He followed me, his own head swinging from one direction to the other, soaking up the rows and rows of machines and equipment.
I started pointing. “This is the cardio section. There’s everything from treadmills to stationary bikes, a couple of Stairmasters and elliptical machines.” I gestured to the other side of the walkway that cut through the center of the gym and swept out into another line crossing it. “The machines are set up by muscle group. The ab and glute machines are all in the front.”
I highly doubted he used those.
“Biceps and triceps in the middle and the last row over there has all the back and chest machines, for doing rows and pull-downs.” He knew what I meant. There was no way he didn’t know his way around a gym.
Jonah nodded as we walked, but I knew that most of that part of the floor would be unused by him. It was the other section that I’d bet he would be working in. “There are dumbbells all along the wall by the mirrors. Squat racks are on the left. Bench presses, from what you can see, are in the middle. There are a few barbells in the corners, but you can steal the ones off the squat racks or bench presses too. The Smith machines are on the right wall.”
“How old is all this?” he asked all of a sudden. “When you told me your grandfather owned a gym, this wasn’t what I pictured.”
I wasn’t totally sure how to answer that. I waved him to follow me toward the door that led to the walkway between the buildings. He was already familiar with this door, obviously, since it was the same one he had somehow managed to sneak in through before. “We had a building that was a lot smaller before. The same one my great-grandfather owned, where he started Maio House as a boxing gym. A few years ago, though, a major hurricane hit, and it was devastating for the area. Neighborhoods and parts of the city that hadn’t been in flood zones in a hundred years, flooded. And that building was in one of those areas, and it destroyed everything. But we were one of the lucky ones, because Grandpa’s paranoid and had gotten flood insurance before I was born, even though everyone else told him it was unnecessary.
“Anyway, it took a while, but the policy came through. The land that the original building had been on was really valuable, and he sold it. It was too small to rebuild on, and it wouldn’t be the same. About ten years ago, he had bought this plot of land because he had thought about expanding and setting up another satellite branch, and it was cheap then, but never got around to it. So, he decided to rebuild here. This place opened a month after Mo was born, so it’s brand new.”
He had stopped to watch me as I told him the story, and a frown had slowly formed over that dark pink mouth. “It was in the news, the storm.”
“Yeah. Grandpa rented out a place temporarily, but it was tiny and only fit a cage and a few mats. That’s why I went to France.”
“It makes sense now. You didn’t have work here.”
I nodded. “And my other job was just part-time. That’s why I left.”
“You had another job?” he asked, surprised.
“Yeah. I only worked here twenty-hours a week. Grandpa never let me work full-time until a few months ago, and it wasn’t like he paid me a lot hourly. I just worked the front desk.” I shrugged. “I worked in the mornings at a retirement home.”
“A retirement home?”
“Yeah,” I confirmed. I guess we’d never gotten around to talking about that before. “I was there for seven years as an aide.”
“You never said anything about the flooding,” Jonah commented after a second, thoughtfully.
“It was awful, and a lot of people had it a lot worse than we did.”
He nodded like he understood, and I’d bet he did. “What did you do for work when you… got back?”
When I got back knocked up? I gave him a funny face, pushing down that rising anger at the fact he didn’t know what I’d done after I got back from Paris. Because of our lack of communication. “I went back to the retirement home and worked the front desk. I was there until Mo came.”
And he hadn’t been around.
I changed the subject before he asked anything else about that time and pissed me off in the process. “Anyway, I know you’ve already seen the other building, but let me show you where everything is in case you want to work out there. It’s a little quieter and more private, and there’s more space for certain exercises,” I told him moving to open the door out, but his long arm beat me to it.
That big, muscular bicep was inches from my head as he swung the door wide, and I ignored how close the front of him got to my back as he did it. Just as I was about to rush ahead to open the next door so that he wouldn’t, I changed my mind. Fuck it. What did I have to prove? He could open the door if he wanted to. And if I was going to like it, it was only because all these rude asses I spent time with hardly ever did.
Probably because they knew I could do it my own damn self.
I led him in, feeling the heat from his body directly behind me as I showed him—like he couldn’t see—the section to the right covered in high-quality fake turf. “There are tractor tires down on the far end, if you can see. In the shelves all the way on the wall over there are ropes and different things that you can use.”
The thought barely entered my mind that if he worked out here, I would see him more.
Oh well.
“But you have access to everything. The only time this part is used is usually really early in the morning or after five when everyone is off. But there aren’t that many people who have the middle membership that gives them access to this building, so you’ll be left alone most of the time,” I let him know. I hooked my thumb behind me. “I’ll be in the office usually if you need me. I doubt anyone will give you a hard time, but if they do, let me know.”
His eyebrows furrowed. “You reckon someone will say something?”
I mean, I guessed he probably hadn’t had anyone give him a hard time since he’d hit his growth spurt. At least no sober person would. All you had to do was look at the wall that was his upper body to know it would be a dumb idea.
