See-See heard him and began to kick harder, her stride becoming shorter and faster instead of lengthening, like a taller girl’s would. There was a girl in a green uniform in front of her, from Clearspring, who was also trying to kick, but whose face was strained with exhaustion. The knobby-kneed man began to cheer along with her father and See-See’s arms pumped, reaching forward as she passed the Clearspring runner. Her jaw was clenched in a tight, perverse grin. The Smiling Scar, Stephanie thought.
“She’s a real competitor,” the man said. “Here comes another one.”
It was Aileen. She was obviously tired, but there was a lightness in her stride that hinted at hidden reserves of strength. When she finished, she stopped cold and then began to jump up and down on her kindling legs, nearly prancing. Stephanie felt oddly jealous as she watched her father guide Aileen and See-See out of the chute to congratulate them. Their faces were red with exertion. “There’s Lori!” Aileen cried. “Lori, Lori, Lori!” she chanted.
Lori staggered down the chute on her stuffed-doll’s limbs, her body seeming to move forward only by means of some rote memory of movement, not out of any real desire to do so. Runners from other teams breezed by and she didn’t seem to notice or care.
The clock read 26:50 when she finally crossed the line. Jessica finished thirty seconds later, looking even more worn-out than Lori. They were dead tired. Stephanie thought it should be the other way around; the top finishers should be the most wrung out, the most pathetic. Instead, the top finishers were now jogging in the soccer field in random patterns, occasionally kicking out their legs or pinwheeling their arms, as if their bodies were giant toys.
“Hey, do you mind keeping an eye on the boys?” her father said. “I’m going to take the girls on a cooldown.”
“Sure, whatever,” Stephanie said. He was barely making eye contact with her, a sure sign he was angry. But he had no right to judge her; she knew how he’d spent his night.
Spotted Mountain rose up beyond the playing fields. It wasn’t a particularly tall mountain, was perhaps not even technically a mountain, but it was known locally for its spectacular views. It was said that from the top you could see north all the way to Pennsylvania and south to West Virginia. Whenever people from school asked Stephanie where she was from, she had taken to borrowing her father’s phrase, “the skinny arm of Maryland”; that way people got the proximity to both states.
Halfway up Spotted Mountain was the Outdoor School, a sleepover camp that every kid in the county attended for a week during sixth grade. Stephanie remembered her week there so clearly; it was her first time away from home, away from her mother. She had been so excited to go, relieved to get out of a house dominated by two little boys, but her mother had been very emotional about their separation, making her promise to write every day. Stephanie had dutifully sent a postcard each morning before breakfast, but she didn’t read the letters her mother sent. She always meant to, but at the end of every day she was so tired from hiking and bird-watching and orienteering and cooking outdoors that she never opened them. Stephanie wondered now what had happened to those letters. Her mother must have found them when she unpacked her bags.
Her father returned, slightly winded, his forehead shining with sweat. He seemed happy.
“It’s a world away from football, huh?”
“You said it, I didn’t.”
Her father smiled, an old smile, like the ones he used to share with her when she was a little girl. For a moment, she forgot she was angry with him.
THE BUS TOOK them back to Willowboro High from Clearspring. Dean waited around at the school to make sure everyone got a ride home. See-See was the last to get picked up. Her mother drove a tan Toyota Tercel, an ugly termite of a car, but she acted as if she were driving a Ferrari, speeding into the lot and coming to a dramatic stop in front of the school. She waved to Dean but didn’t bother to roll down her window.
“Great race,” Dean said to See-See as he sent her off. She smiled so hugely at this casual compliment that he felt protective toward her. On the bus ride home he’d overheard her talking to the other girls about her mother’s latest boyfriend, a salesman who always wore striped shirts with white collars. The shirts seemed to be a black mark against him, but Dean had no idea why. He felt sorry for the salesman boyfriend — and for See-See. If he ever dated again, he would keep it a secret from his kids.
“I’m hungry,” Bryan whined. “Can we get lunch at Asaro’s?”
“Let’s go somewhere else.”
“But I want pizza.”
“I could go for Asaro’s,” Stephanie said.
Dean glanced at Robbie, who surprised him by raising his eyebrows and shrugging in an adolescent way, as if to say, What’s the big deal?
“All right, pizza it is. Give me a minute, I have to get something inside.” Dean tossed the car keys to Stephanie. “You can go ahead to the car, I’ll meet you.”
The empty parking lot sparkled in the midday sun, radiating heat. Dean felt a kind of satisfaction at how much had been packed into one morning. And at the same time, there was dread at the thought of the long, empty afternoon ahead. Was this how Nicole felt, on bad days? He still wasn’t used to weekends without her. And now Stephanie was back. He needed to get into a new rhythm with the boys, and she had jolted things out of sync. He’d been embarrassed to introduce her to the cross-country girls in her soggy shoes and wrinkled clothes. He had no idea where’d she slept. He didn’t even want to deal with the possibility of sex. But the girls didn’t seem to notice or care about her unkempt appearance, or maybe they expected her to dress that way, maybe that was her reputation: disheveled but smart. Dean didn’t have a clear picture of how Stephanie was perceived by her peers. She was one of those kids who moved in and out of lots of different groups of people. A good thing, he’d always thought. Or maybe it meant she was lost.
The gym was cool and dark, a sanctuary as always. His office, in contrast, was stale and hot. He opened a window to let in some fresh air and saw the football team gathering on the field for their postgame practice. His chest tightened with longing. They were just starting their day and had a long, sunny afternoon ahead. There was nothing better than working out after a victory.
He’d told the girls he’d run their practices for the next week, until their coach arrived, but he was already beginning to regret that promise. He had nothing to say to four mediocre girl runners. Still, he had admired the way See-See had finished her race with gritted teeth, a race that didn’t matter, a race neither she nor her team could win. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to do the same.
His whole life, he had always been on a winning team.
He began to search through his PE files, hoping to find something about running stowed away. It had been a long time since he’d bothered with lesson plans, so he was pleased to discover a list of several track-and-field workouts, as well as some xeroxed articles about stretching and the training habits of elite runners. There were also maps of the school’s cross-country course and nearby trails. He grabbed everything, stuffing it all into a manila folder.
When he came back outside, Stephanie had pulled the car around to the front of the building. He thought she would move to the passenger side as soon as he approached, but she stayed put in the driver’s seat.
“We’re not going to Asaro’s,” she said, leaning out the rolled-down window. “Robbie told me everything. How he’s been going there for lunch, how he got in trouble, how he’s seeing a psychiatrist.”
“Bry told her,” Robbie said.