Chapter 7 #3
Ah. Message received, loud and clear. She didn’t want to get personal whatsoever. It stung a fuckload, but I had to see it from her perspective. She wanted to be a mother. That was her big goal. And she wasn’t gonna let anyone stand in her way.
I inclined my head. “I respect that. We’ll keep things professional,” I said. She tilted her head and was about to say something, but my next words were already tumbling out. “Speaking strictly as your PT, of course—should you be here today? I’ve learned your tells for discomfort, you know.”
“Oh.” She exhaled a chuckle and winced a little. “You mean because I look like shit?”
“It’d be unprofessional of me to say you look the opposite of that, but I was more talking about your posture,” I replied. “I can tell you’re in pain.”
Something in her gaze softened, and she smiled crookedly. “It was either this or walk around my block. My cramps fade after finding the perfect balance between lounging on the couch and taking walks. Hopefully, there’s another burger thrown in the mix too.”
I chuckled. Fair enough—
“Plus, I have to get my car,” she added. “My nephew—I mean Gage—is taking a look at it, so I’m borrowing his latest rust bucket.”
That explained that. “What’s wrong with the car? Other than it being that make.”
She let out a laugh. “You sound like him. I don’t know—it doesn’t always start right away, so I figured I’d take advantage while the mechanic in the family is home.”
“Smart.”
She glanced at something behind me and waved, so I figured I should step aside to let her be with her family.
“By the way, what did you give Jayden?” she asked.
“A crossbow,” I answered.
“Crap,” she whispered to herself. “I had grand plans, but then the cramps from hell hit, and I had to resort to a lame gift card.”
I eyed the wrapped box in her grasp, and while it wasn’t big, she’d need hundreds of gift cards to fill that thing.
“Small gift, big box?” I guessed.
“Oh.” She looked down at the box. “I found a Transformers lunchbox for him the other week too. Not the most exciting gift for a nine-year-old.” The Transformers theme of the party balloons here today would suggest otherwise.
“But Gray told me Jayden likes this new game on his phone, and you can purchase stuff in there, so I figured he could at least put an App Store gift card to good use.” She sighed and peered up at me with a smile. “I’ll crank it up for Christmas.”
Which…we might celebrate together, then?
“I think he’ll be happy.” I shrugged. “Last time I saw him, he was playing with sticks.”
She laughed.
Kidding aside, Jayden was cool. And he actually liked me—possibly because I was teaching him to kickbox. My nieces had zero interest in “gross, dumb boy stuff.” As if girls couldn’t kickbox?
“Anyway, I’ll…” I stepped aside. “I’ll let you go so you can say hey to everyone.”
“Well, I’d feel bad if Jayden thought I was holding his birthday gift hostage…” She sent me a teasing grin and took a few steps toward the others. Then she glanced back at me. “Don’t look at me when I eat cake.”
I chuckled and shook my head. “You need to let that go. I told you cake was for birthday parties, didn’t I? I’d be more disappointed if you didn’t try it. My sister made it.”
“Yeah, I’ve been told she’s incredible.” She bit her lip. “Damn sweet tooth.”
I shrugged with one shoulder. “I was born without one.”
She flinched as if I’d slapped her, and she looked up at me with an expression that cracked me up. Like she was trying to figure out what planet I was from.
“You don’t like sweets at all?” she asked incredulously.
“Not really.” I smirked. “When Elise figured that out, she didn’t talk to me for a long time.”
“Understandable.” She scrunched her nose, and it was fucking adorable. “Do you have any vices whatsoever?”
Little did she know.
“I can scarf down a two-pound bag of cashews in one evening. That’s almost two days’ worth of calories. Pizza? Don’t get me started. If I sit down with a bag of chips, I ain’t sharing. I can eat sushi and fried shrimp till the cows come home. Anything deep-fried, I’m there.”
Judging by the look on her face, I’d earned back some brownie points. So that was good.
“Except you’re not, because you have self-discipline,” she noted. “I envy that.”
Fair. I did have self-discipline. I’d never had to battle addictions.
“Doesn’t mean I don’t indulge occasionally,” I replied. “And it doesn’t mean you can’t get self-discipline either. It’s a process.”
She sighed and looked over her shoulder toward the birthday party, then glanced back at me again. “You know, this is what I don’t want to lose by us suddenly being in each other’s lives. You’re easy to talk to, and I like our chemistry.”
That sure put a smile on my face. “So do I. Does that have to change, though? What’re you worried about?”
She shifted where she stood, and she thought about it. “For starters, having my PT watch me eat cake. It’s weird.”
I chuckled. “For starters, I wasn’t planning on watching you.
But—for the record—I think the only weird thing here is that it’s your PT actually assuring you it’s okay to eat the damn cake.
You seem to struggle with guilt when you have no reason to.
The goal is to find a happy medium, Natalie.
I’m not here to starve you—or make you miserable.
A lifestyle change needs to be sustainable. ”
She nodded slowly. “I hear you.”
“For what it’s worth, I’ll be on my best behavior.” I was going there. I was gonna sneak in an apology for how I’d acted. I wasn’t sure I’d get a better opportunity, and I wanted us to move forward. “Unlike…you know, when I spouted some arrogant nonsense the other day. I’m sorry about that.”
A slow smirk took over her lips. “Hashtag getting shit done?”
I winced and made a face, and I instantly felt like a dumbass. I was half surprised she hadn’t told me to fuck off. I’d wanted her to pay me some damn attention—but she hadn’t hired me to check out my abs.
Christ.
No fucking wonder my brothers gave me shit.
It was as if a fog was lifting, forcing me to see things in a new light.
I wasn’t a fan.
“Yeah, that won’t happen again,” I promised. “Sometimes, I get caught up in what faceless strangers on the internet want to see.” By sometimes, I meant that had been my whole life the past…fifteen years?
Natalie tilted her head. “I can understand that. You have a business to run and followers to keep hooked.” She shrugged. “And as much as I want to deny it, we all sell out in some ways.”
Wait, what? She got it? How did she sell out?
“You’ve had to make compromises too?” I wondered.
“Oh my God, all the time,” she laughed softly. “From interviews and PR stunts to the size of my collections. I tend to want them small, and my marketing team pushes for bigger so there’s more to sell. In fact, I have a work trip coming up next week that I wish I could cancel, but…”
I guessed that made sense. I hadn’t really thought about how her industry worked, but I reckoned it was all the same. Feed the masses, push products, more, more, more. And evidently, leave Camassia to go on a work trip.
“How long will you be gone?” I asked.
“Just a few days,” she said. “I try to visit one of my stores every other month, and it’s Miami’s turn.”
Got it. A few days in Miami, huh? I could think of worse places for a brief stay in the sun.
It was a good reminder, though. Camassia wasn’t her whole life. She still had friends and colleagues all over the place, and she wasn’t tied down. She was living her life.
I should probably think about doing the same. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d traveled, unless it involved visiting my brother in San Francisco or attending fitness events in Vegas.
The more I thought about it, the more it sickened me. I’d let myself get swept away by trends, at least for the packaging material of what I sold, and I lived and breathed work.
I had some rethinking to do in the near future.