Gasping for breath, she chugged down water. His warm, chocolate eyes studied her with concern. “You okay?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Good. We have to finish up with stretching.”
“No, I can’t do anything else. You’re so sadistic.” Bailee was partly kidding, but mostly serious.
“Stretching helps improve flexibility, helps reduce muscle fatigue; plus, it’s great for stress relief.”
“I can’t do anything else,” Bailee insisted.
“Okay, I can compromise. We’ll do passive stretching.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s a form of static stretching in which an external force exerts upon the limb to move it into different positions.”
Bailee stared at him blankly. Not only didn’t she comprehend fitness jargon, but she was also lost in his dark, brown eyes. She was captivated by the shape of his lips, imagining them pressed against hers.
“I have no idea what you just said,” she said dreamily.
“In other words, passive stretching is an assisted stretch. I’ll do most of the work. Lie flat on your back,” he said, motioning with his hands.
She did as he said, allowing him to manipulate her tired arms, pulling, stretching, and twisting them into a series of positions. She had expected the movements to be painful, but they were surprisingly soothing.
At the end of the session, he pulled her to her feet. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?” he asked, displaying a gleaming smile.
“It was brutal,” Bailee responded, while realizing she’d be back for more of his inhuman treatment.
Chapter 23
On the morning of her surgery, Jayla was a nervous wreck. She entered the hospital terrified of all the things that could go wrong. She was aware of all the possible risks and dangers the gastric sleeve could present, but the biggest risk was death. Although her doctor had assured her that there was only an eight percent chance of dying, she couldn’t help thinking about the possibility of meeting an untimely demise.
She signed in at admissions and prayed that she wouldn’t be that unlucky one in a thousand. It would be just her luck to expire on the operating table while trying to cheat her way to being skinny. She imagined the people attending her funeral, shaking their heads and thinking if she hadn’t been so vain and so lazy, she’d still be among the living.
It was hard to sleep last night, and after trying for hours, she was on the verge of calling Bailee to cry on her shoulder and share her innermost fears, but she remembered that Bailee wasn’t allowed access to her phone while she was at the weight loss retreat spending a fortune to sweat and starve all day.
Perhaps it was good thing that she couldn’t reach Bailee. Knowing Bailee, she’d say something like, “You’re beautiful with or without surgery, but if you’re having second thoughts, you should postpone the surgery. Maybe you’ll feel better if you at least make an attempt to do it on your own.”
Considering Bailee’s imaginary advice, Jayla thought about rescheduling the surgery, but then decided against it. She’d already taken the time off from work and wouldn’t be able to get any more time in the foreseeable future.
* * *
By the time she had finally fallen asleep, she was convinced that surgery was her best option, but now she was feeling unsure again.
Her first instinct was to get something to eat to calm her nerves. A buffalo chicken pizza would’ve been perfect. She was about to head down to the hospital’s cafeteria when she remembered she wasn’t allowed to eat anything before surgery.
Her stomach grumbled in protest and she was dangerously close to slipping away from the admissions desk to go and sneak one last, glorious meal. The nurses and other hospital staff weren’t paying her any attention, so who would know?
Realizing that pizza wouldn’t be available at that hour of the morning, she crept toward the elevator with the taste of breakfast food in her mouth: crispy bacon, scrambled eggs with cheese, buttermilk waffles with lots of syrup and butter, and a heaping portion of greasy hash browns.
She jabbed the down button, and then decided that it wasn’t worth the risk. Hungry and depressed, she returned to her seat and waited to be transferred to surgery.
When her name was called and she was rolled on a gurney to a room where she’d be prepped for surgery, Jayla felt very afraid and very alone.
Lorraine had worked the overnight shift and wouldn’t be able to get to the hospital until Jayla was already in surgery. Derek had an early morning appointment with his probation officer, and she had no idea what time he’d get to the hospital.
