“Oh. Right. Sorry!” She held her hand up and then looked thoughtful for a while. “You know what, you should try and do as many things as possible, to figure out what you’re into.”
“I’ve been doing that. I’ve been making a list of the things I know about myself.”
“That’s great! I mean, in a way, it’s actually quite cool if you think about it. You get the chance to get to know yourself all over again.”
Her words made me stop. A real full stop as everything inside me zoned in and focused on her meaning.Was she right?That this was in some way an opportunity? Her words seemed to make Noah stop too. He looked over at me curiously, as if trying to gauge my reaction to what had just been said. I shrugged at them both. I was on the fence about it. I still would prefer it if I had my memory back and wasn’t bumbling through the world right now, remembering some things and forgetting others.
“Chocolate,” Noah suddenly said, breaking what was becoming an awkward silence as I was contemplating the fence I now felt like I was balancing on.
Maxine took a step back, looking uncomfortable for the first time since I’d met her. “What about it?”
“I know you have some,” Noah replied.
“NO! No, I don’t . . . no . . .” She tutted and her eyes flicked about the room.
“Uh . . . yes, you do. I know you do. In your cheat drawer.”
“What? Cheat drawer . . . psssst, what’s that? I don’t have one. Not me.”
Noah smiled at her now. “Yes, you do. I even know where it is.” Noah made a move and Maxine jumped in front of him. Noah laughed.
“You totally have a cheat drawer and I have seen you in it! Late at night, scrounging around. Busted!” He pointed at her and she gasped.
“Okay, fine! I have one. But you can’t tell anyone. It would ruin my reputation if they knew I ate chocolate late at night when no one is looking!” She looked at me and raised her brows, as if seeking sympathy or affirmation. I nodded back to her as if I knew exactly what she meant. Of course I didn’t. She sighed and then walked over to a drawer in the kitchen and pulled it open. I gazed into the drawer of wonder and marvel and then saw it.
“Kit Kat!” I said quickly. “Definitely Kit Kat, if you don’t mind.”
She reached into the drawer and pulled it out for me. “That’ll be two hundred calories. You can come work out with me tomorrow if you want. Frankie does this amazing butt and core workout, it’ll burn that right off. Or you can come to the gym with Noah and me in the morning?” She looked at Noah.
“Sure,” Noah said quickly. “Of course, if you want?”
“I have no idea whether I exercise or not,” I said, wondering if maybe I was a gym girl. I was slim, after all. My stomach was flat, slightly squishy, but it didn’t protrude. My arms looked relatively toned. Maybe I went to the gym! Maybe I worked out? Maybe I did marathons and things like that. Okay, maybe that was taking it too far, or was it? I didn’t know.
“That’s perfect, then. Something to add to your list!” Maxine said, starting to close the drawer, but then she paused. She looked down at it with something that resembled lust. “I’m just going to . . .” She didn’t finish the sentence and grabbed some chocolate out of the drawer and then slammed it closed, as if punishing it. “Definitely gym tomorrow!” she said, looking at the chocolate as if she wanted to climb inside it.
“Great!” I chirped. “Sounds fun.”
“We leave early, though,” Noah added quickly.
“That’s fine. Maybe I’m an early riser too!”
“Cool. See you in the morning,” Maxine said, as Noah and I left. Strangely enough, I felt pretty excited about the prospect of the gym. I had a feeling that I did go to the gym. In fact, I had a feeling that Ireallyliked working out.
CHAPTER 19
“She’s cool. Where do you know her from?” I asked, peeling the red paper off the Kit Kat and exposing the long, sleek chocolate fingers.
“She goes to my gym. I met her there. I was looking for someone to rent my garden cottage, she was looking for a place to stay, so it worked out.”
“Why would her reputation be ruined if people knew she ate chocolate?”
Noah chuckled. “She is the most hardcore personal trainer at the gym. People are scared of her. She craps on her clients if they so much as look at sugar.”
I shook my head. “She’s also a little weird.”
“That she is!” Noah now smiled in a way that set me on edge. I didn’t mean to ask it, I didn’t intend to, but somehow the words floated out of my mouth.
“Have you and her . . . are you guys?”
