Maggie was quiet when she came back from talking with Beverly and stayed quiet while she ate her breakfast. I wanted to know what was wrong, but after telling her to butt out of my business the day before, I had no right to ask her about her business.

“So, I thought maybe we could do something a little different today.”

That seemed to spark her interest. “Oh, yeah? Like what?”

“What if we took a little time and did some advertising? Let’s try to get some business for you.”

“It isn’t finished yet, though. I’ll get paid again tomorrow and we can start on the floors.”

“Right.” I nodded. “But, today we can get the word out about the awesome new gym in town. You really don’t have many people coming right now. I suggest we close until we finish it, and we’ll pass out flyers to tease them about the grand opening.”

“Um.” She placed her hands into her back pockets as she looked around the gym.

“What’s wrong?”

“This is all moving way too fast. I didn’t expect to be this ready so soon.”

“Okay.” She was afraid. I wasn’t sure if it was failure or success that she was afraid of. Either way, I intended to figure it out and put an end to the fear. “You’re going to do great. It may take a little time to build up a clientele, but they will come. I promise. This is an amazing gym.”

“Yeah.” She walked over, sat on the weight bench, and put her head in her hands. “I’m not so sure this was a great idea.”

“Why not? I thought this was your dream.”

“But what if it doesn’t become a reality?” She groaned. “I have nothing to fall back on and nothing else to do if this fails.”

“I had a business, and I felt the same way. My biggest fear was if people would trust me enough to come to me. But, they did. It was doing really well, and I had all kinds of clients from all walks of life. Tim is actually still running it.” I stood in front of her with my hand out. “Starting it is the scariest part. Let me help you with the start.”

“It doesn’t matter. They won’t come because I’m a girl.”

“I’m a dude.” I waved my hand down my body. “Tell people I’m your silent partner if it makes you feel better. They don’t know who I am.”

“I don’t know who you are.” She looked at my hand and smacked it before standing up. “I don’t need a man.”

“Well, all right then.” I clapped my hands together and rubbed them. “Where’s your computer?”

* * *

“The first thing you’re doing is getting a computer.” I clicked a few more things in place on the flyer I was making. “Who doesn’t have a computer?”

“Oh, so your computer is in the shop? That’s why we had to come to the library. See, I just thought you didn’t have one.”

I gave her a side-glance and kept working on the flyer. “Look, smart ass, I have a laptop, but I don’t use it often. It’s under the seat of my truck. By the time it ran all the updates, your business would be open already. This is faster.” I turned the monitor toward her for her approval.

“Is there anything you can’t do?”

“Plenty.” I saved the flyer to the flash drive and stretched my back. “Where’s the best place to print these? Oh, and what color do you want it on? It should be bright, but not blinding.”

“As long as it isn’t pink, I don’t care.” She looked around. “Hey, I’m going to hit the restroom before we take to the streets. I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll be right here.” I looked at the flyer again before ejecting the flash drive and closing the program. The only reason I had taken my computer on the road with me was to journal. It helped when I was in prison, but I didn’t find it helping as much the second time I tried it. It was just a sad, lonely man repeating the same thing night after night.

Someone placed their hand on my shoulder, and I assumed it was Maggie. I was wrong. “Hey, ready to go?” I stood and turned to see a woman who was not Maggie looking me up and down.

She was shorter than Maggie and not as filled out. Her brown hair was pulled into a ponytail, but off to the side. I wasn’t sure how old she was, but she was too old for that style. When her eyes finally made it back up to mine, she smiled. “Hi. I’m Kaci.”

“Hello, Kaci.”

“You’re new here.”

“I am.”

She smiled again. “A man of few words means a man with big actions. Do you have big actions?” She looked down to my crotch.

“No, sadly, the steroids kind of fucked that up for him.” Maggie walked around her and stood beside me. “He’s still a great guy, though. I’m sure he could . . . measure up in other ways.”

Maggie reached behind me, grabbed the flash drive off the desk, and walked out without another word. I shrugged to Kaci and followed Maggie. It was nice to see her jealous, but she walked fast when she was upset. I caught up to her and wasn’t sure what to say.

“You don’t have to stay with me, you know. You can go off with any tramp you’d like. It’s been a couple of weeks for you, and I know how men need sex.”

“Whoa, whoa.” I pulled on her arm to get her to stop. “Men need sex? If I remember correctly, you were all over me not too long ago.”

“Don’t remind me.”

She started to walk on, but I pulled her back. “No, don’t walk away from this.”

