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“Forget I said anything,” Thaddeus said with a grunt. “You ready to go, Tabitha?”
Tabitha’s cheeks were so hot she was afraid to meet anyone’s gaze. She looked at Trinity instead, the little black pit bull in the service vest who spent all her days working hard for Tabitha.
The dog settled into a sitting position and waited, her sweet eyes big and bright. She was so cute the first thing people usually wanted to do was pet her. The first thing Thaddeus had said when he picked Tabitha up today was “The dog’s not going to shed fur all over my car, is she?”
“No,” Tabitha said. “Trinity and I will get another ride home, thanks.”
Three people within earshot made instant offers to be Tabitha’s taxi.
“Fine,” Thaddeus said. “That’s just fine. I’ve got a marathon to train for, anyway. I don’t have time to be playing with these sorts of silly workouts.” He glared at the rack of barbells.
“Clementine runs marathons,” Hobbs said, pointing at the little blonde who was brushing chalk off her barbell with a wire brush. “In fact, I think her marathon time went down since she started working out here. That right, Clem?”
“That’s true,” Clementine said. “I also used to have horrible overhead squats. But, with time, they got better.”
“Well.” Thaddeus looked her up and down, sizing her up. “I run a three-thirty marathon. I don’t play around.”
“Wow, that’s impressive,” Clementine said, her tone genuine.
“But.” Hobbs cradled his chin in his thumb and forefinger. “Didn’t you just run Greenview Park in three-twelve, Clem?”
Clementine gave Hobbs a mom glare, sort of atsk-tskkind of look for stirring the pot, but then her gaze fell on Trinity and traveled up to Tabitha, whose cheeks were just starting to cool off. “That’s right,” Clementine said. “I sure did.”
Silence passed, and then Thaddeus just collected his gym bag and left without another word. Once he was gone, sympathetic looks and words were exchanged, but Tabitha waved them off. She collected Trinity’s leash and stepped outside the open bay door. She needed to be alone, away from everyone and the heat of her embarrassment.
After a minute or so, a warm hand planted on Tabitha’s shoulder. She turned and saw Red, wearing a baggy men’s T-shirt beneath her coat—The Hick from French Lick printed across the front—which Tabitha had been told was her standard gym attire when she first started Semper Fit, slowly ceding to her customary fitted tank tops and shorts. Her ponytail was all but undone, and one hastily clipped barrette, meant to hold back her bangs, was sliding out of her hair. She said nothing, just stood there with her hand on Tabitha’s shoulder.
After a while of silence, Tabitha tried her voice. “I keep thinking I get a handle on things. Find a direction. Then, in true Tabitha fashion, something goes wrong. I start massage school...and give everyone erections or almost kill someone at the marathon. I catch the eye of a handsome lawyer...and he turns out to be a jerk. And the person I really like is completely unavailable. I just don’t know anymore.”
Constance smiled, slid her arm around Tabitha’s back and squeezed. “It’s like that tricky birthday candle, isn’t it? You think you got this and then suddenly one pops back to life. But really—” Red cocked her head, making her strawberry ponytail list to the side more than it already was “—when you think about it...do we really want all the candles to go out? How exciting is that? We all need a little light. We all need a little surprise in our lives. We all need sparks to make us grow.”
“The sparks hurt like hell right now,” Tabitha admitted.
“Let’s look at this problem like a massage therapist would. You’re telling me something hurts, but what’s my real job?”
Tabitha didn’t feel like being quizzed but she also wanted to feel better, so she went with it. “Your job is to find outwhyI hurt.”
Red smiled. “Exactly. So you have all these aches and pains but I need to figure out the root of the problem. Where it all started. In your case, maybe what’s bothering you the most. You’re talking about massage school and men, but those are just sparks. That’s just where you feel the pain. Where’s the real problem coming from?”
Tabitha mulled that over. Even though it shouldn’t have been a surprise, the realization hit her hard. “I’m really worried about Auntie El,” she admitted. “She raised me. She’s always been there for me. She saved my life, really. And now something’s wrong and it kind of bleeds into everything else. Makes me feel like my foundation is crumbling. Even though I left home at eighteen to join the navy, when things went wrong, I came back home and Auntie El was there. And now something’s wrong and I want to be there for her, like she was for me.” Tabitha’s voice choked up at the end.
“Now we’re getting somewhere.” Red rubbed Tabitha’s back, between the shoulder blades. “What’s going on with her? Has she been in for a checkup?”
“Yeah. They ran blood and found nothing. She’s tired all the time but has insomnia and it hurts all over.”
Red’s hand stilled. She got quiet for a second, then said, “I’m not a doctor, obviously, but...has anyone suggested fibromyalgia? I have a few clients with this disorder. It’s marked by widespread pain, fatigue, sleeplessness, brain fog. It’s very hard to diagnose. They think that the brain and spinal cord amplify painful sensations in people who suffer from it.”
Tabitha felt a little spark of hope. She turned to face Red. “How does this happen? Auntie El never had this before. Is it hereditary? Old age?”
“Research indicates you can be predisposed by hereditary, but the trigger is usually a stressful event. Either physical or psychological.”
Casey, Tabitha thought. Could that have been Auntie El’s trigger? If she even had fibromyalgia, though everything Red was saying rang true. “How do you fix it?”
“Some doctors prescribe antidepressants,” Red said. “But you know what also helps a lot?” She got a little smile on her face.
“Are you going to say massage?”
“Not just massage.” Red bent down and stroked behind Trinity’s ears. “Massage with a lighter touch.”
