Chapter Twenty-Two
By the beginning of March, the snow was still piled higher than most people liked. Spencer, however, didn’t mind. She enjoyed winter. She liked curling up in a big, bulky sweatshirt and reading a good book on the couch. She had also begun to really enjoy snowshoeing this year, something new that Lucy had gotten her into. No, Spencer didn’t hate winter. What she did hate about March, though, was the brown. Everything went from sparkling clean and white to brown and dirty and just kind of gross. The roads were wet. The cars in front of you spat dirty road spray onto your windshield. The banks of snow left looked like they’d been draped with a light brown veil of sorts. Any spots that were free of snow were simply muddy.
March was dirty, and therefore, Spencer’s least favorite month of the year.
Except for this year.
This year, the beginning of March marked a change for Spencer. A lot of changes, actually. It marked the start of her new life. That was how she liked to look at it. She’d needed time, and she’d taken it. After she and Marti had split last November, Spencer had been reeling, that was true. Reeling for what felt like a lot longer than it was. But Mary Beth had been right. She was ready.
Spring meant new beginnings, and this was definitely a new beginning for her. She pulled the door to BodyFit open and walked in for the first time in more than three months.
The young man behind the counter was new to Spencer, his sandy hair shaved on the sides and styled into a fun swoop at the top, as perfectly placed as the hair on a cartoon character. Absently, she wondered how much product he had to use to keep it from moving. Below the swoop, he had a silver hoop piercing his eyebrow, and his smile was friendly and welcoming.
“Hi there. What can I do for you?”
“I have my first appointment with my trainer.” She gave him the name and he punched some keys on the computer.
“Terrific. Why don’t you go get changed and I’ll have her meet you in the cardio area?”
With a nod of thanks, Spencer headed to the locker room. She set her bag in a locker and pulled out her phone to silence it just as it pinged at her. A text message from Lucy.
You doing okay?
A small smile tugged at the corners of Spencer’s mouth as she typed back. So far.
Seen her yet?
Spencer shook her head as she typed. No. Avoided looking.
Lucy sent a smile, then: Text me when you’re done.
Spencer silenced the phone and slid it back into her bag, then changed into her black workout tights and a red tank. She hadn’t been to the gym in three months, but she’d been snowshoeing with Lucy and Ethan and she’d dusted off the stationary bike in her basement, had begun riding it a few times a week. She actually felt almost good about her body. But she knew she could do better, that she just needed a little guidance. A little help. And she didn’t intend to let her not-inexpensive gym membership go to waste, even if Marti had paid for it.
So. Here she was.
Spencer stood in front of the full-length mirror as she pulled her hair into a ponytail, then blew out a breath. “Here we go,” she whispered.
Near the treadmills stood a cheerful African American woman dressed in calf-length workout pants and a white T-shirt with the BodyFit logo on it. Her dark hair was in a messy twist at the back of her head and her smile was open as she turned.
“Hey there. Spencer?” At Spencer’s nod, she held out a hand and her smile grew. “I’m Aisha. It’s really great to meet you.”
Aisha knew her stuff. That became clear immediately. She was encouraging but firm, asking Spencer about any issues she might have with her back, knees, or any other body part that could give her trouble during certain exercises. She asked questions, made observations, and even cracked jokes. Spencer liked her right off the bat.
It was when they were wrapping up a circuit and Spencer was doing the dreaded plank (“Man, I thought I’d at least escape this on my first day with you,” she’d whined at Aisha good-naturedly) when she saw a pair of bright pink Nikes walk nearby and stop near her face.
“You know,” said a familiar voice, “if you make her do this long enough, you might get an MF out of her.”
“Oh, yeah?” Aisha asked. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“It’s totally worth it.”
The pink shoes moved away, and Spencer dropped to the ground with a groan, turned her head just in time to catch Rebecca disappear around a corner.
“Good day today,” Aisha was saying, and Spencer mentally shook herself back to the subject at hand. “I can see some things that we need to focus on. I’ll take the list of things you want to work on and incorporate what I saw today, and we’ll come up with a great regimen for you, okay? We’ll work together.”
Spencer liked Aisha. They were a good fit. That’s what she’d hoped for.
She’d also come for something else.
“Great. I’ll see you on Thursday.” She smiled as Aisha nodded and high-fived her. Instead of heading for the locker room, though, Spencer headed upstairs toward the offices.
