Sabrina and Trixie looked at me, then got busy with their food.
Charlie met my gaze as he licked the pink glazing off his donut.
My cheeks warmed up.Did I miss something?
“How’s the drama at work, Sabrina?” Charlie asked.
“I’m pretty sure Tom is the one stealing my pudding. I’m this close to nutting in it, knowing the perpetrator would eat it.”
“Nasty” Trixie grimaced. “I guess there are perks to keeping a dick after transitioning huh?”
“You can say that.” Sabrina grinned. “Oh, I’ve been to the gym on the other side of the city. It’s decent, but so far, I won’t go there again unless I’m desperate.” Trixie fiddled with the hem of her dress. “The one next to my apartment served as a last resort when I was in dire need to keep in shape right after gender affirming surgeries but I wasn’t very comfortable there.”
“I wish we had something closer to here.” Trixie bit into a fry from her plate.
“Same.” I swallowed a chunk of my pancake. “They let me drive the van at work. So I’ve been hauling two-by-fours to and from the construction site. Now they’re doing some interior stuff, so I went with the boss to get formica and visit the dude from marble to arrange for countertops measurements.” I sighed. “That kind of workout is chaotic and I’m having trouble balancing it at home.”
“I told him he should open his own gym,” Charlie said, bringing the whole table to look at me.
“I’m all for you opening one. Whatcha need from me? Just let me know. These guns need a workout.” Trixie flexed her impressive bicep.
“I know a spot if you’re really interested.” Sabrina perked up. “A spa closed last month, and it’s up for rent. It’s only two blocks away. Wanna go check it out?”
“Now?” After talking to Charlie, I have been seriously considering the gym idea, but was I ready?
“What do you think, Cupcake?” Charlie stroked my arm. “We can take a look and leave. No pressure.”
“Yeah. Better to know what’s out there.” To prove to myself I was in over my head.
“Cool. I can arrange the viewing on their website.” Sabrina tapped her phone. “I helped my mom open a nail salon a few months ago, so I have a vague idea how it all works. Oh, they have a spot available in half an hour! Someone must have canceled.”
Whoa, it was all happening so fast. My stomach churned.
Charlie took my hand and put it on his lap, keeping it there with his own, calming my racing thoughts.
“So hypothetically, what would you call your gym, Trent?” Sabina asked. “Names are hard to—”
“Barbell-ella,” I said quickly and bit my lip.
Charlie chuckled. “Holy hell, that’s brilliant.”
“A play on the 1968 movieBarbarellawith Jane Fonda.” I grinned. “I figured if we did a logo in pinks and blacks with a bad-ass looking woman lifting weights with one hand and waving a rainbow flag with the other, we’d weed out the small-minded.”
“I got brass ones, Trent. I like that.” Trixie clapped me on the shoulder.
“And you gave this some serious thought,” Sabrina said.
“Charlie pushed me to consider the idea and then I called Louise, my sister, to see what she thought.” I reached into my pocket, feeling the lollipop wrappers in there, but scooted closer to Charlie until our thighs touched instead. “I promised myselfI’d find her a good job in Boston. If I opened a gym, I could give her one. She’d been working office jobs for years while studying business. I didn’t even offer her anything yet, and she already gave me a speech about getting sponsors and stuff.”
“Well, you sound ready to look at the space for rent.” Charlie slid out of the booth and took my hand.
“I think so, yeah.”
Chapter Sixteen
Trent
High on viewing the gym space, I couldn’t sleep that night and ended up researching the process of starting a business. For the following week, I fell down the rabbit hole of research, from loans, permits, to safety regulations, reading through the material Louise sent me. Then I got to the fun part of checking out equipment for my dream gym, noting down the prices of everything.
