I am very pleased that my good friend, I.P. Aard, unexpectedly came to Spokane to visit me this past weekend. She admitted that besides wanting to see me, she felt bad about fooling me and making me cry, which I wrote about on July 1st. She wanted to make up for that.

It was lots of fun eating out, going dancing and getting in a run. On Sunday afternoon at the Rocket Bakery in the Garland district, we were enjoying coffee and pastries when something unexpected happened.

A very beautiful woman passed by the window, and though I.P. was sitting across from me, I watched to see if she was going to come inside. She did, and I had to contain my astonishment. It was Petra.

I last saw her while running a few weeks ago. She was going through a breakup with her longtime boyfriend and hadn’t run with the Manito Runners Club since.

She ordered something to go, and I hoped she wouldn’t see me. Though I wanted to talk, now was not a good time.

As she grabbed a straw, she saw me.

“Hello, Jim. How’s it going?” She came to our table.

I told her my leg was coming out of its rut, so my running was improving. I asked how things were going with her and Byron. She said they were officially a former couple, and she hadn’t seen him in two weeks.

Petra and I.P. had glanced at each other repeatedly, and I couldn’t avoid introducing them. I told Petra that I.P. is a good friend and a runner as well. Petra asked if she ran with the Manito Runners Club.

“I’m from out of town,” I.P. replied. “I’m just visiting Jim.”

The conversation that followed was between just I.P. and Petra. They talked about how pretty Spokane is, all the outdoor activities you can do and how many running clubs there are. Petra didn’t look at me once until leaving.

“Have a nice day, Jim,” was all she said. She walked briskly away.

I was very concerned about what just happened. I couldn’t stop myself watching Petra leave.

I.P. tossed a wadded up sugar packet at me. “You remember I have to be at the airport at two o’clock, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“She seems really nice. She looks like a good runner.”

“Yeah, she’s pretty good.”