shorts and sports bra. I then placed a couple of dry towels on the chairs I had set up in the garage. She took a seat with a smile.

“I like the setup,” May said with a smile, looking around the garage.

“Thank you,” I said. “It needs work, but it works for me.”

The rain was coming down out there. I apologized for not having a car to drive her to school – I had never had a car, so that was out of the question. She shrugged. “I only had a couple of classes today. I can make them up online or something.”

She stood and looked at my gardening supplies. I noticed the perfect imprint of an ideal behind the towel she had been sitting on.

“I hope you don’t think I’m being nosy or anything,” she said, returning to her seat.

“Help yourself and look around all you want,” I said. “Honestly, nothing exciting in here.”

She smiled and looked around. “I think it is very comfortable.”

We exchanged small talk for a while. The rain continued to pour.

She asked me a lot about running and the kinds of distances I ran, and her eyes widened when I mentioned I had run marathons.

“I want to run one when I get older,” she said. “I might look at doing a half, though. Think I am old enough to sign up for one of those. There is one in town, isn’t there?”

I nodded and told her about one that ran on the local recreation path, out six and a half miles, back six and a half miles. I had run it more than a dozen times.

Stepping out of my comfort zone, I offered to train with her. May readily agreed.

She pulled her phone out of her purse and, after a couple of moments, proudly said she was signed up for the race. We high-fived each other.

“Does your husband run?” she asked.

I shook my head. He had never shown any interest, nor had he shown any interest in my running exploits. Whenever I raced outside of town, I relied on a friend to drive us to the race. It helped that all of my friends were runners.