Page 1 of Sweet on You
1
Ronnie
“You should get a cat,” my youngest sister, Callie said. As the only two girls in a family of boys, we’ve always been close. But also, we could not be more different. Callie had creamy skin and long, blonde hair that fell past her shoulders in mermaid-like curls, while I had dark brown hair that barely brushed my shoulders. And freckles. My face was covered in so many freckles, I resembled a Dalmatian.
I rolled my eyes and pressed my palms down harder against Callie’s sneakers. “Less talk, more crunches.” Somewhere behind us, a clatter of weights fell to the ground and a man grunted. “You hear that noise?” I jerked my head in the direction of whoever just dropped those weights. “That’s what you should sound like. You would be winded and barely able to talk if you were doing this right. It just means I’m not pushing you hard enough.”
It was Callie’s turn to eye-roll. “I’mserious,” Callie said as she curled her spine and sat up, her chin nearly hitting her knees. “I think a cat would be good for you. They’re independent enough that you wouldn’t need to be home for it all the time. And you know, you’re sort of like a cat, yourself.”
I blew a scoffing breath through my teeth that sounded a little too close to a cat’s hiss, merely confirming Callie’s claim. “I’m nothing like a cat.”
“Oh,oomph,” Callie grunted as she crunched, but continued talking. “Yes, you are. You’re aloof. A loner. But fiercely protective of your loved ones. You’re elegant, beautiful, mysterious, and muscular. You’re a cat. You even have spots… like a leopard.” Callie sat up and tried to poke one of the many freckles on my cheek.
I swatted her hand away. “Just for that, you’re giving me 10 more crunches.”
Callie snorted. “The hell I am.” She fell back against the mat, stretching her legs out to push me out of the way. I laughed and fell down on my back beside her, looking up at the mirrored ceiling of my gym. My own CrossFit gym. My dream. I couldn’t believe it was real. I’d put my blood, sweat, and tears into this place… literally. Even though my big brother Cam had built it for me at cost, I’d been here every day swinging a hammer right along with him. Over by the reception area, I had smacked the edge of my thumb with that hammer, spurting blood all over the subfloors. And on my opening weekend, when only two people had signed up for memberships—both of which were my brothers—I drank a whole bottle of wine alone, crying in the corner of the spin class room.
But now, look at it! I glanced around the busy gym, where my members were encouraging each other in daily work out programs—or WODs as the community had affectionately come to know them. Work Outs of the Day. WODs.
Business was booming. I turned something that was a passion—a hobby—into a thriving career. So thriving, I was considering opening a second location. I’d been saving for four years and I finally had enough to maybe make it happen.
“So?” Callie elbowed me in the ribs while still horizontal on the mats. “Do you think there’s a Fluffy in your future?”
“I don’t think I’m a cat person,” I said.
“Then a dog?”
“Definitelynot a dog person. They’re so much work. I’m here almost all day, every day. The poor dog would be alone most of the time.”
“I could help,” Callie shrugged. “It would give Ruckus someone to play with.”
Ahhh, that’s what this was about. Callie got a dog and found fulfillment, and now she thought it was the answer to everyone’s problems. Not that Ihadproblems.
Of course, Callie’s dog was just as crazy, wild, and free-spirited as she was. They were a match made in heaven. Or in Bellevue. “You know who else loves cats, don’t you?” Callie asked, though I got the distinct impression it wasn’t a real question. It was a setup.
My eyes fluttered closed. I knew where Callie was going with this line of questioning. And I didn’t like it. Not one bit. “Don’t, Callie—”
“Lex,” she whispered in my ear.
See? Setup.
“He loves his cat,” Callie continued. “It’s the most adorable thing watching him with that cat perched on his shoulder. And if I’m being honest, I think he just might love—”
“Callie, stop. He definitely doesn’t think of me that way.”
“How do you know?”
“I just do.”
“Buthow?”
I rolled my eyes. “Asking the same question again, more emphatically, won’t change my answer.”
“You two have been flirting nonstop since the day he moved to Maple Grove. You can’t tell me you don’t like him.”
I swallowed and stared at our reflection in the mirrored ceiling above. “I do like him. He just doesn’t like me.”
“Well, that’s a load of horse shit.”
