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Wow. That advice struck me as markedly unsolicited. “I lost my balance when a rock rolled beneath my foot.”
“When your core is strong, it won’t be so easy to lose your balance.” Her matter-of-fact tone only added to the slight. “That’s one of the things I help my clients with in our sessions. You just don’t have any muscle tone. When you strengthen your core, it will take care of the rest.”
An indignant flame burst to life as I looked down at my stomach. It wasn’t quite as flat as hers, but saying I didn’t have any muscle tone went too far. I ran a hand over my stomach and clenched the muscles there. They moved—I had muscle tone.
I glanced up to find Duncan had seen my little muscle test. I dropped my hand and flashed a defiant look. “Abs of steel.”
He nodded solemnly. “No doubt.”
Brenda and Ian brought out serving trays wafting up delicious smells that might have come straight from heaven. I focused on my best table manners even though my hunger urged me to shovel food into my mouth as fast as possible. Harlow, meanwhile, carefully selected food from each tray, singling out the roasted vegetables and avoiding the fish and bread.
“Are you a vegetarian?” I asked as I cut a piece of fried fish. I’d enjoyed everything I’d eaten here. Brenda’s culinary expertise had even managed to make the organ-based dishes look palatable—not that I’d had the courage to try them.
Harlow shook her head. “Paleo. I eat meat, but this fish has been cooked in batter and I can’t eat flour.”
“That’s too bad, the fish is delish.”
She turned up her nose as I shoved a forkful of battered fish into my mouth.
“We really aren’t meant to eat grains. Our ancestors didn’t grow wheat.”
I took a bite of bread slathered with butter, ignoring her look of dismay. I didn’t mean to rub it in her face, but I wouldn’t miss out on a tasty meal just because she had chosen to. I had a few friends who’d tried Paleo, but I couldn’t think of a good reason to eat the way cavemen did aside from the trend factor.
“Cavemen didn’t live very long.” Pretty sure I’d already exceeded the average caveman’s life expectancy by several years.
“That’s a myth. They lived long, healthy lives without all the grains, processed foods, and chemicals that people eat today.” Harlow sounded more like she was trying to get me to go to church with her than get me to cut wheat from my diet. “If people would just eat healthy, no one would get sick at all. Since I started on Paleo, my auto-immune disease has cleared up and I haven’t had a single cold.”
I shared a look with Duncan, whose lips moved into the slightest smirk.Bull.
“Paleo?” Bea said. “Who’s doing Paleo?”
“I am,” Harlow said.
Bea scowled out her judgment. “I tried it for a while—didn’t like it.”
“You just need to give your body enough time to adjust. It’s the natural way for humans to eat.”
“Cancer’s natural, too,” Spencer put in.
She didn’t even acknowledge him. “Our ancestors didn’t eat dairy products, and they didn’t harvest grains or eat sugar. There’s no reason for us to, either.”
“Sounds awful to me.” Carlos popped a bite of breaded fish into his mouth and waggled his dark eyebrows at Harlow.
She frowned back, apparently unimpressed by his charms.
“I didn’t even think of sugar,” I said. “I could never do it.”
Sure, I might wind up healthier, but at what cost? Without sweet treats I’d only be living half a life.
“I’ve never felt better since I gave up chocolate.” Harlow’s angelic smile was smug as hell.
“Give up chocolate? That’s aheck, nofrom me.”
“You love chocolate so much you’d trade your health for it?”
“I think I’d trade just about anything for chocolate.”
“Really?” Carlos leaned over the table, suddenly interested. “Would you trade men for chocolate?”
