Page 11 of Hello Darling
“There’s a very good chance of that, yes.”
“Well, we open at six, but if you want…I’d be happy to come in early for the next couple of days. Until you’re all adjusted to our time zone.”
“No. Really?”
“Yeah sure—what else am I gonna do? You want to come in at five?”
“I mean. If it’s really no trouble.”
“Not at all—it’s my pleasure.” I think I catch a mischievous glint in his eyes, but it disappears almost immediately. “My boy Chet gets me up that early every morning anyway.”
“Right, well. Can’t wait to meet Chet, and I’d really appreciate it.”
After a good hour and a half of strength training, I feel right at home here. It’s a really good set-up. I like that the machines aren’t all lined up too close together, I like the space, everything is arranged very thoughtfully. The lighting is flattering, not too bright, not too dim. I look forward to spending more time here. A little too much, perhaps.
As I walk out of the men’s change room, I see Miss Starkey emerge from the staff restroom. She has pulled her hair up into a ponytail and changed into a tight little sleeveless pink top and leggings that confirm my suspicions that she has the kind of body that I just want to lavish attention upon with my hands and tongue for hours and days. So lithe but soft and curvy.
Damn.
She looks up as she’s walking towards the front area, scanning the room, her eyes locking with mine. I’ve stopped to stare—so unlike me. Her pace slows, my pulse rises, she sighs, pushes loose strands of hair behind her ear, looks down at her fantastically exposed milky white skin, and self-consciously crosses her arms in front of her breasts. But not quickly enough to hide those tell-tale nipples from me.
She looks away from me, nearly bumping into Billy, who stops her in her tracks and speaks to her quietly, forcing her to lean in. They both glance over at me. She reprimands him for something, he laughs it off, she shakes her head and rolls her eyes. He pats her on top of her head, she punches his arm. Siblings. Billy raises his chin at me, signaling that I should come talk to her.
I start to cross over to her, but she spots someone enter the front door. I follow her dismayed stare to the entrance and see a scruffy guy in a fleece jacket and jeans, good-looking enough. He salutes her and heads her way, but she speeds up and blocks him from coming further into the gym. Billy has gone off to talk to a woman who’s getting ready to use the rowing machine. Something about the way the guy up front is ogling Stella, and the way her body has gotten so rigid, makes me want to hover closer and listen to what’s going on between them. I pull out my phone and pretend to read emails.
I definitely do not like the way this guy puts his hands on her bare arms, and neither does she. I can hear them talking about “last night” and how they’d just “had a lot to drink.” This must be the chap she was talking to on the phone when I got here. Persistent bastard. Not that I blame him. Still, he doesn’t get it. She’s just not into him.
He says he’s come to cancel his membership so she can go out with him.
Then she says in a voice that’s suddenly so vulnerable, it embarrasses me to be overhearing it: “Come on, Jason. This is a hard time of year for me. I was just blowing off steam.”
“Yeah well, this time of year isn’t the only thing that’shard, and there are other things you canblow.”
And that’s my cue.
“Excuse me, sorry, could I have a word with you, Stella?”
“I’m having a word with her right now, man.” His expression betrays no recognition of me whatsoever. Still, I don’t want to get into a brawl with a local my first day here.
“Perhaps you should choose your words more carefully.”
“Perhaps you should mind your own fucking business, Downton Abbey.”
Oh, I desperately want to punch you in the face.“Perhaps you should leave the lady alone as she’s requested.”
“It’s fine, thank you,” she says to me, then turns back to the fine gentleman. “You need to leave now before I call all of my brothers over.”
The look on this poor fellow’s face tells me that did the trick. He recovers slightly, puffs up his chest and says: “Whatever, I gotta go anyway. Just don’t call me all whiney asking for forgiveness, because you won’t get it.”
She throws her arms in the air, exasperated. “In what world?”
“Cheerio, old chap,” he says to me, before making his exit.
I should have punched him in the face.
Stella looks down at her chest again, before turning to me. “Thanks…I’m teaching a yoga class in a few minutes, but my brother said you asked about using the back room for training?”
“Yes. Renting it, of course.”
