I nodded, having no desire to step back on the machine.
Without offering to help me up or so much as asking if I was okay, the guy hopped on the treadmill.
I struggled to my feet, feeling a twinge in one ankle.
Jazz materialized by my side. “Emersyn! Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” I assured her, but I winced when I put weight on my sore ankle.
Jazz produced an exercise ball, seemingly out of nowhere, and slid it behind me. “Why don’t you sit down a minute?”
I did as she suggested, sinking down onto the soft, bouncy ball. The pain in my ankle eased.
“I’m sorry,” Jazz said, pointing at her headset. “I’ve got a call coming in.”
“No problem. I’m fine, really.”
She smiled with relief. “Hang in there.” She hurried toward the lobby.
“Oh, hey, Emersyn,” a familiar voice said.
Minnie.
She was off the treadmill now, a towel flung around her shoulders as she chugged water from a reusable bottle emblazoned with the wordsGrub Tubz. By the time I realized it was her who’d greeted me, she was already across the room and disappearing out the door.
I knew I should follow her and strike up a conversation, but that would have required my ankle to support my weight. I tested it by starting to stand, but a zing of pain sent me sinking back onto the ball.
Maybe when Minnie was on her way out of the gym, Jemma would intercept her. I checked the interior window again. Jemma hadn’t reappeared.
I closed my eyes for a moment, concentrating solely on calming my growing frustration.
“Emersyn? I didn’t know you worked out here.”
My eyes flew open. Bodie stood in front of me.
I shot to my feet, and the exercise ball rolled away. A man doing dumbbell lunges nearly tripped over it, saving himself at the very last second. He glared across the room at me.
I cringed as I hopped on one foot. “I’m so sorry!”
With a scowl, the man went back to his exercises.
Meanwhile, Bodie had jogged across the room and snatched up the exercise ball. He set it in a bin in the corner, where it apparently belonged.
“Are you okay?” Bodie asked when he came back over my way. “Did you hurt yourself?” He put a hand to my elbow, helping to hold me steady.
“I twisted my ankle. It’s my first time here,” I confessed. “And I’m really not Ultimate Beast material.”
Bodie laughed, but not in a disparaging way. “I think you’re Ultimate Beast material. Maybe your own style of beast, though.”
“You are a kind, kind man.”
“Just an honest one.”
“We’ll leave that debate for another time.”
“Probably a good idea,” he said with a grin that held no trace of derision. “Can I give you a ride home?”
My eyes must have lit up like stars when he said those words. If Jemma really had abandoned me, I would have to hobble to the subway. “You drove here?”
