Ginger could see how much effort it was taking out of the girl and it was obvious she had done a lot of exercise up to this point, because her simple T-shirt was wet with sweat. But the big man was gentle and encouraging, all the time.
‘You can do this,’ he said between counts.
When she’d finished one set of lunges, he looked at his big manly diving watch and counted down. ‘One minute break,’ he said, ‘but keep those feet moving.’
‘OK,’ said Marina, determination written all across her face.
Ginger wondered why they’d stopped here in their progress to get to Will, Surfer God’s office, but she was enjoying this. This big guy was obviously one of the trainers and there was no sense that Marina was being humiliated in any way for being unfit. No, she was being encouraged every step of the way. Maybe the sweet young guy had stopped her just to let her see what it could be like.
After the second set, the girl’s face lit up. She put the weights carefully away and then did a little jump in the air, a jump that completely surprised Ginger.
‘Thank you, Will,’ she said delightedly and hugged the big man. ‘I couldn’t have done it without you, I really couldn’t.’
‘Course you could,’ he said, patting her on the back in an avuncular manner. ‘You’re well able to do it. You just need a little encouragement.’
This was Will? This man did not have blond surfer hair. While his hair was still naturally blond, it was cut short all over his head. The sweet young guy tapped him on the shoulder and Will turned around.
‘Will, this is Ginger Reilly, the lady from the newspaper.’
Will Stapleton gave Ginger the full blast of what she had already defined as a very sexy smile. He looked as if he was delighted to see her, but then, she decided cynically, he was probably delighted to see anyone who was going to give publicity to his gym. He didn’t know that Carla wanted free membership as part of the deal.
‘Great to meet you, Ginger,’ he said enthusiastically. ‘I half expected you to come dressed up in that swimsuit,’ he added as they reached the sanctuary of his office and he shut the door.
Ginger flushed the way only a redhead could flush and she wished she had one of her big black flowing coats to pull around herself as camouflage.
Words simply failed her, but then Will said: ‘Sorry. I really didn’t mean to embarrass you. It was meant to be funny. Me and my size thirteen feet. Let’s start again.’
He held out one huge hand.
‘I’m Will Stapleton. I’m thrilled you’re here to write about our gym, I’m delighted to meet you and I apologise for putting both feet in my mouth.’
Ginger looked into his face and found him gazing down at her with absolute sincerity. So few men looked down at her. So few men made her feel small. But Will was genuinely huge. Tall, strong and looking every inch the man who owned a gym.
He was no longer the tanned surfer man from the photos and somehow, while he was still very gorgeous, he wasn’t smug with it. He looked sorry. Understanding.
The man who understood that a teenage girl with weight issues needed to be treated with kindness as she worked out.
Instead of making some crack about how she only wore her swimsuit on her days off, the way she might have treated a smart comment at work, Ginger found herself being honest.
‘I’m nervous as I’m not a gym person and I’ve never worn anything like that before and certainly not for a photograph.’ The words came tumbling out.
Will nodded slowly.
‘Hopefully, I can make you a gym person,’ he said. ‘Some of us get frightened by the idea of exercise and feel that all our faults are going to be shown up, so we don’t try.’
‘We?’ said Ginger doubtfully. ‘You don’t look like you understand that.’
‘Oh, I do.’
Will pointed to a photo on the desk. It showed a tall, blond and undeniably chubby teenager hanging out with two skinny friends on either side of him.
‘That’s me in the middle. The larger kid. So yes, I understand. I hid from exercise and comfort ate for all my teenage years.’
Ginger thought of herself and her Ben and Jerry’s nights in front of the TV with only the guinea pigs for company.
‘I went abroad for a gap year with this pair of nutters, we ended up surfing and I discovered exercise.’
‘You certainly did,’ agreed Ginger, no longer shy.
