Worth the Weight

by Eileen Palma

  Kate opened her mouth then closed it and just stared at Jack.

  “If I didn’t say it yesterday, congratulations.”

  “Umm. Thanks.” Kate shuffled her feet and stared at the gum wrapper strewn floor.

  “All right, kid. You ready to go to Cali?”

  “What? Now?” shrieked Lauren.

  “Looks like the next bus to JFK gets here in four minutes.” Jack pointed to the digital screen overhead.

  “What about Diesel?”

  Jack tossed Lauren’s phone back at her. “Send Matt a text for me and tell him Diesel’s all his till we get back.”

  “You didn’t even pack anything,” said Lauren.

  “You look like you’re all set.” Jack pointed to Lauren’s overstuffed backpack and barely zippered shut gymnastics bag. “And I can buy whatever I need once we get there.”

  Lauren jumped up. “Yes!”

  The bus horn honked three short blasts and the digital screen flashed BUS BOARDING NOW.

  “We better get going.”

  “Lauren, don’t give your parents a hard time for lying to you. The important thing is that your dad’s getting better.” Kate said, as she walked Lauren towards the bus.

  “Okay. Are we still filming?” Lauren scuffed her boot against the pavement again.

  “Call me as soon as you get home. We’ll start filming when you’re ready.” Kate pulled out her phone and took a picture of Lauren.

  “OMG, my hair’s a mess!”

  “You look great. Now your picture will show up when you call so I’ll be sure to pick up.”

  “You better get on the bus and grab us seats in the front so you don’t get car sick.” Jack nudged Lauren towards the door.

  “Okay. Bye Kate!” Lauren ambled up the bus steps with her two bags and disappeared behind the folding door.

  “So I guess this is good bye.” Kate’s hazel eyes were phosphorescent in the overly lit bus terminal as she stared at Jack.

  “I guess it is.”

  “You could call me when you get there. You know, just to let me know that you and Lauren got there okay.”

  “Sure, I could do that. As long as your fiancé won’t get pissed.”

  “Last call for boarding!” crackled a voice over the bus intercom.

  “I better go,” said Jack. He stopped halfway up the bus steps. “Bye.”

  Kate wriggled her fingers at him. “Bye.”

  The bus was empty except for two families who were sitting in the middle. Lauren was camped out in the two seats behind the driver, reading a book since all her electronic devices had been confiscated. She had thrown one of her bags across the front seat on the other side of the aisle to save room for Jack. She was probably trying to avoid a well deserved lecture, but there would be plenty of time for that on the five hour long plane ride when they would be crammed in next to each other.

  Jack moved the bag over and sat down in the window seat that faced the bus terminal. He looked out the window. Kate stood on the platform. Jack hadn’t noticed before but she was wearing a KidFit workout tank and Lycra shorts with nothing else over them. It had been cold that afternoon, with a strong autumn wind that had made Jack thankful to be wearing a three-piece suit. Kate must’ve rushed out of the studio without taking the time to even grab a sweatshirt for herself. As if she could read Jack’s mind, Kate wrapped both arms around her stomach and rubbed them with her hands.

  Jack rapped on the window with his knuckles. Kate dropped her arms right away and smiled. She held up a hand and waved until the bus pulled out of the terminal.

  “Kate Richards was spotted running through the cold city streets in nothing but a sleeveless shirt and shorty-shorts. Was the queen of fitness trying to cool off after a hot night with reality star Alex Lombardi?”

  thebackfence.com

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Penn Station was crawling with available cabs, but Kate ran back to Chelsea Piers, her arms slicing through the wind. She welcomed the sharp wind blowing through her lungs. Her breath came out in gasps and her legs and arms were tomato red by the time she made it back to the gym.

  As soon as Kate walked in the field house, she spotted Irina through the viewing glass adjusting the height of the vault. Irina caught Kate’s eye and gestured for her to wait.

  “Is Lauren all right?”

  “Yes, thank God. I can’t believe she thought she was going to fly to California on her own.”

  “Nothing that kid does surprises me. She’s one tough cookie.”

  “You should’ve seen her sitting at the bus terminal like it was no big deal. She even had an e-ticket printed up for a flight to San Diego.”

  Irina shook her head. “She gets her gumption from Jack. I’ll never forget when he was starting the company up. He’s no-holds-barred when it comes to business.”

  “You’ve known him since before he signed the deal with the devil?”

  Irina’s face immediately flushed. “He didn’t tell you how he knows me?”

  “No. I thought you knew each other from him bringing Lauren here all the time. Oh, and I know he helped you set up the website. Thanks to that I got a nice picnic dinner in one of your practice rooms.”

  “He told you I lent him the room because he helped with the team website?” Irina shook her head.

  “Must be a pretty awesome website. I know how much those rooms cost an hour.”

  “Now that everything’s out in the open, I might as well tell you.” Irina pointed at the older girl Kate recognized from the locker room. The one who had helped get Madison to talk. She landed a flawless double back handspring on the beam, but it was clear from the coach’s reaction that it wasn’t quite good enough.

  “See that girl there?”

  Kate nodded. “She’s the one who helped me get Madison to fess up about what Lauren was up to.”

