- Alex -
“Why am I doing this again?”
My best friend dropped his head back against the driver’s seat. “We’ve been through this a hundred times.”
“No.” I stared across the parking lot at the gym. My gym. One of my gyms, to be exact. “You and the board have been through it a hundred times.”
“And your mother,” Jimmy added. “This is what she wants, too.”
“Remind me again why I can’t just sell the company?”
“Because it’s not what you want.”
I scoffed. “According to everyone but me.”
“Look.” He turned the ignition off and angled his body towards me. “I get that you want to sell. I get that your heart isn’t in this anymore. But profits are down. Ever since—”
“Yeah, yeah.” I hurried him with my hand. I didn’t need to be reminded that I dropped the ball when my mom got sick, that the business had suffered in my absence. I had a whole new understanding of what it meant to suffer, and worrying about profits was futile when the most important woman in my life was losing her eyelashes.
“The point is,” Jimmy said, sensing my frustration. “Even if you do decide to sell, we have to turn this sinking ship around first. It’s the difference between you being able to retire from the sale—”
“I can already retire.”
“Well, that makes one of us, and I poured just as much of myself into this business in the beginning as you did.”
I sighed.
“And I’m not the only one who feels that way.”
I gnawed on the inside of my cheek.
“And you’re not the kind of guy who—”
“I don’t need you to tell me what kind of guy I am, thanks.”
“Fine.”
We sat in silence and watched a young woman with a high ponytail fumble in her purse as she crossed the parking lot. She was wearing a staff uniform that matched my own, and I couldn’t help but think she wore it very well indeed.
“Things are looking up already,” Jimmy said as she disappeared through the glass doors.
“Why this branch again?”
“They have the highest member retention rate, and none of the staff know who you are.”
“Which is important because—?”
“Because you aren’t going to learn shit if you go in there as the boss. You’re going to learn whatever the manager wants you to know. This is a much more effective way for you to figure out what is and isn’t working so we can roll out operational improvements as soon as possible.”
I stared at the doors and wondered how closely I’d get to work alongside the woman we’d just seen.
“The owner, Mary, is expecting you today. She’s under the impression that you’ve been transferred from another branch after a week on the job.”
“Why?”
“You moved to be closer to your sick mother.”
I glared at him.
He shrugged. “I really am trying to make this as simple for you as possible.”
I folded my arms and my thin sleeves stretched around my biceps. “What if someone recognizes me as the CEO?”
“Where would they recognize you from? You keep a lower profile than Tupac.”
I dropped my chin. “Tupac’s dead.”
“That’s what he wants you to think.”
“Don’t be a smartass.”
“Whatever. Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it,” he said. “Which we won’t.”
We sat in silence a while longer, checking out two more staff members as they arrived, one of whom pulled his uniform on as he was walking in. The other smoked a cigarette outside the front door before entering, causing my teeth to clench so hard Jimmy must’ve heard them.
“See,” he said. “That’s exactly the kind of thing you can’t fix if you don’t know about it.”
“Who smokes outside a gym?” I asked. “That they work at?”
“People desperately in need of leadership?”
I rolled my eyes.
“Seriously, what are you waiting for? Get out of the car already.”
“You want to grab a quick coffee or something?”
“Are you asking because you genuinely need more caffeine for your first day of work in three years?”
“I reject that accusation.”
“Or because you need a pep talk?”
“I don’t need a pep talk.” I also didn’t need to be lectured about work. Taking care of my mom, her cancer, and her bucket list had been the hardest job I’d ever had. “I need you to promise me that if I deem this to be a waste of time, you’ll have my back.”
“Give it a month.”
“A month?!”
“Don’t act like you can’t work in a gym for a month. I used to have to drag you out.”
“It used to be my baby.”
“Well, your baby is having a difficult adolescence and requires your urgent attention.”
“One month.”
“Minimum.”
I groaned.
“Get out of the car, Alex.”
I wrapped my fingers around the door handle but didn’t pull it open. What was I so worried about? Having a boss again? Lying to people?
Or perhaps I was being held back by the very real possibility that I might fail. What then? What if I spent a month working at Pump and couldn’t figure out how to turn things around? I pictured the faces of all the people I’d be letting down if that happened, the people I’d be letting down if I didn’t get out of the car.
I popped the handle open and got out. “Thanks for the lift,” I said, sliding my branded gym bag from the backseat. “I’ll let you know how it goes.”
“Don’t worry,” Jimmy said. “I’m sure you’ll make friends.”
I swung his car door shut, flinching as he peeled off dramatically. Then I started towards the entrance, taking deep breaths of the crisp morning air as I reminded myself that I’d survived awkwardness much greater than this.