They didn’t speak as the hostess seated them and handed them menus and the waitress brought them ice water and took an order for coffee. Maxine’s eyes skimmed over everything on the vinyl coated menu within seconds and she folded it and set it aside. She ran her finger over the condensation on her water glass as she leaned back in the booth and looked at Barry. He looked very tired. His blue eyes seemed a little dull, his mouth a bit pinched, his color off.
“I’ve missed you the last few weeks,” she murmured just to break the silence.
He peered at her over the rim of the menu before tossing it down. He propped his elbows on the table and rubbed his face then ran his hands through his close cropped blond hair. “It’s been a difficult time.”
Maxine nodded. “I gathered.”
He leaned back against the booth and crossed his arms over his massive chest. He released a deep breath. “We’d been living separate lives for years; different bedrooms; different holiday plans …”
Maxine raised an eyebrow. “Why?”
Barry shrugged. “I don’t know. I needed a wife or a hostess sometimes. She needed money to support her lifestyle. She could throw a killer dinner party, and that kind of networking really helped my law firm.” He sighed and threw an arm over the back of the booth. “It worked for us. When she told me she was pregnant, I just kind of shut off.”
Maxine could hear the hurt in his voice. Deep hurt. Her heart twisted and she felt tears burn the back of her throat. Barry continued, “I realized that there’d been some small hope inside me – for years now – that if I lived a righteous enough life and if my righteous life witnessed to her, that one day she’d come to know the Lord and that would change things. We could really be married and start a family together.”
She watched his finger tap to the beat of an unheard rhythm on the back of the booth. “At first, we tried to reconcile. For the sake of the baby, I was willing to forgive. I was making plans about how we could work it out. Then the baby’s father decided he was really in love with her. He left his wife and Jacqui went running to him without looking back. He was there when she died.”
The waitress started toward the table, but Maxine lifted a finger and gave a brief shake of her head to ward her off. Barry continued, “Probably once a year I would read the commands of God for husbands and realize that I wasn’t where I should be, and I’d pray for help. But it seems like whenever I did that, she’d flaunt some lover in my face and I’d go right back to apathy.”
Maxine tried to grasp the extent of what he was saying, but she couldn’t. As deeply faithful to God as her sister and husband were, as deeply faithful as Barry had always been, Maxine simply didn’t feel it. She liked church, she prayed at family meals, she attended church functions, but this abounding faith that those around her professed to have seemed to have missed the boat with her. Not knowing what else to say, she simply said, “I’m sorry.”
“Yeah.” He met her eyes and smiled. “Everyone’s very sorry.” His smiled turned into a wry smile. “I’ll probably be sorrier when the impact of what I did today sets in.”
Maxine sat back and gripped her hands in her lap, strangely wanting to reach out to him and comfort him with just a touch of her hand. “If you were trying to avoid gossip, you kind of managed the opposite of your intent.”
“Everyone knew. Why keep up such an absurd pretense?” Barry looked over his shoulder and caught the waitress’ eye. He waved her over. “I saw him sitting there and realized that he was the one really mourning. Apparently, they were really in love and all gaga over the baby.”
“Does he have kids?” Maxine wondered.
Barry nodded. “I understand he has two but they are both teens. Still, makes you wonder.”
Maxine had no idea what it was supposed to make her wonder about but she nodded in agreement anyway. The waitress approached, pad and pencil in hand. “What can I get you?”
Barry gestured with his hands. “I want a huge steak – the biggest you have. And some grilled vegetables. Do a double order if you need to. And an iced tea. No sweetener.”
The waitress looked at Maxine who smiled. “Just a plain salad, no meat, with some oil and vinegar on the side.”
When the waitress left, Barry raised an eyebrow. “What’s with the rabbit food?”
Shrugging, Maxine took a sip of water. “I eat like a rabbit and workout five days a week and still seem to be losing a battle with something. Nature, I guess.”
If she’d been standing, he would have looked her up and down. She could tell the way his eyes moved over her that he was processing her size and shape. “I’m sorry, Maxi, but I’m not seeing you losing a battle with anything.”
