“You know what, Kyle? Having you for a roommate has been a dream. I am so spoiled by your cooking. I can’t believe the things you can do with a stir fry. If we keep eating like this, I’m definitely going to win the bet.” I sucked in a breath and looked up from my plate excitedly as an idea popped into my head.

Kyle’s eyes narrowed warily. “What? Why do I have a feeling that you just came up with some new torture for me?”

I shook my head. “No, this has nothing to do with your training. It just occurred to me that you’re a trained chef and the way you’ve been feeding us for the past couple weeks proves that you know what you’re doing. You know the classes I sponsor at the gym? Why don’t you teach one? I think it would be fantastic for my members to have access to an actual chef who could teach them how to cook like this for themselves.”

“No, I could never…” Kyle’s voice trailed off as I held up a hand.

“Wait, hold on. Hear me out before you turn me down; let’s talk about this idea. The whole point of the classes we offer is to give a wide range of wellness opportunities for the members. I don’t want the gym to just be a place where people come to work out and go home again. I’d like them to take classes that make their lives better, you know? I want to add value to my client experience, and one way I do that is the classes we offer. Right now, the only thing we have going is Ethan’s yoga class. The Pilates instructor is moving, and the meditation class just ended. I think a nutrition class would be a great addition.”

“How would that even work, though? Would I do it during my regular hours, or would you pay overtime?” He looked interested, but maybe not quite sold on the concept yet. “Shoot, I wouldn’t even know what to teach.”

I leaned back in my chair, blotting my mouth with my napkin before dropping it on my plate. I waved a hand toward the empty dishes. “For starters, you could teach menu planning. How to shop for better ingredients, things like that. If you wanted, we can set something up where you were actually teaching them basic recipes. There’s no limit to what you could do. As for payment, you would do it outside of work hours and pocket whatever fees the classes earned.”

Kyle pushed his plate aside, his eyes lighting with interest as he leaned back in his chair as if unconsciously mirroring my pose. “What do you mean, whatever the class earns?”

“Exactly what it sounded like.” I shrugged. “Gym members pay extra for specialized classes. I usually suggest doing a six-week course to start and see what kind of interest the class gets. After that, you can decide whether to make it an ongoing thing, if it’s just something that you want to do occasionally, or if it’s just not for you. At any rate, you’d make fifty dollars per person, per class or a set price for people who want to take the entire course at a reduced rate. That’s the going price, anyway. Some of the classes charge even more. It’s really up to the individual instructors.”

His eyes shone with excitement as he mulled it over. “There really are so many things that people don’t know. Like I didn’t know about the smoothies you make, and I have a culinary degree. Simple swaps would be another item of interest. You know, like using brown rice instead of white or plain yogurt instead of sour cream, things like that. Even if we didn’t do any on-site cooking, I can teach menu planning and how to shop for better cuts of meat, choose vegetables, things like that. Now that I think about it, there are so many things that a class like this could cover. Ooh! Like how use herbs instead of high-sodium or sugary sauces for flavor. Farm to table is another thing that people are interested in. I could teach them about that.”

“Well, if you’re interested, why don’t you come in early tomorrow and sit down with me in my office? We can get an official class schedule set up and put it on the website to see if there’s any interest. And just so you know, the first half of the class fees are nonrefundable. I pay the first half out to my instructors before the first class and the rest at the end of the seminar. That way if anybody drops out, I can take it out of the money I owe you.”

Kyle waved a hand as if uninterested in the business aspects. I knew that wasn’t the case, it’s just that the creative part of his brain was too busy working to think about the nuts and bolts of the operation just yet. While he was in a creative mode and feeling optimistic, I decided to push him a little further.

“You know, if your class works out, maybe you could revisit your idea from last year of opening a catering service. There are many people who would pay to have a healthy option for their events. I could link you as a vendor on our website, and post your contact information on your class page. Something to think about, at any rate. I’d love to hire a new receptionist if it meant that you were following your dreams and putting that hard-earned degree to use.”

He didn’t say anything, but just chewed his lip thoughtfully as he stood and began clearing the table. I rose to help him, but didn’t press any further. I’d said my piece, now he’d have to give it some thought and make his own decision.

“Why don’t we do this more often?” Houston looked around the table at me and our other two brothers. “I mean, it’s important for us to get together every once in a while as brothers, you know? I miss our old family sometimes, and just meeting here at the diner for lunch like this is such a simple thing for us to do.”

I reached over and patted Houston’s hand. “We’re here now, and that’s what matters. You’re right; we should do it more often.”

Austin rolled his eyes. “Did I really give up my lunch hour solitude to sit here and watch you two get all mushy?”

Houston flipped his middle finger in our brother’s direction without ever taking his eyes off mine. “Enough about us, tell me all about Kyle. You sure jumped all over yourself to get him moved into your little nest. Are you guys all coupled up and schmoopy yet?”

