She buried her head in her hands in distress. There would undoubtedly be a million phone calls and angry text messages waiting for her tomorrow morning when she turned her phone back on.
“Oh, well. You can go if you need-” Gracie started.
“No,” Olivia cut in, shaking her head. “I’d rather be here than surrounded by a whole bunch of drunk people.”
Gracie looked uncertain as their waiter returned to their table with their plates of food. “If you’re sure...”
Olivia unraveled her napkin and picked up her fork to pierce a piece of tofu covered in a green sauce that tasted of mint and various spices. “Trust me,” she said, chewing the surprisingly tasty food, “I’d rather be here with you than at a party.”
She watched Gracie’s expression carefully to make sure her statement didn’t freak her out. Straight white teeth flashed at her when Gracie shot her a grin and picked up her fork to dig into her own plate.
“I’d rather be here with you too.”
CHAPTER 7
True to Gracie’s promise the soreness in Olivia’s legs and upper shoulder faded over the weekend with light stretching. By the time Tuesday afternoon arrived she walked confidently across the busy parking lot and felt little pain in her thighs. In fact, she was looking forward to working out after her conversation with Gracie.
Olivia changed into her workout attire and after not spotting Gracie’s dark hair anywhere sat down on the bench near the free weights to wait. The murmur of distressed voices nearby over the upbeat music playing drew Olivia’s attention to the front counter where Gracie stood with young man holding onto her wrist pleadingly.
She tensed as the two exchanged heated words before Gracie’s shoulders slumped down in a defeat and allowed the young man to press a brief kiss to her lips. A spark of jealousy flickered inside of Olivia. She should have known that a woman like Gracie had a boyfriend. After spending Friday night together at the vegan restaurant, Olivia secretly hoped they would get closer and move past the trainer and client relationship. Either Gracie thought divulging her relationship status wasn’t important or she didn’t trust Olivia enough.
Something inside of her stung a little, but she kept her face neutral as possible with her hands tucked under her thighs and waited for the other woman to reach her. Gracie walked between the equipment with her head bowed down and face pinched in distress.
“Hi,” Gracie greeted her, voice strained. “Let’s start with the olympic bar. Are you muscles feeling up to it?
Olivia bit her lip, contemplating on whether or not to ask if everything was alright. From the way Gracie avoided her eyes she decided to let it go for the time being. “Yeah, they are feeling much better with the stretching and I tried a couple of the shakes that you suggested.”
“That’s great. I’m glad you feel better.”
Situating herself comfortably on the cushioned bench, Olivia wrapped her fingers firmly around the cool bar. Gracie reached down to move her fingers to the right spot and then straddled the bench with Olivia’s head between her legs. The position, like so many others, gave Olivia a view of things that she wished weren’t so tempting. Being around Gracie’s upbeat personality and determination was one of the small reasons why she kept treading forward. The little touches, soft fingers breezing across her own or lightly touching her hips during squats drove Olivia crazy with anticipation.
Olivia sucked in a deep breath before pushing it out through nostrils and pushed the bar upwards, freeing it from the handles. Her arms trembled as she pushed the bar upwards to Gracie’s hands and kept her eyes averted to the side to avoid looking directly upwards. After the third and final rep, Gracie helped lift the olympic bar and put back in its place.
“Okay. That was good. You’re getting stronger with just a couple days of lifting.” Gracie said.
The smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. Gracie turned to start towards the free weights with Olivia trailing behind her uncertainly. Unable to stand the tension anymore Olivia took the ten pound dumbbells and looked up while during her arm curls.
“So, how are you?”
Gracie looked down sharply in surprise from where she had been studying the ceiling tiles intently. She slowly cocked an eyebrow sardonically at Olivia’s beet red face and the sweat trailing down her temples. “I should be asking you the same thing. You look like you’re struggling a bit now.”
“I’m just tired is all.” Olivia replied, setting the free weights down on the ground. “You still didn’t answer my question either. How are you?”
“I’m sorry are we friends now or something?”
