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“You don’t need to wash it,” Rhett said, ignoring her other comments. “And no rush. I have others. Spring is coming.”
Katrina smiled. “See you soon.”
Once she was gone, Rhett went out to his Jeep and tried to decide where he was going. He needed to go. Somewhere. So he just started driving. At the first traffic light, he considered turning left and heading back to the gym. The late class was over and most people would be gone, but Stanzi tended to linger, one of the few athletes he had that paid close attention to her mobility and flexibility and often spent a good fifteen minutes postworkout stretching and foam rolling.
Without another thought, he hooked that left. The gym was still lit up. Rhett didn’t see Stanzi’s car but she often parked on the other side of the building if she was going to come out after dark because the brightest streetlamp sat there and Rhett let her go out the side door.
“Hey. What’re you doing back here?” Hobbs was finishing up work in the office.
Rhett’s stomach sank when he saw that no one else was there. He was surprised at how disappointed he felt. “I thought I left my hoodie here.” Rhett pretended to look around the gym for it.
“Haven’t seen it.” Hobbs didn’t get up to help. “Check the bin.”
Rhett dug around the bin full of clothing that was home to every article the clients forgot. Most were claimed within a week. Some stuff, like a pink water bottle and a black jacket with holes in the sleeves, had been there for a year. He used the opportunity of his fake search to pluck those items out and pitch them in the trash. Just as he dropped the jacket, he saw what looked like a throwaway container with his name on it. He reached in and dug it out. Yep, that was his name. He knew it was from Stanzi. Nobody else at the gym had ever fed him. He couldn’t tell what kind of food was inside, but he knew it would’ve been good.
He shook it, testing the integrity of the lid. Seemed pretty well attached. God knows he’d eaten grosser things...
But no. Damn.
He tossed it back in the trash. “Thanks for covering class.”
“No problem.” Hobbs shut down the computer, stood up and stretched. “Was a small class tonight. About six guys and Red. She held her own, as usual.” Hobbs got a devilish grin on his face. “You think I should ask her out?”
“No.”
“That came out too fast.” Hobbs’s grin deepened. “What do you care? You’re back with Katrina, I’m assuming?”
“Katrina and I have no commitment.”
“Yeah, sure.” Hobbs ran his hand through his wavy blond hair. His sandy, rumpled good looks and blasé attitude made him seem like a California transplant, ready to surf at any moment, though he was a corn-fed Nebraska boy, born and bred.
“We’re not a couple.”
“Why’d you guys leave together?” Hobbs pulled on his sweatshirt and grabbed his backpack. “Quickie in the parking lot?” He held up a hand. “I’m not judging. If you called me in to cover your class because you were banging Katrina in the parking lot, I totally understand.”
“Nope.” Rhett snapped off the office lights and followed Hobbs to the front door.
Hobbs stopped at the door and offered a grimace. “That makes me feel less happy about covering for you.”
“Trust me, I’m not happy about it, either.”
“So that’s a yes on asking out Red?” Hobbs’s smile was both teasing and serious. “She’s really shaping up. I mean, she was always hot, in an intellectual librarian who’s really a wildcat between the sheets sort of way. But now that wildcat is starting to shed its winter coat, eh?”
“Quit talking about her like that.” Rhett shoved him out the door. “She’s not your type.”
“How do you know?” Hobbs locked up the gym and turned to Rhett with a set of raised eyebrows.
“I just know.”
Hobbs shrugged. “You going to ask her out, or not?”
“I’m not.”
“Then she’s free game.”
Rhett flashed him a warning look. “She’s a client, Hobbs. I expect you to treat her professionally.”
Hobbs laughed, but his eyes narrowed. If Rhett wasn’t seeing things, he actually looked offended. “When have I ever not been professional?” Hobbs said. “I’ll let it slide. For now.”
“See you tomorrow.”
“Yep.”
Once he was home, Rhett took a long shower to stave off the chill that had built from going out without a hoodie or a coat. He scraped together a decent dinner from stuff he found in his fridge, wishing he had whatever Stanzi had brought for him, and then obviously thrown away.
So Rhett hadn’t been imagining things. Stanzi had come tonight thinking she would see him. Take his class, then offer him the food that ended up in the trash, thanks to Katrina. He couldn’t say he blamed her. Well, it was probably for the best. Let Katrina be the reason Stanzi kept her distance. That would make things easier for him.
Rhett made it through his bland dinner, then grabbed the beer he’d opened earlier and never drank. He thought about it, grabbed two more and headed to bed.
Too many empty carbs, but he had a feeling that the spiders were going to be talking up a storm tonight.