Beau cleared his throat. “Seriously, Dilly-Dally. I’m proud of you for helping Kyle find his footing. But if I could share my two cents? I know you’ve always had a thing for him, but you need to make yourself take it easy right now. Trust me, I know how hard it is to hold yourself back when you’ve found the person your heart cries out for, but that boy needs to do a little more healing before he can jump into another relationship. And for Pete’s sake, if you do reach that point? Don’t rush him into sex.”

I swallowed and shifted uncomfortably in my seat. If I’d thought that I’d been subtle, Houston cleared that up right away as he verbally pounced on my discomfort.

“Holy shit,” he breathed. “You’ve already had sex with him! You dirty dog. No, don’t even try to deny it. It’s totally written all over your face.” He leaned back in satisfaction, crossing his arms over his chest while he waited for my response.

I shrugged a shoulder. “Look, not that it’s any of your business—but he went into heat unexpectedly and needed me to help him through it.”

Houston cackled gleefully. “And you are such a Sir Galahad type that you suffered through it on his behalf, am I right?” Austin snorted while Beau narrowed his eyes thoughtfully.

“Wait, was that a couple weeks back when you asked me to watch the gym for a few days because you both had the flu after he got out of the hospital? You dickhead. I missed the twins’ tumbling class for that shit.”

I grinned with embarrassment. “I mean, he was in heat, so I wasn’t lying about a fever. As for me…”

“Bitch, please.” Houston snorted. “The only fever you had was in your balls. As for Kyle, well… I guess, good for him? Hell, after that awful ex of his, that boy needed a good lay. Not that I’m saying you’re necessarily a good… never mind. I’m shutting up now.”

Austin rolled his eyes and pointedly changed the subject. “When I was going over your accounting, I noticed that you have a new class on the roster with Kyle listed as the instructor. What will he be teaching?”

“The official name of the class is Discovering Wellness through Nutrition. Kyle will be teaching the members how to plan menus, give them recipes, healthy swaps for better dietary choices, things of that nature. And the best part is that it’s giving him his self-confidence back and showing him how much he knows.”

Beau looked impressed. “If he can teach half as good as he cooked at that event he catered for me, he’ll do great.”

“Exactly.” I nodded. “He knows so much more than he gives himself credit for, you know? That jerk Fred did a real number on his already low self-esteem. But I’ve seen his lesson plans, and they’re pretty solid. In fact, you should get Gid in there. I bet he’d love it.”

Austin waved a hand as if brushing aside our chitchat. “How many members have signed up for the class, and how much are you charging? You didn’t fill that out on the spreadsheet, which is part of the reason I even brought it up in the first place.”

“Fifty bucks per class, or three hundred and fifty for the entire seminar. Twenty-seven members have prepaid for the entire six weeks already. I was going to lock it out at twenty-five, but Kyle didn’t want to turn anybody away.” I looked over at Beau with a grin. “Which means I probably shouldn’t invite Gideon? But we both know that Kyle would love to have him though, so go ahead and tell him.”

Austin had sat quietly with his lips moving soundlessly while I’d been speaking. He perked up a second later. “Holy shit, that’s ninety-four hundred and fifty bucks. How many classes are we talking?”

“The initial class is set up for a six-week course, with two classes per week. Granted, we’ll probably have a few dropouts, but that’s par for the course with specialized classes.”

“But still, I haven’t seen any of your other class rosters fill up that fast. Obviously there’s a demand for this. I’m sure the fact that a trained chef is teaching didn’t hurt either. How long is each class?” Austin’s eyes stared off into space, as though his brain was still busily calculating numbers.

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “I’d assume the standard fifty-minute structure we do for all of our other ones.”

Austin nodded. “That’s good money for Kyle; much better than answering your phones. I hope he sticks with it. Like Beau said, if he teaches half as well as he cooks, he’ll be fine.”

“Trust me,” I said confidently, “he’s going to be great.”

“And he didn’t freak out when he learned about your standard thirty percent cut for the gym? Because that right there is twenty-eight hundred and thirty-five dollars. Even though that leaves him with sixty-six hundred and fifteen bucks, that will probably feel like a big chunk to a first-time instructor.” Austin was casually rattling off numbers, comfortably immersed into accountant mode.

“He didn’t freak out because I didn’t tell him that I normally do that. I’m not planning to take a cut this time, not from Kyle. I want to help him, not make a profit.”

Houston shook his head, his eyes filled with concern. “Dallas, you need to tell him. After what he went through with Fred, he’ll never trust you if you lie about something even that basic. Although you’re doing it with his best interests in mind, it’s technically still a lie if you don’t tell him.”

“Is it, though? I mean, how’s he gonna find out anyway? It’s not like you guys will rat me out. Honestly, it’s gonna be fine—you’ll see.”