Family Ties — читать онлайн бесплатно полностью

Danny joined us a few minutes later. Once we were all warmed up, we walked to the street.

Rich checked his watch and glanced at me. “How far do you run?”

“Farther than you,” I said.

He chuckled without looking up. Then he pushed a button. “All right, let’s move out.”

I thought he’d try to outrun me, but he settled into a distance-eating pace.

We ran for an hour in silence before Danny spoke up.

“That’s enough for me,” he said. “Have fun with your pissing contest, gents.”

Rich simply nodded as Danny peeled off and headed toward the house.

He took it for granted that he was tougher than his brother.

Terry glanced at me. “You good?”

I felt I’d earned a bit of respect, if not exactly friendship.

We ran another half-hour before Terry checked his watch. “Any time, Rich,” he said. “This isn’t Hell Week.”

“You head home if you want,” Rich said. “I’m still good to go.”

“Copy that,” Terry said. He angled across the street and turned into the neighborhood.

“I can keep this up all day,” I said to Rich.

We fell silent and pushed on, each too stubborn to quit before the other.

We probably would have run ourselves to death if Christy and her mother hadn’t intervened. The sun had been up about an hour when we spotted them coming toward us. Rich seemed ready to run right past them, but his mother wasn’t having it.

“Rich! Paul!” She waved.

Rich glared at me sideways, and for the first time I actually felt sorry for the guy. He couldn’t fight his mother, so I decided to cut him some slack.

“On the count of three?” I said.

He chuckled with actual amusement. “Sure.”

“Three… two… one… mark.”

We slowed at exactly the same time. I was a bit surprised. I thought he’d keep running a second or two longer than I did, but he played it straight.

He pressed a button on his watch.

I looked at mine. “Fifteen miles?”

“About that,” he agreed.

We reached Christy and her mother.

“I was hoping we’d run into you,” Anne said.

“We’d be delighted, mother dear,” Rich said. He wasn’t breathing any heavier than I was.

I stopped at a water fountain and drank a few sips, just enough to wet my mouth.

“Not too much,” Rich cautioned.

I glared in irritation. “Yeah, I know.”

“Relax.” He drank about a mouthful.

“Did you boys have a good run?” Anne asked as we started walking.

We chatted about random things for the next thirty minutes.