Chapter Twenty-Four - Samantha

There’s a large manila envelope on my desk when I get back to the center after dropping off some flyers at a few neighboring establishments. My name is written across it in handwriting I don’t quite recognize.

My first thought is that it’s paperwork from the landlord, or that it’s information from the health clinic about our upcoming flu shot day, but both of those things would have been brought in with the regular mail. Cheryl had not mentioned it when I walked in, but I’d been on a phone call, so maybe she just didn’t want to interrupt. I frown and sit down to open it. It’s heavy and seems stuffed with papers.

I pull the papers out and gasp a little to myself. It’s from Lucas. It’s filled with what looks like plans and numbers. The header of the plans has “Invigoration Club Blue” typed in a bold and large font. There is a note stuck on top of the stack, handwritten, that reads:

Samantha,

I don’t think I explained myself very well the other day. I’m sorry for that. I’m not trying to buy you out or undermine the fitness center. Not anymore. I don’t want your center to shut down, I promise. I want you to expand what you do to help more people than ever before. I want us to help each other. Please read over the plans and research I’ve drawn up and let me know what you think.

I miss you.

Lucas

With shaking hands, I put the note on my desk and start to read the rest of the information. My eyes widen as I read it.

Lucas wants us to work together. He wants to tell his clients that adding classes to their fitness plans would help them. He wants me to tell my clients that weight training and running would help their fitness goals. He wants us to have a reciprocal relationship, offering deals and promotions to each other’s clients. He’s got numbers and breakdowns of how many clients he thinks he could send my way based on a poll he did at his two current gym locations. He wants us to host coordinated wellness events together.

He wants us to make the lakefront area a fitness destination. Together.

It’s overwhelming. I read it all three times, just to make sure I’m taking it in.

Lucas wasn’t trying to close me down. He does respect me and my business. He does care about what I’m trying to do. He cares about me. Putting together all this information just to prove that to me means so much. It’s another incredible gesture, another surprise. I’d thought he’d surprised me for the worse, but it looks like I was wrong.

I pick up the phone to call him but then pause. Calling doesn’t seem like a big enough response to something like this. I don’t want to just talk to him – I want to see him. He’s said he’s been spending most of his time at his first gym location, at least until the new one is built. I know that’s where his main office is, where he does his own personal workouts.

So, I decide to drive over and work out there as a grand gesture of my own. I tell Cheryl I’m headed out for the afternoon. She makes a face, like she knows something is up but doesn’t comment. I wonder if she’d seen Lucas bring the envelope with the plans in.

***

Invigoration is even bigger inside than I thought it would be. It’s bright and loud, with music pumping through the speakers and the low hum of machines working. I scan the room but don’t see Lucas, so I head for a treadmill that’s facing a hall I assume holds the offices and start to run.

I don’t really have a plan beyond this, working out at his gym until he sees me. It seems fitting somehow. He’d taken a yoga class to apologize to me weeks ago. I’ve told him so many times I’d never set foot in his gyms. I’m hoping that when he sees me, he’ll understand why I’m here, what it means, right away.

Hopefully, he’s even here today. For all I know, he’s been back in the neighborhood, at the new complex across the street from me the whole time. Still, this feels like the right plan. Running on the treadmill, I feel strangely like I’m running toward something. I’m not running in one place at all.

Ten minutes into my workout, just as I’m adjusting the settings to incline my run upwards, I see him. He’s coming out of the back hall with another man, talking about something. He’s dressed for a workout, a towel around his shoulders. I watch him but try not to stare. I’m not sure what I’ll do if he doesn’t notice me – if he just keeps walking.

Luckily, I don’t have to figure that out.

Lucas stops in what seems to be mid-sentence when he sees me. He and the man he’s talking to turn to face me, and Lucas’s face lights up. I know I was right – that he does understand right away the gesture I’m making here. He starts to walk toward me, and I stop the treadmill to walk toward him.

“Thought I’d never get you in here,” Lucas says, beaming at me like he can’t quite believe I’m here.

“Surprise,” I say, grinning back. I swallow and then add, “I got your plans.”

“What did you think?” Lucas asks, studying me. I’m so glad to see him. It’s only been a few days, but I’ve honestly missed him a great deal.

“I love it,” I say, stepping in even closer to him. Needing to be close to him.

“I don’t want to shut you down,” Lucas says, taking a step in toward me as well.

“I know that now,” I say. “Thank you.”

“I want you in my life, Samantha. I couldn’t just let you walk away, let you run out of my life like that,” Lucas says. He puts a hand on my face the way he did after our first date.

“I’m glad you didn’t,” I say. I step in again and slide a hand up his chest. Our eyes lock, and then I lean up as he bends his head. I kiss him, right there in the middle of the gym I said I’d never set foot in. He tugs me in even closer as we kiss.

I’m sure people are staring, but I don’t care. I want to kiss Lucas until I’ve forgotten how to think about anything else. I want the whole world to stop as we kiss each other. It already feels a little like it has.

“I missed you,” I say again in his mouth. “I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions.”

“In your place, I might have, too,” Lucas says, shaking his head softly, so close I can feel the motion. “I missed you.”

He moves back in to kiss me again, and I kiss back, feeling greedy for it. We only lost three days, but it feels like entirely too much time. It feels like so must wasted time that could have been spent together, that could have been spent like this, wrapped in each other, kissing, his hand threading through my hair.

It feels like we’re finally back where we belong.