I could say that from a professional and clinical point of view. I sized up guys for a partial living. Kind of.
“I don’t think so, but—” An image of Noah’s face flashed before my eyes, but I shook it off. “—people are weird, and you’re bigger than they are. Just let me know though. Everyone is mostly really nice.”
He made a funny face that I knew was my fault for being so vague. “Does anyone know now that….”
“You’re Mo’s dad?”
“Yeh.”
“No.”
Something in his eyes dimmed, but I couldn’t and wouldn’t feel bad about it.
“I told you I hadn’t told anyone. It’s only been a few days since you got here. The only people I’ve told have been my grandpa, Peter, and my best friend. It’s no one else’s business but ours. We still have a lot to figure out first anyway.”
His expression got even more grave. “You don’t want anyone to know?”
“That’s not it. I just don’t think I need to announce it.” I paused as a thought entered my head. “Why? Do you want to keep Mo a secret?”
Because my girl wasn’t going to be a secret. If he wanted to protect her privacy, that was one thing, but if he didn’t want people to know he had her in the first place, that was a totally different situation. So.
Luckily he answered with his own head jerking back as he frowned. “No. Not at all. I have family and some mates to tell first. My agent. I just wanted a bit of time to have this for myself, is all. Once I tell one person, it will get out, and I’d like to enjoy it while I can, Len, if that’s all right. Without having to answer questions.”
Oh.
Okay then.
“I’m not going to try and keep it a secret or anything, but if they figure out you’re her dad… then they figure it out. I’m not going to announce it or send out a newsletter or anything.” I rocked back on my heels. “It’s just nobody’s business but ours, and I’ve never shared
my private life around. At least not in a long time.” Not since I’d been young and everyone had been a parent or brother figure to me.
Now… all those people had moved on with their lives, and there wasn’t a single person at Maio House anymore that I had that kind of bond with. Except Peter.
And goddamn did that make me a little sad now that I thought about it.
Time didn’t stop for anyone or anything.
I really didn’t have any true friends here left.
Jonah looked like he wanted to say something, but he didn’t.
I was over talking about this anyway. I kept going with my tour. “There are locker rooms in both buildings, but there are always fewer people in the one here. You can use either, but you’ll need a lock.”
“I’ll pick one up tomorrow,” he said.
Apparently I was wearing my nice pants today because I offered, “You can just leave your stuff in the office in the meantime if you want. Or I have a lock you can borrow too.”
Did he need to look so surprised again? “Whatever would be easier for you.”
I tipped my head toward my door and didn’t wait for him to follow me over, but he did. Flicking on the lights, I went to my desk and opened the drawer where I left the lock I let the guys borrow from time to time.
Jonah stood halfway into the office, honey-colored eyes glued to his right where Grandpa Gus and I had put up a wall of picture frames. Somehow, I could tell which picture he was looking at. It was one of a much younger me standing between Grandpa Gus and Peter, pointing at my crotch. Not my crotch actually, but at the belt around my waist, over my gi, the traditional white practice clothing you wore in judo.
“My first black belt,” I explained.
He didn’t look back at me, but I could tell his eyes moved to another picture to the side of it. Jonah tilted his head to the side, leaning in even closer. “This belt is different than the other,” he noted.
“Some people don’t know that there are different… levels. That was right after the Olympic trials.”
His head jerked back, and he blinked. “You didn’t tell me you competed in the Olympics.”
I shook my head. “I didn’t. I fractured my ribs two weeks before.”
He made the same face everyone did when I told them about the timing on my damn ribs. “Training?”
“No.” I lifted a shoulder. I had been pissed off back then. Most people had figured I would have been devastated, but, no, I’d been mad. At myself. At Noah for asking me to help him out one day when his kickboxing coach had called in sick, when he had decided to go for a leg kick instead of a punch and sidestepped too much, connecting with the corner of the strike shield I’d been holding for protection—and connecting with my ribs.
I shouldn’t have left the training facility for the weekend to go back home. I should have said no to Noah in the first place, but I couldn’t take it back. It just felt like a really dumb decision now that I couldn’t go back in time. I wasn’t mad about it anymore.
Those honey-colored eyes flicked over my face in confusion.
“Four years before that, I broke my wrist the day of the opening ceremony. The janitor in the bathroom didn’t put up a sign that the floor had been mopped, and… I busted my fucking face because I hadn’t been paying attention and didn’t react fast enough to not lose my balance. It just wasn’t meant to be for me, I guess.” I shrugged again. “Anyway….”
I stopped talking at the facial expression he was making.
“What?”
The expression eased off a little but not enough.
“What?” I asked again.
He shook his head, the corners of his mouth going up a hair. “You said that like… there was nothing special about it.”
“I didn’t even get to walk in the ceremony.”
“It isn’t special because you didn’t walk in the ceremony? All right. That makes sense.”
Was he being sarcastic?
I didn’t know how I felt about that. It reminded me of how he’d been… before.
