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I lick my lips and nod. “I understand what you’re trying to say, Lucy.”
“Do you? Because no one understands until they live it. We don’t have the luxury of being careless.”
“I’m not a careless man.”
Lucy smiles and pats my arm. “I’m glad to hear it.”
I look over to where Stella and Olivia have their arms around each other, belting out the classic song that my sister coincidentally covered last year with Sam Hunt.
It sat on the charts for ten weeks.
That song turns into another, and then Liam steals the mic so he can sing an off-key rendition of a Nirvana song.
Stella hurries over to me, a huge smile brightening her face.
“Who doesn’t love Dolly?” she asks.
“What’s not to love?” I confirm. “You’ve got a set of pipes.”
“No, I have liquid courage and a karaoke machine,” she replies and takes a sip of water. I noticed she’d switched from alcohol about an hour ago. “I need more food.”
“Let’s go get some,” I suggest.
“Are you having fun?” she asks.
“More than I expected to,” I confirm. “I especially enjoyed the tour of the house.”
She smirks and loads a pile of ribs onto her plate. “Just wait until we get to the entrée.”
I haven’t seen her in three days.
And I’ve discovered that I get twitchy if I haven’t seen Stella in too long. I’ve never felt the need to be with someone every day, but I miss her as soon as I’m away from her.
It’s…startling.
And because I haven’t seen her, I need to work out some energy.
It may be five in the damn morning, but I drag my ass out of bed and head down to the gym. Going to Idaho last week threw me off my stride, but I’m so damn glad I went.
I use my card to unlock the door of the basement gym in my building, not at all surprised to see that it’s empty. I start on the treadmill and am about ten minutes into running a 5k when the door opens, and a man I haven’t seen before walks in.
He’s older, with long, dark hair that he’s pulled into a tail at the nape of his neck. He’s wearing a white tank, revealing a full sleeve of tribal ink.
He scans the room, and his eyes narrow when he sees me.
I nod once.
He does the same.
And with that, I focus on my running form. I’d like to run a half marathon early next year if I can fit in the training time.
Happy with my 5k splits, I hop off the treadmill and clean it before I move over to the rack for some squats and pull-ups.
There are two racks in this gym, and the stranger is on the other one, completing a set of pull-ups himself. The rack I’m using is the only one set up for squats, though.
He walks over to work on his arms as I set the weights for my squats and get to work.
After the third set, I check the time. I’ve been here for thirty minutes, and I have another thirty before I have to hit the shower and get ready to go to court.
I take my earbuds out of my ears and let them hang around my neck as I take a drink from my water bottle.
The other man isn’t listening to music.
“Are you new to the building?” I ask him.
“No,” he replies. “I live in the building next door. They’re renovating our gym, so I thought I’d come over here.”
“Ah, nice. I’m Gray.”
“Nate,” he says with a nod. “I thought it would be busier in here this time of the morning.”
“I usually have the place to myself.”
“Maybe I’ll come over here more often, where it’s quieter,” he says and reaches into his bag. He pulls out a jump rope, and to my surprise, starts to jump. At the raise of my eyebrow, he grins. “Habit from my MMA days.”
“You used to fight?”
“Long time ago,” he confirms, not even breathing hard. “This is good cardio, and I fucking hate to run.”
We’re quiet for a long time, working out solo.
Before I walk out with my bag to head home, Nate says simply, “I’m Stella’s father.”
I stop and slowly turn to him. He’s not looking my way.
“So, not a coincidence that you’re here, then.”
“No, it is.” He jumps up and completes ten easy pull-ups, then drops to his feet. “I didn’t know you’d be in here. But I know who you are. Our family is big, and no one keeps their mouth shut.”
“I don’t think that Stella or I were trying to keep a secret,” I reply evenly.
Nate nods once. “It seems the cousins like you.”
“I like them, too. And your daughter is an amazing human.”
“She’s more than that,” he says, now looking me in the eyes. “She’s fucking everything.”
I set my bag on the floor and walk over to the other man, holding out my hand for his.
