Chapter 3
Natalie Nolan
Igot my chance on Thursday when my sister invited me over for dinner. It would only be her, Aiden, one of the twins, and me.
I showed up at seven, ready to be nosy about the Quinn family.
“Mom!” Gideon yelled from upstairs. “When’s dinner ready?”
“Five minutes!” Chloe hollered back.
I helped with the salad, ’cause Chloe and I were Southern gals, and she liked to mix in dressing and croutons and cheese and…basically anything I had to be careful around. Well, the Parmesan was all right.
“Are you sure this will be okay, doll?” she asked. “I can make you something else if—”
“This is perfect,” I assured her. I didn’t want her to change a thing. She was feeding Gideon, and he ate for an entire army.
Or hockey team.
All my nephews except Gage played or had played.
“How’s Gideon coping with Gabriel being in Chicago?” I asked. I was curious about the twins’ next step in life.
I’d cheered so loudly that my neighbors had banged on the wall when I’d found out that Chicago had drafted Gabriel. He was moving there after the summer, and he’d finish high school there too.
“I think I’m the one suffering the most,” Chloe huffed. “They’ve already made plans to see each other as much as possible, and Gideon will go to college there as well. He’s lookin’ into sports medicine and rehabilitation fields.”
Oh, but that was wonderful. “Given how good Gabriel is, surely it won’t be a problem in the future to get Gideon a job wherever Gabriel ends up.”
“That’s their plan,” Chloe sighed. “Just leave old Mama behind…”
I laughed and gave her a playful shove.
“Why can’t Camassia have an NHL team?” she blurted out. “I’d like that way more.”
Oh jeez.
“When Gabriel comes home from this training camp nonsense, I’m going to invite Abel over for dinner,” she went on. “He’s a good boy. He picked Vancouver—that’s only forty-five minutes away.”
Erhm. The twins had practically grown up with Abel since he was so close to Gray, so if they weren’t already inspired to aim for a team close to home, chances were they wanted to explore other areas.
Besides, Abel had a few years on the twins.
He’d proven himself in the league, and he’d waited for the right call.
It wasn’t like the players could choose freely, less so rookies.
If I wasn’t mistaken, Abel had played in Pittsburgh before. That was hardly around the corner.
“Wherever they end up, they’ll make enough money to visit you frequently,” I said. “And you can visit them too, Chlo.” She and Aiden loved to take weekend trips together.
“It’s not the same.” She was in full grouch mood. “The nest is almost empty. I hate it. If I were a few years younger, I probably would’ve convinced Aiden to have a baby with me.”
I chuckled. Technically, she still could. Forty-two wasn’t that old.
“Then again, go through all the sleepless nights… Jesus Christ.” She shook her head and shuddered. “I’m just bitching. Gray and Isla have at least started giving me grandkids.”
Exactly.
Speaking of Gray…
“How are Darius’s parents?” I asked. “Are they enjoying the onslaught of grandkids too?”
Smooth.
“Oh yeah, they’re adorable.” Chloe brought the baked potatoes over to the dinner table. “They’re older, of course, but you kind of need to be a firecracker in order to raise a family like theirs. Can you imagine? Five boys and two girls.”
No, I seriously couldn’t. My God.
“They lost their eldest years ago, sadly,” she went on. “Afghanistan. Such a tragedy.” She returned to the stove to plate the steaks.
I assumed Darius was the eldest Quinn brother now, and where Ethan wound up in that bunch, I didn’t know.
“I think I’m gonna stop by tomorrow,” Chloe said. “She’s watching her youngest daughter’s kids because Elise and Avery have a date night.”
I smiled and returned to my task. The salad was almost ready, only the baby spinach missing. “How do you keep track of them all?”
“You meet them, and then you can’t forget.” She winked at me.
The whole big-family thing was so new to me; that was all. Growing up as Army brats, we’d learned from a young age that friends were temporary. Brad had been my first friend I’d been unable to say goodbye to. So we’d stayed in touch when my family had relocated.
A couple minutes later, Chloe called out for Gideon and Aiden, and I brought the last stuff to the table.
Aiden was in the middle of a deadline, so he moseyed in like a zombie.
Now, there was a man who didn’t mind growing older.
He had that whole rugged vagabond vibe going, with cargo pants, Henleys, and a graying man-bun.
“Hello, Natalie.” He smiled, surprised to see me. “Good to see you again.”
“You too.” I smiled back. “How’s the next best seller comin’ along?”
“Not great, if you ask my editor,” he grumbled, taking a seat at the head of the table. “He’s an asshole.”
