by Julia Derek
I kept tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep so many thoughts raced through my mind, the heavy-duty sleeping pills I had taken doing little to knock me unconscious this evening. At some point, I must have passed out at last, though, because when I opened my eyes next, it was morning outside my bedroom window.
The first thing I did was check my smartphone. The only text there was from a client, wanting to reschedule a session.
As I walked into Nikkei an hour later, I spotted Ariel in the cafeteria. I did a double take when I saw who she was talking to—the senator of North Carolina, Janine Eastwood. They were standing close together, as though having an intimate conversation. Ariel looked agitated, almost scared, while the senator, a stately woman in her fifties dressed in workout attire, looked stern, like a teacher reprimanding a difficult student.
I had a few minutes to spare before it was time for me to train my first client of the day, so I walked into the cafeteria and up to the counter where all the drinks were to pick one up. The senator and Ariel were only a few feet away, Ariel with her back to me.
As I approached the counter, Janine spotted me and her demeanor changed. The sternness disappeared and was replaced by a soft smile.
“When can we meet for our next workout?” she asked Ariel. “Does Wednesday at eight p.m. work?”
“Um, sure,” Ariel replied.
“Great. Well, I have to go now,” Janine said. “It was good talking to you, dear. See you Wednesday then.”
She patted Ariel’s shoulder and walked out of the cafeteria, then disappeared up the stairs to the workout floors.
Is that Ariel’s client?
Ariel finished checking something on her phone and turned around so that she faced me.
“Oh, my God!” she gasped at the sight of me, jerking. “Jamie, you scared the crap out of me.”
“Sorry,” I said. “Are you okay?” It hadn’t seemed like she was when she had spoken to the senator, but I wasn’t about to bring that up.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I so didn’t see you. How long have you been standing there?”
“I just got here and saw you talking to that tall lady. Is she your client?”
Ariel nodded. “Yeah, but we don’t train that often. I started to train her a few weeks ago.”
“Eight on Wednesday. That’s pretty late. Aren’t you here early in the mornings?”
Ariel grimaced. “Yeah, I am. But it’s just a one-time deal. Normally we train during the afternoons.” She brightened. “I went out with Ian last night. Dinner. Can you believe it?”
I had to make myself return the big smile on her lips, shame for having stalked her and Ian assaulting me so much. “Sure, why not? How did it go? Did you guys have fun?”
“Yeah, we had an amazing time.” Hesitation came over her sunny face. “Which is why I’m so surprised he didn’t give me a goodnight kiss after walking me to my house. I even invited him to come up to my apartment, but he declined. What guy does that? It’s never happened to me before. Do you think he might be gay?” The words were flying out of her mouth.
“No, I really don’t think he’s gay. Maybe he’s just being polite and doesn’t want to rush things. Not all guys want to hook up on the first date.”
Ariel looked so hopeful my heart ached. Ian had better not be playing with this girl. “Do you really think so?” she asked.
I forced myself to keep smiling. “Yes, in my experience, if a guy’s serious about a girl, he wants to take his time. I’m sure that’s what Ian is doing. You should text him and thank him for dinner and chances are you’ll know from his answer what the deal is.”
“Okay, I’ll do that. Maybe you can also talk to him when you train him next. See what he has to say about the date. He’ll tell you the truth, right?”
“I don’t know him all that well, but I think he’d at least give me an idea. I’ll ask and we’ll see.”
Ariel grabbed my arm. “Please do. When are you training him next?”
“Tomorrow. Hey, I’ve gotta go. My client’s waiting.”
“Go, go! Talk to you soon.”
I left Ariel in the cafeteria, having totally forgotten to buy a drink to bring with me.
***
“How did the date with Ariel go?” I asked Ian, my smartphone pressed to my ear. It was the afternoon and I was up on the sundeck at Nikkei, enjoying the sunny spring weather while waiting for my floor shift to start. I had decided that I wouldn’t be able to wait until tomorrow before I found out what Ian thought of the date. I also wanted to know if he’d happened to spot me as I stalked them. As snarky as he could be, surely he’d drop a hint.
“Great,” he replied. “She’s a nice girl. A little needy, but nice.”
“Needy?”
“Yeah. The girl’s desperate for love and attention.”
“From you or from people in general?”
“To be honest, I couldn’t tell.”
“Hmm. That’s interesting. I never get a needy vibe from her whenever we interact. So I’m thinking she’s desperate for your love and attention.”
Ian sighed. “I truly hope that’s not the case.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because I’m not into her.”
“What? I thought you told me you thought she was such a little hottie.”
“She is a little hottie, but that doesn’t mean I want anything serious.”
I sat up on my sun chair. “Then why did you go out with her and act like you were having such a great time?”
“How do you know I acted like I was having such a great time? Don’t tell me you stalked me again.” Ian sounded amused.
I closed my eyes, the shame coursing through me. I swallowed, determined not to let on what a pathetic person I was. It wasn’t like I had intended to stalk them. I just happened to spot the restaurant where they were having dinner and then, unfortunately, one thing led to another. So I said, “No, I didn’t stalk you. I just assumed you were having a great time since you said the date went great. Did you kiss her at the end?”
