Heavy: A Contemporary Romance (29 page)

Cali

When the
Solanos and I got to the event the next night, I hadn’t seen Thatch in almost two whole days. Between work, training, and dodging reporters, getting together had been impossible.

That’s not to say there hadn’t been any sexting exchanges between us
.

In between flirtatious texts and a couple of lengthy phone calls,
we’d come up with a game plan for the evening.

The National Finals
comprised of four stages. In the five-season history of the show, no athlete had made it successfully past Stage Three. As Thatch had described it to me, fifteen finalists from five different cities, plus the wild card contestants, meant that there were eighty-five competitors for Stage One. Past seasons had shown that only roughly twenty athletes would make it to Stage Two. Of those twenty, only seven people made it to Stage Three last year and none successfully made it to Stage Four – the final tower. As this was an endurance contest, and given the fact there were so few contestants that made it to the later Stages, the taping of the show went on all night and into the early hours of the next morning.

In other words, Thaddeus would need to be taken home after Stage One
. If Thatch made it through Stage One and onto the next Stages, his son would just have to wait to see his run when it was televised in a few weeks.

This is where Thatch and I discussed and came up with the plan that Bellamy should stay to cheer Thatch on, given the fact he’d been supporting his son for the last year as he trained, and not
just a few months like me. I’d take Thaddeus home with me, and Thatch would come over as soon as he was done.

An added bonus to everything was the fact that
, as this was a televised competition and not a live show, all press was banned from coming anywhere near the closed lot where the
Ultimate Ninja Athlete
obstacle course had been set up.

Seeing the competition on the television was nothing compared to being there in
the flesh. The sets and lights were bigger and brighter in person, and the astonished look on Thaddeus’ face exactly mirrored what I was feeling inside. A small city of structural steel surrounded our little group of Thatch supporters – neon lights, carefully contained crowds, elaborate obstacles – all with the Las Vegas Strip serving as the back-drop.

Looking around the bleachers where we were located, I could see
the clumps of grouped colors distinguishing one collection of supporters from another. Our black-T-shirted group consisted of myself, Bellamy, Thaddeus, the three Solanos, Mo, his wife Amina and their two oldest boys, Rufus, and several people from Thatch’s gym, including his trainer. I’d brought enough T-shirts for everyone and they all wore them with pride. The excitement in the air was palpable.

The contestants were cordoned off in an area near to
us and some were warming up on the various pieces of equipment contained in that enclosure. Thatch gave us a wave and Bellamy took Thaddeus down to him to say ‘hi.’ As Thatch had completed his regional final with a pretty fast time, he was not due to go on for a while yet.

“See that group down the front with the blue T-shirts?”
Rufus asked. “That’s Ben Stephenson’s support group. He’s the guy that made it the farthest into Stage Three last year. I’d like to say he’s the one to beat, but in this competition it’s all pretty much fair game as one little slip up and you’re out.”

“The course seems very intimidating,
Ruf,” I replied. We’d been here forty minutes and had yet to see anyone complete Stage One yet.

“It’s the
Spider Jump that seems to be claiming victims tonight, Cali.”

The
Spider Jump was the third obstacle in and required the contestant to leap off a mini-trampoline and land braced between two vertical walls. It seemed to require distance, just as much as height, as the edge of the walls nearest to the trampoline were farther apart and only started to narrow a few feet in. Once wedged between the two walls the athlete had to ‘spider-climb,’ with only his feet and hands supporting him, for a distance of thirty feet.

As each contestant attempted the course, Rufus kept me informed as to who was who and what was what.

Finally, an accountant from Ohio was the first guy to make it through Stage One in the required two minutes and five seconds. One athlete, a doctor from Mississippi, had almost made it, but had timed out.

“Anyone would think you were a serious fan of this show, Rufus,” I teased
. “You seem to know a lot about it.”

“Okay, so maybe I watch it from time to time
. Just don’t tell Thatch,” he laughed.

“Looks like I’m being paged,” I added, when I saw Thatch motioning for me to come down and join him, Thaddeus
, and Bellamy. “Back in a minute,” I said to the rest of our little group, as I got up to make my way down to the Restons.

By the time I’d made
the short trip, the woman, who did the little minute-long interviews with the contestants as soon as they completed the course, was already standing with Thatch and his family. She was a sports commentator and primarily here to talk to athletes, but both she and the T.V. studio were not so naïve as to miss an opportunity to get a few words from Brock Huntington’s daughter, if they could.

“Hello, California Huntington,” she said as I
entered the frame of the shot being filmed by her mobile cameraman.

“Hello, Jan,” I replied with a smile, shaking her hand
. “Nice to meet you.”

I moved over to stand next to Thatch
. He held Thaddeus in one arm and the other slipped around my waist.

I could see Jan taking in the move immediately
. I’d seen her interview these contestants on the few episodes I watched on T.V. and she always came across as a friendly woman on camera – genuinely sympathetic if the athlete had just failed, and encouraging and excited if he’d completed the course. This didn’t mean she was stupid. She was limited to confining her questions to fit in with the competition, but she was also the first ‘reporter’ to have California Huntington and Thatch Reston together in front of her camera.

“What does it feel like to have such an illustrious support group behind you, Thatch?”
she asked.

“My friends and family have been amazing, Jan
. I entered this competition for my son and my mindset going in was to just give it a try, have some fun, and see how far I could get. No one thought I would make it this far – including myself. Even if I fail on the first obstacle, just standing here tonight with my loved ones supporting me is all gravy,” Thatch smiled.

