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“But why are we going to Curves?” Gretchen felt a whine in her voice. “We can see them later. Call a meeting if you miss them so much. I’m really not in the mood to socialize.”
Nina smiled. “We’re going to sign up. We could both use some cardiovascular work. Exercise and research at the same time. Maybe we’ll find out if Rita really saw Bo
“Enrico needs his own room?”
“Enrico needs his own world.”
“Give my name when you sign up,” April said. “I’m working on a free T-shirt. Five enrollments, and I get my very own Curves shirt in orange, pink, blue, or black.”
Curves bustled with activity, every station occupied, conversations swelling over workout music. April, Bo
“You should sign up for a whole year,” April said, disappointment in her voice. “That’s the only way it counts toward my shirt.”
“Change stations now,” the recording a
Nina laid the pen on the counter. “Gretchen might go back to Boston in a few days. She can’t sign up for a year.”
“She can transfer her membership to Boston. That’s the beauty of Curves. They’re everywhere,” April said, checking Nina out. “You could use a year, too.”
Nina narrowed her eyes while Olivia Newton John belted “Let’s Get Physical” from a boom box on an overhead shelf. She opened her mouth to respond, but she caught Gretchen’s eye and the slight shake of her head. She closed her mouth.
“Stations are opening up,” Bo
Gretchen leaped onto the stepper, jostling for a position next to Bo
“You sure did burn your face,” April said. “Fall asleep in the sun?”
“No,” Nina said. “Her boyfriend cheated on her with a coworker, and I found her wallowing in self-pity by the pool.”
Everyone gasped, and Gretchen sent Nina a menacing glance. So much for personal privacy. Wallowing in self-pity? Well, Nina was right. She had too much on her mind right now to worry about Steve and Courtney.
She worked harder, ru
“Men are all alike,” April said, huffing through the shoulder press. “Bad behavior runs in their genes.”
“Not my Matt,” Bo
Probably married to his job more than to his wife, Gretchen thought. Although the job didn’t stop Steve.
“At least they didn’t have children,” Rita said. “Children complicate divorce.”
“What’s nasty about the divorce?” Nina asked. “Without children and child support or a custody battle, the divorce should be smooth sailing.”
“She stalks him. She wants him back, and she’s not above making scenes,” Bo
Gretchen, preoccupied earlier with her own problems, wondered what had happened to her shadow. For all she knew, he was outside right this minute, waiting to follow her.
“Radio says more rain later today,” April said. “Just what we need.”
Nina bent over and placed her palms on the floor.
“Show-off,” April said.
“That’s amazing, Aunt Nina,” Gretchen said, skipping the shoulder press. Working out with a broken wrist proved a unique challenge.
“It’s the yoga,” Nina said. “I’m limber as a tree monkey, but my cardiovascular activity is limited to walking back and forth from the car. I guess you can’t have everything.”
“Run in place on the platforms,” April advised. “That’ll get your heart rate up. Mine’s always at the top end of what’s safe.” She pulled a hanky from her pocket and mopped her forehead.
“Gretchen’s cheating boyfriend is a divorce attorney,” Nina said. Gretchen thought about a direct frontal tackle. She could take Aunt Nina down in two moves.
“That makes it worse,” April said. “He should know better.”
“What are you going to do about it?” Rita said.
Get ready for a ten-second count.
Gretchen’s pulse rate went off the chart hanging on the wall. “I don’t know,” she said, after the count, when she noticed Rita still looking at her and waiting for her answer. “I really don’t know.”
And she didn’t know. That had been the recurring question in her mind since Courtney’s call last night. How to handle it. What to say. How to react.
Steve had assured her that it would never happen again, and she had wanted so badly to believe him. What if Courtney was lying?
After two circuits, Nina’s face turned the same color as Gretchen’s burned face.
“I need to take a break,” Nina said.
“Me, too,” huffed April.
The two women moved away from the workout area, and Gretchen glanced at Bo
“I saw you, too,” Gretchen leaned over and whispered to Bo
Bo
“At the Rescue Mission.”
“Change stations now.”
Bo
“Look,” Gretchen said, “your hair is hard to miss.”
Bo
“Your hair is beautiful, don’t get me wrong,” Gretchen said hastily. “It’s unique; that’s why I know it was you.”
Bo
Rita turned back. “Done,” she agreed.
“Never trust a woman whose gums show when she smiles,” Gretchen said to Nina as they zipped through traffic on the way back to her mother’s house. “Who said that?”
“You just did.”
“No, I’ve heard that expression someplace before.”
“Interesting about your friend, Matt. Don’t you think?”
“That he’s going through a divorce?”
“He’s available,” Nina said, honking at a passing car that strayed into her lane. “Never ignore opportunity.”
“That,” Gretchen said, emphatically, “is the last thing on my mind.”
“Good. At least it’s on the list.”
“I can’t help but think that she’s hidden the French fashion doll right here in the house,” Gretchen said over loud, aggressive snarls. Enrico, the Chihuahua, raised his upper lip and growled at Gretchen. “He’s going to attack me.”
“Chihuahuas,” Nina said in an instructional voice, “are as old as the Mayan civilization. We’ve actually discovered their images carved in stone in the Mexican jungle. The Mayans believed Chihuahuas guided the dead through the underworld.”
“This particular one doesn’t have guide dog written all over him. He should come with a vicious attack dog warning.”
“Chihuahuas don’t like strangers. They don’t like other people or other dogs, but they bond with one or two people and are devoted for life.”
Enrico continued to snarl at Gretchen.
“Give him a treat,” Nina advised, handing Gretchen a liver snap.
“I’m not going near him. And look at Tutu and Nimrod. They’re terrified.”
Both dogs had backed into a corner, watching the action from a safe distance. Wobbles, on the other hand, strutted past the purse hanging from the doorknob without acknowledging the rabid beast within its confines. He stopped at Gretchen’s feet and gazed at the liver snap. Gretchen bent down and handed it over.