At last, the big moment had arrived. As she lay on the operating table, Dr. Winslow cracked jokes about carving her a new, svelte body. She wanted to smile but was so busy reciting desperate prayers in her mind, her expression was as grim as someone taking their last mile.
After being told to count backward, she only made it to number four and then everything went black.
Hours later, she woke up feeling groggy. The first thing she did was pat her body, hoping she’d lost a discernible amount of weight on the operating table, but her body felt the same.
Her tummy was wrapped in bandages, and oddly, she didn’t feel hardly any pain in her abdominal area. For some reason, she was thirsty as hell and her throat hurt so badly, it felt like it was on fire.
She asked one of the many nurses that came in and out of her room for pain medication. The nurse told her she’d have to wait until she’d been seen by her doctor, and then assured her he’d be making his rounds shortly.
A half-hour later, Dr. Winslow entered her room with a team of doctors. He viewed her chart and asked how she was feeling.
“I feel okay, but my throat hurts and I’m dying of thirst,” she said, attempting not to cough.
“Let me take a look.”
Opening her mouth wide was agonizing and trying to stretch out her tongue was out of the question. She felt ridiculous with her tongue sticking out limply, but it was the best she could do.
“Thirst and a sore throat are common after the endotracheal tube has been removed post-surgery,” Dr. Winslow explained. “I’ll let the nurse know you can have a cup of broth. Drink it slowly or you’ll feel nauseous. Also, you should be able to take in a few sips of water.”
Jayla nodded.
“You need to eat four to five small meals per day and try to get in at least an hour of light exercise,” he said as he examined her incision. “Okay, everything looks great. I’ll see you in two weeks.” He added some notations to her chart, and then proceeded out of the room with the other doctors following closely behind.
When a breakfast tray was delivered, Jayla drank the broth slowly as the doctor had advised. Next, she took sips of water and concluded that it was the best water she’d ever tasted.
There was oatmeal, scrambled eggs, and cherry Jell-O on the tray. She ate the Jell-O, but she had no desire to eat the rest. For the first time in her life, she was completely satisfied with a light meal. It was a new and incredible sensation.
It was truly the beginning of a brand-new life.
* * *
After being given a sample weekly menu, a suggested exercise regimen, and a prescription for pain medication, Jayla was cleared to go home. The way the hospital staff had rushed her out of her room seemed a little insensitive. Due to the shortage of hospital rooms, she didn’t have the luxury of relaxing in bed until Derek showed up to drive her home.
When she spoke to him on the phone, he said he was still on the bus, only ten minutes away. But he was taking forever.
Lorraine would have definitely been more prompt, but she couldn’t make it because there was some mix-up with the schedule on her job, and her vacation time had been denied.
In the lobby, sitting in a stupid wheelchair while the nursing assistant who was looking after her, took one cigarette break after another, was torturous. She felt weak and dizzy and couldn’t stop squirming around trying to find a comfortable
position. If Derek had any idea of how badly she wanted to be at home in her bed, he’d hurry the hell up.
The nursing assistant checked on her briefly and then returned outside, where she gabbed on her phone. Jayla glared at the clock. If Derek didn’t show up in the next five minutes, she was going to leave the hospital on her own. She’d abandon her car in the garage and take an Uber home.
When the automatic doors parted and Derek strode through, carrying a colorful bouquet of balloons, Jayla smiled inwardly. On the outside, she frowned and rolled her eyes.
“Hey, skinny girl,” Derek greeted her cheerfully.
“Don’t skinny girl, me. You got a lot of nerve making me sit here all this time,” she complained.
“My bad. I made a quick stop to get these,” he said, handing her the balloons.
“Thanks,” she muttered.
“How do you feel?”
“Terrible. The doctor wants me to walk around, but all I want to do is get in my bed.” She grimaced as a sharp pain shot through her.
“You okay?”
She shook her head. “I need my prescription filled, right away.”
“Okay, let’s get out of here.”
The nursing assistant returned inside and seeing that Derek had arrived, she told Jayla to take care and went on her way.
