Page 101 of Bewitch

I rub my chin. “I could give them some of the profits, but I would assume the gym—”

Gary waves his chin. “The gym makes enough money,” he says. “I’m not going to steal profits from a college student.”

“It wouldn’t be stealing,” I protest. “I would be making money at you place of business. Why wouldn’t you be entitled to some?”

“Eh, give me a few treats for free every week, and we’ll call it even.”

My jaw drops.

He chuckles. “Honestly, Pamela might go for that same arrangement. You’ll want to talk to and meet the other greeters and talk to them in case there are some treats to be sold during their hours.”

“Of course.”

“And you might want to have Pamela let you know when the treats are running low.”

“I see her almost every time I come in to work out.”

“Ah, and you train how often?”

“Six days a week.”

“Well, there you go. You can price the desserts as high or low as you like. If it gets to be too much and you can’t handle it anymore or you just don’t want to, no harm, no foul. This’ll be your thing, and you have my blessing.”

“I… I don’t know what to say, sir.”

“Please, call me Gary. Everyone does.”

“Thank you, Gary.” I’m amazed.

“Do you like it here?” he asks. “Your trainer, I think Pamela said it’s her cousin?”

“Lucas, yes.” I nod, doing my best not to look uncomfortable or to fidget.

“How has he been as a trainer?”

“He’s motivated me… I’ve never stuck to a workout program like this before. He might be a bit… unorthodox—”

“Unorthodox? In what way?”

Shit.

“That might be a poor way to say it,” I fumble. “I don’t have much to compare him too.”

“Haven’t you been training with Craig since Lucas is out?”

He really knows what’s going on in his gym.

I swallow hard. “Craig definitely has a different teaching style,” I say slowly. “I think I respond better to Lucas. Do you now when he might be back in?”

Gary appraises me and lifts his chin. “I really can’t say.”

My mouth goes dry as I nod.

“I’m so glad that you’re willing to do this,” Gary says. “Anything to bring a person in.” Then, his eyes narrow. “Do you even want to do this? Or are you only considering this for Pamela?”

“I’ll admit that I never thought about selling the protein balls or anything else until earlier, when Pamela suggested it, but so many like the protein balls, and they would come up to me and ask if I were bringing in more… Do you think they’ll pay for them when they had them for free before?”

“Grocery stores offer free samples to lure people into buying certain products, so I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. After all, they already love the protein balls. They’ll be clamoring to buy them. You’ll see. And I’ll be first in line.”

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