Hallie, on her stomach under the covers, moved farther down.
Jamie tossed back the coverlet, exposing her T-shirt-clad upper half. “It’s time to go to the gym.”
“Who is Valery?” she asked.
She didn’t see the
shock on his face that was followed by anger. But he got his emotions under control. “She’s the love of my life. Jealous?”
“Does she put up with your moans and groans and calling her name at night?” Hallie still hadn’t turned over, and she was berating herself for having asked about the woman. But it was better than not knowing.
“I’m lovable as I am,” Jamie answered. “Now get up and let’s go to the gym. I’m going to toughen you up.”
“Oh?” she said and turned over in the bed to look up at him. Her braless upper half was barely hidden under the thin T-shirt. “You don’t like the softness of women?”
She had the pleasure of seeing his eyes widen. Putting his crutches aside, he sat down on the side of the bed.
“If you want to…” He trailed off and when his hand reached for her, she flung back the cover on the opposite side of the bed, rolled out, and walked around toward him. Her T-shirt hung only to her hips so her bare legs were exposed.
She had the great satisfaction of seeing Jamie’s face turn nearly white. “Holy crap, Hallie! I’m only human.”
“You’re the one who told me to get up.”
“And now we both are.”
She didn’t know what he meant, but a quick glance downward explained it. While trying to suppress a giggle, she hurried to the bathroom and closed the door.
Over two hours later they left the gym and walked back to the house. Hallie was sure that every muscle in her body was going to be sore. Jamie had put her on a program on the treadmill that went back and forth from easy to fast and difficult. Then he’d had her sit on a bench while he guided her arms as she did variations of flys and curls.
In return, she got him off the weights and into exercises that were part Pilates, part yoga, with a lot of meditation added. Her goal was to get the tension out of his giant muscles.
For all that the long, hard workout nearly killed her, Hallie had enjoyed it. They’d laughed and talked throughout the time. Jamie told her stories of his family, a lot of them about his brother Todd, who Jamie seemed to think was the best guy on the earth. “He does undercover work with the police and sometimes I don’t hear from him for months.” Jamie sounded as though when he and his brother were separated, they missed each other to the point of pain.
His talk of his family was so happy that Hallie wanted to respond in kind, so she told him more about living with her grandparents. She described the big garden they had and how her school friends loved to come to sleepovers and pick berries. “My grandfather would set up a screen in the garden and we’d watch movies outside. It sounds tame now, but to a bunch of nine-year-olds it was wildly exciting.”
“But later your grandparents moved out?”
“Yes,” Hallie said and her voice changed. “When Dad showed up with his new wife and her cute little blonde daughter, my grandparents ran to Florida.”
“So the only relative you have left is Shelly?”
“Yes,” Hallie said and she could feel her back teeth clenching.
Jamie saw in her eyes what he guessed was years of repressed anger. He could give her sympathy, but he knew from experience that was often what a person needed least. “You want some? Relatives, I mean. I have what feels like millions of them. Just last year a whole new branch of them found us. Jared Montgomery Kingsley showed up and we found out we’re related to half of Nantucket. So tell me what kind of relatives you want. You could go by age, sex, personality, profession, or location. Just tell me and I can find whatever you want.”
By the time he finished, Hallie was laughing. “I’ll take a tall, dark, and handsome male.”
“Here I am.”
She laughed harder. “You and your ego! Get down on the floor and start breathing.”
“Is this the one where you use both hands to search for my belly button? Just so you know, last night it moved six inches lower.”
“Get on the floor!” She was shaking her head at him and still laughing.
When they finally quit working out and got back to the house, they were pleased to see that the kitchen table was loaded with food.
“Looks like Edith has been here,” Jamie said.