Page 55 of Resistance Training
“Wow, I haven’t been on a boat since I moved down here. Are you sure? I mean, youarestill in your limerence phase.”
She rolls her eyes, and it makes me want to kiss her entire face. “We are so beyond the limerence phase. I think he was really talking about the two of you.”
“I don’t think he ever talks about the two of us,” I say, sighing.
Now someone’s singing “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” and I feel it in my soul. Glancing around the bar, the view from the end of this booth is fairly bleak. I see one, maybe two prospects, if I were forced to choose someone to be my wedding date. If I had to choose between going home with a guy who’s currently in this bar or going home to my bed and my cat, let me open my Uber app right now, because I love these ladies, but I would rather get a good night’s sleep than make out with anyone other than Brad. But I gotta keep myself busy.
“I’d love to join you for some boating—thank you. Should I bring anything?”
“Just your beautiful smile and a sweater.” She winks.
I could swear she mumbles “and those BJ lips,” but the karaoke singer is belting out the chorus and I need Brad now tonight and I need him more than ever.
Mabel and Dolores scoot out of their side of the booth, arguing about what song to do.
Cindy pats my arm again, leans in while staring over toward the bar, and says, “Listen. Never play games with a Scorpio. Let me do it for you.”
“Huh?!”
She waves someone over and says to me, “I’m not sayin’ you oughta go home with that fella who’s been ogling you for ten minutes straight. But I am sayin’ I will winglady the bejesus out of you if you let me do that too.”
I glance over to see one of the two guys who were sort of maybe prospects approaching our booth.
“Say yes and I’m off to the races,” she stage-whispers into my ear.
“Yes?”
CHAPTER 16
BRAD
“Imean, yes, it was very kind of her to help me out—helpusout—even though I’ve been kind of a dick to her.”
I’ve been sitting on the floor here for half an hour. Shifting positions, I lean the back of my head against the door to the guest bathroom, accidentally knocking it. “Shit. Sorry,” I say to the kitten. She could be asleep in there for all I know. Or crouching next to the inside of the door, waiting for me to open it so she can run away or slit my throat or both.
“I mean, yes, Vivian Sparks is a kind person in general. She was never not kind to me—that wasn’t the problem. I’m not going to get into what the problem was, or is. It’s complicated. Or maybe it’s incredibly simple. But I’m not going to bore you with it. Unless you want to hear about it?”
Nothing.
No response.
For all I know, Vivian was messing with me when she said I should talk to the cat through the door. I read her the introduction and first chapter from the John Green book earlier. I played her an entireHuberman Labepisode about creatine while I ate dinner. I started a journal to track her behavior,likes, dislikes, what she ate. She seems to like almost everything except me. I get it. The girl’s probably been living on the streets, and she’s got the fortress thing down. Right now it’s my job to provide her with fuel. Her fire has just been to survive, ever since she was born. And my other job is to ensure that I don’t fracture her spirit. I can do that.
She ate everything I gave her today, licked the bowls clean. I was thinking about texting Vivian to ask if I should feed her some more, but I don’t want to overdo it. With Vivian, I mean. I’m not going to text her after she kissed me.
I can’t believe she kissed me.
“Can you believe she kissed me?” I say to the door. “And then ran off like that? I take back what I said just now—she’s not always kind to me. That was a dick move. It was a hot move, but it was a dick move. Sorry—I probably shouldn’t saydickto you. But she shouldn’t have done that. She knew what that would do to me. People don’t just go around kissing each other, okay? That’s not a thing if you aren’t dating. Clients definitely can’t go around kissing their personal trainers, in or out of the gym. Just because we used to be friends, just because I used to have feelings for her, that doesn’t give her the right to just kiss my neck. If anything, that’s exactly why sheshouldn’tkiss my neck.”
Fuck, that was hot, though.
Why hasn’t she checked in with me since she left? I don’t believe for a second that she hasn’t consumed any food or drinks tonight. Why hasn’t she asked about the kitten, even? Is she that busy partying with the sassy seniors? I pull my phone out of my pocket to make sure the ringer’s on. It is. But there are text notifications from Vivian and I didn’t hear them come in. It’s eleven thirty.
“This should be fun,” I mutter.
I open the text app to find a photo. Of Vivian singing into a microphone with some guy who looks like every other guy inPortland. And she looks like she’s having fun. That does not make me happy.
VIVIAN
