Race Across the Sky by Derek Sherman Page A

build up this energy by running, and it heals you? And I thought, I run. I just thought, I think he can teach me how to help her.”
    â€œHow far do you run?” Rae asked gently, prepared to explain.
    â€œI’ve done fifty miles.”
    Leigh looked to Rae and raised her eyebrows.
    â€œWhere’s her father?” she asked, glancing out the door at the small rental car.
    â€œNot with us. Todd left me right before she was born,” June explained plainly. “I got these mood swings . . . I guess I was kind of a beast.”
    â€œAsshole,” Rae exhaled.
    When Mack returned, he saw them and beamed beatifically; he had a way of smiling that brought a whole room to transcendence. Caleb had pulled himself away for a run in what was left of the mountain snow. Afterward, he looked for the woman and the baby.
    â€œHow long did they stay?” he asked Leigh as casually as he could.
    â€œThey’re still here. They’ve been in Mack’s room for a while.”
    Mack possessed the only private room, next to the bookcase. Walking inside his room he felt as if he had stepped into a warm bath. His sore body began to feel stronger. June and Mack lay on a soft white rug that Mack used for private reiki sessions. They looked up at him.
    Caleb stared helplessly. And saw that the baby’s pale body lay between them. Mack was holding his hands just above her chest, while June cradled her head. June was crying.
    Mack looked up harshly. To come here without an invitation was unthought of.
    Caleb was overcome by a desire to join them. “Can I help?”
    â€œIn the morning, you take June out. See what she can do.”
    â€œAll right.”
    Like a servant taking his leave, he had backed out of the room. After he closed the door he stood in the hall, breathing, for a long time.
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    That first run with June was a morning that would replay itself, on other runs, at night, during his dreams.
    He had led her toward the steep open road up to Boulder. Along the tapered trails he would have been forced to lead or follow single file, but here they moved side by side, as he wanted. The wide mountain road steepened, and he inhaled deeply, enjoying the burn through his legs.
    â€œWow, I feel like Superwoman or something,” she had laughed. “This altitude’s so much lower than Taos.”
    No one had told her that he did not speak during runs. It was so foreign to him that he had forgotten how to do it.
    â€œThis is actually the first run I’ve been on since Lily was born,” June went on nervously. “I was crazy guilty about leaving her with someone when we left, but this feels good.” She hesitated, glancing at him. “So, am I being judged by you?”
    Caleb grinned. “I wouldn’t know how to judge anybody. What happens is, you can’t build enough kinetic energy to heal like we do if you aren’t running around eight hours a day. People always try to join us, but that’s the part they can’t do. Usually we’d take you out on a group run to see and let the trail do the judging. But that’s been embarrassing for people. It’s better just one-on-one like this.”
    June laughed. “I’ll tell you right now I can’t run for eight hours.”
    â€œThat’s all right. I’m not wearing a watch or anything.”
    â€œIt must be so nice, to have a house full of people who get you.”
    â€œIt’s perfect.”
    â€œAre you from Boulder?”
    â€œSeattle.”
    â€œSeattle. So how did you hear about Happy Trails?”
    He almost told her, but instead he simply described his years in consulting, the depletion in his bones. June had listened, amazed. Other than the occasional customer at her bar, she had never met anyone who had earned what Caleb had, let alone who had walked away