“No, I only gave her a peck on the cheek and thanked her for a lovely evening. I even resisted her invitation to join her for a nightcap. Let me tell you, it wasn’t easy. Like I told you, she’s a little hottie and I’m a red-blooded man in my best years.” He chuckled softly.
“How very gentlemanlike of you,” I replied dryly. “So what are you gonna do now?”
“What do you mean?”
“Are you going out with her again? She texted you and thanked you for dinner, right?”
“Yes, she did. And I replied that it was my pleasure.”
“That’s it? No ‘I’d love to do it again sometime soon’ or similar?”
“No, if I did that, I’d have to go out with her again and I don’t want to lead her on. You should be proud of how I’m handling the situation considering your opinion of guys who string girls along. Instead I can tell you’re annoyed. What’s up with that?”
“That’s because I am annoyed. I don’t get why you went out with her if you’re not into her.”
“Well, then, allow me to explain. I wasn’t sure how I felt about her before we went out. That’s why people go out on dates—to see if they’re interested in more. It turned out that I wasn’t. But there was also another reason I went out with her.”
“What’s that?”
“After you pushing us together and making me take her phone number, I really didn’t have a choice, did I?” There was a distinct acidity to Ian’s voice now.
I didn’t immediately answer I felt so guilty. He was right—I did push them together. Why did I do something so stupid? Now I needed to come up with a way to fix it. I didn’t want to upset Ariel. An image of her hopeful face flashed through my mind and guilt threatened to overwhelm me.
“Gab, are you still there?” Ian asked.
“Yeah, I am. I’m thinking.”
“About what?”
“How I can fix this situation. Ariel is crazy about you
. Now she’ll be heartbroken and it’s my fault.”
“Not really. Like you said, I didn’t have to go out with her if I didn’t want to. I did want to go out with her—once. Even if I didn’t think I was that interested, I thought it was worth a date to be entirely sure. Especially since you seemed to think it was such a good idea.”
I couldn’t be certain, but it didn’t seem like that last sentence had had any sarcasm in it, which was nice.
“She’s a big girl, Gabi,” Ian continued. “I’m sure she can handle me not wanting to see her again. You didn’t really do anything wrong. All you did was facilitate a date between us. That’s what she wanted, right?”
“I suppose. How about you tell her something to let her down easy though? You should have seen her this morning. She was practically beaming she was so ecstatic after your date.”
“Okay, I’ll think of something. Maybe I’ll tell her my ex-girlfriend from London is coming to America and that I want to give it another go with her.”
“Yeah, that’s a good idea. Hey, speaking of Ariel, guess who she was talking to this morning when I got to the club?”
“Who?”
“Janine Eastwood. In the cafeteria.”
“The senator?”
“Uh-huh. And it looked like they were in the middle of a heart-to-heart in which Ariel looked scared and the senator almost pissed. I walked up to the food counter to pick up a drink to see if I could hear what they were discussing, but before I could get too close Janine spotted me and her entire demeanor changed.”
“How so?”
“She went from stern to friendly and told Ariel she wanted to train this Wednesday at eight p.m. Ariel told me the two of them have been training for the last couple of weeks, but not that often.”
“Very interesting… Now I think I might have another date with Ariel after all. If she’s as into me as you claim, she’ll tell me what’s going on.”
“You mean so you can see what they were talking about? You think it might’ve something to do with Adler?”
“Absolutely. Don’t you?”
Here we go again… “Not really. They could have been discussing anything. I’m not sure it’s worth it for you to lead Ariel on only so you can try to pump her for information. How about I try to talk to her first? She might tell me.”
“Sure, go ahead and try. And do it soon. If you fail, I’ll call Ariel and ask her for another date. It might seem cruel to you, but if you knew what I’ve seen and what I’m trying to stop, you wouldn’t think so. For all I know, Ariel might be part of their team.”
I laughed. “Oh, yeah? And what exactly would she be doing for them?” But even as I said those words in a derisive tone, I remembered how I myself had wondered why Ariel was so eager to become friends with me when she wasn’t a friendly person. I already knew it wasn’t because she wanted to get close to Ian since I had yet to start to train him at that point. The only person who knew I was about to start training Ian was my manager Rolf and the sales associate who had sold him the sessions.
“I don’t know that yet,” Ian said. “That’s why I want to have another date with her. So I can find out.”
“As I said, let me talk to her first and see what I can dig up. You could always hang around the area when they’re training and see what they’re talking about.”
“I doubt they’ll talk about anything incriminating while I’m around.”
“You don’t know unless you try.”
“I might try. And you should try to find out what other government officials might be members at the club. You’ve had several days to do this. I need to know who else might be here. Please stop stalling, Gabi. It’s too important.”
“Fine. I’ll have it done by tomorrow.”
“You promise?”
“You have my word.”
Ariel came out on the sundeck then, wearing a pair of tiny shorts and an equally tiny sports bra. The dark sunglasses on her face were so large they covered half of it. She stretched out on one of the sun chairs close to the entrance and pulled out her phone that she began typing on, completely immersed.
