Present Day

Waking before six, I put on running gear and went down to my home gym for the first time in years. The room was dark and dusty, and I pulled the cover off the treadmill before plugging it in. Turning on the stereo, I cranked some Pink Floyd while I ran.

I was breathing hard after ten minutes; I wasn't a young wolf anymore, and my fitness had deteriorated after Catherine's diagnosis. I pushed on, alternating between thirty seconds of sprints and sixty seconds of jogging until I couldn't take any more. I walked ten minutes as a cooldown, leaving the gym sore and feeling every one of...