Page 3 of Nate

Chapter Two

“Enrollment is taperingoff. We’re past the get beach ready surge and have quite a ways to go before the New Year’s Resolution rush. We need to come up with something in order to keep new guests coming in throughout the fall.”

Nate was at the flagship location for his local gyms, running a staff meeting. They were in his large office, which also served as a conference room. A big window looked out onto the neighborhood. There was lots of pedestrian and cyclist traffic, which made this a perfect spot. He had managers for each of his three gyms of course, but he was very much hands on in the running of his business. He’d worked too hard and taken too many punches, literally and figuratively, to trust his baby in the hands of anyone else.

Nate looked around at the staff seated at the thick glass topped table. “Any ideas?” His assistant manager from the northwest suburban gym spoke up.

“We could do one of those success story campaigns. Film a guy or girl who just started with us to record their progress. Once they’ve reached their goal, we can post it up on YouTube, our site and the rest of our social media. Put a spin on it, inspire people to come in and have their own success story.”

Nate tapped his pen on the table. “I like it. Those are always popular. It’ll take a few months for our candidate to have any results to show, but it’s a good long-term project. Anything we can do a little sooner?”

A girl with her hair dyed blue and cut in a shaggy bob spoke up. Her name was Vanessa and she worked here at this location. She wasn’t management yet, but she worked hard and had a lot of good ideas. She’d probably earn a promotion soon.

“We need an app. Something people can use to track their progress electronically. I know there are already lots of those programs out there, but if we had one directly tied to us, we could do a lot with it. Maybe rewards for reaching certain goals, and even sending reminders if they haven’t been in to log a workout for a while. The app would be even better if it’s set to post to social media. People love bragging on their work outs almost as much as they do posting pics of their Pumpkin Spiced Lattes.”

The group around the table laughed, including Nate. “I like that. Both of those are excellent ideas. Everyone start looking around our three locations for someone who might be interested in doing the success story program. Vanessa, I’m taking lead on finding a company to build that app, but if you think of any other features it should have, you let me know.”

She smiled at him. “Sure thing, Boss.”

Nate stood and closed the binder holding his notes, ending the meeting. He took a few moments to socialize with his crew before heading back up front. He was about to leave to go check in on his other two locations when he noticed the guy at the counter. From the conversation he was having with Ed, who was working the front desk, he wasn’t a member yet.

“I’d like to look around if I could? I’ve never belonged to a gym before, so I was hoping to find out what to expect first.”

Nate watched the guy. His hair was a multitude of natural light and dark brown shades. It was curly and long but the length was twisted into silky, well-maintained dreads that stopped just at his shoulders. His skin was a smooth, light brown. He was dressed in a T-shirt that featured a battling Dr. Octopus and Spider Man, loose jeans and Chuck Taylors. He had a slim build, but without a lot of muscle tone. To Nate’s trained eye, it was the type of body that those with high metabolisms and genetics that tended towards thin were blessed with. It was easy to guess that the young man was here because he wanted to develop what he naturally had.

He was clearly nervous, his words nearly tripping over each other as he explained himself to Ed. To sum up, he was adorable. Nate smiled. He had a soft spot for people taking their first steps to get in shape. He set his binder down on the counter and stepped forward.

“Hi, I’m Nate McKinney.” The guy turned to face him and Nate was immediately sucked into a pair of deep, dark brown eyes. They looked up at him, as the guy was several inches shorter than his six foot four. Long lashes curled over those eyes and when he blinked, Nate immediately thought of Bambi. He looked ... ridiculously fresh and innocent.

“I’m Kevin.”

Nate held his hand out. After a moment’s hesitation, Kevin placed his hand in his. Nate gave him a brief, professional shake, but ended with a slight squeeze. He liked the feel of Kevin’s smaller hand in his, it was warm and slightly rough. “Nice to meet you, Kevin. Why don’t I give you that tour?”

Kevin’s eyes flicked back to Ed behind the counter. “Oh, umm... sure, but do you guys work on commission or anything? Because this guy was helping me first.”

Nate smiled and shook his head. “No, we don’t. But that’s pretty decent of you to care. Come on, I’ll show you around.” Nate stepped back with a smile, indicating that Kevin should join him.

“So, are you the Nate of Nate’s Gym?”

“Yep,” Nate answered. He didn’t have any bragging in his tone, just pride in what he’d built.

“My tattoo artist, Max, sent me here after I mentioned I wanted to start working out.”

“Is that right?” Nate made a mental note to thank Max later. “What brings you in to our gym? What are your fitness goals?”

Kevin brushed a hand over his locks, a sheepish grin on his face. “It’s probably silly, but I just finished getting two sleeves and a chest piece Max has been working on for two years. Figured it’d be a shame to keep them hidden behind T-shirts and long sleeves all the time.”

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