“Hello, Natalie.” He smiled, surprised to see me. “Good to see you again.”
“You too.” I smiled back. “How’s the next best seller comin’ along?”
“Not great, if you ask my editor,” he grumbled, taking a seat at the head of the table. “He’s an asshole.”
I burst out a laugh. That was too funny. Considering his editor was not only his longtime friend from college but the husband of his daughter.
“This looks amazing, darling.” Aiden pulled Chloe close as soon as she was within reach. “What would I do without you?”
“Noteat,” she teased and kissed him.
“Painfully true,” he chuckled.
Gideon was the last to arrive and the last to sit down. “Fuck yeah, steak. Hey, Auntie Nat.”
“Hey, sugar. How’s life?” I plated a steak and filled the rest with salad.
“Awesome. I’m me.” He smirked.
Chloe snorted softly. “Just remember you’re gonna mow the lawn after dinner.”
He was a little less happy now.
My digging was unsuccessful for the rest of the evening, so I went the old-fashioned route the moment I got home. I looked up Ethan on social media.
With a moving box for a coffee table, I grabbed a Coke Zero and a bowl of grapes and got comfortable on the couch in the living room.
Facebook. He was friends with all my nephews. This was probably not his platform of preference, though. His profile was open, and the last post was from February.
Gym bro… Oh, Insta. Yeah, we’d go with Insta instead.
Bingo.
Ethan Quinn of Quinn’s Fitness Center. Holy crap. Almost three hundred thousand followers wanted to see more of his gym selfies, of which there were thousands. Jesus H Christmas, this man loved showing his muscles. He ran a “Motivational Monday” with “new week, new goals, new gains.” Goodness. He was a single step away from being officially bulky.
In his likes section, I saw the people I followed too. Liked by Gray, liked by Gideon, liked by Gabriel. Or rather, liked by graywinger1, liked by GabrielNolanGoalie, liked by theoneandonlygid. I followed them but never left a mark, considering it was my work account.
Gym selfies, gym selfies, gym selfies, oatmeal with protein powder and a motivational quote, gym selfie, gym selfie.
We were not the same, Ethan and I.
Every now and then, he posted photos with clients too. More accurately, their progress. He’d advised me yesterday to take a “before” photo, so I’d done that.
So far, I had no complaints about the food I ate. Sure, I had some minor cravings for chocolate and cake, but I hadn’t eaten that every day before either.
My phone buzzed with a message; it was Ethan checking in.
Evening, Natalie. How goes it today?
I replied to him.
It goes well, Coach. :) I had dinner at my sister’s house tonight, steak and salad. No baked potato, which was a travesty. But so far, so good! I tried your omelet recipe for breakfast, and it was a hit.
I had one thing left on my list today, and it was my ten-minute HIIT exercise. In short, ten minutes of speeding through anything that made my heart pound like crazy, be it squats and lifting my dumbbell or cleaning and unpacking.
According to Ethan, high-intensity interval training combined with long walks was the best for losing weight in my case. We’d start with ten minutes a day this week, and we’d move to five minutes three times a day the next. Much like my diet, he wanted variety in my workout. We’d constantly switch things up in order to give my metabolism a boost. Same with my walks. Right now, I was supposed to go on a morning walk for only a few minutes.
He said the variation was a good way to prevent getting stuck on a plateau as well, and I knew those moments very well. They fucking sucked.