  “And the one doing back tucks on the trampoline? And the girl running towards the vault?”

  “Yeah. They’re all on the team, right?”

  “Yes. And they’re all here because of Jack. So are half the kids over by the rock climbing wall, half of our soccer, basketball and baseball players, and a third of our after school program.”

  “What’re you talking about?”

  “Every year Jack and his partner Matt donate a percentage of their profits to a memorial scholarship fund in honor of my niece Oksana.” Irina’s face tightened and Kate could see the band of muscles in her jaw lock.

  “I had no idea.”

  “Oksana and Lauren were in the same pre-school class at Sunshine Day School and they also took the same gymnastics class here. The two of them became instant best friends. Jack got to know Oksana very well. He took the girls to class when Harper had to work and the girls played at his house together all the time. Oksana had an endocrine condition which made her very overweight. My sister tried everything, healthy diet, extra classes here, but there really was nothing she could do to keep the weight off. My sister tried to keep her in a car seat but she just wouldn’t fit. Poor Oksana would get huge welts on her legs from where the seat rubbed in and she couldn’t sit back all the way because her shoulders wouldn’t go far enough back in the top part of the seat. So, my sister had no choice but to let her ride with no car seat. Seven years ago this May they were rear-ended by a tractor-trailer and poor Oksana went through the windshield. My sister survived but let me tell you, she’s like a walking corpse.”

  “Irina, that’s awful. I don’t even know what to say.”

  “Thank you. It still feels like yesterday sometimes.” Irina took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of her nose.

  “Jack started the company because of what happened to Oksana. You know, not every heavy kid out there eats too many Happy Meals. And even the ones that do—it’s not their fault their moms overfeed them. These poor kids should be safe on the road like everyone else.”

  “You’re right. They should.”<
br />
  “Jack didn’t tell you who he was because he was hoping you would get to know him first. Meanwhile, he hid the best part of himself from you.”

  Kate looked down at the floor. Shame crept up hot and moist from her feet and saturated her hairline.

  “I guess it doesn’t matter now anyway since you’re engaged. It’s not like he had a chance with you anyway. I’ll see you later. I have to get back to the girls.”

  Kate grabbed her stuff from the locker room and headed for home as quickly as she could. As soon as Kate reached the corner of 23rd Street she spotted it. The Big John’s Movers truck was crowded by a swarm of paparazzi.

  “Kate!!”

  “Over here, Kate!”

  “How do you feel about Alex moving in?”

  Kate tilted to the side so the photographers could get their shot. “Alex and I are very excited to get our life started together.” She swallowed the bile that was shooting up her esophagus.

  “Kate, what really happened between you and Jack Moskowitz?”

  “When’s the wedding?”

  “Sorry guys. I better go help with the unpacking!” Kate flashed another gleaming smile towards the photographers then tried to walk through the crowd to get to the front door.

  Rich was waiting at the door and as soon as Kate got close enough, he opened it just wide enough for her to fit through. Kate slid in the small space between and Rich twisted his key in the lock behind them.

  “This is why I tell you to use the service door.”

  “I wasn’t thinking. It’s been one of those days.”

  “Want me to help you get upstairs?”

  “That’s okay. Thanks.”

  “Use second elevator. Moving men using elevator one.”

  Kate passed the first elevator. The doors were wide open and the elevator walls were covered with cushioned canvas to protect the walls from scratches. Two men were carrying in a spin bike that looked to be of better quality than the ones at the gym. Kate wondered first where he would put it in her apartment, and then wondered if Dana had gotten ABC to cough up the dough for all these props or if she was going to have a massive AMEX bill at the end of the month.

  The elevator ride went far too quickly and Kate resisted the urge to get right back in it when the doors opened. A trail of packing peanuts led the way to her door, which was propped open with a twenty-pound dumbbell.

  Kate’s living room had been transformed into a personal gym. Her dining room table was mysteriously gone and in its place was a massive Bowflex machine. The shelf under her coffee table was lined with steel weights of varying sizes. Her end table was replaced with a giant rubber man waiting for someone to come and punch him in the face.

  “A little to the left.” Dana was directing two moving men who were in the process of hanging a framed poster of the The True NJ cast with Alex front and center flexing his pecs, his chest bare except for a huge gold chain.

  “Dana! You said a few things!”

  “That’s perfect,” Dana said to the moving men before turning to Kate. She had a Louis Vuitton scarf tied around her dreads and had the sleeves of her white button-down shirt rolled up. Her version of an outfit suitable for housework.

  “You weren’t supposed to be home till much later. You didn’t give me a chance to fix things up for you.”

  “Fix things up? Are we supposed to eat off the Bowflex bench? And what is that gigantic rubber man doing in my entryway?”

  “That’s Century Bob. All the MMA fighters use him to practice their moves.”

  “I can’t live like this.”

  “It’s only temporary. We have to stage this right or the press will sniff you out like a dog in heat.”

  “We filmed the Gossip Matters story without any of this crap here.”

  “Yeah, but everyone wants to know what the next step is going to be. You have to live your life like a reality show. That’s how people think these days.”

