Chapter 28

For the next several weeks, I just kind of existed. I got up. I went to work. I came home. I went for a walk, either around the neighborhood or on the treadmill. I played online for a while. I went to bed. Repeat.

I knew that Lisa at least made good on her commitment to keep working out. I occasionally saw her in the fitness center. At first, I let her be so as to give her some space. Then I let her be because it was just awkward otherwise.

Over time, we reached something of a mutual, unspoken agreement with each other. If I went to work out and saw her already there, I left and came back another time. Likewise, if I got there first, she came back another time. But we didn’t talk to each other.

In “The Shawshank Redemption”, Morgan Freeman’s character says that hope is a dangerous thing, that it can drive a man insane. Those times when we saw each other in the fitness center, or getting the mail, or just passing in the hall, helped me to understand the implications of that line. Every time we saw each other, we seemed to have a “moment” that offered just the faintest ray of hope. There was always a look that crossed her face when she saw me, a look that allowed me to believe, for just a moment, that she would end our mutual self-imposed exile and talk to me. But it only lasted a moment before she turns away.

One day, at work, my phone rang, and the receptionist, Marla, informed me that she was transferring a call to me.

“Hello, this is John, how may I help you?”

“John, this is Christine Garrett.”

I turned to my computer and started typing in a search to pull up Christine Garrett’s patient account. When it didn’t come up, I paused for a moment, then lightly smacked myself on the forehead. Duh, it’s...

“Um, Chris Garrett, Lisa’s sister?”

“Right. Right. Sorry, I was a little distracted there. How are you doing?”

She sighed. “I’m hanging in there. It’s been rough, but I’m hanging in there.”

In the pause that followed, I decided to throw it out there: “How is Lisa? Have you talked to her?”

“John ... truthfully, she’s absolutely miserable.”

“I ... see.” I couldn’t really see a good path away from that comment, so instead I asked, “How did you get me here?”

She snorted derisively. “It wasn’t easy! None of us had your number, and Lisa certainly wasn’t going to give it to us. I managed to find your LinkedIn profile and it got me the name of your company, so I went from there and looked for locations near Raleigh. This is actually the third number I tried.”

“Well ... you got me. What can I do for you?”

“Um ... okay, first, I promise this is not some kind of half-baked scheme to get you and Lisa back together. You won’t even have to see each other if you don’t want to.”

“Okay...” I said slowly. “I’m not really the one keeping that door closed, but if Lisa doesn’t want to see me, I’ll respect that. But anyway, what’s up?”

“A local running group is organizing a 5K race to raise money to be able to give away smoke detectors for free. I don’t know if you knew this, but a lot of the tenants in that building didn’t have working smoke detectors. That’s how the fire got so out of control, was no one knew there was a fire right away. They asked the fire department for permission to use R.J.’s name to promote it. We agreed, they agreed, and so I’m calling to ask if you would be willing to come to Cincinnati and run in the R.J. Garrett Fire Safety 5K. It’s over Memorial Day weekend.”