Page 9 of Fit for Love
“She found him in bed with someone else.”
“Oh, so he cheated on her.”What a dick,I thought as I bent down to break up some of the smaller branches that we’d already cut down. “Must happen a lot in those circles,” I said, somewhat dismissively.
“Not quite, she found him in bed with another man.”
I froze and my mouth fell open. How could anyone not want Cora Appleby? Unless you weren’t interested in women, I reasoned.
“Shit, that’s horrible.” It felt like the worst understatement.
“I’m not sure she wants everyone knowing about it. You can understand why.”
“Of course, I’m not about to tell anyone.” No wonder she looked on edge when I bumped into her earlier and it certainly explained her reaction in the car.
“I think she needs to be away from London for a while, not be around her usual circle, particularly that prick.” Mal hauled a tree branch over his shoulder.
I nodded. “Of course.”
For some reason, I suddenly felt protective of Cora, wanted to make sure she was going to be fine. And I would do everything I could to help her.
The afternoon’s shift for WW Cabs proved uneventful. By the time it got around to six o’clock, I was ready to head home and crash, not go and exercise with Betsey Jackson. But I’d promised her grandmother I would.
We met at the leisure centre, where I’d negotiated a deal to have a corner of the gym on certain days, meaning I could train my private clients for a small fee.
Betsey was one of those young women who was more about appearance than fitness. She bounced up for our session, wearing the latest Fabletics gear and new trainers, that would have been more at home on the fashion pages than the health-and-well-being pages.
“Hi Ethan!” She waved enthusiastically as she came into the room, dropping her gym bag—coordinated to match her outfit—next to the bench. “I’ve been looking forward to this soooo much.” She batted her heavily mascara-d lashes in my direction. Honestly, I wondered how serious she was about working out.
This was only our second session. In the first one, I’d given her an assessment to see what she wanted and how we could achieve her goals. By the way she was looking at me this evening, I think I knew what one of her goals was—me.
“Great, then let’s see what we can do.”
For the next hour, I helped her with stretches and tried not to get irritated by the way she exaggerated everything. Each time I pushed her a little further, she let out a breathy sigh or a squeal, causing the other gym goers to cast a disapproving look in our direction. The exercises were nothing I wouldn’t do with different clients, but Betsey treated each of them as if they were something that only she had ever done.
“Ow, Ethan, that hurts!” she cried, as she dropped into a squat lunge I’d shown her.
“You’ll get used to it. Now try and take it a little lower next time.” It was one of the least difficult things I’d given her and I restrained myself from rolling my eyes. “Only a little bit, mind, otherwise you’ll overstretch the muscles. You don’t want to be struggling to walk tomorrow.”
“Not from this kind of exercise anyway.” Betsey gave me a lascivious wink, leaving me in no doubt of the sort of exercise she had in mind.
Mrs Jackson seemed determined to set me up with Betsey. But the over-made-up brunette wasn’t my speed. Not only was she too young, but I wondered what we’d actually talk about if we did go on a date. As she worked out, she blabbered on about all the various reality-TV shows she watched and I actually winced. I preferred to be able to have a meaningful discussion with someone. Somebody I could talk to about my travel plans and all the places I wanted to visit. I bet she’d never heard of Machu Picchu. She probably thought it was a children’s cartoon character.
“What are you doing after we finish?” asked Betsey.
Thankfully, I already had an answer for that one. Mal insisted we have a proper welcome dinner for Cora that night; Piper was cooking and I’d been told to be home for seven-thirty at the latest.
“Ah, sorry, Betsey, I’ve already got plans. Maybe another time?” Mentally, I kicked myself. Why had I said that? I didn’t want to get the girl’s hopes up.
Her initial disappointment changed to hope. “Sounds good. Looking forward to it already.”
Ugh. How was I going to get myself out of that fix? “Right,” I said instead. “Let’s get cooled down properly.”
Once we’d finished, the pair of us walked out together and Betsey reached up and kissed me on the cheek.
“See you next time,” she said, before heading in the direction of the car park.
“Can’t wait,” I muttered under my breath.
I couldn’t wait to get home and spend the evening with my friends. And get to know Cora a bit better. Now where had that thought come from?
