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‘Aha. What do you want?’
‘While it pains me, Izzy likes your gym. She moaned about the owner being a jerk and the smoothie recipes being in need of improvement but—’
‘Listen, Kerry, I have somewhere to be. What’s this about?’
She makes a noise, like a grunt or growl that sounds as if it came through gritted teeth. ‘We need a space for Izzy to shoot a DVD of herSalsa Yourself Slimclasses, and you, unfortunately, have the best space in the city. So, I’d like to book into one of your studios.’
She can’t see me, but I’m shaking my head in sheer disbelief. The audacity of these women. I hear her flicking pages down the line.
‘Ideally, we would do tomorrow. We really need to get moving on this and I have a film crew ready to go. At the latest, we could do Friday. What works for you?’
I scratch my head. Like they do in comic sketches to get the point across to viewers that they’re confused. ‘Are you shitting me right now? You behave like you did this morning. And by that, I mean both of you. Then you demand a favor from me. Command me to do something like I’m your puppet.’
‘Don’t be precious about this, Brooks. You don’t have to like me, or Izzy. The fact is, the publicity would be good for your gym too.’
I scoff. ‘You are some piece of work, Kerry. You know that? I’ve met two-year-olds with better manners than you.’
‘Really? I hardly see you as the soft, caring, fatherlike figure. Ugh, I shudder to think what your spawn would be like.’
‘This isn’t helping your cause.’
‘Goddamn it, what will?’
There’s shuffling and crackling, then the muffled sound of whispered bickering. Then the British vegetable lover is on the line. ‘Brooks, it’s Izzy. Look, I know we didn’t exactly get off to a flying start today but I’d be really grateful if you would let us use your studio tomorrow.’
‘Ha! So you can pimp your book to my staff again?’
She sighs. A noise of pure exasperation. It’s extremely satisfying to me. ‘I’m sorry about that. I wasn’t trying to… I can see how it must have looked and I apologize. But I’d be truly, truly grateful to you. Indebted to you, in fact, if we could book in.’
‘Indebted. Would you let me have one of your books as a thank-you?’
‘Of course I w—’
She stops when I snicker.
‘Right. That was a joke. Good one. What can I do? What will it take?’
While these women drive me crazy, I can’t help but enjoy the sound of her begging in that hot accent.
‘Oh, I don’t know. Maybe a six-letter word beginning with P?’
I hear her exhale. ‘Please.’
‘Say it like you mean it.’
‘Brooks. Darling, Brooks. Pretty please, with buttercream icing and a cherry on top, will you let me use your studio tomorrow?’
I feel one side of my mouth curl. Damn, I enjoy hating this woman.
‘I’d love to help you out here, Izzy. Really, I would. I think it was the way you bad-mouthed my gym, my sponsors, and my recipes that did it for me. But you see, I have a full schedule of classes tomorrow, so I don’t have a free studio.’
‘But—’
‘I enjoyed listening to you beg, though, darling Izzy.’
She gasps and I have to fight to keep my amusement from spilling out. ‘Fine. Bugger off, Brooks, you… you… meathead.’
‘Meathead? Seriously?’
