“Hey, great class. You’re an amazing teacher,” he says.
I try my best for a sincere smile. “Thanks, man. You did great.” Especially at making Rome smile, you fucking fuck. I swallow that back and offer my hand. “I’m Dex. You’re new here, right?”
He flushes and shrugs. “Yeah. I’m Palmer. My brother’s been coming here for years, and I decided I should probably do something about my flat ass and jelly arms.”
I grin in spite of myself. I fucking detest that I can’t hate him.
“Well, I hope to see you again, Palmer.” I don’t know if I mean that, which isn’t fair. He seems sweet, and it’s not like he was hitting on Rome…right? I missed most of their conversation. I was too busy trying not to look.
“So…you do all this.” He gestures toward the TV screen, which is off, and I want to scream because I don’t want to be making small talk when I could be chasing after Rome—wherever the fuck he went. But this is part of the job. And I’m going to do my damn job. “For Deaf people, right?”
“For anyone who might need it,” I explain. “We do have some classes led in ASL.”
“You do them?”
I flush. “No. Not…not yet. I’m still learning. My brother does a few.”
“That’s really nice of you.”
It’s the bare minimum, really. Something Denver taught me. But I don’t bother getting into that. I don’t have time. I have places to be, former hookups to confront.
“Anyway,” I say, as politely as I can manage, “I have to get going.”
“Oh, right. Yes. Sorry.” He flushes again, and I feel bad for him. He seems sweet. “See you sometime?”
I stare, then realize it’s a genuine question. “Well, I’m the owner here, so you should catch me around a lot. Take care, Parker?—”
“Palmer.”
I grimace. “Sorry, shit. I’m usually better with names.”
He shrugs and suddenly looks small. “I tend to be forgettable.”
“Hey, no—” I start.
He waves me off. “No, really. I work as a vet in town and spend most of my time with animals. I’m not the best with people.”
He doesn’t look like a vet, though I have no idea what vets are meant to look like. I step away, then hesitate. “Come to my yoga flow class on Tuesday if you can. I think you’ll like it. It’s a lot less intense than this.”
He brightens and looks relieved. “Okay. I’ll check with the front desk.”
There. Some of my guilt assuaged, I turn and shove my water bottle under my armpit and head out into the main room. The air here is a bit cooler from the massive fans we have running, which makes the back of my neck prickle with goose bumps.
The gym is pretty dead on a Sunday morning, but I see two very familiar faces at the front. Leaf looks a lot less haggard and stressed now since meeting Thorne, and it’s probably not just getting dicked down on the regular that’s made him this way either.
Michael is still a menace on the farm, but Leaf has embraced the chaos and has even planted a massive garden for Michael to feast on. They’re also slowly replacing the apple trees with cherry. It’s going to be a decades-long process, but considering Leaf is allergic, it makes sense.
I wave as I walk up, and Thorne catches my eye first, smiling as I approach. I see immediately he’s not wearing his hearing aids. In the last three years, he’s lost most of his hearing, and he’s in the middle of debating whether or not he wants to get cochlear implants.
For now, signing is easy enough. ‘Are you here for a class?’
Leaf grimaces as Thorne laughs. ‘Thom’s Zumba class.’
Zumba is the one thing I won’t do. I do not have the rhythm or the skill.
‘I’m being tortured,’ Leaf complains. ‘I think Thorne just wants me in this class so he can mock my moves.’
‘They’re good moves,’ Thorne replies with a smirk.