He watched me for a moment longer before dipping his head down and plucking the lock and key out of my hand, his fingertips brushing my wrists lightly as he did it. “Is it possible for me to see Mo this evening?”
“Yeah,” I answered. “I’ll be home too, so you don’t have to be stuck with Grandpa Grumpy.”
His mouth went up just a little higher, his eyes doing this thing that said he was amused. “He’s only being protective. Can’t blame him. He doesn’t know me yet.”
Something inside of me shuttered closed, and I took a step back. “I hope you’ll stick around for Mo to get to know you at least. She’s the important one.”
Jonah lifted a hand and rubbed it over the center of his chest, seeming to hesitate for a moment before changing his mind. “Len, you said last night that you thought you knew me.”
Was he asking or was he telling me?
“But you did know me,” he said, intensely. “I’d like you to get to know me again. Not just Mo. I want you to know who I am too.”
Okay. I didn’t know what the fuck to do with that at all.
And so I said just about the dumbest shit I could have. “Okay.” Okay? And then I kept going with the dumb shit. “I should get back to work. Have a good workout.”
Those eyes watched me for a moment. Then he nodded, strain in his gaze, and took his own retreating footstep. “Thanks again. I’m grateful.”
“It’s nothing. Don’t thank me,” I said, knowing I should stop there but not. Why the fuck did he have to say that and make it awkward? “I’ll probably have more people sign up once they see you walking around in those shorts.”
He glanced down. “Something wrong with them?”
I shrugged my good shoulder. “I’m just messing with you. I didn’t know what to say with you telling me that you want me to get to know you again, and it just kind of came out.”
His eyebrows lifted, and he smiled slowly. I watched him lift both toes of his sneakers up as he rocked back on his heels to take in his clothing… and I fought off the tiny little lap of tenderness that reached me. I should have kept my mouth shut about all of that. I shouldn’t have given him the damn membership either, damn it.
Those eyes flicked up for a moment, and he flashed me an even bigger smile like he had some reason to be pleased. “Cheers.”
This was a really stupid idea, I thought to myself the second he left.
A really, really stupid idea.
* * *
Three hours later, the alarm on my phone went off right while I was wrapping up a conversation that had me closing my eyes a minute into it.
I rubbed at the spot between my eyebrows after silencing it. “Grandpa, they’re going to check your ID when you register for the tournament. You can’t sign up for a younger age bracket—and I can’t even believe they have a bracket for people your age anyway. Aren’t they scared someone will break a hip?”
He huffed. “They have insurance for things like that… and you really think they’ll check my ID?”
Only my grandfather would try to fucking cheat in a basketball tournament by lying and attempting to play with men younger than him. “Don’t they always check?”
That got me a grumble. “Yes.” Did he have to sound so bummed out? No, but he did. “I can keep Mo here that day, so don’t worry about trying to lie and play earlier. Maybe Jonah will take her.”
That got me a grunt. “I still don’t know about that Edward.”
I fucking laughed. “Stop calling him the wrong name!”
“I will when you stop laughing over it.”
I laughed even harder, and my cheek started hurting when he started chuckling too. “You’re the worst, Grandpa. I swear you’re the worst.”
“You’re confusing worst with fun. Funnest. Best.”
There were tears in my eyes by then. “I don’t think funnest is a word.”
“It should be,” the old vampire argued.
Fucking hell. “Go pee before your prostrate exam. I need to go get Mo now.”
My gramps snorted. “I hope he uses enough lube this time. Call me later.”
I was definitely fucking crying by the time I pulled myself out of the chair with his comment about lube ringing heavily in my head. There was something wrong with him. I’d swear. All that boxing. All those hits. It explained everything. It really did.
I was still cracking up as I pulled a drawer open and got my wallet and keys out. Edging my way around the desk, I finally focused in on what I had to do… and what I should do. I hadn’t seen Jonah again all morning. Slipping my phone and wallet into the back pockets of my jeans and grabbing my backpack, I headed right out the door and stopped.
There was a broad kneecap connected to a heavy and hairy thigh right there.
“You okay?” I asked the freshly showered man sitting cross-legged beside my door with his bag sitting next to him.
“Yeh,” he answered with a happy expression. “Figured I’d wait for you to finish.”
Why though? I kept the question to myself. “I was about to see if you were still here,” I told him. “I have to go pick up Mo from the daycare before noon so they don’t charge me for the whole day. Grandpa Gus had an appointment this morning and has another one right now, and he’ll get her afterward from his friend’s house. Do you want to come with me?” I paused. “You don’t have to if you would rather see her tonight.”
He was already getting to his feet. “I’ll come. Tonight, too, if that’s not a problem.”
If there were such a thing as a right answer, that would have been it. I tried not to let it show on my face though. Unfortunately, he took it the wrong way and kept talking, like I would tell him no.
“The more time I spend with her the better. I need to make the most of it while I’m here.”
I hated him. I really did, and I didn’t trust a word to come out of my mouth right then when he was saying all these… things that were nice but too nice. Too perfect.
The Best Thing Page 19
