“None for me, Mom,” Bree reminded her.
“Yes, I know, dear.” Mom patted her on the back when she passed behind her on the way into the kitchen.
When she was out of earshot, Gil leaned across the table. “Mom’s right. Everything does happen for a reason. And the reason you got fired is because you were sleeping with a client.”
Bree was in no mood to be lectured. “Drop it, Gil,” she said, knowing he would have the last word—like always.
True to form, he stuck his finger in her direction. “I’ll tell you one thing. This opportunity might pan out for us both. But, if it does, you have to promise me never to get involved with another client.”
“I’m good on the control stuff, Gil.” Bree pointed to her plate as evidence of that fact. “And I’ve learned from my mistakes. No man’s worth risking my career.”
“Keep reminding yourself, will you?”
“No need.” Bree leaned back and snatched a tangerine from the bowl on the buffet. “The mantra is etched on my frontal lobe.”
She would never be that stupid again.
Mid-October
“THANKS FOR LETTING me stay on, Mr. B. This extra month and a half has helped out a lot.” Josh thrust his hand forward in what seemed like a bit of over-formality, but Kale shook it warmly.
Josh Reeves was a great kid, and Kale wished he could keep him on through the winter. But with the days getting cooler, business had slowed to mainly gas traffic, fishermen and the random houseboat or two a day. Besides, the kid needed some time to participate in extracurriculars. This was his senior year, and he should be enjoying it instead of working every day after school. “You’ve been good help.” Kale added a friendly clap on the boy’s shoulder. “Come April, I’ll be looking to hire you back if you’re interested. In the meantime, if I decide to take some time off—like a weekend or whatever—would you be interested in watching the place?”
“Why? You planning a romantic getaway with Addy or something?” The eighteen-year-old gave him a sly grin.
“You saw, huh?”
Josh nodded.
Kale was aware his own smile was a bit smug, but he couldn’t help it. For almost four months, his occasional calls to Addy to “just catch up” had gone unanswered. And then, she’d shown up at the marina this afternoon, out of the blue. Her body language messages had been mixed—and damn confusing. She hadn’t really come on to him, but she did comment on the weight he’d lost—over twenty pounds since she’d last seen him, and she’d said he looked good.
“Naw, but I might want to do some fishing.” Kale wasn’t sure if his answer to Josh’s question was a lie or not. A weekend with Addy had crossed his mind, but so had fishing. He’d accomplished his first step in his “get Addy back” project—she’d dropped by. That must mean something. But now he thought it best to back off and allow her to do some of the pursuing. Nothing was a bigger turnoff than a desperate guy.
“Fishing. Weekend with Addy.” Josh held his hands palms up and moved them as if weighing the possibilities. “Both of them involve opening a can of worms, Mr. B.”
Kale laughed at the boy’s ever-ready wit—another thing he liked about him. “So your next gig is at a comedy club, right?”
Josh dropped his hands to rest on his hips. “Just calling it like I see it. Anyway, however you spend your weekend, I’d love to cover for you. Anytime you need me, just holler.”
They said their goodbyes but left the specifics hanging since Kale had no definite plans. He waved until the boy was out of sight, and then changed into his reflective clothes and took off for his nightly jog.
He’d started by walking around the parking lot for five minutes and had added an additional five each week until he’d gotten up to forty-five minutes. At that point, he’d decided he’d rather drop dead from exertion than boredom and began to jog. Sometimes it was difficult to tell the difference in his heavy gait. But, at the beginning of October, he’d finally ventured out to the highway and had fixed a goal in his mind of someday jogging all the way to his friend Beecher’s marina at Taylor’s Grove—a nine-mile trek.
But tonight the goal in miles didn’t seem important. The star he was reaching for took on the familiar shape of Addy. He would walk, jog—hell, he’d all-out run, he was so committed to doing whatever it took to get into the shape he needed to be to win her back.
He clocked his distance with his phone, making it a full mile-and-three-eighths—his personal best—before slowing to a walk and turning back for home.
Almost a mile-and-a-half and getting a visit from Addy all on the same day? He felt lighter indeed as a bubble of hope swelled in his chest.
An hour later, his celebration was complete with a cold beer in one hand and one of Mama G’s pizzas in the other.
How Mama G kept her pizzas so hot over the miles of delivery in this rural area of Kentucky amazed him. He dropped the box on the table as he passed and blew on his burning fingers. He grabbed a plate from his cupboard and filled it with three pieces of Mama G’s Special—hamburger, pepperoni, Canadian bacon and green pepper.
When he flipped the carton closed to keep the pizza warm, the bright yellow paper taped to the top caught his eye. Not the usual list of coupons from Benton merchants, this one heralded GRAND OPENING SPECIAL AT BENTON FITNESS across the top, and beneath that a photo of two sickeningly gorgeous people dressed in full workout regalia. The man’s sculpted biceps bulged under the weight of the barbell he gripped in front of his chest while the woman pumped large hand weights with perfect form and, well, perfect everything, as far as he could see.
Kale’s gaze lingered a moment longer on the woman before drifting down to the caption. Manager/Personal Trainer Gilbert Rice and Personal Trainer Brianna Rice are ready to help you become what you’ve always dreamed of being.
Kale affected the voice of Saturday Night Live’s bodybuilding characters, Hanz and Franz. “Gilbert and Brianna Rice. ‘We want to pump—” he clapped “—you up.’” He snorted at his joke.
His gaze drifted back to the photo of the perfect people who enjoyed, he was sure, a perfect marriage. How did people like them find a spouse? No ordinary person would be good enough. Maybe somewhere out there was a special dating service that specialized in uniting perfect people. He could see it now—Your Perfect Match.
Well, one thing was certain—that these two found each other was a good thing. That way, they didn’t mess up two other imperfect people’s lives.
He ripped the paper from the box and looked over the different types of memberships. The prices were reasonable and the gym had flexible hours. He bit into the pizza, which had finally cooled enough to eat.
With cold weather scheduled to arrive soon, a gym membership might not be a bad idea, and adding weight training to his workouts would speed up the entire “getting in shape” process.
Kale set the pizza box in the refrigerator, not as hungry as he’d originally thought. He’d finish it tomorrow for lunch instead of eating the entire thing tonight.
Juggling the plate, two beers and the TV remote, he finally settled on the couch for a couple of hours of football—something he and Addy had always enjoyed together.
Hell, combining jogging with weight lifting, he might get shaped up in no time.
Addy might be warming his bed again before Christmas.
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