6. Chapter 6
Cole
“Hi, Grandma,” I said, calling on my lunch break. She wouldn’t think anything was strange. I made sure to call her weekly.
“Cole, how are things?”
“Good. How are you?”
“Great, now that you called. I volunteered for one too many things this week, but that’s nothing new.”
“Guess what?” I asked.
“Just tell me, boy. I’m too old for games.”
I laughed. “I’m thinking of moving back to Lansing Falls.”
She squealed through the phone. “Cole, that would be wonderful!” Grandma had more to do with my upbringing than my mom did, so her excitement was understandable. “You aren’t teasing me, are you?”
“Not at all. I’m going to make an offer on the gym and also apply for a coaching position that just opened.”
“That would be perfect. You said you’re thinking about it. Does that mean only if you get the job or the gym?”
“That and a few other things I need to consider.”
“Oh?”
“I’ve been dating a woman for a while.” I hated lying to my grandma. I hadn’t lied to her since I was twelve. “I’m not sure I want to leave her behind.”
“Ah. What’s her name?”
“Sadie Levit.”
“How serious is it?”
“I’d propose today if I thought she would say yes.”
“And you don’t?”
“She might. We haven’t been dating long, so it’s hard to tell.
And she has custody of her teenage sister.
She might not want to move.” The more I talked, the guiltier I felt, but I wanted it to sound like we had a real relationship and not an agreement.
From things I’d pieced together at family get-togethers, I had a feeling I wouldn’t be the first sibling to get married for the money.
“Ask her. It can’t hurt to know for sure. How old is she? She must be young if she has a teenage sister.”
I didn’t have the slightest idea. It would probably be a good thing to know. “Old enough to get married,” I said lamely.
“That young, huh?”
“Honestly, I’ve never asked. I’d guess early twenties. Her sister’s sixteen.”
“You should probably find stuff like that out.”
“Probably. But you are the one who told me to never ask a woman her age.”
She laughed. “There are exceptions to most rules.”
“What about the weight rule?”
“Nope. No exceptions there. Never ask unless you’re the doctor.”
“Noted.”
“Well, let me know when you decide. I’d love to meet her. Where did you meet?”
“She worked with me at the gym. At the front desk.”
“Nice. Well, I hope things work out for you.”
She wasn’t the only one.
I went back into the gym and glanced around. It wasn’t crowded today. Only a few of the machines were in use.
“Hey, Cole.”
I turned. “Hi Melissa. I think you’re ready to move on to heavier weights.”
“No,” she pouted. “I don’t want to strain anything.”
“Then I think it’s time you moved on to another trainer. You aren’t making progress with me, so maybe you would with someone else. You don’t want to waste money and not get results.”
She looked up through her long lashes. “No, I’m happy with you.”
“But you don’t do anything I tell you to, so you could stop paying me and do your own thing and have the same experience.”
She moved closer and smiled. “Maybe the experience I want is being around you.”
Great. I’d known this was coming, and I hated these situations.
“I’m moving soon, so you might want to start looking for a new trainer,” I said, pretending she hadn’t said anything.
“Oh no,” she said, grabbing my arm. Why did she always do that? “Why are you moving?”
“New opportunities—and I’m getting married.”
She dropped my arm. “Getting married? If you were dating someone, why are you always flirting with me?”
“I never flirt with you. You flirt with me.”
“How serious is it?”
“How serious is getting married? I’d say pretty serious.”
“Anything wrong?” Bill asked, coming over.
Melissa put her hands on her hips. “Cole’s been leading me on since he started. And now he’s suddenly getting married and moving? You should have rules against stuff like that.”
“I’ve never led you on,” I said.
Melissa’s eyes burned holes into me as she stared.
Bill glared at me. “You’re moving? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I just decided yesterday.”
“You should have told me the moment you knew. It isn’t easy to get qualified people around here.”
“I was going to talk to you at the end of the day.”
“You already cost me one of my best workers yesterday. What did you do to Sadie, anyway? She wasn’t happy with you, and if you’re leaving, I’m calling her and telling her to come back since you were obviously the reason she left.”
I rolled my eyes. “She won’t come back. She’s going with me.”
“Going?” Melissa asked. “You’re marrying Sadie Levit?”
“Yep.”
Bill’s jaw tightened. “That’s just great. I could sue you for all the money I’ll lose when your clients quit.”
