Her stomach dropped and she gasped, making him look up.
She recognized him instantly, not sure how it was possible, but there he was. She’d know that face anywhere. She swallowed. “Ollie? Ollie Keen?”
Chapter Five
Paige focused on the beat of the music pumping through her earbuds and the knowledge that what she was doing was good for her and terrible for Peter, her cheating ex-husband.
Not that she was bitter. Much. Her hefty divorce settlement had helped soothe the damage he’d done. Some of it, anyway.
There was nothing that would ever permanently erase the scars of finding one’s husband of forty-three years in bed with his new, younger lover.
Who also happened to be aman.
The utter humiliation of that would never go away.
Dripping with sweat and breathing heavily, Paige turned off the treadmill and stepped onto the floor, her forty-five minutes done. She grabbed her towel and took a look around. The fitness center was busy, but that was nothing unusual. It was a popular spot.
One filled with handsome men.
As she dabbed at her throat with the towel, she did a quick inventory. How many of them were eligible, she had no idea. It was hard to tell because a lot of them didn’t wear their weddingbands to work out. A lot of them didn’t work out with their wives, either.
She wasn’t looking for another husband, however. Just a nice man to date once or twice. Long enough to snap a few pics with or shoot a little video for her social media. Her way of showing Peter, and the world, that she wasn’t just moving on from him in style, she was stepping out with plenty of wonderful men. Men who wanted to wine and dine her. Men who craved her company.
Men who had no interest in other men.
Finding Peter in bed with Scotty, his personal trainer, had destroyed her in ways she didn’t know were possible. She’d questioned her worth as a wife and as a woman. Her confidence, such as it was, had tanked.
Despite trying to help her daughter, Randi, through the divorce, Paige herself had fallen into a morass of depression. Taken to drinking a little too much wine in the evenings. Over and over, she’d asked herself the question, “What now?” And over and over, she’d been unable to answer.
After a solid month of mourning the loss of her marriage and her life, she’d been surprised by with a trip her college roommate, Claire, a friend from her gardening club, Gretchen, and Paige’s own wonderful daughter, Randi. She hadn’t wanted to go, but they’d forced her. The first day she’d been infuriated, but as the trip went on and the conversations continued, her friends talked some sense into her.
So much talking. So many tears. But she’d gone home blessed by the knowledge that she had great people around her, and that her life wasn’t over. It had only just begun.
Since moving to the Colony a year ago to be closer to her daughter, Paige had embarked on a personal transformation. She’d changed everything about her life. She made better food choices, eliminating processed junk. She only drank wine if shewas out with friends and then only one glass. She worked out five days a week.
Those things had made it possible for her to shed forty-three pounds, which had in turn allowed her to upgrade her wardrobe.
And, boy, had she. Instead of the shapeless tent dresses and big shirts with leggings she’d once favored, she now wore cutelittledresses that showed off her legs, along with shorts, slim ankle pants, and fitted tops. She’d swapped her skirted bathing suit for a two-piece boy-short bikini that was probably one of the most daring things she now owned. And she feltgoodin it.
She’d let her short, gray hair grow out, dyed it blond, and had it cut into a fun shag. With some of the money from herlargedivorce settlement, she’d splurged on some laser resurfacing treatments that she now maintained with facials, a dedicated new skincare routine, and even a little Botox now and then.
Randi had taught her how to use makeup more effectively and how to do her brows.
In short, she’d lost her husband and gained herself. She’d become a new woman. One she now celebrated on social media. Much to her surprise, and her daughter’s, Paige had become something of a hit on TikTok.
Apparently, the mature female audience was alive and well on the Tok. And they liked her tips and tricks for living your best life after divorce.
Hard not to smile when she thought about how far she’d come. She headed for the locker room to shower and change. She had an appointment at Nectar, the Colony’s beauty salon, for a pedicure. She wanted to look perfect for the book club this evening.
Larry Marsden came into the fitness center, saw her and waved. “Paige.”
She stopped. “Hello, Larry.”
His brows lifted as his gaze swept her. Larry had taken her to a concert at St. Pete’s Beach. The concert had been fun, but he’d talked about himself all night. She’d already had a man like that so Larry was one and done. “Looking good, Paige. Did you just finish up?”
“I did and now I’m off to run errands.”
Before she could leave, he said, “How about some dinner tomorrow night? There’s a new Italian place just opened up in Beechwood.”