  “I already have cameras following me everywhere I go.”

  “No, I mean you have to think in terms of episodes. Episode one the press outs you and Jack for being together, episode two everyone finds out you’re really with Alex and you’re engaged, episode three he moves in. You’ve got to up the ante every time or else you’ll lose people’s interest.”

  “Don’t I want to lose their interest? At least in my personal life?”

  “They lose interest in you, your brand disappears.”

  Alex walked out of the bathroom carrying a folded Maxim.

  “You might not want to go in there for awhile.”

  “Alex, I can barely walk in here without tripping over a piece of workout equipment.”

  “I was thinking the same thing. We really need a bigger place.” Alex used the bottom of his trademark black rhinestone dotted tee-shirt to wipe a fingerprint off his framed poster.

  “We don’t need a bigger place. Nobody told you to move in the whole body builder section of Dick’s Sporting Goods.” Kate tried to keep her voice low since the movers were near by, and her voice ended up coming out in a scary whisper scream.

  Alex pulled up his shirt, releasing that horrible fake tan smell into the air and flexed his ab muscles. “I gotta keep myself in check. This is why my season had the highest ratings out of all the The True shows.”

  “Why can’t you work out at Equinox like we talked about?”

  “I need to work out in the privacy of my own home. These posers have been watching me at the gym to try to figure out my routine.”

  “We’re in talks to get Alex his own workout show. We need to keep his secrets under wraps.” Dana smiled up at Alex.

  “If we get a bigger apartment, I can turn the extra bedroom into my workout room.”

  “We’re not going to be together long enough to move!”

  “You have to hang in there long enough to make this look legit. Getting a bigger apartment would definitely add to your credibility.” Dana directed her comment at Kate, but kept her eyes on Alex’s stomach, which he had left uncovered as he absentmindedly fondled his left pec.

  “Where do you want this?” Two men held up the stationary bike.

  Kate walked down the hall to her room, doing her yoga breathing on the way. Thankfully her room remained unchanged. Poor Sarah Jessica Barker was huddled on the bed among the throw pillows.

  “I know exactly how you feel.” Kate climbed into bed and snuggled up to her dog.

  Sarah Jessica Barker jumped back when Kate’s phone rang.

  “Thanks.” Jack sighed. “You’re a good friend whether you want to be or not.”

  “Oh, I could really use a friend right now.”

  “I’m in as long as The Instigator doesn’t kick my ass.”

  “I’ll protect you. How’s Lauren?”

  “Good now that we’re booked on the next flight to California.”

  “Are you still in the doghouse?”

  “I’m working my way out of it. Her mom on the other hand is in for it when we get there.”

  “Does Harper know you’re coming?”

  “Yeah. But Lauren wouldn’t even get on the phone with her.”

  “They’ll work it out.”

  “I hope so.”

  “Call me or text me to let me know you guys got there okay.”

  “All right. I better go before Lauren buys out the gift shop.”

  “Jack?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Nothing. Have a safe trip.”

  Dana walked in without knocking and pounced on the foot of the bed like a cat.

  “I know this is a little overwhelming.”

  “You call my entire apartment being taken over a little overwhelming?”

  “I told them to leave your room alone. Right now Ali-Kat is trending at number one.”

  Kate sat up. “Did you know why Jack started his company?”

  “Yeah. Some little girl died in a car accident because she was to
o fat to fit in a car seat.”

  “Don’t you think that would’ve been helpful information to share with me?”

  “I thought you knew.”

  “I had no idea. That information wasn’t in any of the research you gave me.”

  “Would that have changed anything?”

  “I would’ve focused my article on something other than Jack’s company maybe.”

  “Clearly he’s lost sight of why he started the company and he’s catering to the Fast Food Nation crowd now.”

  “Did you know he donates a big percentage of the profits to charity to help kids get in shape?”

  “Big tobacco pays millions of dollars a year for anti-smoking ads.”

  “How soon till the moving men get done? I have a splitting headache.”

  “Another hour or so. Clear your schedule for tomorrow morning. We have to register.”

  “What? I just got engaged!”

  “Relax, it’ll be fun. Oh, and I got you a huge order of fettuccine carbonara from Chelsea Market. Eat as much as you can. We really want you to have carb face in the morning.”

  “Carb face? What?!”

  “It’s like a carb hangover when your face gets all bloated the next day after you overdo the bread basket. Oh, and wear a baggy shirt.”

  “You can’t be serious!”

  “Nothing gets the baby bump rumors started faster than carb face and a peasant top. How do you think Jen Aniston ends up on the cover of all those magazines every month?”

  “Jack Moskowitz leaves on a jet plane after Kate Richards reveals she’s engaged to reality star Alex Lombardi. Will the CEO of Considerable Carriages mend his broken heart in the land of sunshine and starlets?”

  thedailychatter.com

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Jack gently nudged Lauren, who had been sleeping on his shoulder pretty much the whole flight.

  “Are we there?” Lauren didn’t bother to open her eyes.

  “You’re the only person I know who could sleep through that turbulence.” Jack knew Lauren hadn’t slept through the night since she heard about her dad, so he was relieved to see her fall asleep shortly after takeoff.