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With a slight lift of his chin, he walked toward his office, and I breathed out slowly, my cheeks puffing with the loaded exhale.
Back to work. It was the only way I’d survive it.
Soon enough, as I’d told him, the building would bear his name, and the thought had me wandering to the front area.
As I faced the shelves of merchandise by the desk, I thought about what the hell we were supposed to do with all the stuff labeled Wilson’s Gym when I knew Aiden had already ordered the new signage to make the switch to Hennessy’s. Fortunately, he wasn’t champing at the bit to slap his name over everything. He wanted to handle the transition publicly in a way that was smooth. Staring at the racks of T-shirts, sweatshirts, wraps, gloves, all of it, I started thinking through ways to clear the inventory as quickly as possible.
I took a seat at the front desk and yanked open the bottom right drawer.
“There you are,” I murmured, tugging on a clear container that held bright-colored round stickers. I eyed the racks of shirts and wondered if Aiden would have an opinion on starting with half off everything or maybe a BOGO sale to see how much we could move.
There it was again, the pause in my entire body when I thought about going to his office to ask him.
This was ridiculous.
I set my elbows on the desk and covered my face with a groan. While I sat in that dejected position, the gym phone rang. I picked it up, but before I could say anything, I heard Aiden’s voice coming through the handset in his office.
“Wilson’s Gym, this is Aiden.”
Gawd, his voice. I rolled my lips between my teeth and allowed, just for one moment, my eyes to fall closed so I could just … listen to him speak.
“Mr. Hennessy, this is Chandra at the Seattle Youth Sports Foundation. Thank you so much for your call. We were thrilled to receive it.”
Slowly, I started setting down the phone even though there was a nagging, naughty whisper in the back of my mind that wanted me to keep listening. Because the way he formed words, the way something simple and innocent came out of his mouth, had me picturing him behind me, whispering in my ear. Things I’d never imagined someone telling me to do.
If I were to text Amy where she was currently exploring Greece, I didn’t think this was the kind of trying she’d had in mind.
The front door opened just as I had the phone set back down on the receiver, revealing the smiling face of our newest college hire.
“Emily, how’s it going?”
When she sucked in a deep breath, I knew the answer was going to be very, very dramatic. The word vomit started immediately about her boyfriend and another girl, and I’m sure my eyes were so wide in my face that it looked like I’d just been smacked over the back of the head.
“So, you’re stressed then,” I said when she finally took a breath.
Emily plopped into the chair that I’d vacated behind the front desk. “I just know he’s cheating on me.”
Early arrivals for my six o’clock class started filtering through the front door, and I greeted them with a smile.
“But you can’t be sure,” I told her. “You just suspect based on a couple of … vibes, right?”
My sisters always came to me for no-nonsense relationship advice, and honestly, sometimes I thought my ability to be no-nonsense was because I’d never gotten myself tangled up in any of the dramatics. Or any body parts, really.
Vibes had never been my forte, or at least … not until Aiden walked through the door. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I was creating all sorts of those in my own imagination.
Emily paused to swipe a member’s card as he struggled to check in with the scanner on the desk. He thanked her with a smile, nodding to me as he passed. I pulled my favorite black and pink wraps from the top drawer and unraveled the tightly wrapped ball.
“They were strong, though,” she said, leaning against the desk. “Heavy eye contact.”
Yeah. Heavy eye contact. I shifted uncomfortably. “What else?”
Emily hummed. “Really loaded subtext in the things they said.” Her face got serious. “They were saying one thing, but you knew they meant something else.”
“And that’s a sign of …?” My voice trailed off.
“Sex, for sure.”
Sweat popped along the back of my neck because check, check, and check. One-sided vibe, courtesy of me.