“I have to go,” I told Ian and hung up.
I watched Ariel, pondering whether I should go up to her now and ask her about Janine or wait. I decided to wait until it looked like she had finished typing at least. As I waited, I lay back down on my own chair and turned my face to the sun, enjoying the warm rays against my skin, all the while throwing glances in Ariel’s direction.
By the time I spotted Janine Eastwood, she was already standing next to Ariel’s sun chair. With the tall woman towering over her, Ariel appeared even smaller than she was. She instantly put away her phone and turned her face toward Janine, who was saying something to her. Ariel responded something lengthy, looking apologetic while shaking her head slowly. I was at the other end of the spacious sundeck and the sounds of the city drowned out any conversation the light breeze might have carried in my direction.
Even though I was fairly far away, I wished I had a magazine or something to hide behind. If Janine raised her gaze from Ariel and looked straight forward, she would instantly spot me as there were hardly anyone else on the deck at the moment. But she didn’t; she just kept talking and talking to Ariel, who nodded and said something every now and then. All of a sudden, the big woman grabbed Ariel’s upper arm and shook her hard as though Ariel was a kid that needed to be punished. Punished severely.
What the hell?
Before what was happening fully sank into my mind, the senator let go off Ariel, barked something at the smaller woman and then swiveled around, marching off the sundeck. Ariel watched the glass door the woman disappeared through and rubbed her arm. I looked around the sundeck to see if anyone else had noticed what had just happened. But the four other people up there lounging on chairs were still just either reading or keeping their eyes closed as they lapped up the sun. It was impossible to tell if they had seen the little tiff.
That must be what it had been. Some kind of argument.
I pushed myself off my own chair and walked up to Ariel. I wanted to make sure she was okay. As I stopped next to her, she jerked a little and her hand left the sore spot on her arm.
“Oh, hey, Jamie,” she said, trying to smile. It looked more like she was feeling sick.
“Hey, Ariel,” I said. “Are you okay? I saw what that big woman did to you. Is she nuts?”
Ariel licked her pouty lips nervously. “No, she just has a bit of a temper. It was nothing.”
I frowned. “Nothing? She was shaking you like a ragdoll!”
“Yeah, I know. But, really, I’m fine.” There was a finality to Ariel’s voice that told me she didn’t want to discuss it any further. She stretched out like a cat on the sun chair. “Don’t you just love this weather? I can’t wait for summer to come.”
“Yeah, it’s nice.”
“I think I’m gonna take a nap. I have an hour to kill before my next client.” Ariel put her hands behind her neck and turned her face up to the sun.
I looked at her for another moment and when she didn’t say anything else, I figured I should leave.
“Okay, sweet dreams,” I said. “See you later.”
Ariel didn’t respond.
Chapter 3
“She texted you again?” I asked Ian. We were walking up to the fifth floor at the club where we would be doing his workout today. He had just finished telling me that Ariel had contacted him a second time. “What did she say?”
“That she wants to go out again,” Ian replied. “Basically.”
“Really? Wow, I didn’t see that one coming. Or actually, maybe I did. She was pretty persistent when she was crushing on Nick.”
Ian turned to glance at me. “Your husband?”
“Yeah. They went out on a date while he and I were undercover. She kept texting him even after he told her he wasn’t interested in going out again. What did you reply?”
“I haven’t responded yet. Did you get a chance to ta
lk to her yet?”
“No, but I did witness something curious yesterday.” As I told him what I had seen transpire between Ariel and the senator, we entered the area where the heavy weights and the bench presses were and went over to a corner empty of people.
“She actually shook her?” he asked when I’d gotten to the end of my story.
I nodded. “Yeah. And pretty hard too. But Ariel acted like it was nothing when I went up to her and asked if she was okay. She said she was fine and then brushed me off, so I left. Something’s not right between those two.”
“It doesn’t sound like it. When were they going to have their session again?”
“Tomorrow at eight p.m. That is, if they’re still working together. Who knows after that incident? I sure wouldn’t be training someone who did something like that to me.” I told him to do a set of fifty jumping jacks to warm up. He instantly began jumping.
“I bet they are,” he said, arms and legs moving sideways back and forth at a rapid pace. Ian never had a problem maintaining a conversation while working out vigorously. “Well, since you haven’t found out what their deal is, I’m going to ask her out for this Thursday and coax it out of her.”
“Do you really think that’s such a good idea?”
He sighed. “My dear, you’re giving me no choice. You need to move quicker. A lot quicker. We can’t afford to lose more time. And besides, I’d rather tell her in person that I’m back with my ex. I’m not sure a text will do the trick. Not when I’m getting the sense she thinks there might be more between us than there is.”
“What makes you think she thinks that?”
“Just the tone of the text. She didn’t really ask me if I wanted to go out with her again. Instead she named a couple of restaurants she wanted to go to for our next date. So I would know where to take her.” Pearls of sweat were forming along Ian’s hairline.
