Book 1: Chapter 5
I walked up to the door and paused for a second I took a deep breath and headed in with all the strength I could muster. I walked through the waiting room trying hard not to make eye contact with anyone in there. When I made it to the receptionist’s desk, I was greeted by Jeanie, our oldest member of the team, Aubrey, you look so good. What brings you in?”
1st need to pick up a few things and talk to Carter. Is he around?”
He is in with a patient right now?”
will
i just start getting my things togethe
together. Will you tell him that I am here when he gets done?”
I walked into my office and no sooner than I made it to my desk did Carter walk in behind me. “Hi, Aubrey he said, “This is a surprise
doing here?5
What are you
are you
am only here to get some things and to ask you about an entry in your planner at home.” I started putting things in my tote bag. 1 did not mean to snoop, but I looked at your planner to make sure that I wasn’t needed at any engagements and I only saw one entry on Friday. It just said Rosa at 7pm. What is that and am I needed?
this
“Rosa_umm this Friday?” I am not sure what it was, but something seemed amiss. Carter was always calm and collected, he never s
stammered
words. He now sounded like he had a speech impediment. He continued, “Oh yeah, that is an interview for your replacement.”
“Oh, alright, I just wanted to make sure.”
“Aubrey, can we talk? I miss you”
“Carter, I am not here about us. I am definitely not ready to talk about us yet. I still need time” I finished gathering my things and closed my tote. T will call you, I promise” With that, I headed for the door. Short and sweet. Fortunately, Jeannie was busy with a patient and I was able to sneak out without saying good–bye I made eye contact with her, smiled and gave her a wave of my hand, I was relieved that I did not have to explain why I wasn’t coming back to work
I jumped back into my car and threw my tate in the back seat. I must have had a befuddled look on my face because Angelique asked, “What’s up. Buttercup?”
“Well I have a feeling that you just may be right about that entry in his planner. He stammered on his words when I asked him about it. He had a weird look on his face, like an ‘Oh shit, what do I say look. He says it’s an interview for my replacement.” I was talking so fast I was amazed Ang could keep up “Who has an interview at 7 pm on a Friday? He did not even know he needed a replacement until yesterday. Something is not right”
“it looks like we are going to have to do some investigating. I am up for doing some spy work, how about you?”
1 don’t think I have a choice if I want to find out the truth. He has been awfully distant lately”
“Oh goody, does this mean we can buy some night vision goggles, hidden cameras and surveillance equipment?” She said this with way too much enthusiasm considering I just learned my husband might be cheating.
“I do not think we need to go that far, maybe just follow him on Friday night. How does that sound?”
Fine, at least I look great in all black,” she said trying to keep up the humor
I could tell she was trying to make light of the situation to make me feel better. It helped a little. Even though I left Carter, it would still suck to find out that he was having an affair. It looked like Angelique and I were going to do some surveillance.
After the visit to the clinic, I actually wanted to go to the gym. Maybe I could work out some frustration Jumping on the elliptical and rocking out to some music just might make everything go away, if even just for a little while.
When we arrived at the gym, I headed for the lockers to put my coat away. I passed this tall, dark haired man who smiled as I walked past him. He was a nice looking man with a great smile as he just exhibited. He had on an Under Armour shirt that was snug and showed of his well–formed pecs. You could tell that he had spent more time at the gym than I had
Unfortunately, after just leaning Carter, the only thing running through my mind was Men suck ! So I pushed any thoughts I had of the nice looking man aside and made my way to the ellipticals. I stopped at the open one next to Angelique who had wasted no time and was already working out. She gave me a gran as I stepped up on the machine
“Who was that Beefcake?” she asked her grin beginning to widen
don’t know, just a guy”
He sure could not take his eyes off of you”
You are wron
Bestcake a
He was just being polite Now she had me wondering. We continued on with what I like to call torture and a few minutes later, there
He was working out on the weight machines that faced the row of ellipticals. He would look at me and then look away quickly
THe is looking at you again” Angelique taunted
Where is he supposed to look, Ang? His machine is facing this way You are making too much of this.” As I said that, Beefcake started heading
towards me. What the
- You are Aubrey arent you?” he asked with the deepest, sultriest voice I had ever heard.
“Yeah I’m sorry, do I know you?”
1 sure hope so. Kyle Warner, class of 991
“Oh my god“I climbed down off the torture machine to give him a hug. It was a nice embrace I could feel those muscles that I had admired earlier. “Kyle, how have you been?”
am great. I just joined this gym a few months ago. I haven’t seen you here before.
No you wouldn’t. I have not come to the gym in quite some time. What a pleasant surprise I get on my first day back
I looked over at Ang to see her smiling from ear to ear. “Angelique, do you remember Kyle? He graduated with us.”
“Holy shit, you have changed. You were the short, funny kid that everybody liked.”
“Yeah well, I was a late bloomer.” He spun away from Angelique and looked directly at me. It is great to see you. You look amazing. I would love to catch up sometime”
1 would like that too. Are you on Facebook? Our reunion is coming up and they are trying to get a hold of everybody through Facebook”
“yes, isn’t everybody nowadays? I will send you a friend request sometime today”
“That will be great. I cannot wait to chat with you some more.”
“Good. See you around”
“Yeah, see ya “I climbed back up on the elliptical and slowly began moving my legs. I had a smile on my face that I really could not explain, but by the way Ang was looking at me, that was exactly what I was going to have to do.
“What’s up. Buttercup?” I heard in a teasing voice.
“Anybody ever tell you that you are a pain in the ass, Ang?”
“Yep, you do all the time. Now, spill it. How do you know him so well?”
“Because you are” We were both smiling now. “Kyle and I worked together at McDonald’s. We saw a lot of each other there. Our senior year, he invited me to his house on New Year’s Eve for a party. It was snowing so bad that his mom took all of our car keys away, which she probably would have done anyway because we were drinking. We had a lot to drink and by the end of the night, I was jumping naked into the lake because I wanted to be the first person to swim in the lake that year. Did I tell you that we had a lot to drink?”
“You are kidding me. You went skinny dipping in a blizzard?”
“Uh, yeah. The next thing I know, I was lying down in his brother’s room and he came to lie next to me.”
“Do tell.”
“Nope, that’s it. He lay next to me for a while and then I passed out I guess. Then like most people, I lost touch with him after graduation. I am so done with this workout. Are you ready to go?”
“In a hurry to get to your Facebook page, huh? Looks like you want to try more new things.”
“Shut up, Ang”
