She turned away and hesitated for moment before answering. Finally she looked back at him lifting an eyebrow. “I’m twenty-eight, Noah.”
It came as a surprise. She didn’t look it but the way she was acting you’d think she was forty. “Alright so you’re twenty-eight. You don’t look it.” She didn’t. Not at all, especially now that she’d lost a few pounds. She tried to walk around him but he moved with her. “Don’t get all weird on me, Veronica. If there’s one thing I’ve learned my whole life, time and age are but an illusion.” The crease that suddenly made an appearance between her eyes again made him smile. “I’ll be twenty in a week, by the way. You lost eleven pounds in two weeks because of me—your nineteen year-old trainer.”
She stared at him for a moment then the crease disappeared with her forced smile. “I know. And you’ll never know how much I appreciate it. I’ll see you Monday, okay?”
She walked around him and was almost out the door, but he had to ask. “Why never?”
Glancing back, she took a moment to answer. “I mean, I’ll just never be able to thank you enough.” She shrugged before waving at him and walked out the door.
Noah showered at the gym before leaving, thinking about Veronica the entire time—twenty-eight. She’d never mentioned a husband or boyfriend for that matter. But then their conversations had never gotten that personal. Now that she knew just how old he really was, he got the feeling they never would. In a weird way that bothered him. Maybe he’d just make sure things didn’t change. After all, he’d meant what he said. Age was just an illusion.
CHAPTER 4
The very next time Veronica went to the gym she made it a point to keep any awkwardness at bay. She had no idea what she’d been thinking when she asked him if he wanted to go for a drink. She’d just been so excited about the weight loss she hadn’t been thinking. God, she was an idiot.
How young Noah really was had been a shock to say the very least, and she was more than happy she had a day away from him to shake it off. He seemed content that there had been no weirdness and they’d fallen back into their regular routine. Veronica made sure there was never any more talk of them socializing outside the gym.
Nellie had been separated from Rick for over a month now, and was doing better but she still had her bad days. Rick actually wanted them to try and work things out. He swore the day Courtney followed him to the hotel had been the only time he’d even considered taking his relationship with the other woman to that level. Because of Courtney’s confrontation, it never happened. But Nellie just didn’t know if she could ever trust him again.
The woman was an apprentice who’d been working at the studio where he worked for months. He said he was mentoring her. Nellie said he’d actually spoken of her when she first started. She was no longer working at his office and after what happened, she wasn’t coming back.
Veronica did everything she could to try to be there for Nellie. She was still consumed with the guilt of not having been there while this had all unfolded. The guilt she felt was channeled into her workouts. It made her focus—push herself even harder.
Six weeks into it, she’d now lost almost thirty pounds. Feeling so much better about herself already, she’d even shed her baggy sweatsuits for tighter fitting workout clothes. The first day she’d walked in wearing one of the new outfits, she noticed Noah avoiding her eyes at first, then later caught him checking her out a few times. She told herself it was nothing more than the newness and shock of seeing her out of her sloppy sweats—nothing else.
It was Sunday again and she sat on her sofa, her fingers tapping away on her laptop. She’d begun to look into going back to work. When she took her leave her supervisor told her she could take all the time she needed and a job would still be waiting for her whenever she was ready to come back. She said even if it wasn’t the same position Veronica had she’d get her in somewhere. She needed to go back—needed to feel normal again. Losing weight was just the first step, but she needed to get back to playing tennis, going out. She needed to get her life back.
After tweaking her resume, she looked up movie times and called Nellie. Disappointed that her call went to voicemail she left a quick message and flipped through the channels on her television—nothing. She tossed the remote on the sofa and stared at her phone pathetically for a few minutes, hoping Nellie would call. For a second she was tempted to call Derek. He’d actually left a few messages in the past few months asking her how she was and said he missed her.
Veronica didn’t miss him and she knew it. She was just feeling lonely. Most of her days were spent cleaning or working on the house, and she’d resurrected her hobby of photography. A hobby she’d once loved but like everything else in her life, once her mom got sick she’d pushed it aside, forgetting about it altogether.
Even though most of the stuff she did now was digital, she still held on to her darkroom. There was something so aesthetically pleasing and therapeutic about spending hours in there, and watching a picture magically appear on the paper. Not to mention the memories she had of spending time in there developing photos with her mother.
She managed to stay busy all week until Sunday rolled around. It was the one day she couldn’t look forward to her workouts. Some Sundays she’d taken to walking in the park with her camera handy. Then she’s come home and spend hours in her darkroom developing whatever masterpiece she’d captured, but today it was pouring. It was one of the worst storms they’d had in a while. From the looks of it there’d be plenty more.
The day was finally over and Veronica went to bed looking forward to her workout the next day. Something she hated to admit she’d come to look forward to a little too much. But it was because of the excitement of all the weight she was losing—that’s all it was.
The next day she double-checked her watch when she arrived at the gym because Noah wasn’t there yet. Had she really been so anxious that she arrived before him? He was always there first. She’d just begun to stretch out when Jack came over to inform her Noah wouldn’t be coming in. “You may wanna call in for the rest of the week before coming because I don’t know how long he’ll be out.”
