I kept my arm over my eyes to keep the light out, but it was no use. It was too loud to sleep. I had no idea how many miles we walked, but I had a feeling knowing the actual number would’ve made me feel even more exhausted than I already did.

I heard Brody’s shoes clomping toward me. They weren’t as loud as I’d heard before, so I knew he wasn’t mad. If anything, he was walking slower. I was sure Bev told him to go to the kitchen for one of her famous talks, but I couldn’t tell if it went well or not.

I waited for him to slide into the booth. “Did you have a nice chat?”

“What are you talking about?”

I groaned and sat up. “Cut the shit. I’m not stupid.”

“I never said you were.” He took a drink. “She’s protective of you.”

“Yeah.” I played with the straw in my tea glass. “I think my legs are going to fall off.”

“I think you’re dehydrated. I told you to drink more water.”

“Listen.” I pointed a finger at him. “The person who can whip it out and pee literally anywhere does not have the right to tell me how much I should drink.” I sat back. “I’ll drink water tonight.”

Bev sat a tall glass of water in front of me. “You’ll start now. Your legs always hurt when you’re dehydrated. I’ll be back with your food in a minute.”

Brody was smiling at me. “She’s kind of bossy.”

“You can say that again.” I pulled the water closer. “I just wouldn’t let her hear you say it.”

I watched as Bev brought out two plates: one with a single bacon cheeseburger and fries and another with a double. The fries were piled high on the double. I was always told no on the double and it was set just inches from me. My single looked pathetic to his.

“What is this shit?” I looked at Bev. “I thought I was your favorite.”

She petted my hair and smiled. “You are. I’m making sure he doesn’t get hungry later and eat you.” She stopped petting my hair and narrowed her eyes before pointing to each of us. “Don’t go there.”

Brody and I burst out laughing, but I stopped as soon as he picked up a knife and cut into his cheeseburger. “What are you doing? Are you not man enough to eat it all at once?”

He smirked and continued cutting the burger in half before reaching out to my plate and cutting mine.

“Hey, I was going to tear into that.”

“Try tearing into this first.” He took half of his burger and swapped it with half of mine. “There.” He smiled. “Now we have the same. You worked just as hard as I did today. You deserve just as much food.”

I sat and looked at our plates with the mismatched burgers resting on them. “That’s actually the nicest thing anyone has done for me.”

He narrowed his eyes and looked to the side. “I thought helping you with the gym was the nicest thing.”

“That is, but I’m paying you for that. No one told you that you had to do this.” I looked down and back up to him. “Thank you.”

He smiled and took a bite. “I wonder what we get tomorrow if we walk even longer.”

I shook my head. “I’m not willing to find out. I’m going to be so sore tomorrow.”

“Then maybe we should take a day off.”

I tilted my head and looked at him. “A day off? What would we do on this day off?”

“I don’t know. Sleep in?”

“I can get behind that just as much as I can get behind this double.”

He laughed as I dug in. I wasn’t sure if it was the hunger, the forbidden burger that Bev always talked me out of, or if it was the fact Brody had given it up freely, but it was the best tasting burger I’d ever had.

We were quiet throughout dinner. It wasn’t as if we had a lot to say on most days, but talk usually revolved around the gym. That night, we didn’t say much at all. I was too tired to concentrate on anything more than eating, but he seemed preoccupied. He had been fine all day until he got back from his talk with Bev in the kitchen. If I thought either one of them would’ve been honest with me, I would’ve asked.

I placed my head on the table and pushed my plate away. “Kill me.”

“So, that’s no on the pie then?” Bev smiled when I looked at her and glared. “I told you a double was too much for you, but you never listen to me.”

“I’d love some pie, but I think it’s time to tuck Maggie in for the night.” Brody held his hands up. “In her own bed by herself.”

Bev tapped her pencil to her notebook as she looked at him. “Don’t make me come over there and check on you two.”

“For fuck’s sake. We’re two grown adults. If we want to fuck our brains out, we will.” I’d had enough of her meddling. I knew she meant well, but she had plenty of time to get involved before. “I’ve already talked to you about it and told you that you don’t have to worry about it. He isn’t interested.”

“I’m not?”

Both Bev and I answered, “No.”

Brody shook his head as if someone just smacked him in the back of it. “I guess I’m outvoted.”

“I need to sleep off this burger and get up early to go to the bank.”

“I thought it was a sleep in day.” Brody sounded disappointed.

“You can sleep in. I need to go to the bank if we want to work on the floors.” I looked at Bev. “May I borrow your car again?”

“Is the truck not good enough for you?” He held up his hand. “I mean, I won’t let you take it, but I’ll drive you.”

“I kind of need to do this on my own.”

“I can sit out in the truck and give you some privacy.”

My earlier statement hurt Bev. She wouldn’t look at me and seemed to be lost in thought. I hated myself when I hurt her. She startled when I put my hand on hers to get her attention. “Oh, uh, sure. You know you’re always welcome to borrow the car.” She looked around. “Sorry, kids. Duty calls.” She looked directly at me. “Have a good night.”

She walked away before I could respond. I felt like shit. We had our problems we needed to work through, but neither of us asked for the situation we found ourselves in. I wished I could understand her side a little more, but I only had what she was willing to tell me. Until she was able to open up completely, I had to remember she had her reasons for doing what she did. I’d just wish she’d tell me.