Jayla grasped the armrests of the wheelchair and stood upright. When the room suddenly began to tilt, she tried to ease herself back into the wheelchair. She felt lightheaded and experienced an overwhelming urge to burp, but couldn’t.
“What’s wrong?” Derek asked.
“Nothing. I just felt like I needed to—” Before she could finish the sentence, she vomited. Globs of the cherry-colored Jell-O she’d had earlier were all over her shirt. She was so embarrassed, she could have cried.
Surprisingly, Derek didn’t shrink back in disgust. “Stay right there, I’ll get paper towels.” He darted to the restroom and quickly returned with wet paper towels.
While Jayla sat helplessly in the wheelchair, he took charge, cleaning her up and then searching through her bag for a clean top.
The kindness he bestowed upon her, she’d never experienced with any other man, and she was so grateful that he was taking care of her.
* * *
Derek took Lorraine’s place and stayed with Jayla at her place.
The recovery period at home was much more difficult than she had imagined, and she wouldn’t have been able to make it without Derek’s assistance.
She continuously vomited after ingesting any kind of food—no matter how small the portion. If that wasn’t bad enough, there was also the discomfort of needing to belch, and the constant pain from the incisions was making her miserable.
She chided herself for taking the easy way out. Why didn’t she simply go on a diet like Bailee had? She could have gotten a trainer at the gym. She could have tried Weight Watchers, again.
Even though she wasn’t eating much of anything, she didn’t look like she’d lost anything. She couldn’t help thinking that the surgery had been a huge mistake.
She looked at her overweight body in the mirror and her eyes filled with tears.
“Some new life,” she grumbled aloud.
After a week, the pain subsided and the side effects of the surgery weren’t as bad. The depression lifted and Jayla was ecstatic when she noticed her clothes beginning to loosen.
By the time her two-week, post-op surgery rolled around, she felt good enough to drive herself.
At Dr. Winslow’s office, she looked down in disbelief as the numbers on the scale swiftly moved downward. When the nurse informed her that she’d lost forty pounds, Jayla’s eyes grew wide. “It used to take months to lose only fifteen pounds…this is incredible,” she excitedly said to the nurse.
Dr. Winslow entered the room. “Congratulations on your weight loss.”
“Thanks. My clothes are getting baggy, but my body doesn’t look any different.”
“Are you getting any exercise?”
“Not really. I’ve been in too much pain to work out, but now that I’m feeling better, I can start walking slowly around the building where I live.”
“Cardio activity is good, but you need strength training, also. Do you have a gym membership?”
“Yes, but I don’t like people watching me when I work out.”
“You have too many excuses, Jayla. If you want to see good results and if you want to get healthy, you have to put in some work,” Dr. Winslow said firmly. “The weight will continue to come off for a while, but then you’ll reach a plateau. Even though your stomach is only a quarter of its normal size, you’re not immune to regaining the weight you’ve lost. Surgery is not magic. You have to do your part.”
“I understand, and I’m all in. I’m going to do my part,” she said amiably.
During the drive home, she couldn’t stop grinning over the fact that she was down forty pounds. Her first thought was to go shopping for some new clothes, but she decided to wait until she lost even more weight. If she lost forty that quickly, there was no telling how much she’d lose if she started going to the gym with Derek.
On second thought, the gym was out of the question. All of that sweating and grunting was not her style. Being realistic, a brisk walk around the block was all she’d be able to endure.
She glanced in the rearview mirror and noticed that her face looked a lot smaller and she had to admit that she really looked prettier. She considered snapping a picture and texting it to Sadeeq to let him see what he was missing. But she suppressed the urge to contact him. She was too good for that bastard. She was moving forward, and from now on, any man she got involved with would have to bow down to the queen.
Chapter 24
Spring had finally arrived, and along with the change of season, Bailee had also experienced a metamorphosis. So far, she’d lost thirty-eight pounds. Though she’d hoped to lose a lot more, she was grateful for the small changes in her body.