Feeling more than a little concerned she asked, “Is he okay? Did something happen?”
“He’s fine,” Jack said, scratching his head. “It’s his roof that’s not so good. Seems this storm is really giving it a beating and he’s been busy packing things up and getting things covered up. He may have to stay here for a few weeks until they can get the roof fixed. But first he’s gotta get his things out of there.”
“He’s staying here? At the gym?”
“Yeah, well he practically lives here as it is.” Jack smiled. “We’ve gotta fridge back there and he already showers here. I got a blow up mattress he can borrow. He’ll be fine. It’s only for a few weeks. Anyway this week is up in the air. I’m not sure when he’ll be in. Does he have your number? I can have him call you and let you know, so you don’t waste a trip.”
All this time there’d been no reason to give Noah her number, though she had written it down on her application when she signed on past her first free week. Obviously, he hadn’t jotted it down or anything or he would’ve called her today to let her know. It had been pouring since Saturday night. She shuddered to think of what this weekend must’ve been like for him.
She gave Jack her number but decided that since she was already there she may as well work out. Even though she pushed as hard as she did when Noah was there, it just wasn’t the same. There was this strange void and she walked out feeling less enthused about it than she normally did.
The next day it poured all day again and she was sure he wouldn’t be in again. She didn’t recognize the number when she saw it on her phone’s screen but her phone rang so little lately she knew it had to be him. She picked up her phone, feeling a small flutter in her belly.
“Hello?”
“Veronica?” The flutter turned into an all out somersault. His voice was so deep and resonating she had t
o gulp before responding.
“Yeah, it’s me.”
“Hey, this is Noah. Sorry about yesterday, I was so busy I completely forgot to call any of my trainees. “
“That’s okay. You had good reason. How’s your roof?”
“Not good. I won’t make it in again tonight to the gym. Maybe not for the next couple of days, except to sleep. But I’ll be out of there first thing in the morning. It’s a bitch trying to get this roof patched up, especially in the rain.”
Picturing Noah all alone on an air mattress in that big cold gym filled her with guilt. She’d thought about the two extra bedrooms in her house ever since Jack had mentioned it, but she had no idea if Noah would think it too weird. Was it even an appropriate suggestion, especially given how her heart hadn’t stopped thumping since she answered his call? How would she handle knowing he’d be sleeping just a couple of doors away from her?
“So you’re staying at the gym?”
“Yeah, I slept there last night. It’s not too bad except for the no heater thing. I’ll just take extra blankets tonight.”
That tugged at her heart even more. A few times, he’d mentioned foster parents, but unlike when he talked about working on his Ninja and about boxing where his eyes lit up, she sensed that was a subject she shouldn’t ask too much about. So she never did. What he did say about it was always very vague, almost as if it had slipped out accidentally and he usually moved on to another subject quickly. She could only imagine what his living situation must be if a storm had done it in.
With the words at her lips, Noah spoke again. “Listen I gotta go, but I’ll call you again tomorrow and let you know if I’m gonna make it.”
“Noah?”
“Yeah?”
She squeezed her eyes shut, holding her breath but the words that came out were not what she wanted to say. “Be careful.”
“Okay. You, too. Stay out of the rain. It’s bad out there.”
She hung up feeling like the biggest coward and as the temperature dipped even lower, she called Nellie.
“Hey,” Nellie was sounding more and more cheerful these days.
She and Rick were speaking more now. Though she still hadn’t decided what she was going to do about the marriage, she wasn’t nearly as depressed as she’d been when it first happened.
After asking her about how she’d been doing and Nellie filling her in on her latest conversation with Rick, which didn’t offer anything new, she got to her real reason for calling. She’d already told her about the awkward way she found out how much younger Noah was. Nellie didn’t seem to agree with Veronica about how inappropriate it would be to do anything social with him out of the gym.
“Veronica, you act like you’ve never had lunch or gone to a movie with a male friend,” had been Nellie’s response to Veronica’s mortification over having invited an nineteen-year-old to have a drink with her.
Ever since Nellie had assured and reassured Veronica that continuing her workouts with him was perfectly acceptable. Only Nellie couldn’t know because Veronica had yet to admit it even to herself that she enjoyed her time around Noah a little too much. She was sure it was nothing more than loneliness and right now, he was hands down the best and only company she could count on, on a nightly basis. With nothing else going on in her life how could she not look forward to seeing him?
“I didn’t work out today.”
“Why?” Nellie knew she hadn’t missed a day since she’d gone back and she was more than ecstatic about the amount of weight Veronica had already lost.
“Noah wasn’t there yesterday and he just called to tell me he wouldn’t be again. I would’ve gone in anyway but the storm is so bad I figured why chance it? Maybe I’ll work out a little here at home instead.”
“Why hasn’t he been there?”
Veronica was counting on her asking that. “His roof is all messed up and he’s spent the last few days working on it. He’s sleeping at the gym until his roof is fixed, but with the storm not letting up that might take some time.”
“The gym?” Nellie sounded as incredulous as she felt when she first heard about it.
“Yeah, I guess he has no place else to stay.”
