TREADMILL Week 186 & What I #AmReading – Having Her Back by Ann Gallagher

Treadmill Goals/Tracking

• Get on the treadmill (or equivalent exercise) daily
• Pace is fine at 30 min/mile, although I may up it on occasion
• Time range between 30 minutes and 1 hour per day
• Distance 1-2 miles per day
• Read the chosen book. I’m officially modifying my original rule of not reading the book-of-the-week off-treadmill. I’m usually going to look at length and try to divide it up somewhat evenly per day, even if that means either closing that book early (if it’s short) or continuing after (if it’s long).

Week 186: June 14, 2020 – June 20, 2020

DAY	PACE	TIME	DISTANCE
Sunday	30 min/mile	30:06 min:sec	1 mile
Monday	30 min/mile	30:17 min:sec	1 mile
Tuesday	30 min/mile	30:09 min:sec	1 mile
Wednesday	30 min/mile	31:48 min:sec	1 mile
Thursday	30 min/mile	30:33 min:sec	1 mile
Friday	30 min/mile	33:24 min:sec	1.1 miles
Saturday	Deep cleaning & rearranging furniture	All damn day	Exceeded all Fitbit goals

What I’m Reading

Note: Although I will try to avoid them, my weekly reading snippets may or may not contain spoilers, so read at your own risk.

What I #amreading: Having Her Back by Ann Gallagher

Trevor Larson is a Navy brat. He’s used to moving every few years, and thanks to social media, he can stay in touch with the friends he leaves behind. But shortly after he leaves Okinawa, his best friend, Brad Gray, cuts off contact and disappears.

Four years and two bases later, Brad resurfaces—and announces his family is coming to Trevor’s base in Spain. But a lot’s changed in four years, and Trevor is stunned to find out Brad is now Shannon. Their reunion isn’t quite what either of them had hoped for, but they quickly find their footing, both relieved to have each other back.

Except nothing is ever all sunshine and roses. The military is a small world, and there’s no keeping Shannon’s transition a secret. Parents warn their kids away from her. She can’t attend school on-base for fear of harassment or worse. And although her parents try to hide it, being ostracized by their only social circle while they’re thousands of miles from home is taking a toll on them, too.

More and more, Shannon leans on Trevor. But she’s also drawn to him, and he’s drawn right back to her, feeling things he’s never felt for anyone before.

Trevor’s scared, though. Not of dating a trans girl. Not of damaging his chaplain father’s career or reputation. After finally getting his friend back, does he dare take things further and risk losing Shannon a second time?

My favorite lines this week…

✿✿ SUNDAY ✿✿

We’d fought like anybody did, but it was never over anything really bad. And whenever there’d been major stuff in our lives—like when our dads came back from their combat tours—we’d been rocks for each other. when he told me he was gay and thought his parents would flip out, I’d gone with him to tell them. A hear and a half later, when I’d stupidly tried Spice and freaked the hell out, he’d had his older brother drive me straight to the hospital and then called my parents, and he’d stayed with me the whole time until the hallucinogenic effects had worn off and I’d started to calm down.

✿✿ MONDAY ✿✿

I dropped my gaze to the notepad I’d been doodling on for three days. If there was one thing that pissed me off more than Trevor himself, it was how much I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him. I wanted to choke him. Throw him into traffic.

Talk to him.

✿✿ TUESDAY ✿✿

He shrugged and popped the tater tot in his mouth. Talking around it, he said, “One of our friends is trans.” It came out so casually, like he’d just said someone’s dad had gotten orders or it was hot outside. Normal day. Nothing to see here.

✿✿ WEDNESDAY ✿✿

It was still so weird sometimes to look at him and realize he was Trevor. Back in Japan, he’d been gangly and awkward. I mean, so had I. We all were. And I’d still had a crush on him. He’d been one of the first peopled I’d ever told I was gay, but I’d never told him he was the reason I’d figured it out.

✿✿ THURSDAY ✿✿

She pushed her hand under mine and part-way onto my thigh. I separated my fingers, letting hers curl between them.

And for all I knew, the horses came out after that and performed Shakespeare in perfect English while standing on their heads.

The only thing that registered for me was Shannon’s hand in mine.

✿✿ FRIDAY ✿✿

After today, and especially tonight, I was flying. My lips still tingled, and I swore I could still feel wherever that tiny bit of stubble on his chin had grazed my skin. All those feelings I’d had years ago, back when I’d been drooling over him and realized I was definitely into boys—those had nothing on how I felt tonight. That had been a silly little crush, one kid staring at another with eyes full of floaty hearts and all that crazy stuff.

✿✿ SATURDAY ✿✿

“They listened to their child,” he growled. “They respected that she knows herself, and they understood that trying to force her to be a boy was a good way to drive their own child away from them and quite possibly to suicide.” He pulled in a deep breath through his nose. “You tell me, Mrs. Carson—if your son came to you and said he needed to transition, what choice would you make? Raise a girl, or bury a boy?