I burst out a laugh. That was too funny. Considering his editor was not only his longtime friend from college but the husband of his daughter.
“This looks amazing, darling.” Aiden pulled Chloe close as soon as she was within reach. “What would I do without you?”
“Not eat,” she teased and kissed him.
“Painfully true,” he chuckled.
Gideon was the last to arrive and the last to sit down. “Fuck yeah, steak. Hey, Auntie Nat.”
“Hey, sugar. How’s life?” I plated a steak and filled the rest with salad.
“Awesome. I’m me.” He smirked.
Chloe snorted softly. “Just remember you’re gonna mow the lawn after dinner.”
He was a little less happy now.
My digging was unsuccessful for the rest of the evening, so I went the old-fashioned route the moment I got home. I looked up Ethan on social media.
With a moving box for a coffee table, I grabbed a Coke Zero and a bowl of grapes and got comfortable on the couch in the living room.
Facebook. He was friends with all my nephews. This was probably not his platform of preference, though. His profile was open, and the last post was from February.
Gym bro… Oh, Insta. Yeah, we’d go with Insta instead.
Bingo.
Ethan Quinn of Quinn’s Fitness Center. Holy crap.
Almost three hundred thousand followers wanted to see more of his gym selfies, of which there were thousands.
Jesus H Christmas, this man loved showing his muscles.
He ran a “Motivational Monday” with “new week, new goals, new gains.” Goodness.
He was a single step away from being officially bulky.
In his likes section, I saw the people I followed too. Liked by Gray, liked by Gideon, liked by Gabriel. Or rather, liked by graywinger1, liked by GabrielNolanGoalie, liked by theoneandonlygid. I followed them but never left a mark, considering it was my work account.
Gym selfies, gym selfies, gym selfies, oatmeal with protein powder and a motivational quote, gym selfie, gym selfie.
We were not the same, Ethan and I.
Every now and then, he posted photos with clients too. More accurately, their progress. He’d advised me yesterday to take a “before” photo, so I’d done that.
So far, I had no complaints about the food I ate. Sure, I had some minor cravings for chocolate and cake, but I hadn’t eaten that every day before either.
My phone buzzed with a message; it was Ethan checking in.
Evening, Natalie. How goes it today?
I replied to him.
It goes well, Coach. :) I had dinner at my sister’s house tonight, steak and salad. No baked potato, which was a travesty. But so far, so good! I tried your omelet recipe for breakfast, and it was a hit.
I had one thing left on my list today, and it was my ten-minute HIIT exercise. In short, ten minutes of speeding through anything that made my heart pound like crazy, be it squats and lifting my dumbbell or cleaning and unpacking.
According to Ethan, high-intensity interval training combined with long walks was the best for losing weight in my case.
We’d start with ten minutes a day this week, and we’d move to five minutes three times a day the next.
Much like my diet, he wanted variety in my workout.
We’d constantly switch things up in order to give my metabolism a boost. Same with my walks.
Right now, I was supposed to go on a morning walk for only a few minutes.
He said the variation was a good way to prevent getting stuck on a plateau as well, and I knew those moments very well. They fucking sucked.
Ethan’s response popped up.
That sounds great. Once you’ve started seeing results, there’s nothing wrong with a baked potato. It usually depends what you put on it, how much you eat, and if skipping the potato will send you running to the nearest chocolate bar afterward. The potato is better. ;)
I hesitated with a grape midair. Shit. Grapes contained sugar.
I sent a quick text.
Hypothetically speaking, say I’m eating grapes now. Would that be bad?
Crap, I hadn’t thought of that. I loved to snack! But maybe I should’ve picked carrot sticks…
I was already screwing up, wasn’t I?
Ethan replied again.
Nope. I will never ever steer you away from fruit and berries.
Are there better alternatives? Yeah. But you’re in the process of phasing out even worse foods.
So while a bowl of blueberries would be less sugary, grapes are ten times better than chips or ice cream.
Your body takes notice of every change, so this isn’t a mistake. It’s an improvement.
I exhaled. He could be as freaking vain as he wanted as long as he kept being a wonderful PT.
Before I could answer, he texted again.
In the future, when your body has adjusted to these changes, you’ll want to incorporate more challenges—because you’ll be ready.
Too many people start off a diet or lifestyle change by setting the bar too high.
The slightest misstep and they feel like failures, and if they fail once, they might as well order that pizza or open a bag of chips.
Oh boy, did he know the inner workings of my mind.
Feeling much better now, I sent him another message.