He grabs the house key I had given him and twists it off his keychain while Cat and I sit dumbfounded, unable to say anything. I hate that this is happening, but I don’t care enough to stop it. Nathan and I are never going to work out anyway.
“So you don’t have anything to say?” he asks, his voice softer now as he pulls the key off his key ring. I stand and walk to the edge of the couch.
“Why did you invite yourself into my house without asking?”
“I was trying to be sweet and come take care of you! You’d know that if you read your fucking text messages.”
“I told you I was going to bed, Nathan,” I say, feeling anger with him swell up and replace my guilt.
“And clearly you lied. Just like you lie about everything.”
My eyes narrow and I’m so pissed off at him for turning his intrusion around on me, that all I can do is point my finger toward the door. “Leave.”
Nathan throws his key on a side table. “Oh trust me, I am. I hope you and your new fucking boyfriend are very happy together. I’m sure he won’t ever fuck you over again.”
I clench my jaw together to avoid saying anything I’ll regret and watch him throw open my front door and leave. When the door closes behind him, I walk up and twist the deadbolt, locking him out of my life forever. My forehead leans against the cool metal door, and I close my eyes and take deep breaths. That was way more drama than I could have imagined a week ago when my life was normal.
Cat clears her throat and I turn to loo
k at her.
“Well,” she says with a timid smile on her face. “At least that part’s over.”
Chapter 12
Two days off work is the last thing I need right now. I’m not exactly sad about my breakup with Nathan, because it needed to happen, but it could have happened a little…nicer. Still, there’s a painful lump in my chest every time I think about it. At least I won’t have to endure anymore hairy man boobs and basketball sex.
And I’m not upset that Cat had to leave our movie marathon and junk food fest for work, because she has a job and it is definitely not in her job description to take care of me when I’m wallowing in self-loathing and regret.
I set a bottle of Clorox spray on the countertop and look around the kitchen to admire my work. My house wasn’t even this clean the day I moved in. Thank god today is the last day the gym is closed for renovations—I can handle being off work, but I can’t handle not working out. The elliptical machines are my stress relief and the free weights aren’t just the source of my physical strength, they’re my mental stability as well. Working out keeps me sane.
Not working out for two days? Well, I get a squeaky-clean house and holes in my shoes from pacing back and forth. Oh yeah, and a brain that’s about to explode. Just a week ago, I wanted out of my relationship. I thought that would make things better, but now that I’ve gotten my wish, all it’s done is make life more complicated.
Three days after the nightmare that was employee team building night, I arrive at the gym a few hours early for my seven o’clock shift. As psyched as I am to jump on a new cardio machine and hit the hardest level as long as my legs will let me, the moment I see Kris’s shiny black truck parked in my favorite spot, my stomach throws itself to the floor.
I wonder if the 24 Hour Fitness located an hour up the highway would hire me.
Determined not to let him stop me from my daily routine, or ruin my career, I throw my sweat towel over my shoulder, toss my car keys in my gym bag and walk into the gym with confidence. Only, the moment I push on the door, it doesn’t open and I slam face first into the glass. The plastic CLOSED sign swings against the other side of the door, mocking me for the idiot that I am.
I take a step backward and rub my forehead, looking from the closed sign to the piece of paper taped to the glass on my right.
SORRY FOR THE INCONVIENENCE, BUT WE ARE REMODELLING THE GYM FOR YOU! PLEASE COME BACK ON MONDAY THE 11TH FOR OUR GRAND RE-OPENING.
TUESDAY THE 12TH^
“Tuesday?” I say aloud to no one. “That’s seventy-two hours past Friday, you idiot.”
“Just a minute,” a voice answers from inside the gym, startling me. I squint through the silvery reflective film on the glass doors to see inside. The new gym owner himself appears, holding up his hand for me to wait. Even in worn out sweatpants and a white shirt with paint splatters all over it, he looks hot as hell.
I think about turning and running to my car but, I’m twenty-seven years old and twenty-seven year old women don’t run away when they feel stupid.
Kris grabs a set of keys off the front counter and jogs to the door, unlocking it and pulling it open. “You here to work out?” he asks, glancing over my wardrobe of black yoga pants, hot pink Nikes and a matching pink racerback tank top.
“Well I was,” I say, stepping inside and looking around the room at all the shiny new cardio machines. Instead of sweat and rubber, it now smells like a mixture of new plastic and fresh paint. “But I thought I had to work today. I didn’t realize the place was still closed.”
“Yeah, I underestimated how much time it takes to paint.” His eyes look off to the left and then back at me. “Err… plus I thought I’d have another helper here to paint, but he’s not allowed to hang out with me anymore.”
I know who he’s talking about and I really, really, wish I didn’t.