“Hey, pretty blond lady.” Bobby Pine caught Spencer off guard halfway up the staircase, and she blinked at him, at his unassuming smile for a moment before realizing his fist was hanging in the air, waiting. She bumped it.
“Hi, Bobby. How’s life?”
“Life is awesome now that you’re back,” he said, with his usual exuberance. “Have a great day!”
Spencer smiled as she followed his descent with her eyes and wondered if he really had noticed she’d been gone. At the top of the staircase, she looked toward the offices and saw Rebecca looking right at her. She yanked her gaze away quickly when Spencer made eye contact with her and seemed to pretend to focus on her computer screen.
“It’s now or never,” Spencer whispered to herself. Then she took a deep breath, swallowed hard, and headed in Rebecca’s direction.
She looked amazing. Again. As always. It never didn’t surprise Spencer how incredibly attractive she found Rebecca. A tingling in her abdomen was near constant when she was around her, and that hadn’t changed, apparently. Hand on her stomach, Spencer willed the feeling to ease up so she could think. Rebecca wore her usual workout pants, these in slate gray, and a muted green V-neck topped with a black zip-up hoodie with the BodyFit logo embroidered in red on one side. Her dark hair had gotten a bit longer and now skimmed her shoulders. Spencer liked it. Rebecca glanced up, saw her, and tucked some hair behind her ear, a gesture that seemed like a nervous one. Spencer found it endearing. And that’s when she noticed that Rebecca wore the bracelet Spencer had made her, the black leather worn to softness and looking like it belonged wrapped snugly around her slim wrist. A pang hit Spencer low in her body and made her falter slightly before she pulled herself back together.
“Hi.” She helped herself to the chair next to Rebecca’s desk without waiting for an invitation.
Rebecca wet her lips. “Hey.”
“How have you been?”
Rebecca nodded. “Fine. Fine. You?”
“I’m great.”
Rebecca’s eyebrows rose and dropped quickly, like she hadn’t meant to move them and hoped Spencer hadn’t seen. “Yeah? How was the wedding?” A surreptitious glance at Spencer’s left hand did not go unnoticed either.
“There wasn’t one.”
This time, the dark brows stayed raised. “You mean yet?”
“No, I mean there wasn’t one, and there won’t be one.”
It seemed that Rebecca had to take a moment with that. Then another. Her brow furrowed. “What does that mean?”
“It means Marti and I split up. I’m back in my own house, and…” She swallowed hard, then snagged Rebecca’s gaze with her own and held it tightly. “I needed some time. I had a lot to sort through.”
Rebecca nodded, studied her own hands. “What happened?” She looked up quickly then. “If it’s okay to ask.”
“It’s okay to ask.” Spencer took in a deep breath, gathered h
er thoughts. “I’m a little bit ashamed to say that it wasn’t my doing.” Rebecca made a face of such surprise that it made Spencer laugh. “I know, right? Turns out, I’m even slower than Marti.”
Rebecca seemed to think it was okay to join in the laughter then, and it was a beautiful sight to Spencer, a beautiful sound.
“And it was the best thing she could have done for me because I was ready to commit totally. I mean, like, totally.”
“But you weren’t happy.”
“I know. But I’d lost confidence completely. In everything. In my ability to read people. In knowing what’s best for me. Marti cared about me, I knew that, and I thought that was enough.” She paused and focused intently on Rebecca. “I was wrong.”
“When did this happen?” Rebecca asked softly.
“The night you asked me not to marry her.” A mask of guilt settled over Rebecca’s face then, and Spencer nipped at it. “No. No, this was not your fault, Rebecca. Don’t you see? You were right. You were so exactly right. You told me I deserved better.”
“You do.”
Spencer smiled. “I know that now. It took a while. It took a lot of tears and a lot of energy and a lot of soul searching. And I’m finally doing so much better.” They were quiet for a beat. Then Spencer asked, “So, how’s Stacy?”
Rebecca wrinkled her nose. “No idea.”
Spencer took that in. “I see.”
“You’re back at the gym.”
“I’m back at the gym.”
“Aisha’s good.” Rebecca tried to hide what she was really thinking, but Spencer saw it. Spencer saw it and her heart warmed and her eyes welled up.
She reached across the desk and closed her hand over Rebecca’s forearm. Just that simple touch sent a jolt through her system. “I hired somebody else because I didn’t want you to get into trouble.”
The furrowed brow again. “For what?”