“You can’t sue me for quitting. You’re probably going to find lots of your employees quitting now that you’re charging us to work out. I’ll stay for two weeks.”
Bill’s face turned purple. “You know what? Just go.”
I nodded and grabbed my bag. I was glad he didn’t know about my grandma—or he might actually try to sue me. Melissa was still complaining as I walked into the reception area.
“What’s going on?” Angela asked. “Bill sounds annoyed.”
I handed her my badge and my key. “I quit.”
“Oh, no! Why? Because of all the unpaid stuff?” Her lips thinned. “I might quit, too. I’m looking for something else.”
“I’m getting married and moving.”
“Married? That was fast.”
“Not really. Just quiet.”
“Do I know her?”
“Yep. It’s Sadie.”
“Seriously? I knew something was going on. And she didn’t say a thing! Tell her that friends share juicy gossip.”
I chuckled. “I’ll let her know.” I walked outside and stared at the town.
Now what? I needed to warn Sadie. If one person knew something in this town, everyone would by tonight, and she might not want Alyssa finding out at school. I knew she worked at a data-entry place, and there was only one I knew of in town, so I drove over and went in.
“Can I help you?” a woman in her early thirties asked from behind a desk. Her eyebrows were enormous. On purpose. They were blue, outlined, and filled in at least twice the size of the real ones underneath. Wouldn’t it be easier to just shave them off and start fresh?
I knew nothing about women’s fashion, but I couldn’t stop staring. There was no way this was a trend.
“Can I help you?” she repeated.
“Yeah. I need to talk to Sadie Levit.”
Her gaze narrowed. “I can’t call her out of work unless it’s an emergency.”
“It’s kind of an emergency.”
“Oh?”
I gave her my biggest smile. “You know how gossip flies in a small town?”
Maybe gossip didn’t fly as fast as I thought. I’d never heard about this woman’s eyebrows, and they deserved at least a footnote.
She nodded. “We live for gossip.”
“Well, I need to warn her about something that’s about to hit the fan.”
“Hmm,” she said, rubbing a finger over her chin. “I suppose you could hurry in and talk to her for a minute. Just through that door and the third cubicle down.”
“Thanks.” I hurried inside and into a maze of cubicles.
I moved to the third one and frowned when I saw a guy leaning against it, looking in at Sadie.
I stopped behind him. He was talking about basketball.
Every couple of sentences, I heard Sadie mumble an “Mmhmm,” but I was almost sure she wasn’t listening.
I could hear her fingers flying over the keys.
“So,” he said. “Are you going to let me take you to the game?”
“No, sorry,” she said without hesitation.
“Why are you always putting me off?”
I cringed. We needed to get this guy and Melissa together.
“Aren’t you getting tired of this conversation?” she asked. “Sorry, Mack. I’m not interested. I’ll never be interested.”
“I don’t get why—“
“Hey,” I said, stepping over so I could see around him.
Relief flashed across Sadie’s face. “What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Yeah,” the guy said, glaring, “you shouldn’t be back here.”
“It’s a slight emergency,” I said.
Her mouth turned down. The guy wasn’t leaving.
“There’s some gossip that might start flying. I wanted to warn you.”
Her mouth formed an O.
“I think you should go home so we can talk about it,” I said.
“I can’t just leave.”
I shrugged. “Quit. You don’t need this job anymore.”
The man’s eyes narrowed. “You can’t just come in here and—“
“I’m coming,” she said, grabbing her purse. “Let me tell my boss.”
“I’ll be in my car.”
She nodded.
“Don’t quit,” the man said. “And if you do, call me and we’ll talk about it.”
“Not a chance,” Sadie said, hurrying away.
He looked at me, and I raised an eyebrow. “Are you hitting on my girlfriend?”
He made the smart decision of sizing me up before answering. “You’re dating Sadie?”
I nodded.
“Figures,” he muttered. “I knew she wasn’t always busy.”
I turned and left. I wasn’t staying to tell stories.
If the gym hadn’t sealed the rumors, this would.
I walked out to my black Audi Q5 and leaned against the hood, trying to look casual.
She probably didn’t even know what kind of car I drove.
She probably didn’t care. When Sadie stepped out of the building, stress was written all over her face.
We definitely needed to sell this. If we didn’t, I’d just cost both of us our jobs—and probably our sanity.