Chapter 7
Penny
It’s exactly one week until Thanksgiving, and I’m trudging up the L train stairs at the Bedford Ave stop in Brooklyn.
Keira rattles on beside me. “Thank you for doing this. It’s going to be great, I promise.
” She hoists a duffel bag full of activewear and sneakers higher on her shoulder.
“Matt said he’ll have a basic workout routine planned for us.
We’ll shoot some short segments, change clothes so it looks like a different day, shoot a few more, and then get the heck outta there.
One hour tops! Our followers are going to eat it up. ”
“Since when does a hundred-year-old department store even have followers?” I grumble and hurry alongside her.
“We didn’t! Until we posted you two doing explosive hip extensions in the middle of the sporting goods department!” Keira says. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you! Our social media numbers have quadrupled this week. Equipment sales are up, too. The higher-ups are psyched!”
We pass a busy bodega, and I follow her around a corner. When Keira told me she could use a hand with a marketing idea, she was short on details. “It’s a surprise,” she said. “Trust me, it will be fun!” Lord knows she needs to have fun right now, so I immediately said yes, no questions asked.
Big mistake on my part.
Because now I have to face Matt again.
Something I’m terrified to do.
He got me so worked up during that demonstration at Herald’s that I fled the scene, my cheeks pink and my self-respect hanging by a thread. I’ve been avoiding him ever since.
I realize that’s a dramatic response to the situation, but I am absolutely allergic to fawning over a man simply for existing.
I will not do it. The dance world was full of that nonsense.
Dozens of women worked their butts off day in and day out in the chorus and received very little in the way of attention or financial compensation.
But the guys? They worked less. They got paid more.
And the crowd always went absolutely wild for them.
They also generally thought they were God’s gift to women and slept with as many of them as humanly possible.
Even when they were supposedly committed to me.
But that’s a story for another day.
I’m so embarrassed about my response to him the other day.
I was no better than those lusty shoppers salivating over him.
While they were hyperventilating into their gift bags at the sight of Matt’s perfectly defined muscles, I was trying my best not to do the same thing.
But it wasn’t his muscles that had me all up in my feelings.
It was his energy. He’s so warm, fun, and friendly that he naturally draws people toward him. Even me.
“Here. Pause for a second.” Keira stops walking and shoves her phone in my direction. “You gotta see some of these.”
I read the social media comments out loud.
“Luvzmesomemuscles: Did you see the look he gave her when she thrust her chest in his face? That boy was hot for her. #santalust.”
“Theexerciseist666: He can cum down my chimney any day. Or night. #whitechristmas.”
“Shoptilyoudrop143: I failed chemistry in high school. But these two clearly have their masters in it. #theyretotallyscrewing.”
“Amazing, right?” Keira giggles.
It’s good to see her smiling. This is the first time I’ve seen her truly energized since she revealed her marital woes, which she still hasn’t told me about in detail.
So good friend that I am, I simply say, “Amazing. Yeah.”
It’s oddly comforting reading those comments. I don’t like being in any kind of spotlight these days, but maybe the social media response proves I wasn’t imagining the insane electricity I felt between Matt and me that day.
Maybe he felt it too.
Just because you have chemistry with someone doesn’t mean you should act on it, though. I’ve made that mistake before, and I’m not looking to make it again. I will do Keira this one-time favor today, then continue avoiding Matt as much as humanly possible moving forward.
We stop in front of a warehouse-type building. “This is the place!” Keira says. “Bossfit Brooklyn.”
“Wait. What street are we on?” I finally take in my surroundings. I was too caught up in my own thoughts to realize where Keira was leading me.
“North 8th between Driggs and Roebling,” she says.
You’ve got to be kidding me.
“Doesn’t really look like your typical gym, right?” Keira continues. “Seems fun, though! Wait till you see them in there. They’re all about climbing ropes and flipping tires and stuff. It’s very Spartan.”
I slowly turn in the opposite direction and… yup.
There it is. The empty building directly across the street.
It’s the one I’ve been obsessing over online ever since Dottie announced my extra Christmas bonus.
When my performance career imploded all those years ago, a new dream took its place.
One I couldn’t let myself take seriously until now.
When I spotted this location online, I thought it would be the perfect place to get started.
I even have a meeting with the building owner scheduled for next week, but there’s no way I can set up my new life in such proximity to Matt. That would be too weird. Right?
Keira seems to be having second thoughts of her own. “Actually. Maybe we should bail.”