I knew she wasn’t going to ask us directly if we were dating
, but I could tell she was dying to.

“So how did you guys meet?” She asked me cleverly
.

“Thatch came to do a tattoo for a friend of mine several months ago
. We’ve been friends ever since,” I answered.

“Oh
, come on now, California,” Jan joked, “You do realize there’s a long line of ladies cursing your name to the wind due to this… friendship… you have going on with Thatch.”

“Well, I guess I’m just lucky that I met him first then, aren’t I, Jan?”

Thatch pulled my in tighter to him and kissed me on the cheek.

There would be no question as to the nature of
our relationship as soon as this aired, that’s for sure.

“I see you’re giving a shout-out to the Anorexia and Bulimics Society tonight as you cheer your man on,” Jan added
, gesturing to my T-shirt. If by calling him mine she expected me to confirm or deny, that wasn’t going to happen, lady!

“It’s a cause that’s near and dear to my heart, Jan, as you probably know
. I was lucky to get help when I needed it, but there are many suffering from life-threatening eating disorders in secret. I’m hoping to encourage some of them to come out of the closet like I recently did, and seek the help they need.”

There was no way she could steer the mini-interview back to Tha
tch and me after that statement, even if she wanted to.

“
You’re an inspiration to many, California. It was nice meeting you, and good luck tonight, Thatch,” Jan said as soon as her crew started making the ‘wrap it up’ hand signal to her.

“Thanks, Jan,” Thatch nodded at her as her team moved onto another contestant further down the row.

‘That wasn’t too awful, was it?” Thatch asked, putting Thaddeus back on the ground and passing his son’s hand to me.

“Piece of cake,” I answered, giving him a light kiss
. “Now, it’s getting chilly out here. When do you go on?”

“I’ll go get Thad a sweater,” Bellamy said, heading back to the stands.

“I’m on after this guy,” Thatch replied, pointing to a man with a ponytail, who was walking up the steps to the starting point and first obstacle. “Will you follow along the course with Thaddeus so he can see me?”

“Of course I will
! Doesn’t Bell want to do it?”

“He might tag along
. He says he gets too nervous to look sometimes,” Thatch laughed. “It might be better if the three of you do it together.”

“I brought Mr. Bunny too, Daddy
. But he’s in Pop-Pop’s bag cos’ I don’t want anyone to think I’m a baby,” Thaddeus quipped up, clutching my hand tightly.

“Thank goodness!” Thatch exclaimed to his son with an exaggerated look of relief on his face
. “I thought you’d forgotten to bring our lucky mascot!”

“No,
Daddy! I wouldn’t never forget,” the little boy said seriously.

I picked him up and both Thatch and I kissed
Thaddeus’ opposite cheeks at the exact same time. This made us laugh and, as the cell phone cameras flashed around us, neither one of us cared.

***

“So, what was your favorite part, Thaddeus?” I asked as I drove us home a little over an hour later.

“When Daddy climbed up the net at the end and hit the buzzer!” he replied, eyes shining.

“Not the Spider Jump?”

“Silly, Cali,” he giggled, “The
Spidey Jump was easy!”

“Your daddy almost fell
! It didn’t look easy to me!”

“My daddy’s a ninja, Cali,” Thaddeus said proudly as he stifled a big yawn.

“He sure is, angel. You look tired, baby. We’re almost home now.”

I looked in the rearview mirror again to check if anyone was fol
lowing us. I probably should’ve checked a little more diligently, but with all the security and the set up back there, there really hadn’t been anywhere for the tabloid press to stalk us, nor would they expect me to leave before the competition had ended.

Thatch had just made it through Stage One with mere seconds to spare before timing out
. He was one of twenty-three competitors to make it to the next Stage. Even if he failed on the second course, he wasn’t going to be home any time soon.

I pulled into the garage and carried a sleepy Thaddeus into his bedroom
.

“Sorry about all the packing boxes, angel
. The bathroom is right there. Do you need me to help you brush your teeth or anything?”

“I can do it,” Thaddeus replied sleepily.

“Okay, I’ll leave your jim-jams on the bed.”

I heard the sound of someone knocking on the front door.

“I’ll come tuck you in in a minute, angel. It’s probably Hayley’s dads checking to see if we made it home okay.”

Zak, Tony
, and Hayley had left at the same time we did, but I’d lost sight of them in the event’s makeshift parking lot.

I opened the door expecting to see Zak on my doorstep, but instead was surprised to see a thin,
neatly dressed woman with greying hair.

“Hello
. Can I help you?” I asked, a little wary about seeing a stranger on my doorstep at this late hour.

“I’m so sorry to bother you, my dear,” she smiled
. “My husband and I are trying to find my son’s house, which is in this neighborhood somewhere, and are completely lost. Would you mind showing me where exactly we are on this map?”

She pointed behind her and I saw a car with a detachable motorhome hitched to the back of it parked at the end of my driveway
. I could see an older, bearded, white-haired man with little round spectacles on waving at me from the driver’s seat.

I waved back at the Santa
lookalike, relaxing a little. These two were not reporters and seemed harmless enough.

“Sure, no problem
. Let’s see your map.”

The woman pulled out a folded
piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to me. As I bent down to look at it, she immediately sprayed something into my face and my eyes felt like they were on fire. Before I could scream, something hit me on the side of my head and the world faded to black.