“Is that place even heated? It’s been freezing these last couple of nights.”
Veronica felt her stomach knot up as she walked by one of the extra rooms in her heated home with the comfortable bed. “No, it’s not. But he said he’d take extra blankets.”
“Oh man, that’s gotta be brutal. Poor guy.”
“I know right?”
“Yeah, doesn’t he have family he can stay with?”
And the knot grew even bigger, making Veronica chew her nail in indecision. “No, I don’t think he does. He mentioned having foster parents once but I’m guessing he’s too old to have any now. Nel…” God, she couldn’t even bring herself to say it.
“What?”
“I uh… was thinking of asking him if he would want to stay in one of the extra rooms here at my place…you know just until his roof is fixed. You think that would be too weird?”
Nellie was quiet for a moment, and Veronica almost wished she’d say yes. It would make her feel so much better, that she was in this big warm house with extra rooms but it would be just too inappropriate for her to even offer. “I don’t think so, Veronica. They say it’s only supposed to get colder in the next week. I mean if he thinks it’s weird, he can just say no right? It’s not like you’re offering your bed, he’d have his own private bedroom.”
Just the thought of her offering him her bed heated her face. “It’s too late tonight. Maybe I’ll mention it tomorrow when he calls. He’s supposed to call to let me know if he’s going to make it to the gym or not.”
Nellie agreed and it was settled. She’d mention it to him the next time she spoke to him.
That night she hardly slept. Every bolt of lightning that lit up her room, followed by the thunder that shook her windows made her feel worse and worse. Even with her heater on a timer, there were moments when she shivered under her blankets.
The next day she chided herself all day. There was no way she’d back down from bringing it up that evening when he called. The worst thing that could happen (and maybe it’d be a good thing) was he’d pass on her offer. But at least then she’d have a clear conscience and she’d be able to sleep. Yawning most of the day because of the lack of sleep she’d gotten, gave her all the more reason she had to at least make the offer. She wasn’t going through another night like last night again.
When her phone finally rang early that evening, her heart jumped to her throat. She took a deep breath before answering and felt that familiar stir in her belly when she heard his voice again. “Veronica?”
“Yes?”
“I’ll be there tonight.”
Feeling a tiny bit of disappointment she asked, “Oh, did you get your roof fixed?”
“No. I decided to just wait until these storms pass. This one is supposed to be done by the end of the week but there’s another one blowing in next week. I’m just gonna have to wait it out. Even once the storms let up it’ll be a while before I can go back there. So I figure I may as well keep working. Lord knows I’m gonna need the money.”
“Oh.”
This changed things. When she first considered having him stay at her place, she thought it would be for just a few nights. That alone was nerve wracking but now he was talking over a week, maybe more. “Okay so I might be a little late. I didn’t think you’d be going in. I need to get ready.”
She hoped he didn’t put too much thought into the fact that she hadn’t planned on going in unless he was there. Tonight was about as rainy as Monday had been when she happily drove there in the rain and all for her workout—with him. Thinking that he wouldn’t be there tonight she just hadn’t felt like going in tonight.
As much as she didn’t want to admit it, this was beginning to feel dangerously close to a crush—a crush on her much younger trainer—just another reason w
hy she really should think through offering her place up to him.
Immediately after hanging up with him she called Nellie. She explained how the situation had changed and again waited for Nellie to discourage her from doing it. Of course, she did just the opposite. “Wow. I feel so bad for him. Fixing a bad roof is no easy feat and this is just the beginning of winter. Maybe you can offer to rent the room out to him, since it’s possible he’ll be there a while.”
Feeling her insides tighten, Veronica took a deep breath. “I don’t know about all that, Nellie. I wasn’t looking for a roommate. I just felt bad for him.”
“You should feel bad for him. Winter just started and he’s homeless.”
Leave it to Nellie make it sound so terrible. “Well, when you put it like that, Nel. Geez.”
She heard Nellie giggle. “Just think. You’ll have a new roomie in time for the holidays.”
Veronica rolled her eyes. “He hasn’t said yes yet.”
“Oh, I think he will.” Nellie sounded too pleased. If Veronica didn’t know any better she was probably relieved that just maybe Veronica wouldn’t be alone during the first holiday season since her mom died. Not that last year had been very pleasant with her mom so sick.
She’d already been so incredibly nervous about bringing up her offer to Noah over the phone. Now not only would she be offering him a place to stay in his time of need, she was practically asking him to move in with her and she’d be doing it in person. Super!
CHAPTER 5
There was something about Veronica tonight. Noah couldn’t put a finger on it but she was acting a little differently. After all this time training her, they’d finally met a happy medium. The first few days after his age revelation had been a little weird but they’d gotten past it.
He still couldn’t get over how good she sounded on the phone. He’d been struck by her voice from day one, but hearing her over the phone had been something else. When she walked in tonight, his heart had taken on a different beat. It was crazy. It had only been two days since he’d last seen her but he actually thought he might’ve missed her. If he hadn’t been so busy moving all his soggy shit out of that garage and trying to patch the roof up in the pouring rain maybe he would’ve noticed more.