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nineteen
The week after Thanksgiving, Tabitha showed up at the gym, riding shotgun in a sleek Range Rover Velar, complete with SV exterior pack and split-spoke wheels. The driver took the time to make two other cars around him wait while he backed the vehicle into the closest spot to the gym, showing off his quad tailpipes and vanity tag: lawman7.
“Who’s this?” Rhett muttered, squatting near Humphrey’s bed, his hand lazily petting over the old beagle’s ears. Humphrey looked out the big glass windows and grunted his agreement.
“Man, that’s a nice ride.” Duke, who’d just finished the 1730 class, slipped his shirt over his sweaty chest. “Is that our Tabitha? Getting out of that Range Rover? Who’s she with?”
“Clearly she’s with Lawman Seven,” Rhett said.
“Hang on to your hernia mesh, boys,” Hobbs said. “That there is Thaddeus. He thinks our gym is dangerous.”
“Thaddeus?” Duke, a giant of a man with a gleaming shaved head, wrinkled his nose. “Was his mama born in 1850?”
Thaddeus had just slammed the driver’s-side door. Toting a pretty red gym bag, he walked ahead of Tabitha and held the front door open.
Hobbs watched them in silence, noting Thaddeus’s confident aura and impeccable fitness attire. Every bit of his apparel was brand-named and fresh, the red color matching his gym bag to a tee. Tabitha, on the other hand, wore her usual simple black leggings, an old blue tank top she wore every week—Hobbs liked blue tank top day because the color made Tabitha’s eyes pop like Valentine’s Day chocolate—and her ratty sneakers that Hobbs had told her more than once to replace.
“This should be good,” Rhett muttered.
“Ten bucks says this guy craps out halfway into the metcon.” Duke spoke out of the side of his mouth.
“I give him five minutes,” Rhett countered, rising to his feet and towering over everyone, including the massive Duke.
“Deal.”
Hobbs nudged Rhett with his elbow as Thaddeus and Tabitha walked in. Unlike Thaddeus’s confident strides, head held high, Tabitha appeared nervous, rubbing her hands together, like she was here for the first time and didn’t know what to expect. “Can I change up the workout a little?”
Rhett glanced at him. “What’d you have in mind?”
“Nothing special.” Hobbs mulled over today’s menu, which included rowing and pull-ups. “I was thinking, just for this class, we run Nancy.” A benchmark workout, Nancy consisted of five rounds of four-hundred-meter runs and fifteen overhead squats. “I met this guy on Thanksgiving. He’s a runner. Just throwing him a bone.”
Rhett stared at Hobbs in silence for a while, his jaw working his gum like a patient father, assessing his son and trying to decide whether to let him fall on his face or not.
“Oooh, Nancy.” Red came up behind Rhett and slid her arms around his waist. Rhett covered her arms with his own instinctively, without breaking his stare with Hobbs. “I love Nancy.”
“Okay,” Rhett finally said. “You can run Nancy for 1830. Only because Stanzi wants to.” He rubbed his fingertips along Red’s arms. The whole scene gave Hobbs pause, since Rhett wouldn’t alter his programming for anyone, including his girlfriend, but he wasn’t about to question it when he’d just got what he wanted.
“Yesss,” Red hissed. Then she waved at Tabitha and headed over to greet her. “Hey, Tabitha. Did you bring a friend? Hi, I’m Red.” Her voice was smooth and encouraging, which was why, ever since Rhett and Red had become a thing, Red had been in charge of drop-ins, guests and new members. As good a coach as Rhett was, his abrasive edge wasn’t always the most welcoming.
Hobbs listened to Red work her magic with Thaddeus as he headed to the whiteboard to make the change in the workout. After he had “Nancy” written up, he turned to see Rhett standing there, watching him, arms crossed over his chest. He said nothing, but Hobbs got the message, loud and clear:I don’t know what’s going on with you and Tabitha but do not make a spectacle of my gym in the process.
By the time Thaddeus was done talking to Red and filling out the waiver, it was time to start the class. Tabitha’s gaze briefly connected with Hobbs’s right before he started the whiteboard talk. She offered a polite smile. Thaddeus gave him a nod and pumped his fist when the running was mentioned, but, as Hobbs had expected, he had zero reaction to the overhead squats.
Warm-ups commenced, Rhett jumping into the group at the last second like he was still that father, letting his son’s experiment play out as long as he was right there to watch it unfold. Thaddeus beat everyone back to the gym during the four-hundred-meter warm-up jog, but Hobbs could tell he’d sprinted by the way he bent double, grasping his quads. Rhett came in shortly after, not even breathing heavy, and the rest followed, one by one, with Tabitha bringing up the rear.
“There you are,” Thaddeus said as she trotted inside. “Thought I lost you out there.” He smiled and slung an arm around her shoulders. Tabitha’s return smile was tight and controlled.
“What’s this workout, then?” Thaddeus continued, oblivious to Tabitha’s recoil. “Five rounds of running a four-hundred and some squats?” He rubbed his palms together hard enough to start a fire. “I thought this gym was supposed to be tough.”
Tabitha ignored him and stepped up to Hobbs. “How do you feel about me using the Rx weight today?” She clasped her hands in front of her and waited, breath held.
“Can you manage sets of five, at least?”
Tabitha thought about it, but only briefly. “Yes.” Her voice came clear and confident.
“Then absolutely, Tabby.”
She smiled and turned away.