Olivia ignored the snarky reply since she had said a few snarky things to her in the past. “I’d like to think that we kind are. I mean, do trainers usually bring their clients out to dinner at their favorite restaurants?”
Chocolate eyes scrutinized her for a moment. A heavy sigh blew past Gracie’s lips and stirred a errant strand of dark hair from the side of her cheek. Her shoulders slumped down again in silent defeat and for the first time Olivia noticed her slightly disheveled appearance; the bags under her eyes to pieces of hair falling around her face. She patted the open spot next to her on the cushioned bench and waited patiently for Gracie to talk.
“Have you ever looked at someone and wonder if they are the one for you?” Gracie blurted out. “I mean, really look at them and wonder if they are worth all ups and downs.”
A derisive snort escaped Olivia at the question. How many times had she asked herself that question over the past few months since her break up with Jack? At the strange look on Gracie’s face she explained herself, “Sure, all the time. I asked myself that question a hundred times after I found out that my ex-boyfriend was cheating on me.”
“He cheated on you?” At Olivia’s nod, Gracie shook her head in disbelief. “I have a hard time believing a man would cheat on you.”
The compliment sent Olivia’s heart into overdrive. “Yes, well,” she started, clearing her throat awkwardly, “I’m not immune to cheating boyfriends. I was just as surprised as everyone when I found out, but that’s the way life goes. Boyfriend troubles?”
Gracie smiled darkly. “When is there not boyfriend troubles?”
“Good point.” Olivia said, laughing. “There’s always boyfriend troubles. Men tend to cause a lot of drama.”
“And then blame it on us for starting the drama.” Gracie said, grinning. She swept a hand through the black strands of her hair. “I just wish there was a easy button you could push and then things aren’t so complicated.”
“Don’t us all.”
They fell into a thoughtful silence watching the other members of the gym. The whirring of the treadmills and ellipticals filled Olivia’s ears soothingly. Gracie sighed again and then patted Olivia on the knee before standing up. “Come on,” she said, pulling Olivia up to a stand, “lets get back to working out while your muscles are stretched.”
“Are you sure that-”
“I’m fine. I’m not being paid to talk about my love life with you. Now, to the treadmills.”
Olivia scowled playfully in protest. She faked a salute in Gracie’s direction while muttering under her breath, “Yes, Coach! Right away.”
CHAPTER 8
“Honey, you look thin.”
Olivia waved away the questing hands lifting the edge of her blouse up. She half-glared at her mom, straightening her rumpled shirt. “I’m not thin and it’s called working out.”
Just within a few weeks of time Gracie’s vigorous training sessions were beginning to take shape on Olivia. The pouch on her lower belly shrunk ever so slightly and her thighs were starting to take on a nice shape instead of flabbiness. Even her bicep muscles shifted whenever she flexed it experimentally.
Michelle raised an eyebrow at her skeptically before turning back around to the kitchen counter and scooped up a pile of chopped bacon bits to toss into a plastic bowl. Her parent’s kitchen was easily the tidiest and organized of all kitchens in
the world, not one single appliance or tool out of place or without a place to go. Strong waves of apple cinnamon wafted through the house from the candle warmer on the corner of the counter and mixed in with the smell of cooked bacon.
“Since when has that started?” Michelle asked, casually. She brushed off bacon from her hands and then handed over a chef’s knife to Olivia, pointing to the jar of pickles.
Grabbing a cutting board from the bottom cupboard, Olivia opened the jar of pickles and began to dice them into bite sizes for the potato salad her mom was making for a weekend barbecue. She popped a piece of pickle into her mouth. “Since when has what started?”
“Don’t be coy. Since when you have taken an interest in working out?”
“Why does it matter to you?”
She finished chopping the pickles and scraped the cutting board clean of pickles into the bowl with the remaining ingredients. Olivia kept her eyes away from Michelle’s prying stare. It was the the type of stare that could see right through lies or facades, or, to put it simply, see right through bullshit.
“Because I’m your mother and I still care about your health. No matter what your age is, missy.” Michelle said.
