Runner Girl

Chapter Twenty-Two

I sprint around the side of the school, heading back toward the track, but Coach Merk steps in front of me and I have to slow down or crash into him. I glare at my grandfather for a moment, my rage simmering.

"I thought you fixed this!" I say, ready for a fight.

"Lana, listen to me." He reaches out his hand, but I flinch and he lets it drop. "We need to talk."

I laugh humorlessly. "Oh, now you decide it's a good time to talk? What about all the time you've coached me? Every meet I've ever run, every practice you've ever put me through, and it never once occurred to you to tell me that you're my grandfather?" My voice screeches on the last word, but I'm beyond caring.

Coach Merk winces. "I wanted to tell you. You have no idea how hard it was, to watch you growing up, watch you learning how to run, and to have to act like I wasn't prouder of you than anything."

I snort. "You've got a funny way of showing it."

"Lana," he says, dropping his voice, "your grandmother didn't know what I was."

That brings me up short. I stare at him for a second, uncomprehending. "Do you mean you raped her?"

He runs a hand through his silver hair, clearly agitated. "Gods, no, nothing like that. I'm not Zeus, after all," he adds with a shudder.

A flicker of relief passes through me, but I push it away and keep my focus on my grandfather. "But why didn't she know?"

He sighs and tips his head toward the track. I glance back in the direction of the parking lot, but I don't hear any sounds of pursuit, and I begin to relax a little bit. I nod briefly, and Coach and I head onto the track, walking side by side. "It's complicated," he finally says, "but there are rules about interacting with mortals. We can't tell them who we are unless they guess, or come so close to it that they might as well already know."

I think back to the way both Aphrodite and Artemis revealed their true identities to me. "Go on," I say grudgingly.

"Your grandmother never guessed. It didn't matter what I did to show off, to give her clues; she was content to believe I was what I said I was, a college dropout who loved to run and dreamed of going pro one day." He sighs. "I've never regretted anything more. Not being with her," he hurries to add when he sees the dangerous expression on my face, "but being dishonest the entire time we were together."

"What about my mom?" I say softly.

Coach shakes his head. "She never knew, either. When your grandma told me she was pregnant, I asked her if she wanted me to marry her, but she told me no, she'd rather do it herself, thank you very much. I think she was mad I hadn't already proposed, and she didn't like that sometimes I had to leave without warning for...business...but by the time I figured that out, she'd moved and cut off contact." He keeps his eyes straight ahead, but his shoulders droop a little. "I'm ashamed to say that I assumed she'd forgotten me, and I didn't spend much energy looking for her or your mom."

I clench my jaw. "You're not making me feel warm and fuzzy here."

"Sorry, kiddo. The truth isn't always sugar-coated."

I pick up my pace a little bit, but he matches me. Annoyed, I start to jog, and so does he. My feet speed up until I'm almost flying, but he's still there, not even breaking a sweat, and I finally slow down after a lap. "Then what?"

He shrugs. "Years passed. I didn't ever have a chance to know my daughter. In fact, I didn't know she was gone until you showed up in this little town, a bundle of baby wrapped in godly energy."