Page 41 of If I Didn’t Have You

“Maybe it’s not about the addition.”

“Her anger or her general lack of caring for my well-being?”

“That’s hitting a little below the belt, don’t you think? She’s spent her entire life taking care of us.”

“I’m aware,” I grumbled. But when I tried to connect with her anymore, she just wasn’t there.

Every night, she was asleep before I got in bed. And if I tried to go to sleep early so I could be with her, she said she wasn’t tired and left the room. There was no winning with her. I couldn’t make things better if she kept leaving whenever I was around.

“Why are we at Sam’s gym?” I asked as we pulled in front of it.

“You’ll see.”

I followed him to the door, but going inside, something tugged at me, telling me I didn’t want to know what was really going on. And the moment I stepped through the doors, I knew my gut was right.

She was in the ring with gloves on and a facemask to protect herself, but I’d recognize that body anywhere.

Well, it was definitely different than it used to be. Her soft spots were starting to thin out, and her legs…If I thought they were sexy before, they were amazing now. Muscles were starting to form not only in those shapely calves, but also in her arms. If she kept at whatever she was doing around here, it wouldn’t be long before my soft wife became a powerhouse woman like her daughter-in-law, and I wasn’t sure I was ready for that.

I loved my wife the way she was. I didn’t want her to change. Didn’t she realize that every inch of her was a representation of the life we shared? It was like she was trying to do away with anything that made her who she was.

“Do you see this?” Jack Lawson asked as he strode up beside me in a huff.

I tore my eyes off my wife for all of five seconds, which was long enough to notice there were other women scattered around the ring.

Women from town.

And then I followed Jack’s gaze to the other end of the ring where a whole host of women were doing some kind of exercise.

“What in the hell are they doing?” I muttered.

“It’s called exercise, Pop,” Liam chuckled. “The women in town have been getting together for the past two weeks to work out.”

“Work out what?”

It might have been a stupid question, but I was having a seriously hard time understanding what was going on here. And why was it that Liam knew what was happening, but I didn’t have a clue?

And then I saw it.

Bailey strode across the space with her son on her hip as she laughed at something my wife shouted to her from the ring. Blake was here as well, and she seemed to be leading the group of women in some sort of strange exercise where the women bent over with their asses in the air. And then they twisted, raising one leg in the air.

“They’re gonna break their hips,” I snapped.

“Pop, none of them are old ladies. Well, Mrs. Abernathy is, but I doubt you really care what she’s doing.”

I turned to my son, scowling hard. “You let your mother come here and do this every day?”

“Let?” He barked out a laugh like this whole thing was hilarious. “Pop, I don’t let Ma do anything. In case you haven’t noticed, she’s a grown woman and does whatever the hell she likes.”

“Well, not for long,” I snapped.

But just as I stalked forward, my son grabbed my arm and hauled me back a step. “Yeah, I don’t think so.”

“But—”

“She’s doing this for herself. You have to realize that.”

“Doing what? Why the hell does she need to be in that ring? Give me one damn good reason, and I’ll back off!”