Olivia rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. You just want to be nosy about what’s going on in my life.”
Michelle dug the tip of her knife in the cutting board and raised a eyebrow in a silent warning. “Watch it, Olive. I’ll kick you out of this barbecue.”
“Good luck trying to convince dad.” Olivia said, sticking her tongue out.
They finished the potato salad while talking about Olivia’s work with John and the Nora Roberts book Michelle just read. Outside on the latticed patio Daniel stood in front of the barbecuer, smothering a pair of baby back ribs with barbecue sauce.
“Hi sweetheart.” He greeted, waving a hand cheerfully when they walked out with plates of food in hand. “Are you ready for some baby back ribs? How many do you want?”
Olivia set the potato salad on the tiled table and slid up into a chair. “Just two ribs for me. I’m on a-what? What is that look?”
“Two ribs?” Daniel echoed in disbelief. “Just two ribs? Michelle, what happened to our daughter? Do you have any ideas?”
“I’m right here.” Olivia said, rolling her eyes again at her parent’s behavior. “I don’t know why everyone is making such a big deal about it.”
“Because you never used to be so health obsessed.” Michelle said. “Are you sure this isn’t some sort of rebound thing because of your split with Jack?”
“Pretty sure I’m doing it for myself.”
Among other things, Olivia thought, but kept that part to herself. She had just taken a bite of potato salad when her iPhone buzzed inside her front pocket.
Gracie: Hey. Just thought I’d tell you that I will be gone all next week for personal reasons... Stick to your routine and no frosting
Disappointment filled her instantly at the text message, but concern overwhelmed her. Gracie never took any time off of work and her mind went straight to their conversation yesterday afternoon about boyfriend troubles. Olivia set down her fork and excused herself from the table. She walked barefoot down the slope of the lawn and out of earshot of her parents. Gracie answered on the the third ring.
“Hey. You didn’t have to call me.”
The trembling in Gracie’s voice caught Olivia’s full attention immediately. She turned around to avoid Michelle’s curious stare and scuffed the balls of her feet against the grass. “I was concerned. What’s up? You sound like you’ve been crying.”
“Oh.” There was the sound of a door slamming loudly on the other end. “That’s because Max and I are breaking up.”
“Max?” Olivia frowned, then smacked herself in the forehead. “Oh, right. You’re boyfriend.”
“Ex-boyfriend.” Gracie corrected, glass clinking on something solid. “I don’t know if you’re busy or anything, but you said we’re friends right?”
A smile spread across Olivia’s face. “I’ll be there in a half an hour. Just text me the directions.”
CHAPTER 9
Gracie’s one bedroom apartment was above the businesses of historic downtown Springs. She parked across the street from the building Gracie lived above, a boutique shop, and crossed the street the to glass door leading up to the apartments. She punched the code Gracie gave her into the metal box and waited for the buzz before walking up the narrow stairway. The piles of clothes and various items packed in cardboard boxes in the hallway told Olivia where Gracie’s apartment was.
Shaking her head at the mess cluttering the hallway, she stepped over a pile of jeans on the floor and racked her knuckles over the wood. Footsteps approached the door immediately.
“Who is it?” Gracie’s voice, watery and suspicious, called out.
“It’s me. Olivia.”
The door jerked open. Gracie stood in a pair of baggy black sweat pants with holes in it and a white tank top. Her black hair tumbled freely around her shoulders and mascara smudged beneath Gracie’s bottom eyelashes. The red tinge to the white of her eyes told Olivia what had been going on for the past hour.
“Thanks for coming.” Gracie said, stepping back to let her in.”You didn’t have to come-”
“Don’t worry about it.” Olivia said, laying a gentle hand on Gracie’s arm. “How I could not be here?”
Gracie gave her a troubled smile and shut the door quietly. The inside of her apartment was just as chaotic with piles of clothes and various items packed in boxes. Olivia stepped over a box filled with CDs and looked around the living room with a small smile.
