CHAPTER ELEVEN

“The open house is going pretty good, don’t cha think?” Clara says as she bites into a chocolate frosted doughnut. “Mmm, this is delicious,” she adds as she chews on another mouthful. “The glazed ones are yummy, too. You did a great job!” She points to the trays that hold the chocolate frosted doughnuts Duke hadn’t knocked over, and a new one of glazed doughnuts I’d baked to replace the unusable pastries.

“Oh yes, they are really delicious, if I say so myself!” I smile. For a brief instant, Duke’s ‘doughnuted’ dick flashes through my head…Clara has no idea just how absolutely scrumptious these doughnuts can be. “I guess the open house is going ok. It could be better.”

“I saw a few people sign up,” she smiles.

“Hopefully we get more than a few,” I shake my head. “I just don’t get it. At the other gyms I’ve worked at in the past, an open house like this one would generate quite a few sign ups. It’s odd.”

“Well, a lot of people just come for the free grub, I think.” She waves her hand at a table that is laden with the goodies Duke and I made. “A lot of people don’t want to spend money to join a gym right now. Plus, in California, it’s so nice outside that they probably don’t want to work out indoors.”

“That’s true,” I agree, “but Duke will be so disappointed.” I can see him off in the corner. He’s talking to a couple wearing matching green jogging outfits, pointing to the equipment. I know he is doing everything he can to convince them to join.

“So, what’s with the two of you?” Clara asks, “Are you two, like, a thing now?”

“Why do you think that?” Geez, was it that obvious? I hadn’t said anything to anyone, and I didn’t think Duke had either.

“I don’t know,” she shoots me a coy look, “maybe the way you can’t seem to stop touching each other whenever you’re together…and the way he’s gone from acting bad ass all the time to being a big softie.”

“Really? He has?”

“Yeah…like you didn’t notice?”

I nod my head. “He has been a lot easier to get along with, hasn’t he?” Clara was right. Duke had gone from being a loud mouth trying to prove something to a kinder, gentler man. Sure, he still had his moments, but…

“You are dating, right?”

“Yeah, we are, like, a couple now,” I smile shyly. If anyone had told me I would be dating Duke a few weeks ago I would have laughed in their faces. But the truth is, the more I have gotten to know him, the more of a sweetie he has become. Yeah, he can come on like a big bad panther with a hell of a roar, but inside, he is more of a pussycat with a luscious purr.

She snaps her fingers and beams at me. “I knew it!”

“Well, we’d better start socializing and see if we can convince some people to sign up,” I say, sighing. At the open house events, we would all talk to potential clients about their needs and try to convince them that our gym could help them accomplish their goals.

I can see Noah, Duke, and Veronica working the floor, but I don’t see Kelly or Jeff. They’ve both been taking a lot of time off lately, but neither one has called in sick or has taken scheduled vacation time. Both of them had a habit of not letting me know when they would be out, leaving ‘7 Days’ understaffed. Since I’m the one in charge of scheduling, that reflects poorly on me. I have to talk to them soon and tell them to make sure they kept me informed.

“You want to go talk to that couple over there,” she asks, pointing to a man and a woman standing near the elliptical, “and I’ll take that woman by the door?”

“Sounds like a plan. And if you see Kelly or Jeff can you let me know? I need to talk to them.”

“Sure,” Clara responds.

As she leaves to go talk to the woman by the door, I start walking over to the couple next to the elliptical. Before I make my way there, I spot Ed Beasley next to one of the food tables eating a brownie.

“Hi Ed,” I call to him.

He smiles back at me sheepishly.

“How are you?”

“Well, I hope you don’t mind me coming. I miss my workouts with Veronica. I want to join ‘7 Days’ again. That is, if you’ll let me come back.”

“Of course you can rejoin.”

“That’s good,” he breathes a sigh of relief. “I thought you would all be mad at me.”

“Don’t be silly. We all take a break from working out once in a while, and with the problems you’ve had with your back, you probably needed to.”

“I, uh…didn’t take a break. I was working out.”

“Well, working out from home can be a good thing sometimes too. It’s convenient and easy.”

“I wasn’t working out at home…” he looked down at the ground. “I didn’t want to hurt your feelings. I was at the new gym.”

“The new gym?”

“Yeah, the one some of the trainers opened a few blocks over.”

“Some of the trainers opened a gym?” I ask, my eyes widening. “Trainers that work here?”

“Yeah, Jeff, and I think her name is Kathy or Kailey or something like that.”

“Kelly,” I say flatly.

“That’s it—her name is Kelly. One day when I’d finished working out here and was getting ready to leave, Jeff stopped me and told me about it. He said he and Kelly had opened their own gym. He offered me a huge discount if I joined. I mean huge. I like it here a lot, but I’m on a fixed income so I wanted to try it…I’m sorry.”

“No, no,” I shake my head, “of course you had to do what was right for you.”

“Well, it didn’t exactly work out. You get what you pay for, I guess.”

I raise my brows.

“Yeah, the place is pretty awful. It has hardly any equipment, no towels in the shower room, no hot water, and they open late and close early…”

“Ugh, that sounds awful. I’m glad you’re back!” I try to sound calm, but inside I’m fuming. “I just didn’t know that Jeff and Kelly had opened a gym.”

“Well, they asked me not to say anything to anyone here about their gym. They didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.”

They didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, alright. They just wanted to go behind our backs!

“I saw a lot of the people I’ve seen working out around here, working out there too.”

I’ll bet. It sounds like they had done a good job of stealing our members. “Ed, you enjoy the Open House. We’ll see what we can work out to cut down your membership fees.”

“Thanks,” he grins. “I’m glad to be back.”

I glance over to where Duke is still talking to the couple in the matching outfits. He catches my eye and waves me over. He has a huge smile on his face.

“Allie, this is Betty and Ron Clapper and they are ready to sign up for a year’s membership.”

“That’s awesome!” I smile at the pair. “Duke, can I talk to you for a second?”

“Yep, just one minute,” he says as he hands the Clappers a clipboard. “If you’ll just fill this out, when you’re done you can take it over to Clara.” He points to Clara, “she’ll take care of you.”

As the Clappers walk away with the form, Duke turns to me, his tone rich with happiness. “Yes! It looks like they’re going to sign up! I had a few potentials earlier, too. I think this Open House is going to work to keep ‘7 Days’ alive!”

“Duke,” I look at him sadly. He’s so excited, but I have to tell him now. “We’ve got a serious problem.”