“Oh, like you walked away last night? It’s okay for you to keep walking, but I can’t? I see.”

I held my hands up and stepped back. If she wanted to walk on and not discuss it, that was her choice. She just wasn’t going to assume anything about me. “You’re right. Both men and women need sex, but I wasn’t interested in her.”

She stuck her hands into her back pockets and looked at me. “Are you interested in women at all?”

“Most of them, yes. But, not tramps like her or that Mona chick.”

“How did you know she was a tramp?”

I laughed and walked in the direction she had wanted to go in before I stopped her. “It was her ponytail.”

“Are you kidding? I wear a ponytail a lot, and I’m not a tramp.”

“No, you’re not.” I glanced her way. Normally, I wouldn’t have ever admitted what I was about to admit to any woman, but I thought she needed to hear it. “You see, when she put her ponytail to the side, she was trying to be cute. She was trying to appear younger. The only good thing about older women trying to appear younger is they’re more willing to do whatever I want. Basically, they’re trying to recapture their youth or relive the good days when guys were interested.

“When I saw you in your ponytail the first night I met you, I wanted to wrap it around my hand and hang on to it while I fucked you from behind.” I glanced her way again and smiled as the pink returned to her cheeks. “The only thing I wanted to do with her ponytail was yank her out of my face with it. Although, it would’ve been in the perfect position to hang on to her head while she sucked me off.”

Maggie shoved me toward the street as I laughed. “You’re sick. And stop talking about it. We’re here.” She pushed the door open and walked inside.

* * *

“I think we printed too many.” Maggie plopped into a booth at Beverly’s.

“No, we’ll use these. It’s just the first day. We’ll walk the other way tomorrow.”

She slid down a little and placed her head on the back of the booth. “I’m too tired to agree to walk all that again tomorrow.”

“I’m not sure I should give the two of you any coffee tonight. It looks like you could use some sleep.” Beverly set down a couple of glasses of iced tea. “What’s this?” She picked up a flyer.

“I thought Maggie needed to advertise a little.” I picked up the glass of tea and took a drink.

“Yeah, Mr. PR over there has had me walking all over the city since breakfast.” She sat up and took a drink.

“I wondered where you were for lunch.” She looked at both of us. “You skipped lunch, didn’t you?”

I looked at Maggie. “Time just got away from us.”

“Well, you’re probably good and hungry tonight. How about a couple of bacon cheeseburgers and a heaping order of fries? How does that sound?”

Maggie lay down. “Like heaven! Wake me when it’s here.”

“How about you, Brody?”

I looked at Beverly and nodded. “It sounds great.” I narrowed my eyes when she put her finger to her lips as if to quiet me and motioned to the kitchen with her head. I nodded and reached for my tea. My mouth went dry.

“Are you going to be okay while I go to the restroom?” I chuckled when a thumbs-up appeared from her side of the table.

I wiped my hands on my jeans and went to the kitchen to find Beverly. I had no idea what I’d done to piss her off that time. She was talking to the cooks about the orders she just took, but when I walked in, she handed her notebook over and motioned for me to follow her to her office.

“Is there something wrong?”

“I haven’t decided yet. I don’t get you, Brody. What do you want with Maggie? She’s a sweet girl, but I don’t know what your angle is.”

“I don’t have one. Is it too much to think I want to help her out?”

She crossed her arms and leaned her backside on her desk. “I love that girl with every fiber of my being whether she believes it or not, and I will not stand by and watch someone break her heart.”

“I don’t plan on—”

“Does anyone?” She lowered her head to keep eye contact with me when I lowered mine. “Whoever broke your heart, do you think she meant it?”

I looked at her. “Yes, but I don’t blame her.” I looked down again. “I wasn’t great to her.”

“You weren’t great to her? Do you think that’s comforting to me?”

“Not at all, but it’s the truth. Would you rather I lie?” I looked at her. “I didn’t think so.”

“So, what are you doing here?”

“I admit, if I had enough to pay you the night I rolled through here, I wouldn’t have stayed. That isn’t what happened. My brother decided to become a huge douche and keep me from my money in an attempt to get me to come home. The only thing it’s done is keep me away more.

“I need to make money and a place to stay. Maggie needs help around her place and is willing to pay me. There’s nothing else to it.”

“I’d feel better about this if you were gay, but I see how you look at her. Just keep your hands to yourself. Maggie doesn’t deserve another broken heart.”

“I know. She’s a great woman. She deserves someone else. Someone who can stay.”