She felt a flush of heat tinge the tops of her cheeks. “Well, working out helps.”
“What kind of working out?”
Maxine knew Barry had a private gym in his home that could rival any fitness club’s setup. “Twice a week, I go to a spinning class, and twice a week I do a cardio-kick class.”
He snorted and smiled his first genuine smile since they sat down. “Cardio- kick?”
“Sure. It’s like kick boxing and aerobics rolled into one.”
He started laughing and repeated, “Cardio-kick?”
Maxine felt herself getting a little irritated at it. “Yeah. Why?”
He smiled as he spoke. “Nothing, I guess. If you want to prance around in a decorative leotard and look good for your trainer, then nothing.”
“Prance around?” Thinking of the hours and hours of grueling sweaty kicking being called prancing around just made her anger rise. “What would you suggest?”
“I’d suggest working out.”
“That’s not working out?”
He snorted again. She thought if he did that one more time she’d have to throw her ice water right at his face. “No. It’s not working out.”
Running her tongue over her teeth, she raised an eyebrow. “You could teach me how?”
She could swear he looked her up and down again. “Oh yeah. You bet I could.”
Ignoring the double entendre, she tapped the top of the table. “Then show me.”
He paused and cocked his head. “Okay. Be at my house …”
This time Maxine laughed. “No way, big guy. Come to my gym and show me how to work out for real. Teach me how to properly work out on equipment I can access anytime.”
He straightened and grabbed his napkin wrapped silverware as the waitress approached with a platter mounded with meat, squash, and carrots. “Sure. When?”
Maxine eyed the wilted iceberg lettuce and dried out carrots on her plate and resignedly reached for the oil and vinegar containers that the waitress set next to her plate. “Monday morning at six sound good?”
A look of surprise crossed Barry’s face about two seconds after he agreed to meet her. Maxine was curious about the little flutter of excitement that began in the pit of her stomach at the confirmation of the – her mind purposefully skipped over the word date and replaced it with appointment.
CHAPTER 5
BARRY found himself sitting in his Jeep at five-fifteen on Newbury Street outside a designer gym four buildings down from Maxine’s apartment Monday morning. Part of him wondered why. Another part knew exactly why.
He got out of his Jeep and snugged his ski cap down over his ears. The December air took his breath away. He reached into the back seat and grabbed a pair of wool gloves. Checking his watch to confirm his starting time, he set out in a slow jog. He would run four or five miles and arrive back in time to meet Maxine at six.
He kept his pace careful, not wanting to slip on any unseen ice. Another couple of weeks and he would be stuck running on a treadmill for the rest of the winter. He didn’t enjoy that as much. It just didn’t feel like a good run under the bright fluorescent lights while watching the morning news.
As he passed a restaurant, he saw the lights flicker on, flooding the sidewalk with their glow. The day was starting. He sighed inwardly. Today wou
ld prove to be a very tiresome day. After Maxine dropped him at a car rental place on Thursday, he rented a car and drove to the Cape, where he had hidden out in a no-tell-motel for three days. He’d left his cell and laptop in his Jeep at the church. No one could reach him and he didn’t feel obligated to contact anyone. He wondered, briefly, how Maxine handled the family after acting as his accomplice in the getaway.
What he hoped would happen likely would not. It seemed hugely unlikely that everyone would ignore the whole thing and get on with their lives. He knew Tony too well. He knew his mother, too. And his sisters. No. No one would ignore anything.
After three days of solitude, Barry still didn’t understand his motivations on Thursday. Why in the world had he done that? Maybe he couldn’t bear the thought of one more pretense, one more lie, in a marriage that had been built on nothing but pretenses and lies.
It felt good, whatever the reason. Internally, the part of him that knew the sinfulness of his emotions recoiled from this newer, more dominant part of himself. His dark persona had put his wife away as soon as he realized that their marriage could never be saved. This alter ego had discovered that Jacqueline’s lover had spent the past few months destroying his own wife with a divorce while wooing back the pregnant Mrs. Anderson.
