Into the Tide (Cottonwood Cove #1)(12)

“I’m planning to stay through the summer. I’ll head back to Chicago around the first of September.”

“Are you still running?” he asked. “I know there was some talk about you training for the Olympics.”

I nodded. I’d been approached by several coaches, and a lot of people thought I would want to continue racing after college, but I didn’t. I’d achieved what I’d set out to do, and it was time to walk away. “Nope. I was more than ready to be done. I want to start living a normal life, I guess.”

Hugh glanced over, and my gaze locked with his. There was so much empathy there, it comforted me. Not many people understood how much time and energy went into training at the collegiate level. The pressure. The expectations. The discipline and the determination it took to get there.

I was exhausted.

“I think that’s wonderful. You’ve been working hard your entire life. It’s time to just… live, right?” Alana asked, her green eyes that matched Hugh’s sparkled as she looked at me.

“I think so, yes.”

“Well, Lila, you know if you want to start living, I’m your girl. I live that YOLO life, and I have zero regrets,” Georgia said, her blonde hair falling around her shoulders.

“What’s a YOLO life?” Bradford asked, and I didn’t miss the way he looked at his youngest child with absolute adoration.

“It means you only live once, and if most of us lived our lives the way Georgie does, we wouldn’t have jobs or roofs over our heads.” Brinkley raised a brow at her sister. They looked nothing alike. Hugh and Brinkley looked more like their father with their dark coloring, and Finn and Cage had lighter brown hair while Georgia was the blondest of all the Reynolds kids, just like her mother.

“Hey, jobs and roofs are overrated if you ask me. Life is short; you need to enjoy it. Everything always works out, so carpe diem, bitches,” Georgia sang out.

“What’s bitches?” Gracie asked.

“Do not repeat that word, Gracie. For God’s sake, Georgie, can you not control yourself around a kid and watch what you say?” Cage hissed at his sister. “And for the record, you don’t have to worry because your parents support you. Not everyone has that luxury. The real world is not all sunshine and rainbows.”

Georgia groaned. “The real world is what you make it. I choose to start my days with positivity and joy. So, you and your attitude can suck it, Cage. Our parents supported you, too, and then you went off to be a big fancy doctor, so I’d hardly say life has been unfair to you.”

“First off, I’m a veterinarian in Cottonwood Cove, which means I’m dealing with crazy animal people in this town, and there’s nothing fancy about that. But yes, I had a plan when I was in school. You need to figure out what you want to do. You graduate in six months.”

My eyes were bouncing between them, and I was completely fascinated.

Hugh barked out a laugh. “All right… let’s call a truce. She doesn’t have to have it all figured out tonight.”

“Agreed. And she does have parents who have a pretty good track record at raising capable children,” Bradford said, raising a brow at his oldest son.

Cage nodded. “I love you, Georgie. I just worry about you. You know I want the best for you.”

“Daddy loves Aunt Georgie,” Gracie said, and she clapped her hands together.

Hugh leaned down and kissed the top of her head.

“I love you, too, but you worry too much.” Georgia seemed completely unfazed.

This family even argued without anyone getting offended. It had always been this way.

Drama in my house growing up usually led to physical fights with my father and brother, police visits, arrests, worry, and sleepless nights.

This was refreshing.

“So, Lila, I’m doing this article on a retired professional football player, and he was saying that the toughest part about walking away from his sport is that he’ll miss the high of game day. He said it’s tough when so much of your identity is wrapped up in what you did in your sport versus who you are. Was it hard for you to walk away?”

I thought it over. “I think my situation is a little different.”

Hugh’s gaze locked with mine, and he studied me. “How so?”

“Well, I started running as sort of a way to escape, I think. After losing my mom, and all that happened with my dad when I was young, I just sort of needed something to…” I paused and shook my head. “Take me away, I guess. And it was the first thing I felt like I was good at, so I knew it was my ticket to go to school and have a future. I figured that out at a young age.”

The table was quiet, and I wondered if I’d shared too much.

“You won the California state championship all four years in high school, and you were the first female in the state of California to accomplish that, so I’d say good is an understatement,” Hugh said, catching me off guard that he’d remembered those specific stats. “And then you went on to be the collegiate national champ. You’ve more than proven yourself.”

“Thank you. But I guess I don’t feel like I need to prove anything anymore. I don’t need to set a record or win a race to get me to the next place I want to go. I’ve been so busy looking forward, I haven’t enjoyed just being where I’m at. I don’t miss racing because I never loved race days, to be honest. I love running, and I still do, and it feels good that I can just do it for myself now. For the first time in my life, it’s just for me.”