From eating right and working out, there was definition in her arms and shoulders. Her thighs were a lot firmer and no longer rubbed together. The most noticeable improvement was her snatched waistline.
Although she’d expected to see more drastic changes in her body, she didn’t regret spending the money or the grueling work she’d put in at Gentle Breeze. One of the important things she’d learned was that striving to become unrealistically thin and subscribing to deprivation diets would only bring short-term results. She learned that the cornerstone of a healthy lifestyle was to replace processed food with real food whenever possible and to exercise on a regular basis.
Jayla, on the other hand, had experienced incredible post-surgery weight loss, and her weight was still falling off at a rapid rate.
It wasn’t fair! Jayla hadn’t spent any money or exerted any energy. All she’d done was lie on a table and sleep while a surgeon’s knife did all the work.
A part of Bailee was envious of Jayla’s quick weight-loss procedure, while another part of her was proud that she’d personally selected a method that involved willpower and determination.
Looking in the mirror and scrutinizing herself, she noticed that her collarbones were visible and her butt had lifted considerably. Her lower legs were shapelier than she would have ever thought possible.
Despite her disappointment in the numbers on the scale, she was down two dress sizes. Clearly, she was losing inches, which some considered more important than losing pounds.
Throwing on her robe, she tied the sash and picked up the remote. She excitedly scrolled to QVC, where someone was hawking watches. It would be another ten more minutes before Hayden’s new activewear segment came on.
And it would be two hours until they met for dinner near the QVC studios, outside of Philadelphia.
For the past month, Hayden had been the only thing on her mind.
The sparks between them back at the retreat in Miami couldn’t be denied, but they both had enough self-restraint to not act on their attracti
on while Bailee was a guest at Gentle Breeze.
Although Hayden looked extremely familiar, it wasn’t until she was halfway through her stay at the resort when she finally placed him. Hayden was the “Workout King,” a well-known exercise guru who had initially achieved fame on YouTube and now sold millions of workout DVDs. He was only temporarily filling in for his good friend, Maddie, at Gentle Breeze.
“Clearly, we have a connection; let’s see how far we can take it,” Hayden had said on her last night at the retreat.
“Let’s stay in touch and hopefully, we can get together when I’m in the Philly area next month,” he added.
After she returned home, they communicated frequently through texts, phone calls, and FaceTime, but she longed to see him again in person. He was a frequent visitor in her dreams, he unsettled her waking thoughts, aroused her body with just the memory of him. The only time she didn’t think about him was when she was sweating through her rigorous workout at the gym.
And now, the idea of a candlelit meal with Hayden sent butterflies fluttering around in the pit of her stomach, and the notion that she was going to see him live on TV in a few minutes gave her butterflies.
As she waited for Hayden’s segment, she kept busy by laying out her wardrobe choices on the bed. She looked admiringly at a merlot-colored, wrap dress that hugged her slimmed-down body in all the right places, and also revealed a peek of cleavage. Spiky heels that she normally would have avoided, now gave her a sexy and powerful feeling, while also accentuating her shapely legs.
While selecting jewelry, she was torn between cultured pearls and a simple diamond pendant.
“Welcome to QVC, Hayden. I have to ask what the goal is for your activewear line?” the QVC host asked.
Hearing Hayden’s name, Bailee yanked around and faced the TV. Excited, she scrambled to turn up the volume.
Damn, he’s fine. Hayden was a hunky piece of delectable eye candy, and he looked super fit in a red T-shirt and navy sweatpants.
“My goal is to inject comfort and fashion into fitness attire,” Hayden responded to the QVC host in the smooth voice that Bailee had come to know so well. “The HaydenWear collection is all about inspiring women to feel strong, confident, and empowered. It’s also about layering and being able to mix and match. The line was designed to be attractive, affordable, and functional. It includes petite sizes, plus sizes, and everything in between so that every woman can rock a stylish outfit when she sweats it out at the gym. Ultimately, HaydenWear is for all active women on the go.”
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