Barry had changed so radically that just five short days after his wife broke her neck and died while skiing next to the father of her unborn child, he couldn’t wait to see what kind of outfit Maxine wore to workout with him this morning. She always dressed perfectly to the nine’s for any occasion, which told him he was in for a treat.
He knew that most people would think his thoughts weren’t appropriate. As a rule, Barry had never cared overly much what most people thought, and this stood as no exception to the rule. He wondered, though, if Maxine would find his attraction improper. That thought gave him pause. He almost didn’t recognize himself lately. Angry dark thoughts occupied his mind, and he found himself occasionally fighting feelings of despair. He was learning how to shut it out, to feel nothing, to function with total apathy.
Barry worked his way through the beautiful downtown area as the restaurants and flower shops turned on their lights and opened their doors, as delivery truck drivers cautiously guided their oversized vehicles through the mazes of the wet streets. He listened to the voices calling greetings and the hard clanging of loading dock doors, smelled the heavenly scents drifting out from bakeries. The sights, sounds, and smells struck him in stark contrast to his normal jog at this time of the morning in the total seclusion and near silence of suburbia.
He made it back to his Jeep with about five minutes to spare. He opened the back door and dug through the gym bag he’d packed last night, finding a clean towel and a bottle of water. A spicy, citrusy smell wafting on the breeze teased his nostrils, and he knew Maxine stood behind him as he closed the back door.
“Hey, big guy,” she greeted as he turned to face her.
The first time Barry had ever seen Maxine, even before he grew to know and like and respect her, he thought that perhaps he had never met a more classically beautiful woman. Her oval face, full lips, and high cheekbones all formed this perfect, beautiful visage that framed almond shaped eyes the most striking color of green he had ever seen. She had long limbs and long straight black hair that reached her waist. He had always appreciated her beauty in a detached, faithfully married kind of way.
“Good morning,” he said, eyeing her blue spandex pants and white sweatshirt. She wore designer tennis shoes the color of red hots and he realized that she’d pieced together the colors of their favorite football team.
“I wondered if you’d show.”
He chugged half the water then tossed it in the bag he’d slung over his shoulder. “Why?”
“Because you weren’t exactly in a normal frame of mind on Thursday. Then you pulled a Houdini.” She reached up behind her head and gathered her long, long hair into her hand. She made a rubber band magically appear and expertly twisted the strands until she had completely contained them at the base of her neck. “Thanks for that, by the way. That was a lot of fun.”
Barry winced. “Pretty bad, huh?”
They walked together to the door of the gym. Barry reached around her and grabbed the handle before she could. Opening the door, he let her precede him inside. Bright lights, shiny equipment, a local radio station morning show pumped through cheap speakers, a sweaty smell beneath some designer scent intended to cover it; the place was exactly what he’d expected.
At the desk, Maxine pulled a key chain out of another hidden pocket and scanned the key tag. To the ridiculously muscled attendant with the one size-too-small muscle tank top and the moussed-up hair, she announced, “He’s my guest this morning.”
The attendant sidled up to the desk and leaned in, angling his body to show just the right amount of chest and biceps. Barry laughed inwardly. Maxine, as usual, acted oblivious. He wondered if she could possibly always be that unaware to the way men reacted to her. “Sure thing, Miss Bartlett,” he said. “I’ll take care of it for you.”
He said it like he was doing her a favor instead of his job, and Barry rolled his eyes at the ridiculousness of it. Maxine simply smiled in thanks and turned to Barry. “What first, big guy?”
He looked around before pointing to the corner. “First we stretch.” He led the way to the far corner. He set his bag down and turned to her. “We’re going to stretch, do some sit-ups, a few warm-up exercises, then we’ll utilize some of the machines.” While he explained the way she needed to stretch and the gradual escalation in the warm-up, she took off her sweatshirt, revealing a Patriots T-shirt … a loose-fitting Patriots T-shirt. With a silent thank you for little blessings, Barry counted off to eight then started back again for the cycle to twenty reps of eight. “How bad?” he asked, continuing their conversation from earlier.
