Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 62095 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 310(@200wpm)___ 248(@250wpm)___ 207(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62095 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 310(@200wpm)___ 248(@250wpm)___ 207(@300wpm)
I wasn’t going down that road with him. Ave and I didn’t have much of what one might call a sweet tooth, so unless that had changed, I didn’t wanna know the details. Fucking everyone I’d grown up with was married off and blissfully happy. It was sickening.
Once Avery had gone home to his family, I changed into a new pair of workout pants and a QFC tee, and I braced myself for my session with Natalie.
Daily messages helped in the way that I knew she’d handled the weekend somewhat well. She’d beaten herself up a bit for eating too much ice cream on Saturday, and I’d detected traces of guilt and self-hatred. She didn’t seem like a person who talked down to herself on an everyday basis; instead, I believed it stemmed from her stubbornness. She was a strong woman, and on the off chance that she was related to Gray and the Nolan family, she was probably competitive too.
I met up with Laurie at the front desk and took a swig of my coffee. She was busy with a longtime member, so I logged in from the backup computer and checked this evening’s classes. Most were fully booked, so that was nice.
I heard Laurie mention happy hour on Friday but didn’t bother commenting. At some point, I’d lost my invite privilege. I was just the old boss now. Someone they called sir.
I was forty-fucking-one, not a senior citizen. A few years ago, we’d had a chill group of friends who went out to eat together. A couple of the guys had quit since then, two women had become moms, and the new recruits were in their early twenties.
Maybe I should dye my hair. Get rid of the gray. Try some face cream—
“Ethan, hi.”
I glanced over my shoulder and spotted Natalie. Time to get back to work. With that frustrating woman. She had to be a lesbian—right? I may have become irrelevant to my staff, but clients always fucking gawked. Or at least commented on my physique. But not her.
Definitely lesbian.
“Hey, Natalie. I see you came prepared.” If I lived across the street, I would’ve changed clothes at home too. “We’re actually heading out, so you can just leave your stuff here behind the counter.” No need to go downstairs to the locker rooms for just a pair of sneakers.
“Oh! Okay.” She handed me the shoes—Christ, her feet had to be tiny—and I placed them next to the lost-and-found on the bottom shelf. Then I wrote a quick note on a Post-it in case anyone got any ideas. “Where are we off to?”
“Just out.” I smiled and left the desk, grabbing a hoodie on the way. The weather was great for early September, and I didn’t wanna waste the last of the summer warmth indoors. “This might make me the worst gym owner out there, but treadmills are for logging results and rainy days.”
She followed me out, and I gestured up the street.
“We’ll do a thirty-minute walk, and then we can lift some weights when we get back,” I said.
“All of that sounds horrible,” she teased.
I grinned and set a moderate pace. The girl was so short that she had to take double the number of steps. “Didn’t you mention you enjoy hiking?”
“I used to love it.” Emphasis on used to.
“You’ll get back there,” I said confidently. “Today, I kinda wanna remind you that exercise doesn’t have to be a chore. You can get a lot done when you’re distracted by stellar company and riveting conversation.”
She laughed softly.
Woman, tell me you’re a lesbian.
Maybe my ego wouldn’t be so bruised if I didn’t find her so fucking gorgeous. I’d done some digging this weekend too, so I had a good picture of what she was trying to get back to. A literal picture. One search on her name had brought me to Design by Nolan, and the woman had clearly downplayed her success the other day. She had stores in New York, LA, Miami, and Chicago, and famous people wore her jewelry in the online catalogue. A-list actress Sophie Pierce had worn Natalie’s designs to the goddamn Oscars.
This was why I was on the fence about Natalie being related to Gray. I mean, wouldn’t he have mentioned that his, what, aunt…? That his aunt or whatever was some big shot in that industry?
On the other hand… She did kind of remind me of Gray’s mother, Chloe. They could be sisters.
Natalie and I walked up Hemlock Avenue, and I asked more about her weekend. I noticed she was taking in the sights as if she was new to the area, and then she said she’d unpacked most of her moving boxes—which reminded me. She’d mentioned something about that before. So she was new in town. If she was related to Gray, that could be why Natalie hadn’t come up in conversation.