“Hey, let’s go.”

I looked at Brody and nodded. “Yeah, I’m exhausted.” I looked at the empty space next to me. “Maybe I should sleep here. I mean, I’m already here, and I’ll be closer to breakfast, and I don’t have to walk, and the stairs.” I laid my head on the table. “Those fucking stairs.”

“That’s a lot of ‘ands’ you’ve got there.” He stood and held his hand out to me. “Come on. The sooner you get up, the sooner you can get into bed. Your nice, warm bed.”

“Since you put it that way.” I put my hand in his and stood but didn’t expect him to bend down and fling me around his shoulders. “What are you doing?”

“Drop your legs. I’ll give you a piggyback ride.”

“Put me down. Are you serious? I can walk.”

“I know you can, but I’d rather not hear you bitch about it as we do it. So, you can drop your legs and get on my back like normal, or you can take your chances going out the door sideways. I gotta be honest with you. I’m not so sure about my aim tonight.”

I wrapped my arm around his neck and dropped my legs like he told me. I hadn’t been given a piggyback ride in I didn’t know how long. I smiled. He was fun when he let himself be. I looked at his hair while I had the opportunity and ran my fingers through it.

“You need a haircut. We can take care of that tomorrow.”

He looked both ways before crossing the street and then looked up to me. “Not by you.”

“Don’t you trust me?”

“I’m going to go with no on the haircutting.” He held his hand out. “Keys?”

I handed him the keys and tried to slide down, but he grabbed my ass. “Hey, watch the hands.”

“I thought you were falling, but you’re not getting down until I get upstairs.”

“No, seriously. You need to put me down.” I ducked as he walked through the door. I probably didn’t need to, but I’d never been that close to the top of the door before.

He turned and locked the door. “Nope.”

“I weigh too much for you to carry me.”

“Maybe after that burger, but I can handle it.”

I rolled my eyes. He was frustrating to say the least. “I’d rather go to the bathroom before you take me upstairs.”

“That’s a good point.” He helped me slide down and gave me the keys when I straightened myself. “We really need to work on that upstairs bathroom.”

“I’d love it, but the gym is more important.”

He looked at his hands and rubbed them together. “Why is the gym so important to you?”

That was harder to answer than I thought it would’ve been. “Well.” I hesitated. I didn’t know what to say. Just because my reasons were important to me didn’t mean others would think it was important.

“You don’t have to tell me. I was just curious.”

“I’m not sure how to say it.” I put my hands behind me and leaned against the wall. “My father was a very prominent businessman. He made a lot of money telling a lot of people what to do. I was allowed an education, but only because a good husband would want an educated wife. He wouldn’t want some uneducated twat opening her pretty little mouth at parties and ruining his reputation.

“It was expected that I wouldn’t work after I got married except to throw parties for my husband’s work bullshit and popping out babies. As a woman, that was my job. So, I played the part and got a business degree to learn the lingo. I wasn’t allowed to speak it, but I was to be prepared if my husband’s associates asked me a question to try to embarrass my husband.”

“So, you’re married?”

“Nope.” I took a deep breath and moved my hands in front of me to play with my keys. “I was engaged to a man my dad thought was perfect for me. I thought Greg was perfect for me, too. I didn’t realize it was a setup until it was too late.”

“What do you mean?”

“Greg and my father met before I met him, so my dad would tell him the places I would be. I thought we just happened to meet. My father orchestrated every part of my life except for working out. I was allowed to do that because no man wants an unattractive wife. A good wife shouldn’t let herself go. She should be fit, healthy, beautiful, and always made up just in case someone drops by unexpectedly.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not sure how all of this has to do with the gym.”

“When my dad died, I found out my fiancé didn’t really love me. I was a trophy wife—I think is what they call it. I was someone who was smart, who looked good, and who could make him look even better. He was using me to get to my dad and was using my dad to get to his connections. He was able to make some, but the connections he didn’t make died with my dad. When he found out I wanted no part in that lifestyle, I was tossed to the streets.”

“That’s very unfortunate, but I still don’t get the connection.”

I smiled. “It isn’t so much about the gym as it is about success. The only thing I’ve had growing up was working out. I enjoy it. Not in the moment when I’m sweating my ass off, of course, but I like how it makes me feel when I’m finished. It was the only thing I had control of when my dad was alive.

“When I came here and met Bev for the first time, I saw this abandoned place across the street and it was like something had taken over me. I had to have this place, and I had to make this gym a success. It’s kind of an in-your-face to my father.

“I mean, he’s even controlling the money he left me when he died. I get so much a month until I can prove I have a purpose in life.”

“A purpose?”

“Right. Before I can have complete access to the money, I either need to have a successful business like he did or be married with one child. That’s so I don’t marry the first loser I see just to get my money. He needed to tie a kid into it. What I really want is for my business to do so well that I don’t need his fucking money. I want to take care of myself.”

“So, you’re doing this for you?”

I nodded and smiled. “Yeah.”

“That’s all you had to say.” He shook his head as he walked to the men’s restroom.

I stood in the hallway, looking at the empty space where he listened to very personal aspects of my life, and felt defeated. It took a lot for me to open up, and he acted as if I wasted his time. What an asshole.