“I love you,” I tell her.
Her body goes lax, her smile not faltering. “I love you too,” she murmurs against my mouth.
My eyes blink closed as I absorb her words. Three words that ground me so easily, bringing me back down and rooting me to earth.
“I’ll see you at eleven,” I tell her.
She nods her head at me, a sweet innocent smile on my not so innocent girl’s face.
Nina
Rushing through the gym, I throw my hand up at Henry in greeting, knowing I have a million things to do before Joey arrives. My heart feels like it is pumping a million beats a minute as I poke my head in Erin’s office door, but she isn’t there. She’s either late like me or already out on a meeting.
I shoot the girls a text and tell them I’ll meet them for lunch, but I may be late.
The studio isn’t in the worst shape, but it’s not immaculate either. The floor-to-ceiling mirrors are the bane of my life. I spend hours on them every week, and they never seem to stay clean.
I sweep and mop the floors, wipe the windows, the mirrors, and then dust the benches off to finish. It’s the best I can do with the little time I have.
Henry finds me in the staff room as I’m putting away the mop bucket.
“Anderson, you look a hot mess.”
“Henry, don’t. I have a photographer coming in today.”
“To take pictures of what?” he asks, frowning as he unboxes a delivery.
“Me!”
His eyes lift, scanning my body and he cringes. “It’s not that bad, is it?” I ask, looking down at myself, my voice rising in panic.
“No.” He shakes his head, clearly sensing I’m a donkey on the edge. “You look great.”
“Fuck off, Henry,” I say, storming from the room. “Asshole.”
“What did I do?” he shouts after me.
It’s ten to eleven, and neither Mason nor Joey are here yet.
Nothing I do seems to ease my anxiety, and with Henry downstairs and Joey on his way, I am really freaking anxious. I didn’t think about Henry being here. Mason has come to blows with both men, and now I’m going to have them—together—under one roof?
Yeah, I didn’t think this through.
Sticking the last bobby pin in my hair, I check myself out in the mirror. I’m wearing a plain black long-sleeved leotard, I found it at the bottom of my gym bag, and it passed the sniff test, so it was a go. It’s the best I could do given this morning’s sabotage by Mason.
A knock sounds on the studio doors, and I instantly know it’s Joey.
Mason wouldn’t knock.
Walking over, I open the door, finding Joey struggling with a handful of different shaped bags on each arm.
“Hey! Come in,” I tell him, taking one of the many bags he’s carrying. “Here, let me help you. God, what do you have in here?”
“Thanks, Nina, and you’d be surprised.” He makes it just inside the door and drops down half the bags gently to the floor. Shaking out his arm, he looks around the studio. “Wow, this place is huge. It’s all yours?”
“Yep! The gym too,” I tell him proudly.
“That’s mad. You’re killing it; it’s better than I expected, that’s for sure. No offence.”