“Tony was cool,” Maxine said, shifting her body as she stretched her hamstring. “Robin was mad. She couldn’t believe that I helped you get away from everyone.”
“I appreciated it.”
“I’m just glad I was running late.” She grinned as she shifted again. “I couldn’t believe I was late for your wife’s funeral. That’s terrible.”
“I doubt she minded,” Barry observed dryly. When they finished that rep of twenty, they moved to the floor so he could hold her feet while she knocked out some sit-ups. “I’m sure they have a setup where you can do this alone,” he said, “But I’m comfortable here.” He glanced up, noticing how full the gym had become in the last twenty minutes. “Popular place.”
Maxine effortlessly pulled her body up then lay back against the mat before pulling herself back up again. “Yeah. It seems like a good place.”
“Lots of bells and whistles.”
She grinned, making her eyes dance like jewels. “Women need bells.” She huffed up and back down again. “And whistles.”
“About your diet,” he said. This time when her shoulders touched the mat, she didn’t immediately pull herself back up. He watched her hesitate. “Come on, Maxi. Three more.”
“What about my diet?” she asked, closing her eyes and drawing her body up then back down again.
“Rabbit food won’t cut it.”
With a grunt she finished the last two reps. “What else is there?”
He put a hand on the side of her bent knee and squeezed, signaling in silence the end of that exercise. He silently acknowledged how she tensed up then jerked away from the touch and mentally filed that away. He fished another bottle of water out of his bag and tossed it to her. “High protein, whole grains, eating small portions every couple of hours but eating the right foods.” While she drank the water, he pulled a book out of the bag. “This book will tell you what to eat, how to eat it, and when. The guy who wrote it knows what he’s talking about.”
Maxine eyed the book suspiciously, but took it from him. “I’ll give it a look.”
“Do more than that. Get on this starting right now. Y
ou should see noticeable changes in your energy and concentration levels in about 10 days. It requires a lifestyle change in your eating habits. You need to approach it in a disciplined manner.”
Maxine couldn’t stop herself from grinning. “Yes, coach.” She pushed herself to her feet. “What now?”
AN hour later, Maxine sat across from Barry in a little bakery next door to the gym. Her muscles felt rubbery and very tired. As she sat there, she could still feel her thighs burning from that one last repetition. She felt like she’d worked more muscles in her body in the forty-five minutes with Barry than in a week’s worth of aerobic classes.
She took a sip of hazelnut flavored coffee and closed her eyes in ecstasy. “If coffee is disallowed by that diet book, I’m not reading it.”
He wrinkled his nose and dunked his tea bag in the hot water in his cup. “It’s allowed.”
“Yet you obviously disapprove.”
As he shrugged, she wondered if his huge frame would crush the little filigreed café chair in which he sat. “There are too many ways to naturally generate energy without requiring a drug.”
“Man, you are still on that kick. There’s a difference between God-given caffeine in coffee and laboratory made industrial grade steroids, you know.” She sipped.
Barry shrugged again, this time as if to announce that nothing would change his mind in this conversation that was months old between them. “What those men did hurt more than the team. It hurt the League and it hurt every kid in the world who looked up to them as role-models.”
Hoping the little plastic knife wouldn’t break under the weight of the cream cheese, she carefully applied it to her whole grain bagel. “Coffee was put on this earth to provide pleasure and ecstasy, especially hazelnut flavored coffee on cold December mornings.”
Barry reached into that never ending bottomless gym bag that hung on the back of the metal chair and pulled out a plastic drink container. When he opened the lid to take a sip, she caught a glimpse of something thick and gray. He took a long swallow then used a paper napkin to wipe the sludge off his lips. Maxine pushed back any curiosity as to what ingredients might possibly be found in nature to produce a concoction of that particular color for fear he would offer to share. Instead, she took a small bite of bagel and thought she much preferred this focus Barry had on protein, such as this cream cheese, over her usual breakfast of a banana.
Emerald Fire (Christian Romance) (The Jewel Series) Page 5