“On the workout? Why?”
I follow her gaze, and my eyes land on the source of her angst. That elf assistant guy from the audition—John or Jim or… who am I kidding, I don’t remember his name—is running down the sidewalk with a huge heavy-looking sack on his back.
“Hey,” the elf guy says, out of breath. “Good to see you ladies. I hear we have business to tend to today, huh?”
“Yeah. Yes! Camera. I have. See?” Keira blurts nonsensically and lifts her camera like a little kid sharing her latest fingerpaint project.
“I do see. It’s very nice.” He laughs and gestures toward the gym. “Shall we?”
Keira stares at him, her mouth opening and closing a few times, but no words come out.
My girl is clearly losing it.
“Um. I think we need a minute, sir,” I say, slapping a hand on Keira’s shoulder and giving him a wink. “Girl stuff, ya know?”
The elf guy nods. “Say no more. We’re inside when you’re ready.” With a truly adorable smile, he picks up his pace again and jogs toward the building.
“Can I ask why you’re running around with a big-ass sack on your back?” I call after him. What can I say? I’m a curious person.
“It’s a sandbag,” he shouts back. “Makes cardio more exciting.”
“Ah.” I don’t do a thing to hide my disdain for obnoxious workout practices like this one.
As soon as he disappears through the garage doors, I turn to Keira. “Alright, what the hell is going on with you?”
“Was I weird?” she asks. “I was weird, wasn’t I?”
“Honey, you were very weird. Look, I’ve been trying not to push, but do you plan on filling me in at any point?
“Fill you in on what?” she says, playing innocent.
“Your life?” My voice ratchets up a notch. “Your impending divorce? Why I’ve caught you looking at that Elf Man like he holds the key to life’s greatest mysteries for the second time now? Anything?”
“He’s sleeping with his intern!” Keira blurts.
“Who is? Elf Man?”
“Stop calling him that, will you?” Keira snaps. “His name is Eugene. And no, not him. Tagg is sleeping with his intern.”
It’s so fitting that Keira’s husband’s name is Tagg. Tagg. He’s always been irritating. Like the tag currently itching me on my underwear right now. But honestly, I didn’t think he was capable of this.
“Tagg is sleeping with Elf Man’s intern?”
“Ugh, no!” Keira takes a deep inhale and launches into her story at warp speed.
“Tagg left his phone open on the kitchen counter a few weeks ago while he was in the shower. I’d just gotten home from work after getting the kids from aftercare and picking up some meat for dinner and dropping off the birthday present for Sylvan’s friend that we’d forgotten over the weekend when we went to yet another goddamn trampoline park and—”
“Slow down, sweetie, slow down.”
She stops herself and squeezes her eyes shut for a moment.
“Okay. So this flirty text pops up on his phone from a number I don’t recognize.
I don’t mean to read it. But it was right there, ya know?
The words flashed up at me while I whipped together yet another loving, home-cooked meal for his incredibly demanding triplet children!
” She winces. “I didn’t mean that. I adore my triplet children.
You know that. And they’re not demanding. They’re just—well, they’re children.”
“Keira.” I place both hands on her shoulders. “You are an amazing mom and wife. No one would ever doubt the love you have for your family.”
“Where were the signs, though? This is my fault, right? I should have seen it coming! I should have realized there were problems between us, taken steps to fix them, and— ”
She’s spiraling.
“Sweetie, are you sure they’re having an affair?” I cut her off in a soothing tone. “I mean, the situation is obviously not good, but one flirty message doesn’t necessarily mean they’re sleeping together.”
“The text said, ‘Tis the season to be jolly… and fuck your face,’” Keira says, her voice cracking at the end.
“Wow. Yeah, that seems pretty definitive.” I sigh. “Damnit. I thought Tagg was a stand-up guy! A bit pompous, maybe. Remember that time he told me my bookshelves lacked integrity?”
“He despises wicker furniture.” Keira sniffs.
“But generally, I thought he was a decent person. Guess I was wrong. I’m really sorry, sweetie. You deserve so much better.”
I pull Keira close and give her a squeeze.
“Thank you.” She sniffs into my shoulder.
“Can I ask you a question, though?”
“Sure.”
“What does the elf guy have to do with all this?”
Keira pulls back from the hug and lowers her voice. “The woman Tagg is sleeping with…”
“Yeah?
“She’s elf guy’s fiancée.”