Page 75 of The Weight Of It All
I rolled my eyes. “He just hasn’t appreciated the goodness that is Barry Gibb. Yet.”
“You will teach him the ways of the falsetto and tight white pants.”
“I detect a tone of sarcasm.”
“You detect correctly. What else is wrong with him?”
“Who? Reed or Barry Gibb?”
“Reed. I know what’s wrong with Barry Gibb.”
I sighed, but then I remembered something. “Oh! I know! He’s making me do the Bay Run this weekend.”
Melinda blinked. “TheBay Run.”
“Yep. Crazy, huh?”
“A little, yeah.”
“I’ve been practicing, and he says I don’t have to jog the whole way. I can run three kilometres without stopping or dying. So I should be okay.”
“Three kilometres? Holy shit, Henry. No wonder you’re looking so good.”
I instinctively went to rebuff her compliment, but after the last weekend of acknowledging my accomplishments with diet and exercise and acknowledging I still had a long way to go, I gave her a smile instead. “Thanks.”
Just then my phone rang and Anika’s name flashed on the screen. “Oh boy.”
“You haven’t told her yet?”
“I was kinda busy,” I whispered.
Melinda laughed, took her coffee, and went for the door. “I’ll hold all calls.”
I fell into my chair with a grin and answered my phone. “You want the dirty details? Or the sanitised version I just gave Melinda?”
Anika’s response was to squeal and laugh. “Do you even have to ask?”
I walkedinto the gym ten minutes early on Tuesday morning. I never thought I’d ever be excited to exercise, given just five weeks ago I had to drag myself through the doors. Now I walked in with a smile. I couldn’t believe how much had changed.
“Hi, Henry,” some guy said. I think his name was Dave.
“Good, thanks.”
Okay, well, not that much has changed. “I mean, hi. Sorry, not caffeinated yet.”
He just laughed and went on his way, and Emily greeted me with a bright and cheery, “Morning.” Her smile was a little too knowing.
I tried not to blush. “Morning.”
“You’re early.”
“Yeah, I um, I…”
She nodded. “I know. He won’t be long.”
I cleared my throat. “Well, yes. Who would’ve thought I’d be this keen to exercise?”
“Yep. Someone had a little bounce in his step this morning too,” she said, looking fondly over at Reed, who was helping a client on the cable and pulley machine. Like he knew we were talking about him, he looked up and smiled when he saw me.
