Misty pulled a face.“Have I died and gone back to early elementary school?This feels right out of that stupid fitness test.”
He knew exactly what she was talking about.“Think about it this way.That taught you something you actually need in your day-to-day life now.Can you say that about some of the things you learned in calculus?”
A sound that could have been a laugh or a grunt slipped out of her.Either way, he felt oddly gratified.“Come on.Show me what you can do.”
Misty approached the bar with a wary expression.Spencer slid a block over, and she climbed on it so she could grab the bar.“Ready?”
When she nodded, he nudged it away.He saw the muscles in her arms, shoulders, and neck straining.It was like she thought if she tilted her head back far enough, she’d get it over the bar.Too bad that wasn’t how any of this worked.
“Switch up your grip and pull from your upper back.”
She flipped one hand over at a time before trying again.It brought her chin a little closer to the bar, but she wasn’t quite there yet.“It’s okay.We’ll try again when your upper body’s stronger.But for now, I have something for you.”
He reached into his pocket and handed her a folded sheet of paper.“Your diet plan.I can also email it to you if that’d be easier.”
“Thanks.It might.”Her eyes widened as she looked over the list of meals, snacks, drinks, and the best times of day to have them.“Wow, that’s a lot of food.”
“You’re going to be working hard for this, building more muscle, and burning more calories than you are now in the process.You’ll need to fuel up to be ready for it.”
“Good thing I brought a protein bar for today.”
She reached into her gym bag, and Spencer couldn’t help making a face at the sight of the wrapper.“Actually, can I have that diet plan back for a sec?I should make a note of which brands to go for and avoid, and that bar’s the latter.”
“It has twenty grams of protein.”She flipped the bar around so he could see the nutrition label reading exactly that.Unfortunately for her, it also showed way more added sugar than he would have liked to see.
“You might as well eat a candy bar.”He plucked it out of her hand, ignoring her sound of protest.“There are almonds and yogurts for sale in the café.Either would be a better source of protein by itself, or you could mix the almonds into the yogurt to get double the protein and more of a treat-like texture.Tell the barista to charge it to my account.”
She didn’t move, only glared at him.“My workouts, my meals...Are you also going to tell me when I can and can’t have sex?”
Spencer’s eyes widened as his face heated.Misty looked startled as she seemed to realize she’d said that out loud.“Shit.Sorry.I—”
She stopped talking, but her mouth kept moving as if she was trying to think what to say next.As she worked, Spencer forced himself to school his expression back to normal.After she closed her mouth, he opened his to explain.“Some athletes operate under the impression that if they don’t have sex in the days or weeks leading up to a big event, it’ll hone their edge.Others take the opposite approach and make a point of having an orgasm the night before.They swear it helps them relax enough to get a good night’s sleep before game day.”
He thought back to what he used to do with his fighter fiancée when he’d still been on the kickboxing circuit.They’d gone about it both ways, and he hadn’t noticed a difference in his or Haley’s performances.Instead of going into what was now ancient and painful history, he gave Misty the facts.“Because there’s no scientific basis for any of it, all I’ll tell you to do is whatever feels right for you and your partner.”
“No partner now,” she blurted.
“Ah.”Spencer did his best to keep this next part as clinical as possible.“Still, you should know that your question applies to more than sex with a partner.There’s no reason you can’t masturbate before tryouts if that’s what you need.”
“Okay, I get it!”Her eyes still looked wild.
He spoke as calmly as he could in the face of what looked like her hysteria.“I get it too.The question, that is.It comes up more often in training conversations than you’d think.Did you have any others?”
She shook her head.Her ponytail swung as her head moved but stuck to the sweat on one shoulder.
“Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”
As she left, Spencer’s spirits felt as limp as her ponytail had turned.In a city with so many workout options and gyms, he wanted his clients to come away with the feeling that they’d made the right choice by coming to this gym, and from there, to him.He wasn’t getting that feeling from Misty and didn’t know how to bring it out in her.
His phone buzzed in his pocket, startling him out of the reverie.“Hey, Dad.”
“Hi, son.”All these years since he’d started using his middle name, and Spencer couldn’t be sure whether Mitch Whitford addressed him as “son” because it was a neutral term or out of disappointment in him not using his first name anymore.
His dad was still talking.“Where are you?I hear traffic in the background.”
“I’m leaving work.I was just finishing up with a client.”
“But it’s almost 8:00 PM.”