“For dating your client.” Spencer waited until Rebecca caught up. “I mean, that’s frowned upon, right?”
Spencer sucked her bottom lip into her mouth. This was it. This was the moment she’d been rehearsing for. Weeks had gone by and she’d talked it through with Lucy, with Mary Beth. She’d played this scene in her head, tried to anticipate every outcome. Rebecca could laugh at her. She could get angry, kick her out. She could be hurt, upset. She could say some pretty rotten things, and they’d probably be true. Or…
Rebecca could do what she actually did.
She smiled. It was slow in coming, as if it was sneaking onto her face, quietly and unobtrusively, tiptoeing until it finally sat there comfortably.
“I mean, it is considered inappropriate,” she said, drawing out the words.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Thus, Aisha.”
“You want to date me, huh?”
Spencer gave a tiny snort of a laugh and kept her voice low. “I want to do more than date you, Rebecca. But dating is a good place to start, I think. If you’ll have me.”
Rebecca shook her head. “God, we did everything so backward, didn’t we?”
Spencer nodded in agreement. “We totally did.”
Rebecca looked at her, held Spencer’s gaze with those blue eyes of hers, and Spencer was reminded how much she’d missed this. The fun and easy banter, the zap of electricity between them. Not for the first time, she wondered how she could’ve been so blind, so naïve as to think this kind of a connection came along on a regular basis.
“I have one more client tonight,” Rebecca said finally. She sat forward, leaned closer to Spencer. “Meet me in the parking lot and take me to coffee?”
Relief washed through Spencer like a wave over the sand, and she had no control over the enormous smile that erupted across her face. “I’d love nothing more.”
Rebecca stood then, reached out a hand and brushed Spencer’s hair off her face. “See you in an hour.”
* * *
Spencer sat in her car in the parking lot with ten minutes to spare. She was pretty sure time had slowed down to the speed of molasses in January just to mess with her. She’d gotten some groceries, wandered the aisles at the craft store (and bought some jewelry supplies), and made an appointment with Junebug Farms, the local animal shelter, to talk to them about what kind of dog she was looking for. That last one made her grin, and she picked up her phone to scroll through the dogs they currently had for adoption. She got so lost in them that when Rebecca pulled the passenger side door open, it made Spencer jump, a little yelp escaping her lips.
“Sorry,” Rebecca said, as she sat and closed the door against the chill. “I didn’t mean to scare you. Thought you saw me.” She leaned over, presumably to see what held Spencer’s interest, and her eyes widened. “You’re getting a dog?”
“I am. Haven’t picked one yet.”
“Oh, Spencer, that’s awesome. I’m happy for you. When?”
“I have an appointment this weekend to talk to the shelter.” Rebecca looked so genuinely happy for her. “Hey, want to come with me?”
Dark eyebrows raised. “Really?”
“Really. In fact, I’d love to have you there.” The words came as a surprise to Spencer; this wasn’t her plan. But there was something about Rebecca’s smile, her sincere happiness, that Spencer wanted to hold on to.
“Then I’d love to go with you.”
The car was running. It was warm. It was dark. And Rebecca was sitting next to her. Things couldn’t get much better for Spencer in that moment.
And then they did.
Rebecca leaned forward, no preamble, no warning, and captured Spencer’s mouth with her own. The kiss was gentle. Tender, but with a heat that left a promise of what was to come. Spencer let herself sink into it, the feeling so incredibly different from the last time they’d kissed. There was nothing in the background, no little voices to battle or silence, no worries, no guilt. Just Rebecca. Rebecca’s lips. Rebecca’s presence. And this kiss.
It was everything.
When they finally parted, Rebecca stayed close for a moment, stroked Spencer’s face. “I had to get that out of the way,” she whispered, her expression apologetic. “It was distracting me.”
Spencer swallowed, nodded, tried to find her voice.
Rebecca sat back, looking ridiculously radiant in the passenger seat of Spencer’s car. “Now take me on a date.”
“Whatever you want,” Spencer said, knowing by the feel of it just how lit up her face was. She shifted the car into gear. “Whatever you want.”
About the Author
Georgia Beers is the award-winning author of twenty lesbian romances. She resides in upstate New York, where she was born and raised. When not writing, she enjoys way too much TV, not nearly enough wine, spin class at the gym, and walks with her dog. She is currently hard at work on her next book. You can visit her and find out more at www.georgiabeers.com.
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