“I can totally tell you are in the middle of kicking a boyfriend out.” She picked up the picture frame laying on the ground and swept couple shards of glass away, staring down at Max with his arm curled around Gracie’s shoulders and their smiles bright as the sun behind them. If filled her heart with a odd longing. “You know someone is in the middle of a breakup when you find broken picture frames on the ground. That’s usually a sign of someone throwing a frame in frustration.”
“That obvious huh?”
A chair screeching across the floorboards drew Olivia’s attention from the neatly decorated living room. She caught the tail end of Olivia stumbling into a bar stool in front of the breakfast bar. Her eyes widened in alarm when Gracie grabbed a bottle of wine and poured herself a hearty glass.
“You drink?”
Gracie spun around on her heel, red liquid spilling over the rim and she stumbled a bit at the sudden movement. “Only when the occasion calls for it. They actually say a glass of red wine a day is good for you, but I think I drank a whole bottle...”
Olivia brought her hand up to her mouth to hide her laughter as Gracie frowned at the bottle and her full glass of wine. There was something refreshing to see Gracie vulnerable for once and not always confident or put together.
“Anyways,” Gracie said, swaying slightly as she walked, “I’m kicking him out because I realized that five years together with mostly downs is not worth it. Since when is it a huge crime to want to get married someday?”
She sat down on couch and patted the cushion next to her for Olivia to sit. Sitting on the edge, the smell of merlot wine overwhelmed Olivia’s senses and she had to lean back slightly from the intoxicated cloud Gracie was currently in.
“It’s not a huge crime to get married, but to men it’s like tossing away their freedom. Or that’s what I was told.” Olivia said, shrugging her shoulders indifferently. That was what Jack had told her after she found out he had cheated on her. Her dreams of being happily married had been ruined after that. “It’s like a ball and chain and if you aren’t ready for that type of commitment the weight of it’s a bit heavier.”
Gracie brought her knees up, curling her arms around them and rested her chin on her right knee. Her chocolate eyes peered at her rather intently for being tipsy. “No offense,” she started, “but I don’t want to be a cynic like you are. I still have hopes for marriage
and it’s not a bad thing to be grounded either.”
“Um, a lot of offense taken. I’m actually not a cynic and I never said that I didn’t have hopes for marriage.”
She fell into a thoughtful silence. Had she turned into a cynic? The thought made her heart ache slightly. Olivia turned on the couch so she was turned directly towards Gracie with a little bit of space between them, but kept one leg off the couch and her other leg curled up.
“I have no idea when I turned into such a cynic.”
“It happens. Breaks up bring out the worst in anyone.”
“Apparently so, but also the best too.” Olivia reached out and placed a comforting hand on Gracie’s folded arms, rubbing her thumb in soothing circles. “Everything will be alright in the end. You’ll find someone that will make you happy. Max is an idiot for not wanting to get married to a beautiful person like you.”
“You think I’m beautiful?”
“Of course I do. You really are a beautiful woman.” Olivia said, honestly. “Anyone who thinks otherwise are idiots.”
Gracie didn’t respond. She stared at Olivia, chocolate irises unwavering as they studied her with a indescribable emotion in them. Without warning, Gracie leant forward and pressed her lips against Olivia’s. Shock stilled Olivia as wine spilled all over her and the couch. The soft plumps of Gracie’s lips pushed against hers eagerly, the taste of wine and mint toothpaste on the tip of Olivia’s tongue.
Just as it quick as it began it ended before Olivia could even think to enjoy the contact she had dreamed about for the past couple of weeks. Gracie pulled back, her face bright red in embarrassment and hastily scrambled to the other side of the couch. Heart hammering in confusion and a small flicker of desire, Olivia stared wide eyed at Gracie who was gulping in mouthfuls of air.
“I’m sorry. I-I didn’t mean to.” Gracie whispered.
She bowed her head and dark hair curtained her face, hiding whatever emotions that were playing in her eyes. They sat in silence, a confused and tense silence. Olivia reached out to gingerly brush a strand of hair back behind Gracie’s ear, but froze when she shifted away from the touch and her hand fell uselessly between them.
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