AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Will do,” I answered quietly.
It would have been easy to dismiss him or tell him that I would be fine if I was here with Molly. That I’d be fine even if I was here alone. It would have been easy to take his words for something deeper than face value, like they were meant for me alone, but the hard truth was that he would’ve said it to Kelly or Emily. He would’ve told our male trainers that too. My heart wanted to soak up his words and let them bring life to the rest of my body, but my pride slammed the wall shut. Because that would help nothing.
While he gathered his stuff from his office, I kept myself busy. One of our members flagged me down, needing help with his form, so I wasn’t even watching when Aiden left for the day. By the time the open gym hours concluded and the last person left, the late summer sun was still bright in the sky. Because the glass front of the gym faced west, it was my favorite time to do work in view of the windows. While I waited for Molly to arrive, I sat on the floor with my back braced against the front desk and started scrawling out ideas for the self-defense class.
Immersed in those ideas, which I’d been thinking about for months before Aiden ever took ownership, I didn’t even notice Molly’s car pull in. It wasn’t until she pulled open the front door and shouted, “I’m so sorry I’m late.”
I jumped, hand slapping my chest. “Holy shit, Molly.”
She eyed me. “Didn’t you see me peel into the parking lot?”
“Apparently not.” I tossed my notebook aside and stood.
Her hair was tumbling out of a ponytail, her chest already glistened with sweat, and I tilted my head to the side as I studied her workout tank. “Is your shirt on backward?”
She glanced down. “Ummm …”
“Oh, my word. That’s why you’re late?”
Molly laughed.
“You know what I keep thinking?”
“What?”
“You’re not even newlyweds, and you and Noah are already nauseating. What’s it going to be like when you’re actually married?”
She blew out a hard breath. “Please. We’re basically having our honeymoon before the wedding. He was all worked up after training camp today, so … ” She shrugged. “Gotta get that tension out somehow, you know?”
Nope, sure didn’t.
“Honestly, I don’t want to think about you and Noah and the kind of activities you get to have right now.”
Molly laughed again, sitting on the bench in front of the window as she tugged on her workout shoes. While she wasn’t looking, I studied my older sister. Made me wonder about how it must feel to have someone in your life like that.
And because I was me … I didn’t ask.
“Where are we starting first?” she asked.
I blinked. “Umm, I have some bodyweight exercises mapped out. Arm day today.”
“Oh, goody,” she muttered.
While she made her way over to where the ropes and bands were laid out on the rubberized floor, I cued up some music.
We worked our way through a few things, and like I usually did, I worked out alongside her.
Molly and I were shoulder to shoulder, passing a medicine ball back and forth after twisting to the side, when I asked a question that later, I’d really, really wish I hadn’t asked.
“You get all your RSVPs back?”
With a twist, I handed the black ball to her, and she mirrored my movement with a grimace. My quads were burning as I held the squat and waited for her to give it back. But when she turned back toward me, I caught a look … just a glimpse of discomfort.
“What?” I asked. I took the ball and twisted again.
When it was in Molly’s hands, I stood. She did the same, setting the ball down at her feet.
“Nothing.”
